International Shipping

[Halgar]

Hey guys, yet another question about international shipping. Fleabay, in it's infinite wisdom, has completely banned the sale of electronically delivered items, effectively ending our ebook business. We now have to burn the ebooks to CD and shipping to our customers, which entails shipping product worldwide. We will be setting up our own site as soon as humanly possible to go back to electronic delivery and tell Fleabay to go F itself. Until then, please tell me all the tips and tricks you fine folks have for getting items shipped worldwide in the fastest, easiest way, both for me as the shipper and our customers having to deal with customs on their end. I could swear that I saw something in the past week-ish about shipping items as "personal" or something like that, but didn't see it at first glance at the first two pages of topics.

Thanks in advance for any and all wisdom you have to offer.

[mikedealer]

falsifying customs forms are technically illegal.. if you bright a stack of stuff to the post office all marked personal. it may raise red flags.

last month i was at the post office, and some "foreign" gentlemen, obviously shipping ebay items, marked all his overseas items as "personal" or whatever, the clerk got the postmaster and asked him to open 1 or two of the packages. Of Course, the guys printed the ebay sheet, and stuffed it in the package with the cell phone accessories they ordered. The Postmaster was nice enough to give them a "warning".

just be careful

[Halgar]

Thanks Mike, appreciate the input. Don't worry, we wouldn't be silly and hand a stack of packages marked "personal" to the postmaster. We would, however, hand a stack of "gift" packages to him.

We're still working on the logistics of shipping. For the moment we'll stay domestic and maybe Canada.

[mrlexan]

Just my personal experience and comment on Mike's post. I think it also how much the Postal workers like you. I treat them how I wish to be treated and they seem to love us. The wife and I are on a first name basis with all of them. I have never had any problems with customs forms, either back in Michigan or here in Alabama.

One note, just make sure you have your sh&t together and they will love you. I think they get bothered with stupid questions and people knowing their system better than they do (at least they think they do). I know the customer is supposed to be always right, but you should hear some of things people ask.

[Halgar]

All good points. Other than filing the customs forms, we don't even need to enter a post office to send our items.

I know the customer is supposed to be always right, but you should hear some of things people ask.

I've been in the service industry all my life, trust me when I say I know how "people" can be.

[Bormac]

Im glad this topic has come to light. ive been wondering for the longest time why many UK and US sellers refuse to ship outside the country. Is it impossible to post stuff to Australia? We have no taxes imposed on us so I was wondering why this is? Some sellers must be crazy not to want the extra buyers hanging around.

[Dr. Robotnik]

I don't get it either. The only difference in the UK with shipping abroad is you have to write what the item is and its value and sign on a tiny sticker. I am a master of writing; gift, $5 and my name while half asleep on the way to work. It takes under a minute and is a no brainer...

[purpletimbo]

I think UK to Australia could well be the price. A guy in NZ bought one of my nitro TC a year ago, it was an assembled chassis bodyshell and paperwork, with wheels etc separately boxed. All in all not very big and weighed in at just over 2Kg wrapped.
Cost to NZ was £49.63, 50% of the sale price. I ended up splitting it into chassis and shell in one box, an A4 envelope for the decals and manual etc as printed matter, and the small box with the hevay parts, wheels exhaust etc on it's own.
Total cost for 3 parcels weighing more than the original was £21.54, so they delivered 3 things that weighed more for less than half price, but what a royal pain in the ass to split and package it all up.

[Bormac]

I would have thought that if the buyer is happy to pay shipping I dont really get why some people refuse to ship outside their given country.Is there some kind of restriction out of the USA or UK??

[Dr. Robotnik]

Total cost for 3 parcels weighing more than the original was £21.54, so they delivered 3 things that weighed more for less than half price, but what a royal pain in the ass to split and package it all up.

I have run into this as well it is truely bizzarre

I would have thought that if the buyer is happy to pay shipping I dont really get why some people refuse to ship outside their given country.Is there some kind of restriction out of the USA or UK??

There is no restriction per-se from the UK only what it costs.

[mrlexan]

I think it is a function of two things: 1. not wanting to take the time to understand what you have to do to send something overseas (which is very easy).... the path of least resistance and 2. with the new usps.com site you can click, pay, print postage online for domestic shipments only, thus you don't have to wait in line at the PO. You drop it off and walk away. You can't do that with International.

Let me tell you, the PO here is Alabama SUCKS. This area is growing beyond it's means and doesn't have the postal capacity it needs. I wait in line for 20 to 30 minutes sometimes, so do understand the mentality. I never had that problem back in Michigan. But I think as a seller with the value of the dollar today, limiting yourself to domestic shipping only is hurting you more than helping you.

[Halgar]

I would have thought that if the buyer is happy to pay shipping I dont really get why some people refuse to ship outside their given country.Is there some kind of restriction out of the USA or UK??

We stayed away from shipping product because of the added time, labor, and hassles of it. International shipping requires going to the post office to fill out and file forms. Domestic mail is all done from the comfort of our office and goes out when the postal carrier comes by each afternoon. It's been a long while since we were handling product, and often times the shipping, both domestic and international were equal to the item being sent. More than one buyer was not happy about that or the length of time it took to arrive at their door.

We'd prefer to stay with electronic delivery, which incurs no such time, hassles, or costs, and the buyer gets their product immediately, but Fleabay seems to think that too many people were getting scammed (at least that's their public rational ). It's a good thing no one ever gets scammed by sellers of physical products.

[mrlexan]

International shipping requires going to the post office to fill out and file forms.

There are only two forms, each applies to a different case and you only have to fill out one. I am not sure what the official title is for each, but:

- Under 4.0 lbs or under 36 combined LWH measurement - little green one
- Over 4.0 lbs or over 36 combined LWH measurement - 4x6 white carbon copy form

When I go to the PO, I grab a handful of each...... fill it out using my paypal email receipts as soon as I am paid. They have the same info required, To, From, Value, Signature, Date. It's not a real big deal. In essence you might have to spend another 60 secs when compared to hand filling out a domestic delivery confirmation receipt. Like we both said, the down side is waiting in line. That's the world we live today, to much to do, too little time, and we hate the unproductiveness of standing in line.

[Halgar]

That's the world we live today, to much to do, too little time, and we hate the unproductiveness of standing in line.

Thank God we don't live in a country where long lines and shortages are the norm. I don't mind waiting in line as long as the dog pile for brains behind the counter is being efficient and productive. We definitely pick and choose the PO location we go to because the nearest one to us has an older foreign woman who probably can't even tie her shoes, let alone work the service counter. Last time we asked her a question she gave us the wrong answer. Shes painfully slow, incomplete, incompetent, and a few expletives too. But what are ya gonna do? She's a tenured civil servant, ya can't fire her.

[RichieRich]

Just an FYI, if you are shipping something small, put it in a padded envelope. All you have to do is pay postage and there are no forms that you need to sign. The downside is that you have to physically go into the Post Office and wait in line. What is it with the PO and DMV?