Unofficial States

[MamasDreamShop]

Puerto Rico

US Virgin Islands etc.

These are not official states of United States. But Etsy addresses are accepting these states inside the US.

But these are another country. They have their own governments and they are free states! So,

when I get an order from these states, what should I do?

Prices of the shipping to these INDEPENDENT-COUNTRIES are more expensive than US shipping prices.

So there are 3 options,

1. When I got orders from these INDEPENDENT-COUNTRIES, I should cancel the order.

2. When I got orders from these INDEPENDENT-COUNTRIES, I want extra money from customers like a beggar.

3. MOST LOGICAL SOLUTION, Etsy team should fix this problem and should stop seeing these countries as states of US. Because these INDEPENDENT-COUNTRIES are COUNTRIES as de-jure. 

So what is your solution? I talked with Etsy Support, but as they always do, they do nothing. they just waste time.

I wanted t try here this time. If no solution here, I will cancel the orders by saying that we can't ship to your location due to etsy's fault.

[FallenAngelBrass]

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@MamasDreamShop wrote:

Puerto Rico

US Virgin Islands etc.

These are not official states of United States. But Etsy addresses are accepting these states inside the US.

But these are another country. They have their own governments and they are free states!

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These are US Territories, not separate countries. 

[bradgoodell]

Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands are all territories of the US.  I'm Puerto Rican myself, and no, Puerto Rico is not an independent country.

The correct address format should be:

• Juan Garcia
• 123 Camino Arbol
• Santurce, PR 00778
• USA

Name, street address, city territory zip code, country

Hope this helps.

[vintageNCtreasures]

Postage for USPS is zone based and based on PR's zip/zone.

PR is a zone 7 from me, so it costs the same to mail there as other zone 7 zips in the USA.
And it actually costs less for me to mail something to PR than it does for me to mail to CA/WA/OR/HI/AK since those states are zone 8 zip codes from me.

#1 and 2 options, are not options IMO. Why cancel an order and why would you need to ask for more money?
If you're shipping is set up correctly then you should get the correct postage.

#3: there's nothing for Etsy to fix. Etsy has always recognized US territories (PR is not a US state).

[ChristmasIsLove]

You can cancel the order if you want to, but don't blame Etsy for it. Just say you don't ship there.

[MamasDreamShop]

Wooow so brilliant. Then could you please tell me, why are these "territories" are on the shipping profile list as a Seperate country? I did not put them as a country, Etsy did. So its Etsy's fault not mine. Please investigate before arguing!

[PillowDetails]

Gosh, what a cute shop, @MamasDreamShop !

Since you are located in Turkey, is the price difference that much from shipping to the US?

[MamasDreamShop]

There is a double price difference. For example If California costs X, Puerto Rico costs 2X.

I Also entered the shipping price to Puerto Rico as 2X on the shipping profiles. If a customer based in Puerto Rico places an order, the US price applies. This is really ridiculous. Then why is Puerto Rico on the Shipping profile list separately? It means they don't know either.

[ThePurplePuppy]

@MamasDreamShop 

You should not be entering PR as the COUNTRY--You should enter the zip code they give you and USA as the country.  I am in
OR/USA (on the west coast). It costs me exactly the same to mail to PR as to FL.

[JMOldeVintage]

@MamasDreamShop  - As already mentioned Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands are territories of the USA.

You are in Turkey, so I honestly cannot say how your Postal Service views either when it involves shipping packages.
At times FedEx, UPS or DHL may handle shipments to these locations differently. But again, all that would be started at your end.

As to whether or not you can exclude either when setting up your shipping profiles, you will need to review your settings. But I'm thinking Etsy does not differentiate. 

[NanaLetha]

You either ship to the US or you don't. If you do, then that includes US territories.

[MamasDreamShop]

I'm just saying that international shipping companies such as FEDEX, UPS see them as another country. You can't select US. You cannot choose a state. You can choose the country. They apply different prices.

However, Etsy does not offer such an option.

You can check the shipping profiles on Etsy. Puerto Rico, US Virgin Island are there as a country. So Why? But if there is an order from these territories, system allows these addresses from USA. So, there is an inconsistency here. Please check the shipping profiles and you will know what I mean. I can't upload a picture. That's why I can't explain exactly what I want to say. If you check, you will see Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands as a seperate country. Also, can you show me these in the list of 50 states? So could you please show me a method by which I can categorize the states separately? I will be very grateful for any help.

[bradgoodell]

@MamasDreamShop They aren't states, they are US territories.  

For what I understand, most country's mail services charge the exact same price for Puerto Rico as they do for any US state.  I know that is true for the EU sellers I've talked to about it.  I can't say why Turkey does it differently.  Or why FedEx or UPS might do it differently.  

The buyers in those places are the ones who are entering their addresses, and they are entering them correctly if they list Puerto Rico as part of the US.  We are US citizens.  

[NanaLetha]

@MamasDreamShop  - It all depends on how the buyer has entered their address. They should be showing US as the country along with a zip code and not Puerto Rico.

[JMOldeVintage · Accepted solution]

I think the confusion here is that apparently Etsy shows Puerto Rico, etal. as separate Countries when the OP is setting up shipping profiles?
Etsy does not show them as US territories, being charged US postage rates, as they do for US shop owners.

Then if the OP's postal service treats them different &/or if any other carriers do too?

I think @ThePurplePuppy  probably has the best idea, to use USA as the Country instead of Puerto Rico. I would hope that wouldn't affect seller protections. However, if these locations are seen as "not the USA" when the OP is shipping, then I have no idea what to advise them to do.

[AAANativeArts]

They are territories of the US so considered part of the US postal system. It shouldn't cost any extra to ship to them, other than they are different shipping zones. Just like if you are in Los Angeles, it is cheap to ship to OR and WA because they are close by, but more expensive to ship to New  York, because it is farther away. If you use Calculated Shipping, it should take the different zones under consideration and collect the right amount of postage. It is no different than shipping to Alaska or Hawaii, which are far away from the other 48 states.

[CoquetteBath]

The US has territories, states & various military bases outside of the US.

I ship to the US, that includes all of the above. I've shipped to APO (military base addresses). USVI, PR and Guam.

so you can choose to cancel orders you do not like, but as these are properly under the USA umbrella, they are US shipments.

[MamasDreamShop]

So why are they on the shipping profile list as a different country? 

[JustAddJewelry]

you could just go to your shipping settings and set shipping prices for those specific locations...

[MamasDreamShop]

I set them up. But if buyers select their country as USA and select these as a stateit does not work. So it is a bug of the system for us.

[maggiemaybecrafty]

You can cancel if you like but you cannot ask for more money after the fact. These are US territories, not independent countries.

[MamasDreamShop]

So why are they on the shipping profile list as seperate countries, smartee?

[ByVanillaMintDesigns]

I just checked in my shipping profiles, you can select Puerto Rico as a separate shipping destination / country and then give it a different shipping price to the rest of the USA. I don’t ship to PR as it is 3x more expensive to ship an item with tracking to there compared to the rest of the USA (which then makes my Etsy fees too high compared to my items, so I don’t have it set up)

[JDTotesnDolls]

That's because you are in the Netherlands.

It is different for us in the US.  They are not countries but territories and receive the same consideration as states.  

Have you checked for cost if the zip code is included.  Might be different.

[JDTotesnDolls]

"But these are another country. They have their own governments and they are free states! So,

when I get an order from these states, what should I do?"

Sorry they are not another country. They are US territories.  They are considered part of the US and receive some, unfortuantely not all of the benefits of being related to the US. 

You ship to them.  Or not.  It is up to you.

If they have different cost than the US it might be because of their location in the world.  Puerto Rico has zip codes as do the other territories so that may make a difference in cost.