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Post by sunsetpainter on Oct 21, 2019 19:44:33 GMT
I want to start offering international shipping in addition to GSP on some of my items, but before I do, I have a few questions I hope someone can answer.
1. Am I correct that anything up to 4 pounds can go First Class International?
2. Can I ship international in Ebay's boxes and/or poly mailers?
3. Do the customs forms still come up when you go to print the labels?
4. Are the customs forms pretty much self explanatory?
That's all I can think of right now. Thanks for any input you can give!
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Post by chapeaunoir on Oct 21, 2019 20:02:00 GMT
I don't use GSP but I do a lot of international shipping, so I can help:
1. Am I correct that anything up to 4 pounds can go First Class International?
Yes. The tranches are 1-8 oz, 9 oz - 2 lb, then they go up by one pound after that.
2. Can I ship international in Ebay's boxes and/or poly mailers?
Yes.
3. Do the customs forms still come up when you go to print the labels?
Yes, and if you use a thermal label printer, they need to be printed on plain paper. International first class comes up with the small label format (can tape it on the package or use the small format customs label pockets from the USPS). Priority comes up with the 4-page customs form and need the USPS large format customs pockets.
4. Are the customs forms pretty much self explanatory?
Yes - they're very easy.
That's all I can think of right now. Thanks for any input you can give!
Please note - if you're signed up with Pirate Ship and email them to ask them to sign you in to the simple export option, your costs for small package envelope shipping are considerably cheaper. They start evening out with eBay's shipping costs over about 12 x 16" envelopes, but smaller it's worth checking out.
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Post by 57roses on Oct 21, 2019 20:11:30 GMT
First class international also has dimention limitations:
any item up to 4 lbs. with a maximum size of 36” in length and distance around thickest part combined. Not usually a problem unless it is something like a coat or thick formal dress like I once had to re package.
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Post by sunsetpainter on Oct 21, 2019 20:16:55 GMT
Thanks. I'm just starting to try the regular International shipping on mostly jeans and tops...nothing over 4 pounds.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Oct 21, 2019 20:37:36 GMT
Yes, nothing over 36", that's still the case save for the new dimensional calculation for international first class over 36" - just don't go there lol.
Jeans and tops are easy, and I would definitely use Pirate Ship to ship those items because they're over 8 oz and when you get into smaller sized packets over 8 oz you really save using Pirate ship - that's for soft packets btw, not necessarily boxes.
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Post by labbypaws on Oct 22, 2019 21:00:50 GMT
I always put “used” and a generic description unless it is new. Some say Canada is more forgiving if the item is used.
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Post by sunsetpainter on Oct 22, 2019 21:27:20 GMT
labbypaws chapeaunoir 57roses I'm wading in on the shallow end and other than GSP, I am selecting to ship to Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan. Do you know if any of those has restrictions on used clothing? And how can I find out which countries do?
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Post by chapeaunoir on Oct 22, 2019 21:53:17 GMT
No restrictions for those countries. Restrictions *generally* have to do with large scale importation rather than private sales, and that is usually coming in by freight with a manifest rather than small packets. I put 'used' also and definitely take the description out and make it generic. ETA: I've never experienced restrictions in any of the countries I've shipped to, and I've shipped all over the world (including Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Argentina, etc.). For Germany you want to have two copies of the invoice and put both copies in the customs form pouch. This is the small format pouch - I really go through these and for some reason they make them hard to find on the USPS site: store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/small-customs-declaration-pouch-form-2976es-P_FORM_2976_ES |
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Post by Pantlandia on Oct 22, 2019 22:01:05 GMT
Pirateship is awesome for international. I had a CD last night to Canada that eBay would have charged $8.99. It was only $7.95 through Pirateship. It was also going from Portland, OR to Prince Edward Island (about as far as you can go) and amazingly almost directly east of Portland.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Oct 22, 2019 22:11:05 GMT
I think international for Canada pretty much goes by weight rather than postal code anymore - I haven't had to look up a postal code for Canada for years and it always costs the same no matter where I ship there. I can't even remember when that happened!
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val2525
Chaos Manager
Posts: 30,785 
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Post by val2525 on Oct 22, 2019 22:32:44 GMT
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Post by Pantlandia on Oct 22, 2019 23:43:58 GMT
I think international for Canada pretty much goes by weight rather than postal code anymore - I haven't had to look up a postal code for Canada for years and it always costs the same no matter where I ship there. I can't even remember when that happened! Yeah, just checked and it was the same to BC. Used to be different, but it was $10.50 retail to both far and near. Also, with Pirateship, the postage label is also the custom's form (I believe eBay labels are the same way). I've never had to include anything else. Maybe it's what I sell or my item value? It asks for the product description, value and weight and then generates a label and customs form. |
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Post by chapeaunoir on Oct 23, 2019 2:05:17 GMT
It's the same with eBay.
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