How hard is it to ship internationally?

[Former_Member]

Do I need to take any specific precautions? I know shipping out of country can get complicated. How is it different from shipping in-U.S.?

[GoTo]

It's easy enough that you don't need to use some special service to do it.

On Etsy, you just print the shipping label and it has fields for all the customs form info right there when you create the label, and it prints the label with the customs form on one half sheet label if you ship First Class.

Then you just package it up and mail (be sure to either sign the customs form portion of the label, or go into your account settings and have it signed automatically).

If you ship First Class Package International--the least expensive method & it is very dependable--the rates only have two real groups--inside of N America & outside of N America--so it's pretty easy to set the rates too.

You can see the rates we get here:

First-Class Package International Service
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/notice123.htm#2521047

Canada is price group 1, Mexico is price group 2, all the other countries fall into the other zones.

For lightweight items like yours, the differences between zones 3 through 9 are negligible so you can pick either the highest, the lowest or something in the middle and you'll never be over or under charging by more than $1.

Items that weigh between 1 and 8 ounces all ship for the same rate too--the rate doesn't go up until you have a package over 8 ounces.

[Former_Member]

Very helpful Go To. Thank you.

[Former_Member]

Hello! How about large and bulky items?

[Former_Member]

I've heard first-class international can be unreliable and often has issues losing items. Does anyone have an experience like this? Or is it a pretty safe bet to use first-class as an affordable international shipping option?

Thank you!

[GoTo]

WebOfGaia--we've been using it for more than a decade with few issues--no more than domestic shipping.

It's not as fast as domestic of course, but most international customers don't expect it to be fast for the price they are paying in shipping. We put in our policies that it generally can take 2 to 3 weeks though occasionally a package can take longer (reports of packages arriving after 2, 3, even 6 months have been mentioned in the forums), but in my experience most package take less than 2 weeks, rarely six weeks.

[Former_Member]

According to stamps.com, the USPS handles delivery up to customs at the destination country at which point the destination country takes over the delivery. So, I think the USPS portion of the journey is reliable and most other countries are reliable. However, some few countries may have what are considered less than well-oiled service.

[brendascrochetnsuch]

I've had no problems shipping to Canada, Australlia, U.K. and Finland- my only international orders using Etsty shipping labels. Canada and Autrallia took about 2 weeks, the U.K. and Finland 2 separate orders each to the the same buyer took about 7 days. Each order was under 8 oz.

[brendascrochetnsuch]

Go To, have you ever had problems with anything going to the Dominican Republic or the Philippines.
My sister-in-law vacations in both area and says packages won't get there due to dishonest post workers there. Is this true?
I have in all my listings and policies that I don't ship to the Dominican Republic.
Do you know of any countries to be wary of?

Thanks in advance,
Brenda

[GoTo]

I've heard that the Philippines has had excruciatingly slow customs in the past--months of backlog. I've only had one order from there in years and didn't get any complaints from the customer.

Looks like there have been some bad issues that are hopefully changing soon:

http://cnnphilippines.com/videos/2016/07/18/How-Faeldon-plans-to-reform-Bureau-of-Customs.html

I don't recall anything on the Dominican Republic and haven't shipped there myself--I do still keep both in my shipping.

[Former_Member]

How do you determine costs to ship internationally

[GoTo]

Shipping Basics
http://www.gotogreatpanes.com/blog/shipping

There's a link on that page to my "Getting a Handle on International Shipping" blog post which should give you an idea of how it works.

The link right below that one takes you to USPS pages for current rates directly on the USPS website so you can make sure your rates are correct (I haven't had time to update my chart rates recently).

Further down the above linked "Shipping Basics" page, see the "More on International Shipping" too.

[Former_Member]

I order and send stuff internationally a lot (a few times per month), and my husband has a small business where he sends and receives stuff as well. I also lived in Europe and South America for a few years. I used to only send and receive stuff with USPS, but it took forever! Now I work for a logistics company that has a partnership with UPS to offer discounts to small businesses, so my husband and I use UPS on a discount. It's still not as cheap as USPS, but it's a lot more reliable and you can insure the packages and everything. My husband normally ships high value music items (keyboards, speakers, mics etc.), so we have to have insurance. Also, everything arrives quickly and we, nor his customers, have to wait weeks to get stuff. Also, since UPS handles it from pickup to delivery and they don't hand it off to the local postal service, we can track it very easily and it's more reliable. UPS has offices like almost anywhere so if there are customs issues they have someone on the ground that can help as well. The discount we have is normally 50-60% off what you see as the published rate when you calculate the cost and transit time on ups.com.

My boss doesn't mind me setting people up and getting a UPS account number is free and they can estimate what the Land and Cost will be (what has to be paid to Customs in the destination country to retrieve the package), so if anyone has any questions just lmk! Happy shipping and happy shopping!

[GoTo]

For most sellers here, they are sending smaller and lower value items that often go through customs & are delivered without being billed for customs fees/taxes when shipped via the postal service.

If a package is shipped through USPS and gets stopped in customs (it's pretty hit or miss for most countries, though England, Germany and Italy are pretty consistent for packages being stopped for charges). There is a handling fee of usually around $5 USD, plus whatever taxes are owed (like sales tax in the US).

If you ship through a courier, it always goes through customs so the customer will always owe the brokerage handling fee and customs fees.

FedEx and UPS (United Parcel Service) are private courier companies that charge international customers brokerage fees for presenting the package to customs in the destination country on every package.

When you pay for their fast services, the customs brokerage is usually worked in to the shipping price you pay--part of why the price is so high.

When packages are shipped using their less expensive service--like UPS Standard service which would be the most likely way these smaller/low value items would be sent, the package still goes to customs but the recipient receives a notice to pay the brokerage directly.

The couriers don't tell the person sending the package about the brokerage fees, usually both the sender and receiver find out about the fee when the receiver gets a notice in the mail to pay brokerage fees in order to get their package. If the receiver rejects the package because of the brokerage fee, the courier will try to collect the fee from the sender.

Here's an example of the fees UPS charges Canadian recipients:

http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/cost/zones/customs_clearance.html

[BaliPrema]

Hello! Do you know if Etsy offers Fed Ex or a more reliable shipping option for international other than USPS?

We have two orders one to Mexico and one to Cambodia that are taking over a month to get there. I cant find how to add Fed Ex or another service to an Etsy shipping option.

Have you encountered this problem before? Thanks!