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I got the following response from UPS Customer Service when I inquired about the brokerage and custom fees:
“Thank you for your inquiry. All products shipped across international borders may be subject to additional brokerage fees, as well as any duties or taxes assessed by the importing country. These fees are generally based on the value of merchandise, description of merchandise, where item was manufactured and where they were shipped.
UPS does not have control over the import fees assessed by the importing countries. For details, please contact the UPS International Customer Service Center toll free within the U.S. at 1-800-782-7892, 24 hours a day.”
So, if USPS has raised their costs enough to equal UPS or even FedEx shipping plus the brokerage fees, which depending on the USPS service it looks like they are certainly very close, especially for the lower value items, but at the higher values >~$40 it looks like the brokerage fees still make UPS quite a bit more per the UPS table of fees…so I guess each item people ship may need to be assessed based on value and destination to truly figure out which method may overall be cheapest. However, as a shipper for a PYO swap though, or even as a buyer for a trade or whatnot, I really don’t like having the fees go to my swapee in any amount, or knowing I may need to be home when the item arrives just so that I can pay more before they will release my already paid for item to me (that feeling of them holding the item hostage that I already paid for would really peeve me to say the least). So knowing I’m paying the full cost of everything up front with USPS is still a big draw for me personally…
Excellent advice indeed! Thank you Everyone!
Now I can almost understand the brokerage fee if you choose to pay more to have it get there faster and maybe with less grief; makes sense that you may pay more for them to have their own dedicated folks to make that happen. AND I don’t know that I’d mind that fee or paying it IF it was part of the shipping costs up front, and only IF it was clearly spelled out as a fee or part of the shipping cost and why the same as the fuel surcharge or the extra services fees!
I am however, now very glad that I at least shipped the item through the local UPS store in person instead of online myself after the forms warning! Those forms are nasty. VERY good advice on the Canada to US brokerage fees too! I’d never expect that and it would be a very nasty surprise; like holding something you’ve already bought and paid for hostage…would generate very unpleasant feelings I’m sure if it wasn’t expected.
I guess now I just need to wait and see what they say and if my poor person in the PYO swap gets stuck with those blasted fees or not!
Boy oh boy am I kicking myself now about choosing UPS instead of USPS as I’d originally planned. 🙁 I just sent an email to UPS actually asking about the brokerage and customs fees because NO ONE told me about them at the UPS store when I shipped the item, its not on the shipping receipt and wasn’t posted anywhere in the store, and I couldn’t find anything about it on their website either. It really doesn’t seem legit that they can charge as much or more in these fees than the shipping itself cost (not to mention the actual item), and given that USPS doesn’t…so it will be interesting to see what they say. I’ll share the response when I get one of course. AND you can bet I’m filling out that customer satisfaction survey! J)
*Update – I did re-check the website and all I could find for fees was a COD fee and fees if you select the extra services. the COD fee is like a doing a reverse charge collect phone call (where receipient has to pay shipping before they will deliver instead of the sender paying it), and some language that seems to imply some level of customs fee may apply if the item’s value is over a certain amount. Supposedly there should be no fees associated with the windstone I mailed, so will be interesting to hear if that is true or not when it arrives next week.*
Holy smokes, I wish I knew about the brokerage fee before I shipped my windstone this morning. I didn’t know which service to use but I have a UPS place right by my apartment so they were easiest…they certainly did not tell me anything about more fees on the other end or I never would have used them of course!
This is why I wanted to put this forum thread out there! I was afraid of something like this…too late to retract and do-over what has already been shipped, so hopefully my recipient doesn’t smack me too hard for screwing that one up. :~
Whoot! Got mine shipped out a little bit ago. It should be there by next Monday…boy am I going to be watching that tracking number like a hawk to make sure he doesn’t go on any unplanned international trips!
It was tougher than I thought to let my first non-foo puppy PYO go out the door, especially since, in spite of all my worries and fretting to the contrary, I think he really turned out pretty swell :bigsmile:.
*Not to mention both my parents really took a liking to my little guy so it was tough to make sure he didn’t ‘accidentally’ dissapear before shipping.*
So here’s hoping my swapee loves him just as much! 😉
Just to get things started, I’ve only done the following so far (no idea if this is the best way to ship until other folks post of course):
1. Going from US to Canada, ( it was going almost completely cross country, but distance between start and end point didn’t seem to effect cost that I could tell though)
2. UPS vis UPS Worldwide Standard,
3. Item was double-boxed Windstone standard style,
4. Item was a mid-sized PYO,
5. Weighed 1.66 lbs with packaging, considered as 2.00 lbs billable,
6. Outermost box dimensions roughly 9x9x9,
7. Base shipping cost already included $100 insurance and online tracking
8. I did not add on additional insurance or delivery signature/confirmation
9. They asked questions like;
a. “Made in the USA; Yes or No”,
b. Recieving person’s address and phone number,
c. Value of the item,
d. Description of item, and
e. “Receipient related to me; Yes or No”.
10. I had to give them my phone number since I didn’t have the other forum person’s number, said Yes to made in USA, I had the item valued at $50, and described it as a “painted ceramic X” (x = sculpt type). I told them no to the relation question…[I’ve no idea how much a difference my answers will have on the receipient or customs though…]
11. Expected arrival date was 1 week from date of shipping,
8. Base ship cost was $23.45, and after fuel charges and fees, overall total cost was $25.29.
12. Overall the actual experience of working with UPS to ship was exceedingly pleasant, fast, and VERY easy. They had all the shipping supplies on hand including peanuts to double-box the item if needed (I had some), and the cost of their box which I used as my outer box was less than $3, and it was a sturdy box which they taped for free (which is more than USPS would do for me when I shipped my foo puppy PYO for that swap).NOTE: Within the US, I’ve noticed the cheapest and sometimes the fastest way to ship smaller Windstones is typically with USPS than Fedex, but when the weight goes up, it became cheaper and just as fast to use Fedex or UPS.
I agree with pretty much everyone else. Buyers will always set criteria based on their needs and interests, but given how tough it already is to determine if something is truly missing a tag vs never had one, or in the case of my lavender young oriental, the tag was in his box but not attached to him from the moment he arrived…tags are an unecessary complication that don’t really add or detract to the value of a Windstone except to the extreme collector typically (NOTE: I would recommend AGAINST removing tags from any that are sclupts or colors that are considered/classified as rare, ebay, artist, or even LP or gbb pieces, esp. if you’ve valued the collection for insurance, or think you may someday want to sell for max possible value). Not having tags to start with is very OK with me since they didn’t have tags when I first started collecting either!
I only care about a tag as a buyer/trader if it helps prove the sculpt is both Windstone and ‘real’ and/or because the presence and condition of the tag can also be a good indicator at times of a piece’s overall condition, past treatment/storage environment, and general age for some sculpts, like most of the original white dragons.
I will note that all my pieces will continue to keep their tags when present, and I will continue to keep them pristine condition same as the sculpt itself just because I personally prefer keeping my collectible treasures in the same condition they were in when I bought them, plus I did find it helpful to be able to say they were in mint from factory condition when I had to value the pieces for home insurance coverage.
WAY YES YES YES!!!! **jumping and writhing with joy** :love:
I love the more natural colorations and safari patterns that have been done in the past! Natural with just a few touches of fantasy would also be pretty awesome given how amazing Melody’s work is!
I finally got my first gbb uni! And of course, just like with my one and only gbb poad I was lucky enough to get, he was also delivered during one of the only weekends where I’ve left town in months! It was killer to get the delivery confirmation notice and still not be able to open him for several more days. 😛
But, thanks to Hannah’s awesome help!!! Here he is, in all his pretty pretty glory!
It doesn’t show well in the photos, but his base is black with that invisible sparkly paint, he has metallic yellow/gold eyes, an amethyst jewel, a silver blaze on his nose, and his leaf shades from a dark purply blue and silver into gold and then a bronzy copper near the end. He’s very elegantly colored and sooo gorgeous!
Hannah, again, please use whatever pictures you like for your website! Thank you so much for helping me post the photos!!! 🙂
I think I’m in the minority, but I like evenly distributed medium-heavy patina, a moderate amount of violet, dark antiquing between the scales, and teal eyes.
To me, that 3rd OW looks *perfect*.
Totally with you on this one! 😀
AGREE! Although patina amount depends on location for me.
Guess after reading all the back and forth I may as well toss my two cents in the ring. 🙂
I have no issues AT ALL with the idea of auctioning off 5 of the gbb unis and I don’t particularly care if its five out of the class photo shown before or after. I have no doubt I wouldn’t win one in auction even if I tried…but it would be fun and interesting to see how it turns out. Although, I would think it a very nice gesture (NOT required, courtesy of their own volition ONLY) if the auction winners would consider restraining themselves from buying a gbb when they hit the general store for sale to the non-auction winners…I think the same person can win all 5 auctions if they are willing to pay the most in each since the point of the auctions is to maximize the money to pay for the new equipment vs. fair distribution of the opportunity to pre-select a gbb.
I certainly am not concerned about Windstone trying something new which is not even being proposed as long-term or constant event, and even if it was I would still greatly prefer that over raising the price of the gbbs overall if it comes down to it!
Like most have stated, it typically takes some pretty deep pockets and a lot of luck to be able to buy one of Melody’s custom pieces off ebay or the special section, so I love the gbb for the opportunities, no matter how crazy, they provide the rest of us so that we too can obtain one of Melody’s amazing custom pieces! Not to mention its also in a sculpt size and price range that is still at this time within reach for most folks with a bit of planning and budgeting. Much higher than the current gbb price and it does start to get cost-prohibitive for most people when you start thinking about what else you can buy or pay off or for with that same amount of money…
I never peruse the facebook photos, videos, or class photo searching out what my rabid favorites should be just based on the photos because we all know how tough it is to really photograph Windstones, and Melody’s work is always gorgeous, especially when seen in person! I have only ever been successful in winning one gbb out of the last several batches, and I love my poad!!!! Absolutely love him! But he was certainly not in my top twenty list of favorites based purely on the photos (I didn’t dislike him, he just isn’t nearly as eye-catching or charming in a photo as he is in person), and he is not one of those select few that anyone else, much less several others, have stated they rabidly desire either so he is certainly not one that would resell for more than I paid, much less double or triple his cost. One of the features I love most about the gbb is that you have no clue until you open the box, so its completely up to fate. So I figure whatever comes to me in a gbb if I am lucky enough to get one was fated to be in my Windstone family! 🙂
As for this particular batch and the auction idea, just to get back on track here, I don’t know who all has watched the video Melody posted tonight of the gbbs coming out, but every time she set a new one down in front of the camera I drooled more and more!!! Even that ‘ugly appaloosa’ that Melody didn’t mind ‘ruining’ with zombie eyes *lol* was pretty spectacular to me at least since I don’t own a gbb uni and I like the appaloosa coloring. So as Pam said, there didn’t appear to be more than a couple of particularly unique ones in this gbb batch, so unless those are the only 1 or 2 you are interested in, you can’t possibly be dissapointed with the extensive and amazing choices that would remain in this class of gbb even after 5 are pulled…and frankly, your odds are 1:140 for a singular favorite, so lets be real here, most people won’t take the risk of buying a gbb if they dislike the vast majority of the choices unless they are feeling insanely lucky or pinning their hopes on a trade, and think about this, what if Pam hadn’t said anything and 5 custom unis just appeared on Ebay or in the special section, and the gbb class photo only contained 135? Would you still have noticed/cared or been concerned if they had just done it without asking for our opinions first?…just sayin’…a little food for thought maybe.
