Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/07/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'd like to echo Nathan's thoughts on this as a fellow non USA shopper. I do understand that a seller may be reluctant to complete perhaps some extra form when sending OS. Who they choose to deal with is of course, there own prerogative. Notwithstanding that, it's unreasonable to label all OS buyers as higher fraud risks than domestic ones. There are some areas where this is apparently endemic and I wouldn't be comfortable dealing on that basis either. I don't know the mechanics of the US customs procedures for postal items, here it would add less than a minute to the post office visit. My family over the last couple of years have received, without difficulty more than 200 parcels from outside Australia. USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Thailand, Singapore, and the list continues. Largely USPS but also UPS. We have had exactly one problem in that time, which was a parcel from Canada that actually got mixed up in the packing of another person's parcel while on a bench in Australian Customs. I even got that one from the upstanding surprise recipient. Not infrequently a parcel from USA will arrive here faster than one posted from the other side of Australia. So folks, it can work well with O/S buyers, sometimes the prices are better for us even with shipment costs (so that's a win for all) and we're all part of the global community. Cheers Hoppy My name is Hoppy and I'm an eBaholic. -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Nathan Wajsman Sent: Saturday, 29 July 2006 14:09 To: Leica Users Group Subject: Re: [Leica] Just curious Maybe a perspective from the foreign end...My experience is quite extensive; since 1998, I have bought and sold several items to/from the US, both here on the LUG, as well as on ebay and the Miranda forum. During that time I have lived in Belgium, Switzerland and now the Netherlands. US sellers sometimes are reluctant to ship overseas because of laziness, general ethnocentrism, fear of doing business with someone abroad, shipping etc. Some of these fears are irrational (is someone in Belgium more likely to cheat you than someone across the country?--I think not); others are more valid--shipping does become a bit more complex and expensive, but so long as the buyer is willing to pay, the $$ should not be an issue and the complexity is either non-existent (if you use someone like UPS) or very small. In my case, my best experiences have been using USPS, and in fact I insist on it now when buying something in the US. The reason are the exorbitant fees that UPS, DHL and the other private carriers charge for clearing customs in the destination country. I once had to pay DHL something like $50 for this "service" which in that particular case was more than the actual price of the item. In all those years of buying and selling, not a single package has been lost by the USPS, and all have arrived in good shape and quickly. On my end, I have sold items to people pretty much everywhere, including the US, all over Europe, and several transactions in Asia. The only time I have used anything other than the post office was when shipping an expensive item to the Phillippines a couple of years ago, and ironically the only time something has been lost was when a package to Denmark went AWOL. Nathan Joseph Codispoti wrote: > USPS is the least expensive service for overseas shipping. However, > Insurance is a must, and long delays are to be expected in certain > countries. > > Once I shipped a camera to a bidder in France; it took 35 days for delivery. > Even though I did all possible to reassure him of my integrity, including > sending proof of shipment, he posted negative feedback for "non delivery". > I can't blame him since he did not know me. > > JC > > > > Received: > USPS in my experience is very quick. However, UPS and FedEx are very > Expensive to ship outside the US. > > Gene > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands SUPPORT FREEDOM OF SPEECH, BUY DANISH PRODUCTS! General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507 Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information