What orders should be opted out of Asendia?

The vast majority of affected orders will be covered by the Asendia Program rates we're applying. There will of course be some edge cases, and you'll be able to opt those orders out of the program and handle them just like you would any especially heavy or multi-package order. If the order weighs more than 4 lbs., or can't be shipped in one package, it should be opted out. You'll be able to click a button on the order screen to opt that specific order out of the Asendia shipping program, and then request additional funds towards postage.

Once an order is opted out in this way, you will need to ship the order directly to the customer instead of the Asendia consolidation center address. You will be credited the full amount the customer agrees to pay for postage. The process for requesting additional postage for those orders will be the same as it always has been. With this program, you'll encounter far fewer situations where you need to request additional postage for international orders. The Asendia program makes the bulk of your international orders just as easy and cheap to ship as your Standard domestic orders.

If you have any particular item where the actual postage cost to you will exceed your Standard domestic postage rate for any reason, you can choose to absorb the postage (which is likely to vary by only a dollar or less) or you can opt for that specific order out and ask for additional postage. Your Standard domestic rate should be set so that it will cover media rate mail for most packages up to 4 lbs. You will still be able to adjust your Standard domestic rates if you need to.

What about small and light packages?

The same applies to very small and light items. If the rate that the customer has paid is more than you need to ship the order to the overseas address, you can opt that order out of the Asendia program. You can then reduce postage if you wish, just like always

What if I ship a heavy order to Asendia anyway?

Technically you could ship orders weighing more than 4 lbs. to the Asendia consolidation center, and Asendia would ship the order to the overseas address, but Biblio's actual cost to ship that item will increase, as would yours. Asendia will be billing Biblio according to actual weight. You'll be credited your own Standard domestic rate for those orders, which is meant to cover individual items being shipped via USPS media rate mail or another economical method. It's unlikely that the same credit would cover shipping a very heavy book or multiple packages via USPS, even within the US.

Please go ahead and opt-out of those orders, and request additional funds towards postage. If the customer rejects the request, the order will be canceled and the listing will automatically be made available for sale again. The order won't have any effect on your fulfillment rate.

What if the order can't ship in just one package?

If the order needs more than one package, you'll need to opt it out of the Asendia consolidated shipping program and request additional funds towards postage. The shipping label you print from the order details page can only apply to one package. If you were to print that label more than once and affix it to more than one package, Asendia will only ship one of the packages and any additional packages would be held.

Will there be any changes to Asendia's current rates?

We do not have weight data for the vast majority of books listed on Biblio. We're going to be working on ways of collecting book weight data, and using this program is going to help us better estimate average shipping weights, and make adjustments as needed. We're expecting the average weight to be around 2 lbs, and our rates for this program are based on that estimate. If it turns out that the average package weight is less than that, we'll be able to reduce our Asendia rates and pass that savings along to customers.

If you have any additional questions or feedback, please email us directly at bookseller-support@biblio.com.