why is it that ads selling items state U.S. only ?

[Chan Tran]

I wouldn't even know how to ship overseas and kind of lazy to find out. I think I can sell my items in the US only and still get a good price. That is why there is no need to go outside the USA.

 

[faberryman]

I suspect many people don’t have a postage scale and don’t want to buy one.

You can print out a shipping label for your package online w/ just a house scale for most camera items. The problem comes in when you have to go to the Post Office (and here in the US, most people would rather go to the dentist every day than go there even once). Our post offices are like something right out of a Communist country. Things work in baffling ways, no one is responsible for anything, and if someone has to ship something that is a little tiny bit out of the ordinary, it may require all the postal employees to huddle up and formulate some sort of byzantine rule just for you!

Every time I leave a US post office I think, wow, what a great place to film a horror movie. You don't even need sets or actors, just film what happens there during a "normal" day.

I have a different experience with my local post office. I can get in and out quickly using the self-serve machine. If I need something that the self-serve machine can’t handle I may have to wait in line a few minutes, but the person usually knows how to do what I need done. But if going to the post office was the horror show you describe, I would probably buy a postage meter too.

 

[bdial]

I don't understand the multiple comments about having to go to the Post Office to fill out forms...

Nor do I. I don't use paypal shipping, but getting a price from the post office on line is easy enough, and filling out a customs form is no big deal. I may be spoiled, but my local post office(s) are easy enough to deal with too.

Or, maybe it's just familiarity, when my wife was still selling collectable books, international orders were pretty routine.

 

[Chan Tran]

Wow, this says a lot about you.

Why do I sell my cameras? I want the money out of the cameras I no longer want. If I have to put a lot of effort to get decent money for them I would but if I don't have to why would I put in the effort. The reason to sell is for the money not for the buyers.

 

[mgb74]

I suspect many people don’t have a postage scale and don’t want to buy one.

A good point. But I couldn't do without a kitchen scale and my kitchen scale doesn't know the difference between flour and a camera.

 

[faberryman]

A good point. But I couldn't do without a kitchen scale and my kitchen scale doesn't know the difference between flour and a camera.

Yes, if you have kitchen scale you don’t need a postage scale. Sounds like you are well prepared to sell your camera stuff without going to the post office. If you have a great big mailbox, you can even leave your packages there for USPS to pick up.

 

[foc]

I am on another continent, in a very small country so if I wish to sell items online I need to be able to deal with international sales and shipping/posting.
I have sold internationally for the last few years and I find it is very easy. (a lot of this is a sideline business)
I can buy click and drop postage online and it comes with all the forms/customs etc necessary for the destination and I then print the labels. One minute and it is all done and then I just have to drop it off at my local post office which is just a 10 minute walk away. So I post my small items and get some exercise into the bargain and maybe meet a few neighbours and have a chat.
For me, a visit to the post office is a social outing.

From what I have read here and in other online forums it appears that international sales/shipping can be a glass half empty/half full scenario.

 

[laser]

International shipping from the US is difficult, risky, and expensive.

Customs forms are required. usps.com doesn't always work properly.

Filling out the customs forms at the post office takes time including a trip to the post office.

USPS clerks are seldom familiar with international requirements. If they make an error the package is returned.

International shipping is expensive: 5 pounds of books costs at least $70 to most countries. Shipping 5# of books to a US address is $6.

If there is a problem USPS is unresponsive in trying to find the package or paying claims. I have been trying to resolve an international claim for over a year. I have phoned, written to the USPS Consumer Advocate etc. "We are looking in to it" is the best I receive in response. If you telephone the USPS claims department the wait time exceeds 30 minutes. When you get some one they usually are unable to help. They transfer you and typically you end up back in the >30 minute que.

It simply isn't worth the effort. cost, or risk ship internationally unless it is a high priced item. This handicaps US business and citizens of other countries do not have access to materials from the USA.


It is not the fault of the seller or the buyer.

I have been very successful in shipping "Making KODAK Film" outside the US because the buyers think it is worth while to spend $70 for shipping and I am willing to spend the time to make sure the books are properly packages, documents are completed, and I track every shipment. For less expensive items it may not be worth the shipper's effort.

 

[Vincent Peri]

I guarantee all of my used equipment will work, and if it doesn't, I refund the purchase price plus shipping both ways. I don't want to have to pay for foreign shipping if a buyer has to return defective items.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

When I lived in New York, I avoided banks and the post office whenever possible due to typically long lines. It wasn't worth paying for anything by money order or filling out customs forms if it was avoidable, and package security was too iffy to leave a prepaid package for the postal carrier. Still, I occasionally went to the post office, the bank, and once even Western Union on Times Square (to receive a payment from South America), if there was no alternative.

Living in Hawai'i now, the post office isn't so crazy, and I hardly ever need to visit a bank in person anymore.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

"It seems that shipping items from Canada is easier than to Canada. I wouldn't be too concerned. There are lots of other Canadia(e)ns on here, too."

Say what?? There are members from the Montreal Canadiens here??

 

[MattKing]

Les Habitants!

 

[tokam]

I can understand the reluctance of sellers in the US to go through the rigmarole of filling out customs forms to export items overseas.

I haven't used them but there are several US based shipping forwarders who specialise in mailing items from the US to overseas destinations. Would this simplify things for the seller in the US? I.e. US seller mails the item to the forwarder whom I imagine would do the customs paperwork before mailing the item overseas.

I have seen mention of several of these companies in Australian forums. Normally it's by Australian residents buying from smaller US companies who maybe aren't geared up for international sales. I believe that Australia Post, (our equivalent to USPS), have such an operation so I would be more inclined to trust them in this instance.

The whole aim of the exercise is to simplify the international sales process for US sellers.

I have bought numerous items from US based APUG members and would like to be able to buy from US members in the future.

 

[cramej]

"It seems that shipping items from Canada is easier than to Canada. I wouldn't be too concerned. There are lots of other Canadia(e)ns on here, too."

Say what?? There are members from the Montreal Canadiens here??

I can't vouch for their hockey skills, but there are those that insist Canada is Western France . For others, it's the Polite Provinces of America....or Courteous Colonies of England?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I can't vouch for their hockey skills, but there are those that insist Canada is Western France . For others, it's the Polite Provinces of America....or Courteous Colonies of England?[/QUOTE

I'll take the courteous colonies of Great Britain. By the way, I don't speak a lick of French. You'd have to go to that Province of Quebec for that.

 

[MattKing]

By the way, I don't speak a lick of French. You'd have to go to that Province of Quebec for that.

Or a short drive to Mailllardville!

 

[Huss]

For those that only seem to post "for sale" items on Photrio and nothing else and won't ship internationally I just put them on ignore. That way I don't know what I have missed.

Well, when you list God's Country as your location, I think they are ignoring you too. Unless they don't mind shipping to Lapland.

 

[Huss]

I have an ad in the classifieds where I am selling a bunch of film. I am charging the flat USPS rate for shipping which for a small box is $8.45. A gentleman contacted me from Russia - I checked the rate - almost $45.
That is why most sellers in the US don't want to deal with this, unless the buyer is willing to pay more for shipping than the product! (in many cases)

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Well, when you list God's Country as your location, I think they are ignoring you too. Unless they don't mind shipping to Lapland.

Lapland. Peeler bar my boss at the time took me to in Japan

 

[GarageBoy]

Domestic, I can use the vending machine in the post office - in and out in 10 minutes

Intl, I gotta wait in line for 30+ minutes, fill out forms, hold my breath that it actually makes it there

I still don't know what happened to this Leica iiig I sent to China

 

[Arthurwg]

I also think USPS insurance is useless on foreign shipments.

 

[removed account4]

hi Doug
I think people just want least effort. they don't want to deal with currency exchange
or international money orders or customs forms &c.
I ship internationally when asked, I take the $ hit from all the financial stuff ( I don't jack up charges extra for shipping to
recover my losses ) I don't lie on customs forms, I probably lose money on things when I ship internationally, but the stuff
finds a good home. gotta go with the flow ..

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I'm not selling anything anywhere except USA and Canada. The rest is not worth it. Too expensive to ship.

If shipping to USA, then customs forms part is automatically added via PayPal shipping. It is total no brainier.

Is USA PayPal shipping in rudimentary state and has no USPS shipping with customs forms? I don't know. Then Finland stepped into EU, their logistics were years ahead of EU's (but they have to degrade their, because it is how any Union works).

Is USPS shipping tool with online forms a hogwash? https://www.usps.com/international/customs-forms.htm
" If you didn’t complete your customs form online or are using postage stamps on a package that requires a customs form, visit your local Post Office™ branch, fill out form PS 2976-R, and present your package at the counter to have the clerk create your label."
I don't know...

What I know for sure seeing for many years on ebay and forums is this. If you see very good deal, it is very often USA only.
Keep the miracle within homeland, I guess.

Also, I do believe shipping from USA to non NA is expensive. But I have received very many USA shipped from items, including recently within reasonable shipping price.
I just checked. USPS from LA to Toronto is 21 or 29 USD for 100USD, two pounds regular box item.
https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator/MailServices?country=10054&ccode=CA&oz=90001&omil=False&dz=L9T 7R8&dmil=False&mdt=7/13/2021&mdz=14:59&m=6&dvi=100&p=2&o=0
This is what I'm paying for shipping from USA on regular basis or less.

BH ships for free to Canada, if it is more than 100 USD.They have special shipping pricing and Canada specific shipping arrangements.

Yet, then I check film prices from another USA business, film is cheap, but shipping is 50 USD. Which is nothing but polite way to say - Canada? FOF...

To make it short, Canada is too tiny market to include it in potential sales market for some in USA. And it is not within drive-in, take out culture. Extra steps are needed.
Even to check shipping price with USPS. I have to scroll it down to see all of the prices. While first one was fifty bucks. But again, if drive-in, take out menu is not one page, it is too complicated.

 

[toyoboyo]

Chiming in.
USPS and customs forms is a large part of the difficulty. I sent something to France once, and I'm shocked that it arrived there without any hiccups. The USPS clerk glanced at my documents and said everything was fine, and then we had to spend some time double checking things as she entered the data in for a label. It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.

On top of that, it's difficult to navigate which options provide seller protection if going through Paypal. Some of the seemingly default choices don't qualify for seller protection because of insurance amounts, tracking options, and signature requirements.

It's just not worth it for me to sell internationally when I can usually find someone within CONUS.

On the other hand, I'm extremely grateful to all of the Canadians and everyone else who doesn't mind shipping to the US.

 

[guangong]

My rural post office is manned by one person. Very seldom a line. What I find strange is that a mailed package from China arrives faster than a mailed package from NYC, less than 75 miles away.
With PayPal backup, I don’t mind buying from abroad, since i’ll be refunded for non delivery. Years ago, I lost a set of valuable, hard to replace books, due to postal strike in UK, although promised that package would be delivered after strike. Somebody got a monetary windfall.