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JT,
You bring up a real sticky point with shipping outside the U.S. -- which is
the deal with insurance. It is true that with Air Letter Post and Global
Priority Mail that the USPS will not allow you to insure those packages. Why? I
have no idea. It makes no sense, to me. But if a buyer outside the U.S. wants
their package insured, they have to be prepared to pay big time for it, because
there is no way to ship reliably outside the U.S. with insurance that is not
horribly expensive.
Actually, they WILL let you insure regular first class mail to most,
not all, countries -- so there is a low-cost insured option, but it is
something most sellers (including myself) simply won't use because it can easily
take 4 to 8 weeks for a package to get anywhere using this "service".
And Insurance ties in with the customs problem. If you insure a package you
have to declare the value for insurance coverage purposes -- the value declared
for insurance must match the value you have placed on the customs form -- and so
the buyer is going to get hit for full declared value in customs fees (which, as
we've heard people testify, are obscene). And slapping an insurance sticker on a
package is the same thing as writing in big letters with a black marker: "Dear
Customs Officials -- Please Take Note of This Package and Charge All
Fees!!!"
Basically, I ship overseas a lot and I can get my packages to my buyers
fast and safe with Global Priority for $10 -- but I normally can't and don't
insure the package and the buyer has to understand that they are taking that
chance -- I clearly state in my auctions and my invoices that I am cannot and
will not be responsible for anything that happens to the package after I hand it
over to the post office. Which is the simple truth, after all.
-- JR
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Title: Message
- Re: [MOPO] SHIPPING QUESTION ? J R
- Re: [MOPO] SHIPPING QUESTION ? J T Merrill
