Posting from the U.S

antdad

antdad

Joined
Friday July 10, 2009
I have almost convinced someone from the U.S to sell me a brush if I can tell him the best method and what courier to use. :roll:

I don't bl**dy know.

Okay mark it as a gift and value it at less than £18 to avoid duty but its quite a high value item and he might to cover his ass. It's only a light item , any suggestions?
 
USPS (regular US mail that is), using one of their ready-made boxes. This will cost probably 3 dollars in stamps, whereas the cheapest courier may be around USD 20. USPS can also be insured, if that is what you're worried about. The only real difference is shipping time, which is more or less guaranteed with a courier, but is a crapshoot with mail (anywhere apparently ;-) )

Henk
 
T
Per above. received item in Jiffy bag which would easily hold a brush. Posted from US Postal Service at cost of 4.80 USD.
Posted on 14/12/09, arrived 21/12/09. No form of insurance included.
Hope this helps.
 
It is a gamble, if you mark it below the customs limit you also limit any insurance. I have had two brushes sent from the US, one took two weeks, the other took two and a half months. I thought it was lost forever (during the postal strike) but so pleased whn it did show. Both were sent standard UPS mail marked as gift / low value item.
 
It really is a quandary for those of us that sell every once in awhile. The small flat rate box is $5 or so, but insurance is not available. I know one of the razor vendors selling on eBay and he uses USPS, but obtains insurance through mailsurance or shipsurance dot com. I'll have to double check. They will do one off shipping insurance for infrequent shippers as well as volume shippers.

It is not really a big deal and I've sold shaving tackle world wide, but as a buyer you may have to assume the risk. I also hate it when the buyer never lets you know if the item arrived, even after they are asked. Tracking is not available.

But, items such as brushes and cologne can and do cause customs problems. Also some of us are very uncomfortable misrepresenting the value.

Edit: the web site is shipsurance dot com.
 
If the parcel is marked as a gift the limit is actually £40, not £18 ...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPort ... e=document</a><!-- m -->
 
True.

I'd forgotten all about this post, what sort of cover does PayPal offer you if the package doesn't arrive?

If you made a claim, would they try and recover costs from the sender?
 
I don't believe the Paypal protection would help.

When a dispute is filed Paypal removes the payment from the sellers account. While I've not had it go further, I had one fellow that filed a dispute even though the tracking indicated the parcel had arrived at his local post office (the guy was a jerk and I'll never deal with him again).

With international shipping, I think all the seller would need do is provide proof of mailing and documentation that the buyer agreed to assume the risk of loss to recover the purchase price, leaving you holding the bag.
 
If a seller accepts payment for something it's their obligation to see that it's delivered, not just posted. If the seller hasn't charged for recorded mail or insurance it's their loss. I find it hard to believe that anyone would refuse to refund or replace a lost order. After all very few items go missing & it's just the right thing to do; not everyone agrees with this unfortunately. I am not sure if this is true for worldwide sales but it's the case for all UK & EU mail order / internet sales.

If the seller is uncooperative or has gone bust then you could attempt a Paypal claim. If for any reason Paypal won't give you a refund, your credit card co is unlikely to refund the money because they class Paypal purchases as third party transactions. Paypal do take the money from the seller & refund you after the seller has had time to respond to & rebuke your claim.
 
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