Reliable Shipping to Europe?

[David Schwab]

I should point out to mac users that the USPS website doesn't play well with Safari or Opera browsers. I have to remember to use Chrome when printing postage.
You can fill out a customs form online and print it out but that no longer qualifies for home pickup which means a trip to the PO. At some point the $17 for on-line priority mail is worth the saved effort.
I agree with ReWind that self-insurance is the best way to go on products with low investment.

That was true with Safari 5. I used to save the PDF files and print them in Acrobat. Then USPS redid the site and it worked fine with what ever version of Safari 5 I was using. It also works fine with Safari 6.

I had the same issue with the international shipping with PayPal. But they fixed that too.

Are you sure about home pickup for international? I'm quite sure I did it once. I could be wrong though. I generally drop packages off because the post office is close to me.

[Possum]

There IS customs tracking for the flat rate boxes though. You can tell when it arrives in customs, but really it can't be tracked on the airplane over ;-) And you know when it was delivered and signed for, so its not totally blind. $17 for priority mail? Thats extremely expensive. With flat rate boxes and Endicia its usually around $9 without insurance.

[David King]

USPS rules changed June 2nd this year regarding hand written customs forms and home pickup.

Possum, that Endicia price seems improbably low. It would be nice if a few local businesses could share a single Endicia account.

[David Schwab]

There IS customs tracking for the flat rate boxes though. You can tell when it arrives in customs, but really it can't be tracked on the airplane over ;-) And you know when it was delivered and signed for, so its not totally blind. $17 for priority mail? Thats extremely expensive. With flat rate boxes and Endicia its usually around $9 without insurance.

There is no tracking for international flat rate shipping. It will show that it left the country, and that's all folks. It will never show it got there.

Non flat rate shipping to Europe is about $30, not $17. Domestic flat rate is about $8.

So here's a small flat rate box going to France. "No tracking available"




Here's a regular international priority package

[David Schwab]

USPS rules changed June 2nd this year regarding hand written customs forms and home pickup.

I don't fill out customs forms by hand. It's done on the USPS website, and they are part of the shipping label. I have envelops that they go in that sticks on the box.

[ken]

There is no tracking for international flat rate shipping. It will show that it left the country, and that's all folks. It will never show it got there.

Non flat rate shipping to Europe is about $30, not $17. Domestic flat rate is about $8.

So here's a small flat rate box going to France. "No tracking available"

screen-shot-2012-09-13-5.06.01-pm.png

This is what drives me nuts! Once it leaves the USA you have no idea if your package arrived or not.

ken

[David Schwab]

This is what drives me nuts! Once it leaves the USA you have no idea if your package arrived or not.

ken

That's why I no longer ship international with small flat rate boxes. It's cheaper, but I can't track them. Regular priority mail tracks fine.

[Possum]

Every overseas flat rate box I ship has a customs form. Endicia generates the form and records the US customs number. USPS can track customs numbers, but you'll only see departure and arrival at the recipient customs office if they have one. I haven't shipped any recent overseas packages that I can check this at the moment, but I've always been provided the US customs number. I did just read that the new USPS regs say they WILL track customs numbers now, but I've always been able to in the past. The package I lost and a few that were real late I was able to see if they arrived at overseas customs office, but no it won't tell you it was delivered to the assignee, just that it arrived in that country. If you're filing an insurance claim it helps to have documentation that at least it landed in the country it was sent to.

Endicia pricing, just sent a flat rate box priority within the US, postage was 7.25, insurance on $1300 was 10.70
Overseas flat rate priority box. postage was $10.81 to the UK, Norway $16.95, so it just depends on where you're shipping it to. I really like their service, and it eliminated so many hassles, customer pays for shipping anyway. I used to use UPS after I lost 2 packages thru the post office about five years ago but they are ridiculously expensive and I never used them for overseas shipping, they charge something like $75! No losses thru USPS in the last four years now.

[David King]

Just to be clear here, that $17 figure I quoted was for OVERSEAS priority small FLAT RATE box or envelope IF you use the USPS website and print the postage at home. Domestic Priority small flat rate boxes cost $5.15 and the 9 x 12" Envelopes are $4.90. I don't see a big savings with Endicia suddenly.
Regarding tracking; To do business with anyone anywhere there has to be some basic level of trust. Unfortunately 1% of the world's population will always try to rip you off regardless, it's probably in their DNA. You just have to make your profit from the other 99%. (Sound familiar?)

[Possum]

Endicia shows how much you save by not going to the post office at the time you're filling out their forms, its about 20 cents I think for domestic, multiply that by how many packages you ship, backed by truly reliable no argument insurance that pays off, no waiting in post office lines, works on MAC's. I've looked at other online shipping programs and few are Mac compatible, most are way more expensive. I've never been ripped off by any customer as long as I've been doing this work. I do take my time to explain things and educate them about their choices. The guys who are going to rip you off usually want their pickups immediately so they don't bother with me, and I do screening and have yet to find anyone trying to scam me. I'm there after the sale for support and always want them to contact me afterwards to let me know how it worked out for them of there were any problems. Some guys don't know how to wire or solder right and they frequently make wiring mistakes and I'm usually able to diagnose it from here most of the time. I have a real high return customer rate, probably because I like to know the person I'm selling to and many become friends. Endicia is a great service, just thought I'd mention that I've used them all and these guys are faultless, you save a little bit of money, their insurance is first class and pays off if a package gets lost for good.

[David Schwab]

It's worth noting that printing your postage online at the USPS site is cheaper than going to the post office. If you use Paypal for payments, that's often cheaper still.

[ken]

I just mailed a package to France this week using some of the recommendations on this list. I'm curious to see how it goes.

ken

[Beef Coon]

Necro post, but why not...

I've been using USPS first class international.

Interested in what service everyone else is using.

Thanks.

[David King]

I recently switched to FedEx small packet for when I need stuff there in a day or two or three. It's been bulletproof so far but you are limited to a package value of $100 and the cost is $48 but that web script handles all the paperwork for you once you set it up. Perfect if you are making regular deliveries to the same addresses. Make sure you let the receiver pay any dutys or you'll be in for a shock when you get the FedEx bill. VAT is about 20% and is added to the value AND the shipping charges.

[jack briggs]

I ship $10k guitars to Europe and Asia via FedEx. Never had a problem with them. They'll even take care of SEDs if you're over $2500 DV for $10.


cheers,