Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaCD

I've been buying postage from PayPal, which includes delivery confirmation.  The fee schedule there for a CD mailed in a bubble wrap mailer is this:  3oz = $1.93, 4oz = $2.01, 5oz = 2.09

Because the delivery confirmation with PayPal postage doesn't really help to get the CD confirmed here at the site, I thought maybe I should try buying the postage here instead.  When I went to the page to print it out, it said that the cost for postage was $2.68 for 5oz and that delivery confirmation cost another $0.55.  How can that be right?  I must have done something wrong.

I went to the Help pages to read about postage.  There is says this:

The Printed Postage fee is 43 cents for each wrapper you print with postage

• 30 cents goes to SwapaCD and 16 cents to Endicia.com, our online postage provider. 
• Because online postage MUST be used with Delivery Confirmation (this is a USPS regulation), the postage will also increase 19 cents per shipment. 

That's confusing because none of those numbers added together equals 43 cents, nor to they equal 55 cents.

I can't believe that SwapaCD would charge $2.68+0.55=$3.23 for what should only cost $2.09 total.

Also, I had thought that by using delivery confirmation through the site, that the CD sent would be marked received automatically when delivered.  But I cannot find anything in the Help documents that says that.  [Edit:]  I finally found this.  It's called Instant Credit, and your CD is given credit for mailing as soon as you mark it mailed.  It doesn't even have to be delivered!

If any of you have used the postage payment method provided here by SwapaCD, please post here and help me out.  Thanks.

Hmmm,  that doesn't sound right.   I like PayPal postage too, but here is what I experience on the DVD site:  I can over ride the weight to 3 oz (blu-ray) or 4 , 5, or 6 ounces + the 55 cent fee.  Everything above 6 ounces defaults to media mail 1 pound $2.68+ 0.55

Are you over riding the weight?  I've not mailed anything from here in awhile that has not been a set ( or multiple titles) so media mail would have been correct.

Even PayPal charges a confirmation fee for media mail (0.23).  The confirmation is only free on first class.   On SWAP the 55 cents is a kind of credit insurance.  Totally worth it for multiples, not so much for onsies.

Thanks Tracy.  While I was waiting for somebody to respond here, a buddy at another site, who also trades here, explained the whole thing to me.  Apparently, when I went to check on the postage, I did not click through far enough.  The price I got was the regular USPS price for when you are applying postage not purchased from the site.  My friend tells me that the first class prices charged here are identical to what I pay at PayPal.  The big difference is that SwapaCD charges for delivery confirmation (for which you also get Instant Credit) and PayPal includes it for free. 

Your comment about Media Mail is interesting.  In the past, I thought Media Mail did not kick in until the package weighed more than 13 oz.  But maybe anything over 6 oz is cheaper to pay for more ounces at the cheaper rate.  I'll have to look into that further.  Thanks!

Daniel,  media mail should start at 13 ounces.  Unfortunately SWAP made changes that no longer allow us to over ride 7 + ounces.  I think that (I don't know if it's 7 or 8 ounces) but the price difference is about .03 - I would rather send something 1st class if it' s only .03 more.  Sometimes media mail takes a beating.

I learned something about the Delivery Confirmation that can be purchased here at the site.  If you wrap as a parcel, the package will be much more likely to be scanned into the system at the post office, and then there will be tracking at the USPS website.  If you wrap according to site guidelines - as a letter with Non-Machineable surcharge - it will be unlikely that the DC will be scanned into the system, in which case, there will not be tracking at the USPS website.