I need three volunteers to help me check something with shipping methods. I will send you a package and all I need you to do is tell me what date it arrives and send me a pic of the package envelope that shows the customs form. The contents will be worth your while :)
I need one volunteer each for the following:
European country
Asian country
Canadian
Only one for each and first come first served, please! Just affirm in the thread.
I am up for Canada !
Germany.
UK!
Edit - forgot where the UK was, ignore me ;D
Australia
Quote from: zombie_rock123 on January 04, 2020, 07:42:33 PM
UK!
Edit - forgot where the UK was, ignore me ;D
Well, officially you're still part of Europe until the end of the month. ;) ;D
And just in case, Netherlands!
We've got Canada and Germany but need and Asian country. Quick, somebody move!
I'll take the bullet for you. I'm in Chattanooga, but darn it, I'm a team player.
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You may want to pick which Asian country you do the most business with as the customs can vary quite a bit between them.
considering the amount of Canadian flags these snowbirds are flying I might as well be in Canada
As usual New Zealand isn't on the map.... sigh...
Quote from: cooder on January 05, 2020, 01:22:52 AM
As usual New Zealand isn't on the map.... sigh...
Actually, I have tons of NZ customers. Let's do you instead of Asia. You wins!
Ok, Canada, Germany and NZ: PM me your current shipping info to save the trouble of looking it up. I will followup with tracking.
Pm sent !
Is Texas in Asia? Asking for a friend
Quote from: peAk on January 05, 2020, 03:34:23 AM
Is Texas in Asia? Asking for a friend
I've been to China, TX before! So the answer must be yes.
Quote from: Haberdasher on January 05, 2020, 04:30:25 AM
Quote from: peAk on January 05, 2020, 03:34:23 AM
Is Texas in Asia? Asking for a friend
I've been to China, TX before! So the answer must be yes.
Paris, TX should cover Europe as well. I think there's a US address in TX somewhere too.
Quote from: benny_profane on January 05, 2020, 04:34:39 AM
Quote from: Haberdasher on January 05, 2020, 04:30:25 AM
Quote from: peAk on January 05, 2020, 03:34:23 AM
Is Texas in Asia? Asking for a friend
I've been to China, TX before! So the answer must be yes.
Paris, TX should cover Europe as well. I think there's a US address in TX somewhere too.
I've seen Paris TN, those people look foreign to me, let me tell you...
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Quote from: madbean on January 05, 2020, 01:35:50 AM
Quote from: cooder on January 05, 2020, 01:22:52 AM
As usual New Zealand isn't on the map.... sigh...
Actually, I have tons of NZ customers. Let's do you instead of Asia. You wins!
Ok, Canada, Germany and NZ: PM me your current shipping info to save the trouble of looking it up. I will followup with tracking.
Whoopwhoop whoop! Will send ya my shipping address in PM right now! Thanks so much!
Got my tracking number today ^^ maybe Brian's gonna send me a 8k big screen TV :))))))
It's looking promising for re-introducing less expensive Int'l shipping based on the response so far. Of course, the new rates are going into effect this weekend so we'll see how painful of an increase there is!
Quote from: madbean on January 25, 2020, 03:30:22 PM
It's looking promising for re-introducing less expensive Int'l shipping based on the response so far. Of course, the new rates are going into effect this weekend so we'll see how painful of an increase there is!
Are you referring to the GAP offered by Stamps.com (or ShipStation)?
Overall it's working fairly well...
Occasionally you'll have a shipment take two or three months to arrive for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and a few
are going to disappear from time to time... The third party relays screw up. I've had people receive packages with my shipping label but contents from Amazon.... It happens. (imagine the poor guy who thought he was getting a new Fire Stick only to find some weird little circuit board things made by a bicycle rental company in Panama City Beach)
Everything will go perfectly smooth for six months, then out of nowhere it will seem like every shipment has an issue .... overall I'd say the success rate is about 90 - 95%.
The biggest issue I see is that I don't think customs knows what to do with them.... Sometimes they'll be returned as "Undeliverable" with no explanation, I turn around and reship them exactly the same way and they make it with no hiccups.
You need to make sure the addressing is
absolutely perfect or the relabeling folks won't know what to do. Make sure there are NO international characters in the address, and that the length of each string doesn't exceed 50 characters. Also any shipment to Brazil now requires the customers CPF in the Address Line 2 or it will either be returned or disposed by Brazilian Customs.
Things happen.... It's not just GAP though, I had a USPS Priority Mail shipment returned to me last week that was shipped in July 2018..... ???
Too funny
I work for USPS and am a letter carrier. If you had a priority package returned since July... well Blame it on those stupid clerks or mail handlers... Sometimes they will keep tossing a package to us carriers that is a RTS and they go back n forth but...
Since JULY???? wow :-\
Quote from: jalmonsalmon on January 26, 2020, 05:10:04 AM
Too funny
I work for USPS and am a letter carrier. If you had a priority package returned since July... well Blame it on those stupid clerks or mail handlers... Sometimes they will keep tossing a package to us carriers that is a RTS and they go back n forth but...
Since JULY???? wow :-\
Is that Return to Sender or Ready to Solder?
Quote from: BuGG on January 26, 2020, 03:46:26 AM
Quote from: madbean on January 25, 2020, 03:30:22 PM
It's looking promising for re-introducing less expensive Int'l shipping based on the response so far. Of course, the new rates are going into effect this weekend so we'll see how painful of an increase there is!
Are you referring to the GAP offered by Stamps.com (or ShipStation)?
I actually don't use Stamps, etc. But, the service I do use offers Flats via relabeling. So, it first goes to a contracted hub via USPS, they affix a new international label and voila: international shipping for half the cost of USPS regular 1st Class. I did this a couple of years ago when the service launched but there were a lot of problems with it. Stuff went missing, wrong packages delivered, stuff returned. I lost a lot of $$ from missing shipments. So, I gave up on it.
But, it seems the service has finally improved to where it may become a viable option again. Literally, all they have to do is reprint the shipping info submitted to USPS and affix a new label with Customs info on it. The biggest problem before is they were not getting full address info so packages were getting lost because they had no street addresses!
Quote from: madbean on January 28, 2020, 01:32:08 PMThe biggest problem before is they were not getting full address info so packages were getting lost because they had no street addresses!
This is exactly how ShipStation works. You have to make
absolutely certain none of the address lines contain international characters (they'll be converted to question marks or little squares when the relabeler tries to print the label), and that none of the lines contain more than 50 characters (they'll just cut the text off)...
They don't ask questions when there's a problem, they either trash the shipment or return it.
Received mine today Friday 31 Jan NZ time (30 Jan US time)! PM send with details, thanks so much, Brian! Hope I could help a bit with this while getting a treat too! 8)
Well, that settles it then. This weekend I will re-introduce the Flats option and try it for a couple of months. There's basically no choice now. I just checked on some regular 1st Class postage and it appears they are now doing more regional pricing outside the US. A 3 oz 1st Class package to Australia has gone from $13.78 to over $16. I can't continue to under-charge for shipping and eat $3 or $4 on an order. It's just not sustainable.
These increases year after year are getting out of control (which I say every year). In another couple of years I would not be surprised if they are up to $20 for 1st Class. We're already at something like a 400% increase from 10 years ago.
Quote from: madbean on January 31, 2020, 04:35:14 PM
Well, that settles it then. This weekend I will re-introduce the Flats option and try it for a couple of months. There's basically no choice now. I just checked on some regular 1st Class postage and it appears they are now doing more regional pricing outside the US. A 3 oz 1st Class package to Australia has gone from $13.78 to over $16. I can't continue to under-charge for shipping and eat $3 or $4 on an order. It's just not sustainable.
These increases year after year are getting out of control (which I say every year). In another couple of years I would not be surprised if they are up to $20 for 1st Class. We're already at something like a 400% increase from 10 years ago.
Yes.... the increases in shipping costs in this part of the world and restrictions that they put on things over the years have virtually brought my jewellery business down to the knees....
It's really not funny or reasonable if you at the same time see what shipping rates stuff gets send from China etc to the rest of the world, free shipping on $3 items on ebay often with tracking etc. Just stupid. Just unfair.
Hope this works out well for you! I feel ya pains...