Dealing with Orders from Canada and Europe

Best option for shipping and charging?

[thaedge]

I have a site that sells (from time to time) some merch, and lately much of the business has come from Canada, Sweden and UK.

What are some options to European customers aside from Paypal?

What have you found to be the cheapest, most secure and all around best way to ship packages overseas?

Items are not usually more then a pound and simple small box is all it really is.

Also know a site that is looking at taking donations/subscriptions via Paypal but many of the Euro users dont have access to it.

[martyt]

For shipping small items, Global Priority Mail is really the way to go. Next best choice would be Airmail Letter Post. Other carriers (FedEx, UPS, etc.) are generally too expensive when shipping small items. The only down side is that you'll probably end up standing in line at the post office.

[shahed]

I'm getting lots of customers from Europe and currently using USPS regular mail. Its expensive when I send heavy items. How is USPS global priyority mail rate?

[sun818]

> What are some options to European customers aside from Paypal?

Direct credit card.

> cheapest, most secure and all around best way to ship packages overseas?

Depends on the country. Never ship surface, it is a customer service nightmare. For Air packages, the general guideline I've developed over time is that if the country you ship to accepts USPS Global Priority Mail (GPM), you can ship via USPS Air Mail Letter/Parcel safely. If the country does not accept GPM, use a service that offers tracking such as USPS Global Express Mail (GEMS).

[CernyM]

I've given up on the USPS to get commercial orders to Canada. Too many just got lost or delayed.

UPS gets them through, albeit at a higher price.

[diamondgrl]

Check out http:// ircalc. usps. gov/ for shipping rates.

$7 for basic cost of global priority to Canada or Mexico. $9 for other countries. Global priority is only available to certain countries.

[thaedge]

I agree CernyM - both times I used USPS took 2 weeks plus for small simple items.

Thanks all - gonna have to do some research based on what everyone said.

[wattsnew]

What is the value of your shipment?

If you ship courier (e.g. UPS) to Canada, your customer will be charged a brokerage fee at the border to pass through customs (fee may be included in some express serices). That fee may exceed the price of the item purchased! Unhappy customer when the parcel arrives COD.

Some other countries may be the same story.

USPS takes longer, 6 - 10 days in our experience, but there is no brokerage fee. I've not has parcels lost - so far.

[Rugles]

You need a fullfillment operation in Canada. That way you can consolidate your shipment into Canada once (paying a single brokerage fee on the whole shipment) and have the orders filled as you need to.

[phpmaven]

On any order that is more than just samples or a very small order we give our customers the option of Global Priority Mail or UPS. We explain that we will not guarantee that anything sent via U.S. Mail will get there and that if it doesn't, their basically hosed. Some people will still opt for Mail because they want to save the money.

We really try to discourage the use of U.S. Mail. Not only is it a pain in the shorts to wait in line, but have you ever tried to collect on damaged or lost items that were insured! What a weeks long knock down drag out that is! Not worth it.

[moose606]

We ship products around the world, and only use UPS Worldwide Express or Expedited (Customs brokerage is included). We tried USPS, but had problems with slow delivery, lost packages, and their tracking system is a joke. It is more expensive, but customers get their packages quickly, and with no surprises.

[grobe]

In terms of Global Priority Mail what people are often talking about are Global Priority flatrate envelopes which are the same size as the domestic flatrate envelopes and thus are good for shipping things like most books. The variable rate Global Priority is higher priced than Airmail parcel post. So for the widgets I ship most fit in a Global Priority flatrate envelope. If large and heavy, most buyers like the surface M-bag option.

[grobe]

For payment credit cards work well as well as international money orders. And some customers like to send US dollars in a registered letter.

[beautykat]

I have used Air Letter/Parcel Post but they do not offer tracking. Consider Global Priority if you want tracking, but tracking only works to the point where the package leaves USA. I believe that Canada also supports Global Priority, you might be able to use the same tracking number on Canada post website.

[phpmaven]

I'm Sorry, but the "tracking" that the Post Office offers is a joke. It tells you if somebody signed for it when it gets there. They can't tell you where it is anywhere in between when you ship it and it gets there. The point of having tracking is being able to "track" the package in transit.