We are US based.
We get a few international orders here and there and a customer emailed that he was not getting rates for USPS First-Class International on an order to Hungary.
This customer orders all the time and noticed only Priority Mail International is being offered at a much higher rate. (we offer both of those USPS services).

I ran some tests at my store and I checked a number of countries and in no case will USPS First-Class International show rates.
Just in case, I put a very light weight item in the cart, just to be sure they have not lowered the weight limit from the 4lbs max allowed for USPS First-Class International

Has anyone else noticed this, or can someone that ships USPS First-Class International test their store to see if they are getting rates?

Our last order with USPS First-Class International is from January 20th.

Thanks,
David

I had this problem with my store and could not even get First Class International labels through usps.com. Ended up having to go to the post office who also checked dimensional weight, which was a lot more expensive even at First Class International: $18.00 on weight, $29.00 on dimensional. This was around December 20, 2020.

Marshall
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That's interesting Marshall.
We have been fine up until the 20th of January.

Can anyone else who ships USPS from the US and offers First Class international check their store?

David

I've checked my test sites and am not getting anything back for First Class International. I've checked the latest documentation and it doesn't seem like there have been changes to the service ID's etc.

Vince

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Thanks Vince.
So everything points to the USPS at this point.
I'll continue to investigate and post back if I learn more

David

I added dumpshippingxml=TRUE to includes to see the XML returned and lots of various rates returned, but nothing for any First Class International services.
Searching the net has not produced anything yet.

David

Has anybody figured this one out yet?
My international sales have dropped way off and the ones that do go through are using Priority. I emailed them and they said Priority was the only option offered. Last occurrence of Priority mail was Thursday(Feb 4th). Looking back through orders - I don't see any international sales first class since mid January.

I checked and even the shipping estimator will only present international priority mail pricing as an option.

Other than contacting the postal service I'm at the end of my rope here.
I don't think it's anything with the ect code, just that the API is not returning rates for F-C international.
I have tested an older version of the cart (I just updated) and it's not showing there either.

I expect many store owners have this issue and have not discovered it yet.

I'm not too keep on trying to reach the (right person) at USPS, but I do have a (quasi) rep, so I will send him an email.

Thanks,
David

Searching for USPS and API to see if they made any changes in January.

On Jan 21st - changes to First Class Package International Service (FCPIS) Size Limit Updates.
Release notes can be found here and they're talking about size changes but I can't make heads or tails out of this:
https://www.usps.com/business/web-tools-apis/

But it does state:
"Web Tools will validate dimensions provided in XML request. Dimensions that do not meet the new minimum requirements for FCPIS non-roll packages will result in FCPIS not being returned as an available service in the XML response."

This makes me wonder - what does ECT provide for dimensions? All my stuff is very small so I never state dimensions but normally ship in 6x4x2 up to 12x12x6 boxes.

I have not seen that, but it does seem related.
I think you found it.
My last F/C international order was on Jan 20th.

I had check the XML debug and I think if you do not specify dimensions, then the cart sets that s 1x1x1if I recall.
I know I did turn on "specify dimensions" and had set those on a test product, and did not get any rates back.

I'll do some more testing and see what I find.

David

In the website settings for shipping - I have "do not specify" for dimensions.
I wonder if this is causing the issue. Other options for this are the units: "IN" (Inches) and "CM" (centimeters) but I don't see anywhere that I can specify what the dimensions would be.

This does bring me to a side question. There is also a selection for shipping weight: LBS or KGS. Right now I use LBS. But everything I do is in grams so the conversion to lbs is a hassle. If I change this to KGS - does anybody know what the USPS would do with this? Would they treat it as lbs? Or does the ECT data passed to USPS include a flag stating KGS or LBS?

Ok, reading more on this, https://www.usps.com/business/web-tools-apis/2021-web-tools-release-notes.pdf
I think there is some important info there.

2.1.1 International Price Calculator API -First-Class Package International Service (FCPIS) Size Limit Updates (API=IntlRateV2)

1.Updates to the IntlRateV2 API to allow integrators to indicate their package is a roll so that the appropriate roll dimensions validation per IMM 251.22-23 (reference: https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc2_021.htm) is used instead of the current non-roll dimension validation.

Web Tools will add <Container> tag with a new enumeration “ROLL.”
When package is a roll, integrators should pass <Container>=“ROLL” in XML request to return accurate pricing and availability in XML response with dimensions validated correctly.
Reference Appendix B for example

2.Updates to the IntlRateV2 API to support new FCPIS minimum dimensions of 6 inches length x 4 inches height for non-roll packages. Reference: https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2020/pb22562/html/updt_002.htm for details.
Web Tools will validate dimensions provided in XML request. Dimensions that do not meet the new minimumrequirements for FCPIS non-roll packages will result in FCPIS not being returned as an available service in the XML response.

2.1.2 International eVS Label APIs -First-Class Package International Service (FCPIS) Size Limit Updates

1.Updates to the eVS First-Class Mail International Label API (API=eVSFirstClassMailntl) to allow integrators to indicate their package is a roll so that the appropriate roll dimensions validation per IMM 251.22-23 (reference: https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc2_021.htm) is used.

New <Container> request tag added with enumeration “ROLL”.
When package is a roll, integrators should pass <Container>=“ROLL” in XML request to return accurate response with dimensions validated correctly.

When <Container>=“ROLL” indicated in XML request, errors will return if dimensions provided in XML request do not meet IMM 251.22 requirements (reference: https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc2_021.htm).
Reference Appendix B for example


2.Updates to the eVS First-Class Mail International Label API (API= eVSFirstClassMailntl) to support new First-Class Package International Service (FCPIS) minimum dimensions of 6 inches length x 4 inches height for non-roll packages. Reference https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2020/pb22562/html/updt_002.htm for details.
Web Tools will validate dimensions provided in XML request. Dimensions that do not meet the new minimum requirements for FCPIS non-roll packages will result in an error being returned.


So, reading the above, it looks like minimum dimensions need to b 4" x 6" or no rate will be returned.
I will test this out.

David

Ok, I have confirmed this is the issue.
I'll let Vince know.
It's actually 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1 that is submitted when no dimensions are set.
In the code, I changed this to 6.1 x 4.1 x 0.1 and got rates back now.

At least we know the issue now!

David

Excellent!
OK - so in the meantime, where in the code is that dimension set? I'd love to get mine up and going as well.

This is just a temporary fix I tested, and I have not thoroughly tested at that, but looking at the code, I don't think there are any negative effects, but it's best to let Vince address this I think.
In the meantime, search the file vsadmin/inc/uspsshipping.asp for the line

"<Width>0.1</Width><Length>0.1</Length><Height>0.1</Height><Girth></Girth>"

and change it to

"<Width>4.1</Width><Length>6.1</Length><Height>0.1</Height><Girth></Girth>"

David

Thanks to DBDave for the help here getting this resolved and based on this, I've set minimum dimensions for international. The change is in the file..

vsadmin/inc/uspsshipping.asp / php

...and I've uploaded the changes in the updater.

Vince

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