ENOUGH with the "US only" sales. You're busy, you don't want to wait in line, you don't want to fill out forms, you're afraid of foreign bogeymen yadda yadda cry me a river. EVERY Japanese toy that is in your hands was sent to wherever you are by someone who had to wait in line, fill out forms, and trust that the thing would get from A to B.

I'm sick of seeing this growing trend, and there should be a poiicy against it.

+1

Peace out

I completely agree wit you Andy. Besides the US-only trend I am glad I also see a growing trend in Japanese toy companys and artists serving international buyers.

Thanks for sounding out andy, perfectly agree

U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i understand your frustrations if it is something you want,,,,BUT,,,it is up to the seller where they want to send packages.....

for continuity,,i'm moving this topic to the "whatever" section...

Sorry, but I have to agree with Andy wholeheartedly. I have been dealing with this issue since the advent of online trading, and being from north of the 49th parallel, I can't understand to this day how simple borders create such a snag for some folks.

I am not targetting anyone in particular on this board, and in fact, I have not faced too much problem with SB shipping in general. But other sites....grrrrrrrr Considering shipping to Canada is usually the same price, or a buck or two more, and all that plus taxes and surcharges are on the buyer, what's to complain about?

I would have to say that, with the possible exception of Italy, and maybe some countries in SA, the rest of us foreigners have it equally bad when it comes to shipping, i.e. one charge for international, no matter the location.

Phew, all this ranting makes me think I am gonna have a sale. Sell off my entire collection and be done with. Everything is one dollar folks, come and get it!!! (Buyer restrictions: my apartment only )

well played!

sweet. ill take all of your pushead and boogieman toys. (if u even have any) ill leave for the airport in an hour. pm me your addy.

Its true, a seller has the prerogative to restrict a sale to "USA only", however, its hypocritical to want Japanese companies and other collectors to open up international sales while simultaneously limiting ones own sales thread to one country.

Edit: I added 'and other collectors'

This isn't about makers or companies, it's about individual collectors.

There's no grey area here. The practice is flat out wrong.

Of course I agree, after all we're an international board.

The folks who do "US only" sales would, and do, after all, buy stuff they want off this board from other countries.

I agree with you, Andy.

Sure, it's more convenient to ship within your own country... and sure, it's cheaper. But nobody says you can't ask for a few extra bones to offset any additional shipping fees when sending internationally. And I can't think of anybody who can't afford the 2 extra minutes it takes to fill out a customs form.

In my opinion, this is a community... and thusly, we should be giving each other equal opportunity when we are selling things amongst ourselves. I'd be pretty heated if I found someone selling something I've been after for ages... just to find out the only thing keeping me from buying it is the seller's unwillingness to spend a few extra minutes at the post office. Do what you will... but as Andy stated, think about the individual collector.

I agree with you, but people also have to not complain to me because I'll only mail things overseas EMS.

It's expensive, get used to it.

One thing I found humorous was someone here who ran an overseas store and repeatedly charged people $20-30 to ship something to the US and when he asked to buy a bemon from me and I quoted him $35 to ship it to Japan he told me it was too much. (I would have lost $5 on that btw, not to mention the paypal fee hit on the sale).

I don't mind doing it, just be prepared to pay the shipping on it.

Unless it's for a particularly expensive item or a country where packages are known to go missing habitually, I almost always give the option to people overseas (including ppl in the US) between standard air or EMS.

I agree with you Andy, the country you live in shouldn't be a determination, the person should be. I would have no problem shipping something to you, because by all accounts, your an admirable guy. You do a lot for our hobby, and the information you give me every month, makes me feel completely at ease.

When Monstercharm wanted to do the Rose Vampire/Mongolion trade, as soon as he said he was from Guam, I decided I didn't want to do the trade. Was this somehow ethnic stereotyping? Personally I don't feel like it was, there was more than just the area he lives in that made me think twice, but that did weigh in on my decision, because if he was from California, I have a couple contacts out there, that would possibly help me out if a transaction went sour. I have no contacts at all in Guam.

Restrictions shouldn't be tied to a particular country, they should be on a case by case basis.

Also I wont ship internationally on e-bay right now, because my sellers account, is in it's infancy, and paypal makes me wait until the person that's receiving their package leaves a feedback, to receive my money.

Seriously, this is the amount of baby sitting you want on the board?
For a board that doesn't even allow a bad trader etc section because its all "buyer beware" and do your research etc etc.
A policy against USA only? That's just insane.
If someone doesn't want to do it, they can. If they don't post it in the thread because you want some rule, they will just rule out people without telling them why.
As a side note, I've never posted a USA only sale, and have on numerous occasion sent many things abroad and to japan. I just think limiting peoples options of private sales is retarded.

Not looking for baby sitting, just calling attention to something a lot of people feel is wrong. Maybe it won't do any good, but nothing ever happened through inaction either.

BTW, I agree with those who've said the person you're dealing with factors in, though I base that more on participation and contribution (and whether or not I've dealt with them before) than the person's location.

yeah I'd agree with you, but I lost a gorilla jyu in the mail doing standard air. I think I'll just play it safe on my side and make folks pay for EMS.

Well, As someone who is selling "US Only" right now I figured I would speak up. During my last sale(Everyone got the toys) I had a very frustrating time at the post office...

They would not insure anything for over $40. All the figures were more than $40.

I had to argue with 3 people to even get tracking. I was told they can't do that but then they could.

I had to repackage all the figures because I used clear tape instead of a brown paper tape. I can't find any palace that sells this tape but the post said they might have a little I could use. I went and got new box's and packed the figures up but left the box's untaped. I brought the box's back to the post and they gave me crap for not taping them with clear tape first. The fuck!

I need to look into ems and how to use the service. I just feel like it's best not ship overseas until figure how to safely ship overseas.

I personally don't care where I ship, although I prefer the US because its easier of course. When I ship out of the country I give out customs numbers but also make sure to let the buyer know that if anything gets lost in transit I can't be held accountable for it. I think part of the problem is the whole idea of packages getting lost when sent to certain areas of the world. It happens

Some countries you cant even insure packages above a certain amount because the customs and parcel workers are all corrupt, France and Italy being at the top

I know so many people that have had issues with shipping to france.

I don't know how the fuck to ship EMS from the US but would like to know.

Here's the break down with USPS for international buyers. Everytime they want tracking, but no one is aware they only way you're getting tracking is to spend $45 on Express.

Standard airmail- cheap, no tracking no insurance, small easy custom form (Can not print a paypal label)
Priority mail- expensive, no tracking, insurance available, larger more complicated customs form (Can print paypal label, but they never print and then you have to wait 3 weeks for your $30 to be refunded) (Normally between $25-35
Express mail- I've used it once. Even more expensive, the only USPS international method that you can track. (Again can print paypal label, but they never print and then you have to wait 3 weeks for your $ to be refunded) probably $40-50

I ship priority international all the time, as paypal accepts it as a valid form of shipping for items to prove they arrive, and when i type in the customs number, beginning CP ending in US, i get updates as to where the packaged is, for example, i just shipped a painting to France, only because it is a long time customer of mine, sent it priority mail and here is what USPS.com says when i track it.....

CP931796513US
Priority Mail International Parcels
Processed Through Sort Facility
November 10, 2011, 7:51 am
FOREIGN CENTERJERSEY CITY NJ 099
International Parcels
Arrived at Sort Facility
November 10, 2011, 7:50 am
FOREIGN CENTERJERSEY CITY NJ 099
Dispatched to Sort Facility
October 26, 2011, 5:08 pm
BRONX, NY 10464
Acceptance
October 26, 2011, 10:48 am
BRONX, NY 10464

If anyone wants info/advice on how to mail via EMS just let me know. I have no problem helping folks figure it out.

I have no problem with shipping overseas.

However... it costs me about an hour of my time as opposed to 2 minutes for domestic.

Domestic= 2 clicks from paypal & i put on the postage and put it in my mailbox at work

International = 10 minutes to drive to post office + 5 minutes filling out forms + 25 minutes waiting in line at the post office + 10 minutes for the PO worker to figure out what to do because sometimes they're clueless + 10 minutes to drive back home.

If anyone knows of an easier way to ship internationally so I don't have to wait in line.... lmk.

That being said, if Andy wants to buy something from a US only sale... he can just have them ship to me & I'll mail it out to him. I know he'll help me out w/ stuff he has access to.