MAGNUM4342 Posted March 16, 2013 Posted March 16, 2013 Have any of you shipped a pair of 1/25th kits to New Zealand? I just sold two kits to a guy and the shipping calculator keeps spitting out $53 for shipping. I checked the guy's feedback and he's bought a lot of kits and all of them shipped between $7 and $10. Either the calculator is messed up or a lot of folks have lost money shipping to him. Help!
Casey Posted March 16, 2013 Posted March 16, 2013 International USPS rates nearly doubled as of 1/21/2013. A 2 ounce USPS First Class package from the U.S to New Zealand costs $6.16.
MAGNUM4342 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Posted March 16, 2013 What would you guesstimate the weight of two 1/25th scale kits to be? He has had ship outs as recently as yesterday all showing $9 for the shipping.
Casey Posted March 16, 2013 Posted March 16, 2013 20-24 ounces or so? $9.00 to NZ sounds very wrong. It costs $10.00 for Priority from U.S. coast to coast. Not sure is Parcel Select (or whatever USPS is calling Parcel Post now) is an option, or if it's Priority only.
MAGNUM4342 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Posted March 16, 2013 The only option it will give me is priority. I really don't know what to do other than wait. I sent him a message stating that if he wanted to back out no negative feedback would be sent, but even though everyone claims "great communication" I have yet to hear back.
maltsr Posted March 16, 2013 Posted March 16, 2013 (edited) Hi Kevin I regularly buy off ebay and shipping through USPS first class international was as low as $20 for two kits, although this was pre January. My last order was for two Stacey David '32 Fords and they were shipped at around US$30 in February. Hope this helps, some of us rely on you guys to keep this hobby affordable - much appreciated Edit - just tried the online calculator, select 'package', then weight 2 pounds, on next screen select other option - first class, came out at $24.05. Edited March 16, 2013 by maltsr
MAGNUM4342 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Posted March 16, 2013 Hi Kevin I regularly buy off ebay and shipping through USPS first class international was as low as $20 for two kits, although this was pre January. My last order was for two Stacey David '32 Fords and they were shipped at around US$30 in February. Hope this helps, some of us rely on you guys to keep this hobby affordable - much appreciated And that's exactly what i'm trying to do, keep it affordable. I would never pay $56 in shipping for $32 in kits nor would I ask someone else to. I went back to the usps site and finally got it to work with standard intnl. shipping and it came out to $26. Hopefully he will see the effort I've gone to. He probably thinks at this point I was trying to rip him off.
maltsr Posted March 16, 2013 Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks for the effort Kevin, I too hope he appreciates it.
TooOld Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 The only option it will give me is priority. I really don't know what to do other than wait. I sent him a message stating that if he wanted to back out no negative feedback would be sent, but even though everyone claims "great communication" I have yet to hear back. Try going to the Post Office instead of doing it online . I don't think there is a " Priority " for overseas packages . I just mailed a kit ( >2 lbs. ) to Austrailia for 12 dollars and change , and I even remarked to the clerk that it was less than mailing it to California !
Casey Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 I forgot USPS First Class International doesn't have the 13 oz weight limit U.S. bound packages do.
MAGNUM4342 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Posted March 17, 2013 after re-doing it a fifth time, I got a price of $26. I sent him a message and told him if it was more than that i'd eat the difference and if it was less i'd refund the difference. He responded saying he was fine with that and would pay later tonight. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that I don't have to eat a twenty dollar or more shipping charge.
Ben Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 Whenever I go to ship something, I use the USPS online postage calculator. You just enter the box outer dimensions, the weight and the destination country or zip code for inside the US and it will show you all the options as far as Regular, Express, Priority, etc. Be sure to get accurate measurements of the box! Don't rely on the size sometimes printed on the bottom of the box. They measure it when it gets to the post office! I had the pleasure of being charged 20.00 extra bucks because the box was 1/8" bigger than I estimated!!!!! They're getting really greedy at the post office now being that noboby sends letters anymore! http://postcalc.usps.com/
MAGNUM4342 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Posted March 17, 2013 Yes, the online service is what I was using if I didn't make that clear. Whatever I did the lowest it would give me was $56 priority in 4 to 6 days. The last time I did it first class international came up and it was 30 less at $26. I called my local and the woman said it sounded in the range of a $24 dollar charge to her so i'm rolling the dice. It's a sad day when you have to bet your farm, your hat and your housecat to mail something.
Kris Morgan Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 The draw back to shipping First Class International is that you will not have a tracking number. Things "should" still go smooth. However, if it is lost or, they claim to not get it, chances are PayPal will refund the money back to them.
MAGNUM4342 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Posted March 17, 2013 The draw back to shipping First Class International is that you will not have a tracking number. Things "should" still go smooth. However, if it is lost or, they claim to not get it, chances are PayPal will refund the money back to them. You still have a customs form. That's a type of tracking. Beyond that, I've looked at his feedback page and see no reason to question his integrity. I'm sure he'll pay, and if he says it didn't get there odds are it didn't. At any rate, now that I've got more proper shipping worked out i'm relatively sure it will work out.
Helix Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 International USPS rates nearly doubled as of 1/21/2013. A 2 ounce USPS First Class package from the U.S to New Zealand costs $6.16. Sure has Casey, have noticed in the last 6 months how much it's gone up, some of my shipping costs have 'Doubled' from the US to Australia..... Hasn't stopped me, but now I'm keeping a close eye on shipping costs, regardless who it is
phil55 Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 i buy quite alot thru e bay...usps standard international..for 1 1/25 kit to nz runs 15$ to 18$
Erik Smith Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 International USPS rates nearly doubled as of 1/21/2013. A 2 ounce USPS First Class package from the U.S to New Zealand costs $6.16. It's gone up in price and down in speed - or is that just me. That packages I have been buying this year take four to five days vs the old priority taking three. Maybe it's just who I have bought from or my imagination... I always use the online USPS for getting cost estimates. Do you have a scale and a tape? You should be able to figure out exact cost. There are limits to size for international shipping too (for priority - the expensive one). First class international has no tracking and no insurance, I think. I've never had a problem though, and have shipped to about 30 different countries.
MAGNUM4342 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Posted March 17, 2013 (edited) I talked to some folks earlier this evening at dinner. She said 90% of lost international packages are because of poorly written customs forms. If you write clearly on the forms there shouldn't be any issue. I'm taking along my mother. I can't write to save my life! Edited March 17, 2013 by MAGNUM4342
Casey Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 First class international has no tracking and no insurance, I think. I've never had a problem though, and have shipped to about 30 different countries. Not sure about the insurance, but USPS First Class International, at least when purchased through eBay's label printing system, provides some tracking- you can see when the package left for abroad (out of Chicago in my case), then when it was delivered, but no info in between. International First Class packages seem to arrive in about 14 days no matter if it's Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, or Japan. I have postal a scale I bought in 1996, and the shipping cost sticker on top is a trip back in time.
Casey Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 She said 90% of lost international packages are because of poorly written customs forms. If you write clearly on the forms there shouldn't be any issue. I try to avoid having to manually fill out the USPS Customs forms, as the USPS clerk has to enter all the information manually, which makes for a slow process. The forms are simple, though, and you can use peel and stick address labels in lieu of hand writing the addresses, too, which helps a lot. With eBay's system, it's three clicks and done for International labels.
DirtModeler Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 I talked to some folks earlier this evening at dinner. She said 90% of lost international packages are because of poorly written customs forms. If you write clearly on the forms there shouldn't be any issue. I'm taking along my mother. I can't write to save my life! Step 1: Stop writing the customs forms: https://cns.usps.com/go/ShippingInformationAction_input Use that online customs form, and never fill one out by hand again. Shipping went up quite a lot.. it killed a lot of my international business as a result. I had to eat about $50 in shipping for a few orders after the switch before i could get the prices changed on my site and on ebay. Everything went up, it's a real shame.
gbdolfans Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 Hi Kevin,I have sold on E-Bay for a few years now.I have shipped to Sweden,Germany,Australia,and the Philippines.I was able to help a guy in Australia get some kits he wanted.Everything worked GREAT!!!! Go by his feedback rating and number.Use customs number for tracking.It doesn't get the package to his door,but it shows you sent it and when. I love shipping to other countries to help out fellow modelers.I charge only what it costs me and it has been close.I have had to eat a few dollars once or twice,but,it was my fault for not being accurate in shipping info. Trust him and maybe you will get a friend. George
peekay Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 I've bought about 100 kits from US online sites in the last 15 years and average postage cost (without insurance or tracking) was $12. Now it's $26 so I simply don't buy kits anymore. (A new US kit in Switzerland now costs $45 if you can find one). The Swiss Post Office no longer offers uninsured package delivery which effectively more than doubled prices so I can no longer trade either. I traded some tyres with a guy last year, unaware of the price-hike. He sent his in a small box so I did the same. He paid $4.50 postage, I paid $18. Plus he had to wait more than 3 weeks. BTW - All those 100 kits got to me unscathed so, in my opinion, insurance and tracking are really NOT worth the exhorbitant extra cost.
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