Why did Royal Mail change letter-sized shipping for Etsy orders, and how can I keep costs down?

Hi! Yes—this has hit a lot of UK Etsy sellers who ship flat “letter-like” items abroad. Royal Mail tightened how they treat “goods / sale of goods” for certain destinations (including the US), so even if your greeting card fits a letter or large-letter envelope physically, it can still be required to go at a parcel rate if it’s considered goods, which is why you’re suddenly seeing higher charges.

The tricky part is you can’t really “package your way out of it” if the content is still classified as goods for that destination—making the envelope thinner or flatter won’t help if the item must travel under a parcel product. What you can do is reduce the pain and keep your Etsy shipping costs predictable:

What to do to keep costs down (without risking mis-declaring contents)

• Split your Etsy shipping profiles by destination. Make one profile for “UK”, one for “US + affected countries”, and one for “Rest of World.” That lets you price the US correctly without overcharging everyone else.
• Consider baking some shipping into your item price for international. For lightweight items, a small price increase often converts better than visibly high postage at checkout (especially on greeting cards).
• Offer a tracked upgrade instead of tracking by default. Many buyers don’t truly need tracking on a low-value card order; letting them choose an upgrade can keep your base price lower. (Just make sure your delivery expectations and “what happens if it doesn’t arrive” policy are clear.)
• Ship multi-card orders more efficiently. Encourage bundles (sets of 2/4/6) so you’re paying that higher international format cost less often. You can do this with variations or “multi-buy” style listings.

Service/label options to compare

• Royal Mail still may be fine—just choose the right format. For US-bound Etsy orders that are treated as goods, you’ll usually need to use a parcel/small parcel type service even if it’s flat. The win here is optimizing weight bands and keeping packaging minimal while still protecting the item.
• Compare a shipping platform/rates aggregator vs. counter prices. Many sellers find better international rates (or better tracking options) by buying labels through a postage platform rather than paying standard over-the-counter rates. It’s worth running a few test quotes using your real packed size/weight.
• If your product range includes truly “documents only,” keep that separate. If you sell things that are genuinely documents/personal correspondence (not merchandise), keep those SKUs and shipping rules separate so you don’t accidentally apply the wrong service to the wrong order.

Packaging tweaks that can still help (even if they don’t restore “letter” pricing)

• Keep the package as light and compact as safely possible (thin board-back envelopes instead of thick rigid mailers, avoid excess inserts, etc.).
• Standardize packaging so your packed size/weight is consistent—this prevents nasty surprises and makes your Etsy shipping profile pricing accurate.

If you tell me (1) your typical packed size (rough thickness), (2) average packed weight, and (3) whether your cards are single cards, sets, or include any extras (stickers, wax seals, freebies), I can suggest a clean way to structure your Etsy shipping profiles and pricing so US/international doesn’t eat your margins.