Re: Way around "Ships only to USA"
- From: "Sapphyre" <sapphyre_66@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 6 Sep 2006 22:16:48 -0700
Hi Tony,
I think I can answer some questions...
For one, yes many sellers will not ship outside of the US (or whatever
their country is). I happen to buy a lot from the Netherlands and
Belgium, simply because it's not too difficult to navigate for
collections on ebay.nl, once you know the name of the country you want
to check out in Dutch. Then I just browse until I find something cool.
I have asked lots of them if they'd consider posting to Canada, all
have said yes, except one. They have been fair with costs.
If they state in an auction specifically they only post to the US, I
don't bother the seller. If it's just a toggled option, I may ask, and
find out what they expect with shipping. Some of them want to use
Global Priority, and as such, these items cost more to ship, and are
VERY frequently tagged by customs. I work at a post office, they are
LOOKING for those envelopes because they often contain merchandise.
Some sellers will not ship outside the US because of Customs. Yes, I
know it's a stupid green thing. Not in the US. They must complete a
portion with their return address and where it's going, and leave that
copy with the post office. This takes more time than the little green
thing you see. I have used address labels to make this easier (when I
lived there).
Next, a US Postal Box. It's against regulations for you to rent a box
and use it specifically to forward your mail to another address. Canada
or not, it doesn't matter. You want to order something say, every two
months? It only costs $25 for six months? It's a good deal right? I
spoke with a postmaster in Niagara Falls. The USPS provides YOUR
personal information (name and address) to people who pay for this
information, and you get JUNK MAIL at your address. How do I know this?
Because no one knew my address and I got fliers and brochures and
magazines and the weirdest things, and yes, it was in my name!! My
information is being shared, and at that time, I did NOT have a phone,
so this is not phone book or telecom company related. No one could have
known I lived there, but the US is busy collecting information (try
zabasearch.com and check your US friends. It will scare you.) So in
Niagara Falls, which is my close location (around 120 km from here), I
wanted a PO Box. They told me I had to get a "big size" and it will
overflow if I don't come every week or two. They complained that
Canadians "abuse the service" by "not getting their daily mail". I
told the postmaster "I'll only be ordering stuff every month or so to
have it shipped here, I'm not getting a lot of mail." That's when they
admitted, yes, they provide my information, which is why we get the
weirdest junk mail in our names. And yes, my box will get full of crap
between today and when I get my next shipment.
So my solution... Save your time, money and effort. Unless you live 10
miles away and plan to go often and use it excessively. Save your gas,
save the rental fees for the box, pay the customs when it comes in. In
many cases, I'd think stamps don't require the green form, but that
depends, buying one stamp, or a collection of 100? Just try to do the
best you can in Canada. I worked it out so many times, and I can't see
a better way. I buy coins mostly, and I rarely get hit for customs,
even when the coins ARE declared correction.
Hope this helps.
Sapphyre
Tony Vella wrote:
I have noticed a growing number of ebay sellers in the US recently who will
only ship to US addresses. I was wondering what the logistics, including
red tape, customs, costs-in-general, would be for me to get a post box in
New York State someplace and use it as a US address. Then have *them* mail
the contents of the box to me in Ottawa, say once a month, or whatever.
Here in Ottawa we have a business called Mail Boxes Plus which provides such
a service.
The question that immediately comes to my wife's mind is: How often will you
be using the box, Tony? Not very often, I should think! More trouble than
it's worth ??????? Any info, ideas, suggestions, opinions on the subject
will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
--
Tony Vella in Ottawa, Canada
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