don't ship outside us

[lelahel]

i read this sentence more than 100000 times in many forums and ebay
can you explain me why?
please share us your experience with international shipping problems

 

[Cacoph0ny]

costs way too much

 

[lelahel]

but the buyer pay it

 

[egan.]

Paperwork, customs, shipping cost, shipping insurance, fraud exposure, etc. I once shipped a drive to a mix engineer and it got held in customs for two weeks. It was a big headache.
Also, if it's a new product from a dealer they have to respect dealer territories in addition to the above listed reasons.

 

[Severu]

I think it also has a lot to do with prejudice and plain laziness. I received three bass guitars over the years from the USA shipped to Romania with the neck detached and never had any problems with them being held up by customs or anything. Not to mention guitars and other stuff. Some people just don't want to bother to detach the neck or go to the trouble to get external shipping quotes.

 

[Brandon E.]

Everything everyone said, some countries need you to print out an invoice and attach it with the paperwork (finland), its just a lot of work. Especially when there are so many different countries with so many regulations...and are you going to trust the postal service of U.A.E. or something to deliver your package safely and on time? Because if they don't the buyer might be pissed and give you a bad rep. I will ship to Canada or UK or something but if someone wants me to ship some fragile expensive shit to Uganda, I am probably going to say no.

Plus you need to find out EXACTLY what it is going to cost and get a real estimate from the post office to even know how much to charge the buyer, because shipping a guitar or amp international could cost anything from 50 bucks to 300, who knows. It's about 3x as much work as just getting a USA address and going to the UPS store.

 

[gabriel g.]

Taxes and voltage are the biggest problems

 

[MatrixClaw]

I ship guitar equipment international weekly and while there are some extra things you need to do (filling out customs forms), if someone's offering me money without any dumb stipulations, I'm not an idiot - I'm going to take it. International buyers usually know the risks of buying from another country and that it can sometimes take a month to get the shipment, and I find dealing with international buyers is, in most cases, easier than dealing with domestic buyers, because they have usually researched enough to know the whole process. Plus - International buyers are also willing to pay top dollar, because the people who will ship to them are limited, and it's still much cheaper than buying the item in their own country.

 

[caneris]

Warranties too, obviously doesn't matter if it's second hand but new stuff...

I purchased my Saffire Pro 40 from the US for nearly half the price of one here in Aus and I'm glad I did, sure I miss out on my warranty but if the thing breaks within a year (unlikely) I could either pay to get it fixed or buy a new one and still be under the Aus prices.

Main concern I have is with voltages but most units are dual voltage now anyway and when they aren't I try and buy from Germany.

 

[lelahel]

Taxes and voltage are the biggest problems

as some one said it is more laziness that anything . first ask you some elementary questions as voltage, shipping cost (sending his zip code), way of sending ,etc..
when you ship with private companies (dhl, fedex, ups,..) the buyer will have most of time a lot of customs charges, so better to send via usps it is cheaper and with less taxes for the reciever
personally i buy from us because it some equipements are not found in our area, and it is sometimes really less expensive than to buy from EU

the metal music is an universal language and we should help each others to spread it over the world!

 

[DeclanWhite]

never had any problems here.

 

[JeffTD]

Honestly, it can be a lot more of a hassle. In the US, if I'm selling a pickup/pedal/small item to someone else in the US, I can use an automated kiosk to ship the package and drop it off at whatever hour of the day I feel like without having to worry about lines at the post office.

If it's going international, I need to get and fill out a customs form, abide by the post office's conservative business hours, and wait in line to ship it. It's the difference of a 5 minute trip to the post office at my convenience to a 35-60 minute trip (depending on the time of day) that has to happen between 9am and 4pm, with a window from 12 to 2 where the lines will be 20+ people long because people can only ship on their lunch breaks.


For larger items (amp, guitar) I'd use FedEx, but they charge way too much to consider for international shipping. Then I have to worry about the size of the package abiding by USPS guidelines (which is different for every destination country), and repeat the process outlined above but while carrying that huge package.

 

[nwright]

I wouldn't consider it laziness at all, rather I would say many do it (like me) simply as an extra safeguard in avoiding potential issues.

I've shipped things outside the US and for larger items I've done it 3 times. Every single time it's bit me in the ass in either headaches or lost money. It is harder to track shipments outside the US, the distance and culture/language barrier can create issues and the extra expenses can add up, and the risk of the deal going bad are just greater, bottom line. I don't have enough faith in overseas shipping to put MY name on the line in trying to make a deal. and is someone doesn't receive an item, or the item is damaged, I don't want the headache of trying to remedy the situation. Bad deals are bothersome shipping only to the US, adding in overseas shipments and claims with carriers is even more of a nightmare.

But the bottom line for me in terms of selling stuff is that I want my name and reputation to remain as good as it can be. If that means I lose out on international sales or increased money made, that's fine with me.

 

[lelahel]

Honestly, it can be a lot more of a hassle. In the US, if I'm selling a pickup/pedal/small item to someone else in the US, I can use an automated kiosk to ship the package and drop it off at whatever hour of the day I feel like without having to worry about lines at the post office.

If it's going international, I need to get and fill out a customs form, abide by the post office's conservative business hours, and wait in line to ship it. It's the difference of a 5 minute trip to the post office at my convenience to a 35-60 minute trip (depending on the time of day) that has to happen between 9am and 4pm, with a window from 12 to 2 where the lines will be 20+ people long because people can only ship on their lunch breaks.


For larger items (amp, guitar) I'd use FedEx, but they charge way too much to consider for international shipping. Then I have to worry about the size of the package abiding by USPS guidelines (which is different for every destination country), and repeat the process outlined above but while carrying that huge package.

i recently recieved a bass from us, and the guy sent it a saturday without any stress at all

 

[egan.]

lelahel, you asked a question and you are getting honest answers. If the only one you will accept is "laziness" then so be it but don't try to debunk everyone's reasons with your positive experiences.

 

[JeffTD]

i recently recieved a bass from us, and the guy sent it a saturday without any stress at all

And if my weekdays are the only days I can ship packages usually? Not everyone has a free hour to spend on a Saturday.

You apparently won't change your opinion - if you're going to be stubborn on that, don't expect people to be any different in they're international shipping policies (or lackthereof).

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

My only experience's with shipping something internationally are:

Paintball trigger frame: Took a month to get to Norway (probably because customs are to fucking retarded to know what "PAINTBALL TRIGGER FRAME" means and it cost $18 for something that weighed less than 2 pounds to ship.

8 String guitar to Canada on trade: It wasn't even going that far, but when you get insurance (ie: declare a value) customs charges you... and they charge you a lot. So on top of the 60 or so bucks it took to ship I think I paid an additional 80 in customs charges. So in order to avoid that, you insure it for less/or nothing and take the risk. Which is shitty.

In other words, if it's more than 50 bucks in worth I just won't ever fucking do it again (and yes I passed on that 18 shipping charge to the customer, because I was only charging him 45 usd for the trigger frame)

That's why most of us say CONUS ONLY and mean it. It just a fucking hassle otherwise.

 

[lelahel]

the goal of this thread is to understand of course why most of poeaple don't make international shipping! not to speak about laziness and all other shit of course and to help each other
i posted this topic because i have some difficulties to find some gear which is not available in my country and which is very expensive in europe

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I buy a lot of stuff from the US over ebay. It's simple: Ship USPS. Not UPS, Purolator or any other private courier. USPS is easy to ship internationally. They have pre-made "standard box" deals for shipping out of the US. No nasty brokerage fee surprises for the buyer (unlike UPS) no big deal.


FWIW, if you're buying from the US and they don't offer USPS shipping, make sure to get it shipped "Next Day" or "International Saver" or something like that. Just never, EVER, use UPS ground. You will be raped by brokerage fees.

And if you pay for UPS Next Day, make sure they use UPS next day. I had a situation where I purchased a lens on ebay, and paid extra for the Next Day shipping. So what happened? The guy shipped UPS ground. So not only did I pay 3 times the shipping amount, I got charged and additional $75 in brokerage fees.

I brought this to his attention with a negative Ebay review, and not only did he reimburse me for the shipping difference, he paid the brokerage fee as well (since it was his fuckup).

Bottom line: Pay attention to how things are shipped! You can save a fortune.

Here's a handy guide:
http://reviews.ebay.ca/Shipping-to-Canada-via-the-United-States-Postal-Service_W0QQugidZ10000000000084869

 

[Sloan]

I shipped a lot with USPS and once it's out of the country, there is nothing the shipper can do about it if it gets lost. Insurance may cover it, not sure. It's just generally harder to deal with international shipping so to a lot of us, it's not worth the hassle and it's easy to move product in the US.