Subject:
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Re: Why do so many people say "I will only ship to the us"?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 7 May 2000 15:43:36 GMT
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Viewed:
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666 times
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In lugnet.general, Shiri Dori writes:
> In lugnet.general, Jonathan Wilson writes:
> > Why do so many people say "I will only ship to the us" in auctions,
> > sales, trades etc?
>
> Because shipment to other countries, or even more so, other continents, is
> much more expensive than
> shipping inside the US. It is often more risky, too.
It isn't so much the expense for me, as I just pass the expense along to the
buyer. It is the unclear nature (to me) of how much packages cost to ship
overseas. The dimensions of the boxes matter as much as the weight and I
don't think the web calculator at usps.gov is very accurate in explaining the
differences or showing the rates.
I've been burned MANY times using the web calculator, using it to get a
postage rate, then letting an international buyer know how much to send
including that shipping amount, only to show up at the post office and have it
be not just a little more, which I could handle, but a LOT more. There have
been times when I paid more out of my pocket for shipping someone else's stuff
than the person did originally.
At that point, what am I supposed to do - I told the person what the shipping
would be, he sent it in good faith. Am I supposed to make him go through the
hassle of sending me more money?
That's why I usually don't like shipping outside the US. I do it for a few
regular trading partners, but I'll be honest - if someone outside the US goes
to my parts sale page and wants to make a $5 order, it is't worth my time to
go to the post office with his package, have it weighed and priced for
shipment outside the US, then go back and e-mail the person that, especially
since X.com and Paypal don't work outside the US right now. But if I were
more willing to ship internationally that is exactly what I have to do now to
make sure I don't get shafted on shipping costs - waste 10x the time it takes
to figure shipping for domestic packages. On a $100 order that might seem
worth it (although not really, since we're talking about at least an hour
wasted here, and my time is worth more than $100/hr). On a $5 order I'd have
to say forget it.
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