Since I have opened a lot of group orders the last few months, I wanted to give everyone an update on shipping/mail services to maybe help others understand what is going on right now. This thread is going to be split up into shipping 1. in the US, 2. from Korea and 3. from Japan

1. Shipping in the US - I personally use USPS to send out packages/mail within the US (and usually internationally as well). Starting a few days ago, October 18th, USPS is now in a “holiday season” where prices have increased. From what I’ve seen, it’s not super noticeable until

packages start getting heavy or international. This is still currently the cheapest and safest service to use. It is suppose to last until the end of December.

2. Shipping from Korea - due to COVID-19, some mailing services, such as EMS, were not available to select countries. This might be why you saw an increase in shipping from Korea to America. Similar to how we have our COVID color tier system here, there is a system for the

capacity status of air shipments (the cheapest and safest form of shipping). So it is becoming available again to select countries (including USA yay!), but they are reducing capacity drastically, which brings restrictions in size/weight and

prices to still be more than they have been. I personally have not been affected much which the group orders I’ve held, but I know a lot of goms are seeing crazy price increases. I’ve seen the difference more when I just make small orders for myself than group orders.

3. Shipping from Japan - This is the largest difference among the 3 because of COVID-19. EMS is usually the cheapest and safest form of shipping from Japan. Back in March, they stopped sending a lot via airmail/EMS to America, all that was available was

DHL and surface mail. A few months ago, they resumed Japan Post Air mail, but only for small packages, letters, postcards, etc, and only in certain regions I believe, so it’s not helpful for group orders until they are able to open that up to larger packages again some day .

Surface mail is typically very cheap, but VERYYYYYYY risky. Since there’s ocean between Japan and America, your packages are put on a ship with no insurance available. Currently, it’s taking about 3/4 months for things to get delivered this

way with high risk of mistreated packages and no tracking. The plus side is that larger packages are known to have a higher chance of making it safely and it’s much cheaper. DHL is the only other other option, but it tends to be more expensive, especially when items get heavy.

It is very much weight based. The positives are that you can have your shipment insured, there’s tracking and it usually only takes a few days to get delivered, making it the safer choice. I’ve been having group orders sent with DHL, assuming everyone would prefer their items

quicker and safer, which is why you might be shocked when you receive your “EMS cost” emails. Things like albums, photobooks, magazines are heavy pieces of mail. We won’t be seeing prices go down until more shipping options open again.

I hope this helped some people understand shipping costs a bit more. I’m very open with prices. I don’t host group orders to make extra money. I only add a dollar or 2 in certain circumstance: 1. to item prices from Japan, which I have discussed in this thread: https://twitter.com/seoholovesyou/status/1298558505394135041

2. to make up for any costs that were not covered in the 1st payment or 3. to help cover shipping supply costs (because bubble mailers/boxes/bubblewrap are not cheap and I’m constantly going through the sets I have to buy to make sure your items get to you safely)

The shipping situations are constantly changing as different countries face different COVID-19 precautions and staffing availability. I am always trying to find the cheapest and safest ways, so if you have anything you’d like to recommend, please do so. If you ever want to know

the breakdown of why things are priced the way they are, I’d love to discuss it with you. Don’t be afraid to ask what you’re paying for. Also, please understand that COVID has changed a lot. If you have any further questions or need clarification, my dms are always open