Shipping-Easy Tip

I second this! I live in Canada and watch many good deals pass by because they only ship to the lower 48

Not speaking for ALL, or EVERY DEAL, but wait til you get that ONE that refuses to pay the import tax/fees...... and then if you want it shipped back, it's at your expense. Sometimes that 'expense' is more than the price you were selling for - sometimes. But when that happens, wouldn't it make you feel like you should just take the item you're selling and throw it into a burning cauldron?

Yeah, I'm jaded.....

Most time I have enough stress just shipping an item to another state let alone overseas or international borders.

I've sent a bass to Germany via USPS. Only slightly harder that sending one to the next state. A lot more expensive, though.
I'm sending an amp to Argentina tomorrow. VERY expensive. Hope it goes smoothly.

I've shipped to Germany, UK, France, Spain, and Latvia...

Any Canadian that doesn't realize that they have to pay duties and brokerage has obviously been living under a rock....

Stuff is priced so ridiculously in Canada that it is still cheaper after all the fees and extra shipping to buy from our neighbours to the south. I don't get it, our dollar is at 98 cents on yours!?

Your best bet, if you have a foreign interested party, is to ask them to pay the extra shipping (obviously) and ask them to make sure they are aware that they will likely have to pay duties, taxes and brokerage fees to get their bass. Example: I recently bought a $1600 carbon bike frame (yeah I'm a geek). I paid probably $220 in shipping, brokerage, etc. bit it was still almost $1000 cheaper than buying locally.

I can't speak for other Canadian cities, but here in Calgary (city of 1.2 million) I have given up on the local classifieds. People want $1200 for beat up ten year old Fender Jazz's and $2000 for SVT's......

Six beer rant over. Carry on.

My problem with shipping overseas has nothing to do with the possibility of damage to the item. Shipping damage can occurr by just shipping it to the next town.

Here are the two reasons I don't ship international anymore:

1) Customs. I have had items "disappear" while in the custody of customs. First instance was an amp I shipped to Toronto, and the other was a bass I shipped to Brazil although that didn't really surprise me or the poor guy who never got it. No investigation and no explanation. Apparently if a customs agent sees something he/she likes, they can just take it. No thanks, I'm all set with that.

2) Cost. Why does it cost so much more to ship to Canada than it does to California from Michigan? It's right !@#$ing next door for god sakes! Seriously, it runs $45 to ship a 30lbs box 2400 miles across the country, but costs $170 to ship it 15 miles across the Detroit River.

I usually post that I will sell to local Canadians, but they have to come over the bridge and get it, I'm not shipping it.

Note that UPS and FedEx will not honor claims for items that are packed in non-approved materials, like crumpled newspaper. I would definitely advise against it.

And can a mod put this thread in the right place?

Honestly, sometimes it's a crap shoot. I shipped a pedal to Canada. It sat in customs for over a month. For all I knew it was lost. I didn't want to spend the money in case I had to refund the purchase price. Very frustrating to say the least. Then again, I shipped an amp to someone in Australia, (USPS international express mail) that was smoother than many of the deals I've done here in the US.

I have shipped and received a lot of stuff from overseas.

all went well.

I'm lucky...

I live in Northern Ontario bordering northern Michigan (Sault Ste. Marie Ontario bordering Sault Ste. Marie Michigan) I would never dream of ordering gear (and I've spent LOADS including a made in USA Spector NS-2J Spalted Maple bolt on bass, drum gear for my son etc) within my own country.. NO WAY. I save at least 1/3 having shipped 20 minutes across the border and picking up. This includes paying the taxes all "above board". I want to support my country but, especially since our new "
HST tax". I shop U.S. for my gear.

Scare tactics from Canadian stores include discussion about warranty..Whatever, I ship back out from U.S. address and "all's good on that front".

Marc

I'm in Canada.
I've bought several basses at TalkBass & EBay & had them shipped USPS Priority Mail International without problems. It's relatively cheap (approx $75 for a bass in a case packed in a shipping carton), insure-able & track-able. Usually takes about 10 days to 2 weeks to get here from anywhere in the USA & most of that time is spent sitting in customs waiting for clearance. Duty, brokerage & tax charges seem to be unpredictable - sometimes they charge, sometimes not - but even when they do it's WAYYY less than UPS or FedEx charge for exactly the same service. I'll only use the postal service for that reason.

I sold a set of pickups that I sent by Canada Post to the USA & that package spent ages at the border, but it did eventually get through OK. No idea why it was delayed...

If you're worried about non-payment, I get that, but if you can establish a dialog with the buyer you should be able to get a feel for his/her level of honesty & if you're making contact through TalkBass or EBay there's an established feedback system to help you with that. TalkBass in particular has a nice community feel to it. If you get a bad vibe, don't deal.

I've had nothing but good contacts with folks from the US that I've bought bass gear from and though I'll admit there's a risk buying sight-unseen so far I've yet to be disappointed - I've got some great deals on stuff I'd never even see locally....and I've had some very pleasant on-line conversations and made some friends to boot. Maybe I've been lucky but I'll certainly do it again, and some of my bass purchases weren't cheap....especially right now as the exchange rate on the dollar is near par.

Just my 2 cents (1.96 US cents) on the subject.

I've shipped to Canada and Australia both where a bit of a pain only because i was trying to get the lowest price but after that easy as pie.
They just have to understand ALL duty,custom,taxes etc are their responsibility

I've shipped items that were held in customs and the buyer filed a dispute through Paypal and almost won. He finally check with customs and found out that they had it and contacted nobody.

MVPBASS said:

I've shipped items that were held in customs and the buyer filed a dispute through Paypal and almost won. He finally check with customs and found out that they had it and contacted nobody.

Click to expand...

Wow, really? How can this be even remotely reasonable?
You have nothing to do with customs, once you got your money and shipped it over, your part is done.
How can Paypal expect that you are responsible for another country's customs?

macribas said:

Wow, really? How can this be even remotely reasonable?
You have nothing to do with customs, once you got your money and shipped it over, your part is done.
How can Paypal expect that you are responsible for another country's customs?

Click to expand...

It's not reasonable, but certainly possible.

Buyer tells ebay/Paypal that he never recieved the item. Bingo, Paypal then automatically sides with the buyer, freezes the sellers account while "investigating" the dispute.

Paypal may choose to simply refund the buyer by confiscating funds from the sellers account. They can do that because you agreed to their terms when you opened your PP account.

Templar said:

It's not reasonable, but certainly possible.

Buyer tells ebay/Paypal that he never recieved the item. Bingo, Paypal then automatically sides with the buyer, freezes the sellers account while "investigating" the dispute.

Paypal may choose to simply refund the buyer by confiscating funds from the sellers account. They can do that because you agreed to their terms when you opened your PP account.

Click to expand...

That is what the tracking number is for.

I bought all my tube amps here, and in Japan. No problem whatsoever. What I can't understand is the refusal of some members here of not selling overseas. We, the buyer overseas, are more at risk than you, folks. We pay for an item we never tested beforehand, and you get paid immediately.

Check my feedback, that's all I said.....

claybone said:

That is what the tracking number is for.

I bought all my tube amps here, and in Japan. No problem whatsoever. What I can't understand is the refusal of some members here of not selling overseas. We, the buyer overseas, are more at risk than you, folks. We pay for an item we never tested beforehand, and you get paid immediately.

Click to expand...

Not so. When an item gets "lost" in customs, the USPS tracking is useless, and any US Postal worker will tell you so.

Take as many risks as you like, but don't expect others to.

The question remains....where's the incentive?