International Shipping. Do you? Dont you? Why? How?

[Maniah]

So.. I read the horror story in the Nirvana section about the Venezuela ponies that got ripped up in Italy's customs..

My post office guy explained to me today how there was no way to track my packages once they ship, unless I use priority mail.. Which would have upped the price from $2 to $30 on shipping for a $3 auction.

He also said I cannot put insurance on international packages. Im not sure if I maybe misunderstood that?

So.. When you ship items, be it trades here or Ebay sales, do you offer to ship internationally?

If you do, how do you do it? Do you always choose the cheapest option?

Do you make priority shipping mandatory so it can be tracked?

Do you put disclaimers on your auction stating that you are not responsible for what happens once it leaves the country?

Tell me all your little tips and such for how you deal with international shipping. I have never done it before, and now I have about ten packages going out internationally, and it has me sick with worry.

[Glacia471]

I've never had an issue sending regular First Class, but at the same time I don't think I've ever sent to Italy before. I make sure to label the contents as "toy horse" or something on the customs form, and use stupid amounts of packing tape on boxes Make sure that both addresses on the parcel are very easy to read too, and tape over it if necessary to make sure it stays readable.

If a buyer asks for Priority, then I'll send it Priority, but I generally don't mention it as many people don't want to pay the high costs I do know that Priority comes with a certain level of insurance, but I don't recall how much. I also keep my custom forms and receipts until they let me know that their package has arrived just in case something goes wrong. There is no tracking for First Class parcels, but I believe that they can look up the number on the customs form to get an idea of where it is.

[hathorcat]

In all honestly yes - for the moment - I will still ship international [there are a couple of countries I try to avoid though...Mexico being one I have posted there 3 times, twice it took 8 weeks and the third it never arrived but I think thats just my little run of bad luck rather than anything against Mexico!]

My problem is being put off shipping in general! i.e. I am getting to the stage of worrying about selling to anyone I dont know or trust

The reason is this - the amount of buyers [and this is geared mainly at ebay] who seem to have no problem buying an item, refusing insurance or not asking for insurance and then if the pony goes genuinely missing they dont enter into a "this is terrible can we meet some where on this" discussion they just assume the right to have all their money back meaning the seller is out pony and money...I dont like the fact this "buyer innocent, seller guilty" system is being misused or overused...I understand that a buyer should not be completely out of pocket, but I kind of miss the days where most transactions if something happened would be discussed - the result of this may be that the seller does completely refund the buyer but it seems a blame culture in paypal/ebay at the moment which makes trusting any post [whether domestic or international] tension building!!!

Therefore, I honestly am swaying between insisting on insurance on every single sale or instead restricting myself to Arena peeps I know...

Sad but true...I think its just fear at the moment more than anything else for me!

[Stormy31685]

Maniah,

     No matter where you ship to or when - it is always a gamble.  However, the percentage of parcels that actually go missing is extremely small.  I have never had an issue shipping to Italy, First Class, Priority, or Express.

As for Tracking, the tracking number provided when you ship USPS First Class, is trackable outside the USA Border.  It is not trackable within other countries, as I believe each parcel is issued a new tracking number when it gets to customs. 

These tracking numbers for First Class International, used to track to delivery...

[Maniah]

Hmm.. My post office told me that when the package passes the border, that the tracking number attached to the customs slip no longer acts as a tracking number and I cannot follow it on the website any longer. But they will still be able to track it from their computers then?

[NoDivision]

the number on the customs slip is not a tracking number so much as a "if you make a really big fuss someone at the post office can use that number to see if the package got to the destination country" number. But it's not specified to be used for tracking, and will not update out of the country.

when I sell on ebay I require priority shipping for international buyers. On the arena I usually just use first class. I've never had anything go missing or go wrong, and never had anything coming to me go missing or go wrong.

Also, as far as the receiving countries customs agents gonig through packages, that can happen regardless of what postage method you use. That's just an accepted risk of shipping internationally. And a risk that people BUYING internationally should be aware of. It is never, ever the sellers responsibility if the receiving party has to pay customs fees or has something happen in the customs department. That is well out of the sellers hands.

[hokuspokus]

Hm, i do always ship priority, but it's not tracable. The Netherlands are sooo expensive when it comes to shipping; without tracing code a package to USA is €17,10 ($22.80). I'm lucky we got old stamps that make international shipping a bit cheaper When i offer a tracing on the package it will get more expensive, so mosly i offer the cheapest and if someone want tracking they can just ask me. Luckily, there was nothing lost so far.

[Ringlets]

I ship internationally very often and I have no problem shipping worldwide  TBH  in all the years I've bought and sold stuff all over the world - literally thousands of parcels - I've only had a handful of parcels go missing, and most of those were not going to countries where there are known to be issues with customs sometimes. Dont stress - most of the time there will not be any problems
  I normally just send first class/ normal airmail TBH (unless its an expensive item, then I will send it with tracking etc,)  but thats mainly because here in the UK we are already insured up to £46 without paying extra for tracking etc, and we can claim our money back with just a PO receipt and the ebay details.  its different in the US I know, so you might prefer to send priority with delivery confirmation to ebay customers, so that you have a bit more protection     
 I always package the parcel so that its "postie-proof" - that means packing the item securely, and using a ton of extra tape to totally seal the parcel up -incase any water etc gets on it, so that a postie cant easily open it and take what is inside, and  so that if its handled roughly it wont rip open.
One thing to be aware of on ebay  is that they will almost always side with the buyer, so even if you say in your listing that you are not responsible for missing or damaged parcels, if the buyer opens a case, you will still have to refund them     You are not responsible for any  customs fees the buyer may have to pay though
 Always keep your PO receipt whatever method you choose to ship by  
Parcels do occassionally  go missing or get damaged, but it doesnt happen that often, so try not to worry about your international sales

[Maniah]

So let me pose this question to you folks..

What have you done when something went missing?

What would you do, if it hasn't happened to you?

[SoSilver]

Hi^_^
The package was trashed by the Venezuelan custom^_^

If you have to ship to Italy consider that if you send it with first class it could take from 2 weeks to 2 months and it's not trackable at all.
If you use Priority it will take about ten days and most of the time is fully trackable with the shipment number (only once i had a problem with tracking number).
If you choose Express it will be fully trackable and it will take about a week.

Hugs.

[ponylady]

So let me pose this question to you folks..

What have you done when something went missing?

What would you do, if it hasn't happened to you?

I have shipped a great deal of packages overseas and have had honestly one or two problems with things going missing, it's not really all that common.  So I wouldn't worry.  I am not saying it does not happen but it's more likely not to.

Ebay actually has some really good info on their site on how to handle returns or missing packages.  I know I did alot of reading on the subject before I started selling overseas.  But in all honesty it's just about as simple as shipping within the US.

It seems scary at first but you will get the hang of it and it will start to not even cross your mind.   

[NoDivision]

One thing this forum does is tends to make it seem like packages go missing all the time, because this forum is a place to post when something has gone wrong. But if everyone posted every time a package was succesfully mailed to the destination people would see that the instances of loss are really very few and far between.

Still, there are people who take advantage of the fact that packages occasionally go missing. Especially on ebay. People claim that packages go missing at a much higher rate than in probably likely, and if you'res hippnig internationally with no tracking they know you will have to refund them because ebay will always take their side. This is why I no lnoger ship internationally from ebay with any method less than priority. On the arena, however, I generally think it is easier to come to an arrangment with someone if something genuinely does go missing.

[Alexia]

I ship internationally all the time and I haven't had any package go missing but I have had some ripped apart and some take over 2 months to arrive.

I do swear that the people at the post office change the rules as they feel like it. I had a small package going to Ireland (i think) that I wanted to send priority to make sure it arrived quickly and they wouldn't let me, said it had to go slower mail.

Then only a couple of months ago, I shipped to NZ a very pricey package, though small. I said I wanted delivery confirmation/tracking and was told that it had to be registered mail. Fine with me, I said registered mail, priority then. They proceeded to tell me that you can only sell registered mail the slower way. I figured ok, fine as long as I can track it.  Then they told me the clear packing tape I used wasn't allowed for this method and made me remove all the tape on the package, use their nasty brown paper tape and re-address everything.

I think a lot of the problem is the employees have no clue what is going on, every time I go to ship I am told I have the wrong form, even though it was the one I was told to use the time before. Soooo Frustrating but worth it to be able to get those ponies overseas.

[diana_arcuri]

I live in Mexico and of course, all my shippings are international =) 

As a buyer:

I agree with hathorcat, that in Mexico's borders many stuff gets lost easily (when shipping items from other places to this country)
I don't purchase stuff on the internet anymore. Took me like 2 packages missing from the UK (from a lovely my little pony store I found, wich had great offers and stuff), where I lost my money and never got the ponies =(  and sadly the shipping was also expensive and never heard back from the sellers (because insurance wasn't included on the price).
Also I've purchased some stuff from ebay and other sites from USA, wich have never arrived either.

So, for new purchases, mostly for g3 baits, I have to wait til somebody sells a big lot of baits and see how much priority shipping costs, or at least something with a good tracking number and that I know it is insured.  Of course, it makes the price go higher =/     So it takes me around a year to re-stock baits T_T

As a SELLER:

I sell custom ponies , drawings and paintings.  As a seller, I've only had 1 item lost during my like 5 years of selling stuff.  But, this time was an original ACEO painting, wich had free regular shipping with option for the buyer to get the registered mail option.  Buyer didn't want it. Item got lost and then there was the buyer claiming that she wanted a new item =/  .  I didn't agree with it, because she had the option and knew the dangers.

When shipping stuff from Mexico, you get lectured from the staff that you have to send packages with the registered mail option. If not, you have like 99% chances of loosing it.  So, after this, and after many happy customers during all this years using this service, I chose to include registered shipping in all my prices.  From Mexico, Registered is cheaper.  And if you protect your package well, it will arrive safe =)

I've shipped to New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, UK, Honduras, Germany, UK, Italy and other countries without bigger problems (mostly caused by mistakes when packaging when I was new to this).  Italy hasn't been a problem for me so far, but I've heard horrifying stories about items getting damaged by the customs office, and seen a lot of sellers who decline all purchases that require the item being shipped to Italy. It hasn't been my case so far.   The only problem when shipping to Germany once was because the box whas held by customs, my client went to see what happened and when she came back she let me know that they just wanted to make a fuzz about the custom pony I sent. She solved this without problems claiming that it was just a toy.

With all this experience (and what's left as long as I sell stuff)  I feel fine with mi choice of including registered shipping with my packages. This goes out from my pocket, but it will guarantee a bit more the safe arrival of the package to its destiny, and of course, to guarantee that the quality of my own work will be excellent when the buyer opens the box  =)

[ButtercreamDream]

I've sent over 300 parcels, and only one (coming from Canada to the US) went missing, and it was sent with tracking and delivery confirmation.  It's a gamble. no matter what you do.  Everything through Canada post has insurance for loss (not breakage), so I just make sure I package everything well.

It's a different story when you ship through ebay, though, because you have to worry about paypal chargebacks.