posted on August 15, 2000 08:51:24 PM new
I'm starting to do some International shipping. How do most of you sellers ship? Do you insure it, register it? I would like to give my customers a fair price, but I want to be safe to. I just got the price today to ship (1) small toy animal, in a small a box as I could find, and the shipping on it is $10.80!(Registered). This seems awful steep to me! Any suggestions?
posted on August 15, 2000 09:43:35 PM newHi smw..Thank you for your response. I forgot the weight of it, but it was a really small box. I'm shipping it to the United Kingdom.
posted on August 15, 2000 09:55:34 PM new
Also, when you register it you have to put white tape all across the seams. A roll of that tape here, is $2.25. I think the Post Office should furnish it for free!
posted on August 16, 2000 01:18:02 AM new
Give all the options to the buyer, and let him decide what he wants to pay for. International buyers will often skip insurance and registration, but spend the money on expensive airmail postage instead, so they will get it sooner.
You should also offer BidPay and I-Escrow as payment options, unless you have a merchant account that takes internationally-issued credit cards. Just remember that you don't get paid by I-Escrow until AFTER the package arrives and the buyer has approved the merchandise, so only offer it if the buyer is willing to pay for insured airmail postage with confirmation. Otherwise, you could have to wait 2-3 months to be paid.
posted on August 16, 2000 03:50:24 AM new
On toys I give the buyer the choice of bubble wrap and brown paper , If I ship in a box it cost alot more, also see if express service will be cheaper sometimes it is ( not often)
posted on August 16, 2000 07:04:17 AM newHi granee Is it safe to send a package (internationally) without it being registered, or insured? Do you always offer these options? I do use BidPay, but not I-Escrow. A buyer of mine wanted to use i-Escrow one time, and it was going to cost him around $50 for a $60 item.
Hi akt What do you mean by bubble wrap, or brown paper? Sorry to sound so ignorant here. Could you ship a beanie baby that way?
posted on August 16, 2000 07:39:06 AM new
Hi, I use regular bubble wrap and I buy the brown shipping paper ( or you can use a paper gro. bag) but if the item has tags that could get messed up I do not know if I would ship this way, but for plush animals, action figures, I offer to ship this way it saves bidder between $1-$2 in the U.S. I shipped a plush animal to UK this way in a box it was going to cost around $10, but in the bubble wrap it was around $5, check with your post office on the rates most of the time I take the item to be shipped and let them give me a price both ways and then email bidder and tell them both prices.
posted on August 16, 2000 07:44:43 AM new
bopkh - we ship international very frequently and I have never registered a package and only insured one because the
customer requested it. To date we have never had anything lost or damaged although we did have a box sent AIR (should take about a week) in November arrive in February ONCE. This would be out of perhaps 100 parcels.
On the insurance, if you have ever collected or tried to collect insurance on a domestic package it it labor intensive and a pain.
On international, I would not be surprised it if took the rest of my life to collect so I would never suggest it to a buyer, because
I think it gives a false security.
You will find the people making purchases via Internet auctions around the world are quite savvy and know they are taking a risk. They send the money - you ship the thing. Offer Air or Surface or Global Priority if
applicable and get the rates here:
posted on August 16, 2000 12:13:20 PM new
Small packet air is much less expensive than any of the insured options. I would say that this is the option my international customers most frequently request.
I sell low-dollar items. If the customer thinks it's worth it to pay more in airmail costs than they paid for the item, that's their business as perhaps it's an item that isn't readily available where they are. In my opinion they should be given the option of whether they want to pay for an insured shipping method or not. Most don't want to, as it is prohibitively expensive. For a beanie baby that costs a few bucks it isn't simply isn't worth paying for insurance.
I'd like to add that so far my international dealings have happened only in Europe, Australia, & Canada. I'll admit I'd be nervous to send something uninsured to, say, Panama. I'd do it though if that was what a customer wanted.
VeryModern raises an excellent point- it must be a nightmare trying to collect insurance on an item that was lost internationally.
posted on August 16, 2000 12:22:36 PM newCAgrrl..Thank you for the advice. I think I will start takeing everyones suggestion, and not have them pay for insurance or registering it, (unless they want it). I was just concerned that they might say they never received the item(s). I love this board, I wish I had found it a long time ago. Everyone here has been so helpful to me..
Always check the different rates at the USPS website before quoting to the buyer, because they don't always make sense. Book rate surface and airmail (not insurable internationally), usually the cheapest rates, can be more expensive than parcel surface and parcel airmail at higher weight levels, and global priority envelopes can be a better deal in some instances.
I always OFFER to send the package any way the buyer wants, including insurance or registration. Collecting on insurance claims is a hassle, but I don't really think it's MY decision to make; and registered packages are treated better and have to be signed for, so are less likely to get lost or stolen. My international buyers seldom pay for either one, but they DO often register letters they send to me that contain cash (often easier and cheaper for them to send than international money orders or cashier's checks). They know the risks, but are buying things they can't purchase in their own countries (at least, not at these prices). I haven't had ANY international packages I've sent get lost or damaged (just slooooow shipments), but a few international cash payments sent to me have failed to make it here (assuming they actually were sent).
I-Escrow is something of an inconvenience for the seller and usually makes the total purchase more expensive for the international buyer, but I won't refuse a customer's request to use it. It's a TRUST issue. Escrow (or COD) is the only way the buyer can be certain of (1) receiving and (2) approving his merchandise with the ASSURANCE that he can get his money back if (1) the item never arrives or (2) the item is damaged or not as described. It's a smart way to pay for all high-dollar online auction purchases, considering the prevalence of fraud now, unless you have complete confidence in the person you're buying from. On international shipments, I require I-Escrow purchases to be: insured (so I can collect if it's damaged or lost); go airmail (so I don't have to wait months to be paid); and with some sort of delivery confirmation (required by I-Escrow).
When you open your auctions up to international buyers, you'll find more bidding and higher prices. Good luck!
Could you ship a beanie baby that way?
