How Do I Ship Overseas? Please Help!!!!
- Thread starter merrydish
- Start date
You need to use priority mail international or express mail international from the US post office. These are the only services that offers delivery confirmation and insurance. You also need to fill out a customs form. Be sure to indicate the correct value, otherwise you will not be covered if anything happens. I hope this helps, good luck!
Normally i woudl just go ot post office and the ppl there for the best price and options..
I have been told that the only way you can track international mail is with USPS Express Mail (NOT with priority mail, which has no tracking system for international). Express Mail is expensive but worth it if anything happens. You can insure the package for its actual value and mark as a "gift" if you want to save the buyer customs fees, which can be lots on an expensive bag.. I don't know if this is kosher (you do not put a receipt or anything like that in the pkg, mail that separately), but this is how someone told me to do it. I have sent to Poland, Canada, Switzerland, etc. with no problems (SO FAR!!) International shipping can be a pain and a lot of sellers just won't do it .But use Express because of the receipt and tracking. If you declare the true insured value of the bag (not marked as gift), the customs duty will be the buyer's problem..but tell them up front they will liable for custom fees if you do that. If you don't insure it, they can always say it never got there and then you are out your $$. The burden for insurance is on the seller, right? Correct me on any of this????
I would recommend you search this sub-forum on members' experiences/views with putting lower values on customs forms. I understand in some countries (including the US), it is illegal to lie on a customs form and while many people do it/have done it, it would suck to get caught, KWIM?
Also, you can only insure the package for the amount stated on the customs form and if the package gets lost or doesn't get to the buyer, you as the seller are only insured for the stated value, while the buyer can file a claim and get all of their money back, even if it's more than what you got back from insurance.
Just be aware about it and the possible consequences.
Also, you can only insure the package for the amount stated on the customs form and if the package gets lost or doesn't get to the buyer, you as the seller are only insured for the stated value, while the buyer can file a claim and get all of their money back, even if it's more than what you got back from insurance.
Just be aware about it and the possible consequences.
Most countries have a dollar limit for gifts - for the US it's $100, for Canada I think it's something like $65. It's pretty low. Marking anything above that value as a gift is not going to save the buyer anything at all, and may even cause customs to give it a closer look than they would otherwise. It's just not worth it. In many cases, the allowance for purchasing merchandise via mail order is much higher than the allowance for gifts in any case.
ITA with mmsc, from what I understand the ONLY way to get tracking from the US to another country is to use global priority express, NOT global priority. You'll need to fill out a customs form in addition to the mailing label for each package. Other than that, it's just like mailing any other package.
I'm actually shipping a package to the Netherlands tomorrow, so you're not alone!
I'm actually shipping a package to the Netherlands tomorrow, so you're not alone!
Yikes I am glad to hear all this! 
So you recommend declaring and insuring for full value, and then letting the foreign buyer deal with custom fees?? I do know USPS Express is the only way to send with proper tracking #. At least that is what they told me at the post office.
So you recommend declaring and insuring for full value, and then letting the foreign buyer deal with custom fees?? I do know USPS Express is the only way to send with proper tracking #. At least that is what they told me at the post office.^^^If you print your labels at www.usps.com you will pay and fill out the necessary forms online and print them all out on your computer. Just take the pages to the post office and they will put them in the "plastic sleeve" and attach it to the package and you are done. Nice and painless!
Wow, I like this one if you are telling me I can fill in and print out those customs forms online and then print them out. After I do this the first time, I'll probably stop worrying. Hopefully!
yes I would declare full value and insure for full value on the customs form. You need to be able to get the full value of the item back should anything go awry. I always put in my auctions customs is responsibility of buyer. good luck.
I just sent a pair of uggs from the US to canada with global priority done online and I was able to make sure it was delivered, they do have DC for priority but if you want a moment by moment tracking it does have to go express.
Also if you do it online, you save a couple bucks literally. You get a discounted rate compared to if you walked it into the PO.
Also if you do it online, you save a couple bucks literally. You get a discounted rate compared to if you walked it into the PO.
I never mark something as a gift as that constitutes mail fraud is what the postmaster told me. I think most of them you may have to go to the post office to fill out too... I know Canada you can do online, not sure about others. You can check on the USPS website and they have instructions and some of the forms you need to fill out are on there as well.