Thread: A Heads Up On Mailing Items Overseas From The USA

I'm putting this post in this forum, rather than the conversation forum, so that new folks can see it too. I sold a couple of high priced custom straight razors to a fellow in Germany. Because you cannot get insurance or tracking with flat rate priority mail, I mailed them by regular priority which is more than twice the price. They arrived with no problem within a couple of weeks.

Months went by and the fellow asked if I had any more razors by that maker I'd be willing to sell. I came up with a couple and he bought them for north of a thousand dollars. Having done biz with him before I opted to send them flat rate priority and uninsured.

I don't know if the USPS is affected by the recent terrorist attempts to blow up planes with packages but ..... 4 weeks went by with no delivery. At five weeks the buyer emailed that he had received another package of razors (RAD obviously) from the USA that took 6 weeks to arrive. I'm wondering if they are going over water rather than air, or if they are undergoing more scrutiny ?

This did not help my angst much. I was kicking myself in the you know where for saving $20.00 on postage when it was going to cost me $1200.00 in a refund if the package didn't get there. A week later I opened my inbox and there was an email that the razors had arrived safely. Six weeks to get there and I learned a lesson. From here on out everything goes insured with tracking. Just a heads up for anyone who might be as foolish as I was.

i must say that i have over the years imported a lot form the usa to switzerland . tracking or not mostly 10 days and its here. however my last investment in R.A.d: took like 7 weeks . so maybe theres a slowdown and it will pass, or maybe this is the way it will be from here out. anyone else have this happen ?

Jimmy,

Thanks for the warning; I, for one, will heed it and never, ever sell razors to anyone. Leave alone thousand dollar pieces.

Usually the delay is not on the U.S side but on the foreign side and especially with foreign Customs. Many countries make a lot of money in Customs Fees and they can take their time going through incoming mail. Of course after the copier cartridge thing that doesn't help either.

Personally I would never send anything oversea's without insurance and tracking which usually means EMS. Other types of mail usually have severe insurance limits to foreign countries which varies by country.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Personally I would never send anything oversea's without insurance and tracking which usually means EMS. Other types of mail usually have severe insurance limits to foreign countries which varies by country.

Very true. I just double checked the USPS index of countries and localities here and it is $500 max to Germany. IIRC the maximum varies by country. I know UK was $600 a few years ago.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

From here on out everything goes insured with tracking.

+1.

Even if I'm just selling a single $20-30 "starter razor," it ships WITH insurance and tracking. I make less money on them, but the peace of mind is well worth it.

It also depends on the class of mail. I know I've sent International registered and to England the max insurance was $60 and Germany about the same. Italy? Forget it, you can't get any.

I start to wonder if it's German customs holding on to parcels just like the Canadians. I send out parcels to Europe on a regular basis and it takes anywhere from 7 to 10 days. I must say the few times I have send stuff to Germany there's always been a delay. But never 6 weeks.

You actually can track Priority shipments. There are two options for customs forms, a small one and a big one. The bigger one, which has a fill in the boxes type layout (one box per letter), has a number on it. That number provides limited tracking ability. I believe when it clears US customs outbound, when it arrives at customs in the destination country, when it clears customs in the destination country, and perhaps when it's delivered. It varies a bit depending on what country you mail to.

For more expensive packages, I request the bigger one for tracking. Otherwise I don't bother because I find it a pain to fill out. IIRC, you can use the larger customs form on any package.

But the insurance part is a PITA due to limits and whatnot.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

You actually can track Priority shipments.

IME if you send it USPS International priority mail it will cost two to three times as much as flat rate box priority but it does have a working tracking #. If you go flat rate it is $13.65 IIRC and no tracking. As the clerk explained to me, you can sometimes track using the customs # but not always. She said sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. In my case that number continues to say that the package was accepted Feb 12. It was received by the buyer on Feb 22.