I've been a bit inactive on the forum for the past couple of years, but I'll be selling some stuff fairly soon, and I know there are a lot of folks who live overseas who might like to get in on the action. Previously I have found it a hassle to sell to non-US customers and have had some negative experience with certain countries--things not showing up, stuff like that. I always felt that anyone who's been active here for a while would have established a relationship with someone in the States who could mail to them, so that's been my policy--to ship domestic mail only. But maybe that's not so. Maybe selling directly overseas is more fair. If you're a newbie, I'm not gonna do it. If you've been posting for a while and I can check a reference, sure.

SO:

What's the best way to ship overseas? I think international USPS is way too expensive for a $40 toy, but maybe not so much for a more expensive item or combo. On the other hand, I don't want things hung up in transit for a month, either. And I don't want to have to pay for something which "didn't arrive" or can't be tracked or insured. How are you guys doing it these days?

(Not sure who reads this thread, but if I don't get any response here, I'll re-post in the For Sale forum where everyone and his fifth cousin twice removed seems to weigh in, probably since it's one of the most important venues on the site.)

Help me help you get the little guys to the homes they deserve.

Thanks.

~Z

unfortunately, in order to protect yourself, the only way is to ship USPS Express. Paypal wants the tracking number that is only available via express.

Thanks, Joe. I was afraid that might be so. It's really pricey.

oh yea it's outrageous, typically about $40 and the insurance that comes with it for "free" only covers about $65 so if you are shipping something more expensive you'll need to add to it. If you can get someone to gift the payment, first class would then be the best option.

For a $40 toy it is not even worth it, Express mail to overseas went sky high to about $50 for up to a pound package, that’s crazy. If the buyer doesn’t mind for you send package by regular mail on his/her own risk then that would be your best option, otherwise I would stay away to ship overseas.

I know I speak for my fellow Canadians (or at least for petitetoilonrouge and myself) when I say that First Class Mail International to Canada is a very safe and affordable option.

I've never had a package go missing and I buy from this board often. It comes to just a few bucks more than shipping domestic in the USA.

Sidetrack: It bums me out when sellers lump Canucks with the overseas market when it comes to charging for shipping or deciding whether to ship. Don't neglect your neighbours ; )

That would work assuming everyone is 100% honest. I'd say 99.99% are, but you know how it works. If something doesn't show up, responsible or not, the buyer can file a complaint with PayPal and PayPal will award it to him without a tracking number. I gotta go with Slack on this one.

May not even be an issue, except I had offers from Australia and France on my last sale which was not even a "standard" sale, me offering stuff locally and not listing the items. Next up will be a legit pic and description sale and I know from experience there's gonna be a lot of people overseas pleading with me.

So, probably I'll have to stipulate international express for overseas. Wish it could be otherwise.

^moody, it's not that the shipping to canada is outrageous, but the hassle of having to go to the post, fill out the forms and do everything there simply sucks balls.
so for the time it takes to mail a package to canada, you could just as well have sent it to china.

I'll second what Moody said. I know USPS has raised its rates lately, but used to be at least that the prices were on par or only slightly more than inside the US. I always ask for this route if it is possible. I have had to pay 30$ to ship a box that could have been done for 5$. And I would add that, for the most part, folks on here are honest types, and if by chance some untowards stuff does happen, they are soon outed and I would hope that that kind of ostrification makes at least some questionable people second guess dishonest behaviour.

As for what Chris said, I guess I can understand, but you have to realise that is the norm for everyone else, and we all do it.

I know about Canada, man. You notice I said "overseas" not "foreign. You want something from my sale and you live in Canada, no problem. Mexico, on the other hand....

P.S. I don't mind the filling out of forms. It's the financial liability which has me worried.

Except I won't sell to Jerzy777 who lives in Canada under any circumstances. Just sayin' in case he's following.

If the buyer is willing to pay the actual shipping cost for Express Mail to his country then I don’t see any problem here, you need to stipulate on your sell thread that express (EMS) is the only shipping method for you to ship overseas and that buyer is responsible for the actual shipping. You always can check rates online.
Aslo with Express shiping you can print label online which will save you some time in the PO

Italy is a hassle. Took a package over a month to get there.
Australia is one of the most expensive, but never had problems.
Turkey likes to rip apart toys

Besides the US, Sweden and Japan get there the fastest and with no problems.

I always ship 1st class and never had problems, except with 1 scammer and paypal gave me my money with no tracking.

Just to vouch for shipping all the way down here.

I've purchased and sold at least 20+ packages in the past through the board and everything has been around $10-15 USD to ship down here to New Zealand which is pretty much the other side of the world. (USPS)

What type of USPS service, and how much weight involved?

I thought EMS was a foreign service. Where do you drop off EMS packages for mailing in the US? When I look it up online I get sites in foreign languages. Can you give me a URL?

I dealt with some heavy international BS last year and after digging around and talking to some people at ebay and paypal a customs number will serve the purpose of a tracking number in any dispute

Well, that does simply the issue! Thanks for sharing that, although "heavy international BS" is really what I'm trying to avoid to begin with. We'll see how it goes. Sale will go up around end of March, so plenty of time to figure out strategy.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I think I've got a handle on it now.

~Z

a customs number is worthless, good luck trying to track a package with that. For the longest time I was shipping internationally via Priority Mail because it came with some insurance included but I was also adding insurance to cover the full amount when necessary. After talking with several paypal employees I found out that I was throwing my money away because you still could not truly track a Priority Mail package. This is when I found out the only way to cover your ass was by going Express because it's the only option to have real tracking.

Man, the more I hear, the less likely I am to sell internationally (except to Canada) unless someone wants to pay for express international. I know if I post that when I do sell, I'll get flamed, but what can you do. It won't have been the first time.

you are correct that tracking and confirmation are 2 differant things, with a customs number you will usually get the same results though for example package accepted 12/12 package at customs12/20 package delivered 12/30 etc. I am pretty sure the only criteria you need to keep yourself safe is to show the package has left your hands and if it has arrived yet, I am pretty sure ebay/paypal will not screw you over for the postal systems errors

^ while paypal seems to allow a customs form number to be input in lieu of a tracking number, i have never seen a package's status updated once it is outside of the country. for me, it always ends at the border.

I live in Sweden and I've bought 100+ packages of toys, books, comics, music equipment etc from the US. Almost all of these packages have been sent via USPS First Class Mail International. All of them have arrived here quick and safe. I've also sold and shipped lots of stuff from Sweden with first class mail to many countries around the world. I've ran into trouble two times, and this was when sending stuff to Italy and France. Both these packages took almost a month to arrive to their destinations. Fortunately they did arrive.

USPS First Class Mail International, not sure on weight.. maybe the weight of 2-3 midsized pieces of vinyl if that helps.