Those Zany Ship-to Country lists

Does anyone really ship to Bouvet Island?

[jsinger]

When I was installing one of those pre-made "ship-to" country lists on our shopping cart I noticed several nations I didn't recognize. And I know world geography REALLY well. Eventually I learned that the author of the list had inserted some fakes (like Webmasterland). Naturally, these non-existant countries were soon foisted by other cart creators. Great way to discover copyright violations!

Aside from that tomfoolery, ever notice some of the real specks of land that appear in those lists?

I find Bouvet Island and South Sandwich in almost every list. Both are uninhabited (and uninhabitable) dots just north of Antarctica. Bouvet, a Norwegian territory, in the deep south Atlantic, far from standard shipping routes, is perhaps the world's most inaccessable island.

Does anyone really ship to North Korea which appears on most lists? (www.uranium4less.com)

[vibgyor79]

Isn't it illegal to ship to North Korea/Iraq/Libya and other countries that are under international sanctions?

[jsinger]

Cuba is on most U.S. lists despite the ban on trade with them. I guess if the site were selling meds, some exports from the U.S. would be allowed.

The cart maker would argue that his software is sold worldwide, and that trade with North Korea, Libya, Cuba and similar places may open up one day even from the U.S.

Still, at least for the U.S, shipping to several of these places, is almost impossible. UPS accepts packages only for a small number of places. The Post Service won't ship to Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq, It does ship to North Korea and Cuba. (at least I think that's right from a quick reading of the USPS site)