Shipping to other countries - Looking for advice

[drewz21]

I am selling some Amiga items on Ebay and I've been asked to ship items to Poland and Germany.  I'm not sure about how to go about this and I'm looking for advice.

Thanks in advance.     :-D

[TjLaZer]

Whatever you do stay away from Fed Ex!  I was quoted $395.00 to ship a med size box to Brazil from Seattle.  USPS wanted $42.  Let them know they will end up paying an arm and a leg, bottom line.  Do make sure to pack the item very well as it will get banged up and we don't need any more dead Amigas!

Good luck

[orb85750]

Go to www.usps.com to get all your shipping options, insurance, etc.  It's pretty straightforward via the USPS. -Dave

[drewz21]

Thanks all!

[Darrin]

USPS will be the cheapest by far, but they can only track and insure the goods while they are inside the USA so if they get lost after that then it's your problem.

Fedex and UPS will ship overseas and give you online tracking right up to the person's front door, but you will pay a hell of a lot more (up to 3 times as much!).  I sent a laptop to my brother in England with insurance and tracking and it came to $190 (discounted as they were having a "special" that day).  USPS was $60.

Personally, I wouldn't ship to someone off eBay without tracking and insurance or you're asking for trouble.

[Chain]

Personally, I wouldn't ship to someone off eBay without tracking and insurance or you're asking for trouble.

It depends on many factors (value of item etc), but let me say this...
im buyer on ebay now for almost 7 years, got almost 350 packages, where only circa 20 of them was shipped as insured.
i have only two or three lost items during those years, fortunately they was cheap (512kb ram card, two magazines).

[darksun9210]

from my recent expirience, if you're shipping through more than one mail network, plenty of patience is required. don't give up hope, but if its been more than a month or two, sometimes the package magically arrives after you start the "lost package insurance claim" process :-D

[Darrin]

Chain wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't ship to someone off eBay without tracking and insurance or you're asking for trouble.

It depends on many factors (value of item etc), but let me say this...
im buyer on ebay now for almost 7 years, got almost 350 packages, where only circa 20 of them was shipped as insured.
i have only two or three lost items during those years, fortunately they was cheap (512kb ram card, two magazines).

From a buyer's perspective it is a bit different because you know you're honest and you're prepared to take the risk.

For a seller it is a bit different because not only is he running the risk of losing his items, he also has to refund the buyer.  Meanwhile the evil buyer could be playing with your A4000 which he just got for "free".  ;-)

[odin]

Double box fragile items: big outer box, loads of foam/impact absorbant, smaller inner box, some more foam, actual item. Imagine your item has to be able to withstand a tumble dryer.