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Hello everyone **waves** I have been more than curious about something, and wondered if my American forum friends could shed some light…
No International shipping? How come? I’m curious 🙂
Not trying to shame anyone who doesn’t offer international shipping, but since I often ask these sellers to reconsider, I’d like to know what’s on your mind…
Wanted: "Dragon Fruit" Male Dragon ~ "Fire Berry", "Paradise", "Dragon Fruit", "Tie Dye" ~ The brighter, the better!
If they are ebay items, people have had very bad experiences with the ebay program (I forget what it’s called) where they unpack, “inspect”, and repack international shipments. It’s supposed to guarantee that you receive your purchase in good condition, but the repacking of Windstones tends to be less careful that the original packing job. So then people get broken Windstones because the ebay packers were careless!
Yeah, the eBay international shipping program is a mess. Also, unless I use it, I can’t just ship from home internationally. I have to go to the post office which is only open during my work hours so I have to take time off work. I’ll do it for forum members I know, but not ebay randos.
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DRAGONS: Male CoyoteThat eBay option is called their ‘Global Shipping Program’ and I don’t trust it either. I pack my items extremely well and securely like I’d like receive it. I will fill out the customs pages etc on the USPS site and can drop it off at my work’s mailroom, or I’ll go to the post office at lunch.
The only time I specify that I won’t ship Internationally is if I have an item that may be potentially illegal to ship across US borders, such as electronics with Lith.batteries or has animals products such as deer antlers or feathers on my crafts (dream catchers, Nat.Amer.Indian inspired necklaces, etc) that I sometimes sellIN SEARCH OF MY NEXT GRAILS:
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*** Come visit me on deviantArt at http://ela-hara.deviantart.comI don’t know about for Windstones, but as a business that often ships things, I hate international shipping. The online calculators are never quite right so I have to get the item, box it up, take it to the post office, and then come home… just to get a quote. Then the nightmare of customers that don’t understand that they are responsible for customs, and insurance is nearly impossible to actually claim if something goes wrong! And many customers don’t like hearing the large price that comes along with international shipping. I’d love for it to be simpler, for both myself, and my customers. As it is though, it takes three-four times as long to do, and often ends up costing me extra money out of pocket in shipping expenses as somehow things often shift to be more expensive than the quote. A genuine headache!
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My art: featherdust.comI have shipped internationally a few times and all I can say is that I fully agree with what Jennifer has to say.
The cost alone is expensive and usually I end up using quite a bit out of pocket to cover the inaccurate quotes.
Just getting a large legal envelope to Canada recently cost me $24.00. It had one sheet of paper in it. It was way more than expected and considering shipping the same large envelope anywhere in the USA would have been under $1.20 I was a bit taken aback. Not to mention the customs forms, of which I had to fill out 3 different ones, before the USPS computer would accept it. I never expected to need a customs form just for an envelope, nor did the Postal lady. So we got to spend 20 minutes trying to figure out why the computer didn’t want to accept my payment to start with before finding out it wanted a customs form too. Needless to say I was very, very glad that I have a very tiny post rural office and I wasn’t making anyone else wait 20 minutes while we figured out what was going on!
It really can be a headache, especially if you are not expecting the high prices or the customs paperwork.
Looking for:
"COSMIC SHIFT DRAGONS and KI-RINS" and the "OCTOPUS TANUKI TEST PAINT #1"Thanks for all that info guys. I had no idea it could be this much trouble. I’m glad I asked.
Wanted: "Dragon Fruit" Male Dragon ~ "Fire Berry", "Paradise", "Dragon Fruit", "Tie Dye" ~ The brighter, the better!
I’ll do it- many if not most of the non-Windstone people I deal with are international; and what I want is often outside the US so turnabout is fair play- but it is a major hassle sometimes, as Jennifer et al. said. And on eBay, I usually list the ad as US shipping only to avoid being forced to use their Global shipping, but put in the body of the ad that I’ll ship international but contact me for a quote first.
I’ve had the fussed-about-customs-fees customers, hey that’s your country’s policy and out of my control. The prices can be totally insane- places on the eastern seaboard and Golden Triangle in Canada can be three times closer to me than places in the far western US, but three times more expensive to ship. I’ve also had things (once a Windstone in a trade; that was scary!) take a vacation for a month or 6 weeks in Miami customs on their way out. The worst is the weird package restrictions- do you know you can’t send a big box to Australia, they don’t allow it? That was fun trying to send 2 larger Windstones as reasonably as possible to a customer. If I remember, she ended up spending around $100 just in shipping, and this was several years ago.
I guess it boils down to all the bother and expense for a higher risk of issues not being worth it for many people. And you must mail at a counter, you can’t use those automated mailers in the lobby, so some people may find it impossible to get there when the counters are open.
That is my problem; it is rarely possible for me to get to the post office when the counter is open, and that is the only way to mail internationally. You cannot use the 24-hour kiosk for international shipping.
Wow, I didn’t expect to hear so many concerns about international shipping. I live in Canada so for me pretty much everything I ship is international whether I am dealing with someone in the US or overseas. Most everything I get is from the US and most of my trades are to the US so keep in mind for those of us in Canada and other countries we just have to get used to international shipping. The weird thing I find with shipping from Canada though is it sometimes costs me more to ship across Canada than to ship to the US and I know it’s also cheaper for people from the US to ship here than for me to ship there. For me to get a small package from the US with first class international mail only costs about $15. For me to send a small package to the US with tracked packet mail costs about $20. For me to ship a small package across Canada with regular shipping can cost $20-$25. Also to fill in customs forms whether from here to the US or from the US to here is usually as simple as writing a description and value on a customs form and mark if it’s a gift or not.
So I do not see international shipping as a big deal at all. The only thing I don’t like about it is that Canada Post rarely used to charge customs on anything and in the last year or two I’ve found out they pretty much charge customs on everything now unless it’s marked as a gift and low value like under $60. I have dealt with so many great forum members that are very nice and accommodating with marking packages that way for me since if I do a trade I don’t want to get charged customs twice since I get charged on any package that comes from Windstone and it’s usually around 10% of the value. I have to admit it kind of sucks to see ebay items that don’t ship internationally although I have had some nice sellers agree to ship here after messaging them especially if they didn’t realize what their shipping settings said for Canada. So I realize it can be a a bit of extra work but I have to say I really appreciate everyone out there who is willing to ship to Canada at least if not overseas.
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I’ve shipped internationally, mostly to Canada, some to Australia. The only problems I have had have been packages sitting in customs and the higher cost. I pack my box, weigh and measure it, go to usps.com, enter the address and package weight and size, then click purchase. I fill in the customs information, pay, print, and tape it on the package. There is a post office near my work I can run to over lunch.
As for eBay’s global shipping program- they have quietly stopped requiring you use it. If you root through the account settings, there is a place to select to not use it.
I’ve never sold to an international address on eBay, so I don’t know how well the estimates work.My keyboard is broken. I keep pressing "Escape", but I'm still here.
I also have shipped internationally to Forum members. I always go to the post office anyway, so once you figure out the customs forms it’s not too difficult. However, since it is through the Forum, I am dealing with someone I “know”.
Commentary I have seen on ebay indicates that fraud has been a big problem for some people when shipping internationally. The buyer claims that the package was never received, or the item was broken, and then demands a refund from ebay and gets it. The seller loses out. That’s another reason why many people now only sell/ship in the US or to a few specified countries.
The Global shipping program on eBay is something we’ve talked about here before. I recall many rants, and vowed never to use them myself. I was more interested in the private collector, who sells the odd piece here, and there, and what their reasoning might be. Now that I know the trouble some people have to go to, I see how easy I have it. Like Kim, I only have to fill out a different shipping label…the issue is getting to the post office during their hours of operation.
Wanted: "Dragon Fruit" Male Dragon ~ "Fire Berry", "Paradise", "Dragon Fruit", "Tie Dye" ~ The brighter, the better!
I’d shipped to the UK and there were 2 customs forms there. It depended on the size of the package as to which form to use. But the last couple of years USPS seems to keep changing which form it wants, so it is always, “Here, fill this one out and we’ll see if the computer likes it.” So now it’s usually 2 or 3 forms to fill out before finding the one that makes the computer happy and they all require full names and addresses of the shipper and the recipient. (Size of package no longer seems to matter on which form the computer will like.) Along with item descriptions, weights and values. If you don’t put in the correct value and the package goes lost then they won’t fully cover the item. According to my postal lady if it goes lost with an inaccurate value then it is technically possible that it will void the insurance you paid on it anyhow.
So I will still ship internationally for forum members, but I try to be sure that I explain what will happen if the buyer asks for a lower value to be put on the customs form. And I make a point of packaging the item fully, hauling it the 20 miles to the post office and getting a quote before driving back home to give the buyer the shipping quotes, with and without insurance.
Looking for:
"COSMIC SHIFT DRAGONS and KI-RINS" and the "OCTOPUS TANUKI TEST PAINT #1"I’ve been buying and selling online for years and international shipping has become such a huge hassle. Especially with ebay since my stuff sometimes gets listed on international sites even though I never select that option and clearly state in every listing that I don’t ship internationally. And every. single. time. whenever someone international DID buy something from me they always complained about the shipping cost, which I have no control over. REALLY turned me off to international shipping.
So now if I do ship internationally it’s only lighter, non-fragile items and the people I sell to understand that international shipping from the US is just… expensive.
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