tips on sending coins overseas

[midwest]

I need to know any thing you people can spare on shipping coins out of the country.I am thinking of offering shipping outside of the US formy Ebay auctions.The two countries I need to know about are Canada and Britian.I am also thinking of Australia.

 

Plus what about shipping to peurto Rico and such?

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Travis

 

[supertooth]

Travis, Well, whatever you do, stay away from Italy. Enough said. Bob [supertooth]

[gmarguli]

I need to know any thing you people can spare on shipping coins out of the country.I am thinking of offering shipping outside of the US formy Ebay auctions.The two countries I need to know about are Canada and Britian.I am also thinking of Australia.

 

Plus what about shipping to peurto Rico and such?

 

 

Canada: Never heard of much theft. Can be a-holes on the customs forms. Lie about value (i.e. $5) to make it free for the buyer.

 

Britain: Never heard of much theft. Can be slow to deliver packages. Had requests for overnight shipping because regular can take 1-3 weeks.

 

Australia: Never heard of much theft. No problems. Usually fast delivery.

 

Puerto Rico: Never had a buyer from there. Doubt very much I will.

 

If you're worried about theft, use Registered Mail (costs $7.50 extra) or use an outside insurance company. That's what I do. Some countries (Italy & Greece come to mind) either have a lot of mail theft or a lot of paranoid buyers.

[bigd5]

Registered is the best way to go. You'll have to decide for yourself if you want to lie on the customs forms concerning value. I don't (although I have for a couple of board members) but then again, I don't ship overseas.

 

The insurances issue is the problem. If you have private insurance, you have to check with them on coverage. For the USPS, most foreign countries have insurance limits of $47 or so.

 

Quite a few countries do not allow the mailing of numismatic items into the country (Australia is a recent one I had this issue with) and it's up to you to make a decision on shipping coins to those countries.

 

I don't bother with overseas shipping. I'll ship to Canada and a few other countries where I have had zero problems with the registered mail (England and Japan come to mind) and that's that.

 

Then you can get into Paypal, and what they back you up on etc.........................

[JamminJ]

Puerto Rico: Never had a buyer from there. Doubt very much I will.

 

I had one. No problems at all, exactly the same as domestic mail.

[toyonakataro]

The two countries I need to know about are Canada and Britian.I am also thinking of Australia.

 

please add japan to your list

[midwest]

Canada: Never heard of much theft. Can be a-holes on the customs forms. Lie about value (i.e. $5) to make it free for the buyer.

 

What happens if they open the package and notice that there is much more value in the items then stated?I really don't need another federal agency on my back for trying to do something.(It almost killed me the last time when the FBI thought I sent an anthrax letter

)

 

 

Britain: Never heard of much theft. Can be slow to deliver packages. Had requests for overnight shipping because regular can take 1-3 weeks.

 

Is the slowness for regular mail?I was thinking of sending by global priority mail.

[midwest]

Puerto Rico: Never had a buyer from there. Doubt very much I will.

 

I had one. No problems at all, exactly the same as domestic mail.

 

Does this mean I could just send it priority mail?

[midwest]

The two countries I need to know about are Canada and Britian.I am also thinking of Australia.

 

please add japan to your list

 

One problem on EBAY I only buy from countries that speak mostly english

 

what worries me is sending a package to a country that doesn't speak english as the first language.However I will consider it in the future

[MastaHanky]

If you ever end up having to send a package to South America, one technique that works well to prevent theft is to put religious stickers (crosses, Jesus, etc) all over the container. I've had several acquaintences spend time down there, and they said this was an excellent way to prevent postal theft, as the people in the post system assumed the mail was religion-related and wouldn't dare tamper with it, for fear of upsetting The Man.

 

(The Man, for once in this case, is NOT Greg!)

[gmarguli]

Canada: Never heard of much theft. Can be a-holes on the customs forms. Lie about value (i.e. $5) to make it free for the buyer.

 

What happens if they open the package and notice that there is much more value in the items then stated?I really don't need another federal agency on my back for trying to do something.(It almost killed me the last time when the FBI thought I sent an anthrax letter

)

 

 

It's Canadian Customs, so they can't do anything to you as far as I know.

 

If they do open it up, are they going to know the value? Probably not. If they do, they adjust the value for the buyer or send it back to the shipper.

 

Never write coin on the customs slip. I always use token (it's either not legal tender in my country or their country, so it's not a coin in one of them - it's a token). Exonumia or Numismatic Item would be OK.

 

 

 

 

Britain: Never heard of much theft. Can be slow to deliver packages. Had requests for overnight shipping because regular can take 1-3 weeks.

 

Is the slowness for regular mail?I was thinking of sending by global priority mail.

 

No idea. I use Global Priority mail and some wanted Express Mail.

[JamminJ]

Puerto Rico: Never had a buyer from there. Doubt very much I will.

 

I had one. No problems at all, exactly the same as domestic mail.

 

Does this mean I could just send it priority mail?

 

Sure, they have regular zip codes and everything!

[golfnut99-migration]

I understand that if you understate the value on the customs form

you can be banned from shipping to that country if that country complains to the USPS. You, of course, must be caught and the offended country has to have it in for you.