STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

travelgirl · Kate Spade

International Shipping?

Cricket · Gucci

I've never done it. It's just not worth it to me because I like to use the Priority Mail flat rate boxes and schedule pick-ups at my house through USPS. I don't want to drag my kids to the P.O. to figure out the shipping for international. I've screwed myself over many times by quoting shipping too low, so I go the safe route.

erin · Chanel

Cricket wrote:

I've never done it. It's just not worth it to me because I like to use the Priority Mail flat rate boxes and schedule pick-ups at my house through USPS. I don't want to drag my kids to the P.O. to figure out the shipping for international. I've screwed myself over many times by quoting shipping too low, so I go the safe route.

not to hijack, but cricket, how do you schedule pickups? is this something online, and do i need a scale for this?

also to answer the original question, i do ship internationally, and i've never personally had a problem..but this is definitely one thing i overestimate on shipping for. the thing that sucks, is that you can't do confirmation..but i think as long as the buyer has good feedback..it's ok.

Cricket · Gucci

Erin- You just go to the website, www.usps.com, and then click on "schedule pick-up" at the top. I walks you through it and you can request what day (not sure how long in advance) and let them know where you'll leave the package. I usually do this the day before (I think noon the day before might be the cut off time). Then I go to the "calculate postage" part and follow that to pay for the postage online. I print the page that comes up, tape it to the box and I'm done. I just put the package on my doorstep and the carrier stops by after she drops my mail off at the box. I usually use Priority Mail flat-rate boxes, so I know exactly how much shipping to pay (and you can buy stamps for those) but sometimes I weigh the boxes on my bathroom scale and enter the weight when I pay online. It's all been fine so far. I've never underpaid, and I've done it many times. I do it for eBay most of the time, and it was a LIFESAVER during the busy Christmas season to not have to wait in line at the post office. Couldn't be easier!

gypsyfreak · Coach

I do not ship internationally anymore because there is no tracking number provided for global priority shipping and so it would be very difficult to confirm whether or not the buyer actually received the item. Also, I think it was rocky who posted about some problems she's had with a certain international buyer who claimed she didn't receive her package. I experienced some thing very similar to this last year and it became too much of a headache to deal with. Therefore, as a rule, I refuse to do international shipping.

mirbear · BCBG

Hmm. I usually ship global priority mail because I have got a lot of offers from Canada, Sweden, Australia, and the UK. However, I only choose certain countries such as UK, Germany, Europe, & Australia..those are the areas/continents I choose. And usually my clothing is less than a pound, so I know automatically that in the US it's $4.05, Canada is $4.25, and the other countries can be $4.25 if you can fit whatever it is in that little Global Pri. Mail. envelope, the larger one is $7.50.

I do like having USPS come to my house, but every now & then I'll go the post office & fill out the customs form, and send the pkg off. I do get a receipt, and it show the label #. It doesn't give much info, but I usually annoy my person after I think they might have rec'd it to make sure. I just want to be thorough.