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I very nearly bought a lovely razor off EBay that I've been after for a little while... Until I saw the postage costs! The postage cost from US to UK was $45. That almost doubles the cost of the razor. Numerous other sellers put their postage costs between $15 to $20 which I would, and have been in the past, be happy to pay.
$45 postage seems very high to me. Why so expensive?
The seller may even be on this forum. He/She may recognise the item from the postage cost.
Your thoughts?
what was the item. it must have been an elephant. i'd really like to see it.
I'm probably gonna regret saying what the item is, as I'm gonna be drawing attention to it, but then with the postage cost so high, I'm not going to buy it anyway! It's a Boker 1056. I think the razor is a reasonable price, but can't help thinking the postage is a rip off and only so high to make the seller a few extra $s.Quote:
Originally Posted by rhensley
Hi Wayne many sellers including myself will only send international tracked and signed for this does tend to knock the shipping cost up dramatically, and If you send Express priority then $43 dollars is about right, and I do agree with you this will instantly stop many from bidding on an item, but If it's a high quality desirable razor then many like the fact they can track and sign for their item.
Would the shipping method have been by EBay's Global Shipping option by any chance? That would explain a lot if it was.
Bob
The seller is offering priority mail international only which runs officially a few bucks less so he's correct in his shipping cost.
And that's me told!! :nono: I hang my head in shame!
that is still crazy , I have packages coming from Sweden , tracked ( not insured) and it cost me $18,
I had a strop from Canada ( a lot closer) it was $16 , and hones from Germany that cost $10 with tracking ... I wouldn't think that insurance would double the shipping cost !! of course I don't know but it does sound silly ..
International shipping from US with tracking can only be done with express mail now, that is expensive. Priority mail is a a little less and does not come with insurance or tracking. Priority mail is also useless out of US as that service is only offered by USPS and not by any other foreign postal service AFAIK. Basically it is a bit of an extortion in my eyes: "if you want tracking/insurance, get express mail" . Those hign shipping fees have prevented me from selling some items abroad, people just would not pay for the shipping.
Wayne If you were sending the other way around UK to the USA then you would be looking at tracked from end to end and signed for for under 20 dollars USA shipping is much more expensive for what ever reason.
If it was Global Shipping program it would have been around $80 or more.
You really need to check shipping whenever you bid on something. Complaining afterwards is too late.
Shipping is getting increasingly expensive and overseas will soon be prohibitive unless you want to take a chance with low priority and hope it gets there.
Interestingly enough but the last dozen of plain priority mail flat rate boxes ($23.50), advertised on the USPS web site as 'No Tracking', have all had tracking and final delivery status. I've been scratching my head on this one. Even the few cheapest 'First Class Mail' I send had tracking until the end. They were all shipped to Belgium, UK, Switzerland, France and Sweden. As a side note I had one customer pay the extra $50.00+ for the Express int. and we were both in fear as nothing got tracked the week it was underway with no updates whatsoever. Only when it got delivered in Holland was the tracking updated.
I think that's something that may happen but USPS does not guarantee that it will. Basically there's a customs label with a number that can be scanned and entered into the various mail systems as the package travels, but they aren't obligated to do it. With real tracking USPS has agreements with those other postal services on their responsibility to do it and liability if they fail to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximilian
Even if it doesn't show publicly as long as you've paid for tracking they are responsible to provide it upon request and if they fail to do you should be able to get back some amount of money.
I asked my friendly postal clerk awhile back about tracking and tracking. Apparently USPS puts a tracking number on all packages for their internal use. If you want to follow the package you pay for tracking and get the tracking number on your receipt.
all I know is EVERY SINGLE TIME I ship something out of the U.S. it has been stuck in customs and a few times in Canada the buyer had to cover additional cost ( I don't remember what they were ) to get there packages so I stopped doing it ..
i suppose I'll just have to keep my eyes open for a 1056 for sale in UK or Europe. $45, or £30 for insured/tracked mail for something as small as a razor is extortionate! :td
When an item is shipped into a country (any country) it is subject to customs duty which varies by country and item. There are a few duty free zones in the world.
Countries get big monies by customs duty and most countries are very aggressive about collecting it. The U.S is pretty soft on it though. Commercial shippers have brokerage houses that take care of all that and if you ship with Fedex, UPS or DHL you will pay duty and fees. With USPS it's a matter of luck and that varies by what country it comes from and how busy Customs is and whether they are have a blitz at the time.
There are international treaties covering the mvmt of international mail and if a country is a signatory they have to meet minimum standards. However some postal services are terrible. The U.S has the best in the world followed by Germany and most of the Northern European Countries and Japan too. If you send to a place like Italy and you have no tracking or insurance well.....it may show up some day or it may not.
Not to mention 20% VAT and £8 handling fees for anything over £15.Quote:
Originally Posted by wayne394
I did just order a 30/60x loupe for £2.89 shipped on ebay from china though.
All the best stuff I want is from US :aargh:
I have an interesting story. I'm young and dumb, had no clue about duties and what not. I've order items from japan all the time, and have never been forced to pay to get my package. Harrywally is making me a brush, and I supplied the materials. The knot is a 28mm High Mountain White. Not cheap, so I declared it's value in case the package was lost en route to Canada from the US. He had to pay 63$ US just to pick it up! So my 30$ to ship ups and his 68$ to claim it ended up costing me 100$ just to send him the wood and knot! Let's just say Andrew is a really good guy, and I learned a valuable lesson in global shipping!
Ordering from Japan is hit or miss with me, I would guess that 2/3 of the time no custom charges. US I pay custom charges 100% of the time.
Never ship anything to Canada via UPS or any other courier or you get that result. There are a few threads about that on here somewhere. Sorry you had to find out the hard way. I did too about 30 years ago when I ordered something from the US and had them ship it UPS. Never used UPS that way again.Quote:
Originally Posted by prodigy
Bob
It was a frustrating day, the guy working at the usps had to have been hired that day. He kept trying to sell me the most expensive options, even after I expressly wanted to use the cheapest method. So after realizing it would cost 60$ to ship with tracking I went to ups. Hard way to learn a lesson, but at least it won't happen again with a more expensive package!
Quote:
Originally Posted by celticcrusader
This. I have purchased non-related items off of folks in the past. $45.00 is not unusual even shipping US to CANADA. It is the cost to insure, track, and secure the package shipped. IF I were to purchase a W&B off a vendor here (or the Bay for that matter), I would not balk at anything below $50.00 for shipping, but I WOULD question someone offering shipping for dirt cheap. If someone is charging $10.00 for shipping, how are they packaging that precious cargo? Is it in a box, or are they licking an envelope and trusting to luck? YMMV, but in my eyes, you get what you pay for in this regard.
USPS priority international shipping with tracking and $50 insurance is about $25 for the small box. More insurance is more. A padded envelope without tracking or insurance is about $13. I stopped sending packages without tracking when a few people said they didn't receive the items. Better safe than sorry sometimes.
Sorry but that's the trouble with the United States postal service you absolutley don't get what you pay for, only last week I sent a razor back after honing worth more than £800 over $1200 dollars it was tracked next day delivery insured up £1000 total cost £8.30 that's about $12 US dollars, I could send the same item to the USA including tracked and insured from the UK for around £12.50 so I as I've stated I have no idea why American postage and shipping is so expensive because I've not experienced the same high costs from many European countries even Japan is another very good country when it comes to shipping always great tracking efficient service with much lower costs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Orville
For most items from the US to Canada I settle for USPS priority international shipping with tracking and don't bother with insurance. I do not buy high ticket items and made a decision that I could stand the loss if it happened. So far so good, touch wood. That still makes shipping fairly reasonable.
Bob
The U.S Postal Service operates like a private company. They get no Government funding. Most Postal Services are Government funded and subsidized. That's why they charge so much. Try sending that package via UPS or Fedex and see how much it costs.
Bottom line as to why the USPS costs are so high is,they are losing Billions of $$$ per yr,seems simple to me:)
Part of the problem is though they act like a private company however they can't make decisions like a private outfit they have to rely on guess who? Congress to set rates and change policy. If they had the authority to adjust their business model they would be in a better place.
Disagree Big,many yrs ago The USPS dug a major,Multi billion $$ hole with pensions and Health coverege.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
Than came the internet,thats what Killed them,is no business Model that will ever save the USPS as we know it.
Yes, I also believe that's the problem - the decrease in the business mail with the increase of the cheaper and faster electronic communications. I've been viewing all of the mail that I still get as far more inconvenient than receiving it electronically, but for certain type the government still requires that the communication is done by mail. For example, any type of medical record I have not been able to obtain via electronic means, and some are impossible to get even over the phone.
You probably get more packaging services from all of the internet shopping, but there UPS and Fedex seem to have the market for any medium and big business through good volume discounts. They've been doing this as primary business for many years while USPS considered it secondary. Also you can't ship alcohol via USPS - a tiny market but it may be representative of restrictions that make them harder to compete with UPS/FedEx.
I have no problem with customs or international shipping costs. I order form SRD.
:shrug::rolleyes:
Yea me neither, I usually now order from online stores that ship from a Canadian location if at all possible.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChopperDave
Bob