What's involved in shipping a coin to the UK?

[pendragon1998]

I'm considering opening up my eBay shipping options to include the UK. I currently only ship to the US. What is involved in shipping a coin out of the country? Would I have to fill out customs forms or anything like that? About what's the cost to ship a single coin out there? I've never shipped anything overseas, so talk to me like I'm an *spoon*.

 

Thanks!

[truthteller]

1. Expect your package to be opened and searched under new Homeland Security regulations. This is no joke.

 

2. Costs for registered packages can be very expensive.

 

3. If you ship by USPS, the international priority packages give good value, around $5 excluding insurance.

 

4. I've shipped to the UK serveral times. One package was obviously opened for inspection in the UK, although nothing was missing, so it was probably customs.

 

5. Customs forms by USPS are simple and easy, however, you must declare value and the end user must pay a VAT tax for EU countries.

 

 

 

 

TRUTH

[jgrinz]

1. Expect your package to be opened and searched under new Homeland Security regulations. This is no joke.

 

2. Costs for registered packages can be very expensive.

 

3. If you ship by USPS, the international priority packages give good value, around $5 excluding insurance.

 

4. I've shipped to the UK serveral times. One package was obviously opened for inspection in the UK, although nothing was missing, so it was probably customs.

 

5. Customs forms by USPS are simple and easy, however, you must declare value and the end user must pay a VAT tax for EU countries.

 

TRUTH

 

Dont Do Priority ...

 

Depends on Weight ... 3oz or less is a no document US Air Mail shipment

1 slabbed coin in a 4x6 bubble is 2.9 ounces .. I have had no problems even

when "my *spoon* customers" hit buy nows OUT OF THE COUNTRY when the auction clearly states US ONLY

 

I usually kick up the shipping $3.00 because you actually DO have to go to the PO to do it ..

 

Good Luck

[John Martinez]

For what ever it's worth. We shipped an unrelated item to the UK. The purchaser was cheap and we shipped a method that did not provide proof of delivery. The purchaser screwed us and charged back his credit card for non-delivery.

 

Lesson. Either I'm not shipping to the UK or if I do, insurance and proof of delivery will be manditory for the purchaser to pay.

 

Better yet. In International Business there is something called INCO Terms 1990.

I would quote on the bid AND on the invoice for International Shipments -"according to INCO Terms 1990 FOB (then name city, state, "US" and zip code)."

 

Therefore this is a legal and binding term that once you deliver it to the carrier, it's theirs. But I would want some sort of receipt from the carrier, what ever form that would take.

 

Then on the otherhand, beign burt bad "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

[CarlWohlforth]

I'll ship to Canada, Japan, UK, Germany and Australia. I make it clear that the winning bidder is responsible for the item even if it gets lost during shipping. I ship air mail and charge the same as when I ship to the US however it doesn't include insurance. I recommend the winning bidder spring for Registered mail which is $7.50 extra.

 

You have to fill out a US Customs form.

 

One person was mad I put down the actual value of the item. They refused to pick up the item so it was shipped back to me. Everything else worked fine. The only mail that was "lost" was in the US.

 

There is a preference you can choose in eBay that blocks bidders that are from countries to which you don't ship.

[Beijim]

To me shipping outside the United States is nowhere near worth the hassle. There are plenty of slimeballs in this country to occupy my bandwidth without my having to search for them in Dorking.

 

By coincidence, I was discussing eBay with a colleague the other day. He was a relative neophyte and had gotten into this idiocy of shipping outside the country to some dude who wanted (a) fully insured delivery and (b) a fraudulent customs declaration so he wouldn't have to pay VAT (Value Added Tax) on the item's full value. Needless to say, these two requirements are mutually incompatible, as it's difficult to insure a package for $1,000 when its customs declaration pins the value at $1.00. Leaving aside, of course, the issue of being asked to complete a fraudulent government form on behalf of some joker in Tora Bora.

 

In a nutshell, my colleague had an unpleasant experience he doesn't plan to repeat. Unless I were selling darkside, I can't see how expanding my purview globally would improve my bottom line or cardiac health.

 

Beijim

[pendragon1998]

I seems like it's a big hassle. The only thing tempting me to consider shipping to the UK is those Silver Britannias I'm selling. If I don't sell them in the BST forum, I'm going to put them on eBay.

[Beijim]

The only thing tempting me to consider shipping to the UK is those Silver Britannias I'm selling. If I don't sell them in the BST forum, I'm going to put them on eBay.

You know, I totally forgot about your previous post regarding them, so I apologize if my response here was discouraging. The Britannias are cool coins - I especially like the one that came in the U.S. Mint's 2003 Legacies of Freedom set.

 

Beijim

[gmarguli]

I'm really surprised at the number of responses to this question. I ship worldwide. Overall, very little problems.

 

To ship outside the US, all you need to do is attach a Customs Form and drop it off at a Post Office window.

 

Your package is NOT likely going to be opened by Homeland Security. This is ridiculous. For them to open every package going outside the US would take way more manpower than they have. Customs may open it in the receivers country. I've been told by my buyers that this has happened, but the coins arrived safely. I'd guess less than 1% of my buyers reported this to me.

 

Foreign governments are cracking down on fake declared values on customs forms. I've been asked by a couple of buyers to use fake sale numbers on the invoice included inside the package as Customs are opening the packages to check invoices against declared values. Penalties range from the buyer having to pay full custom duty to the shipper being barred from sending packages to that country (how they would accomplish this is unknown to me).

 

Never list $0 as the declared value if listed as merchandise. Canada and Australia (& probably other countries) are returning these to the sender. I'll usually list an odd number like $8 or $13 as I feel that would look like a real sale price.

 

Raw coins ship very well outside the US in photo mailers. For these you may not need a customs form and if you do, you can list $0 value and call it photos.

 

For some countries, you must use Registered Mail. Personally, I will send no more coins to Greece / Cyprus if it is not Registered. A shockingly disproportional percentage of packages there seem to get "lost". Anything expensive to Italy, China, & Poland must be Registered. And anything to African / Russian / Middle Eastern countries should be Registered.

 

You can also insure many packages outside the US if they are sent Parcel Post. Not sure why, but they will insure up to $5,000 for some countries.

[pendragon1998]

Sorry guys, I'm still a little confused about which option to use. Essentially, I would only be selling individual, raw coins (possibly some small lots, but mainly singles) that will probably go in the $20-$40 range. I was looking around on the usps website some more, and I came across "Global Priority Mail, small envelope" that goes to the UK in 4-6 days for $5.25. I've got several questions about that:

 

(1) Do I just use a standard bubble mailer or do I use their mailer instead?

(2) How much does insurance run for that dollar amount?

(3) What kind of delivery confirmation should I use to avoid PayPal charge backs? Cost?

(4) Are coins / bullion coins a dutiable item, and if so, which customs form should I use?

(5) How does PayPal work with UK or Canadian currency?

 

Thanks y'all!

[World Colonial]

In my limited experience in selling on eBay, shipping international has been a pain in the neck unless you are just shipping first class not registered and not insured.

 

If you want one or both of those, either because of paypal's rules or because the buyer asks for it, then you have the "honor" of trying to figure out what insurance limits apply to each type of mail service based upon the destination. There is information listed on the USPS website but this has been more often than not contradicted by what the postal clerks told me when I actually went to mail the item. I believe that this is a combination of my confusion, the fact that most of the postal clerks do not handle mail to the countries I shipped to and the utter impossibility of covering the entire postal regulation on the website. They did tell me I could buy their international manual (it is the size of a telephone book).

 

In any event, for a $20-$40 item, Global Priority Mail will work and the insurance will cost a few bucks. I believe you need to have a tracking number of some sort to support a paypal claim against you if the item gets lost. I do not know which one which is why I require registered mail on more expensive items. The insurance limits with registered mail to the UK and Canada is (I believe) about $45 above which you need to use Air Parcel Post at a cost of $20+.

 

If you get paid in a foreign currency, paypal will convert it to your currency of reference for a fee.