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Sat Jun 15, 2024 8:39 am

I've ran into this a good few times when trying to buy parts from US based sellers on here. I'm wondering why this appears to be a problem for some sellers as I can't get my head around it. A postage box is a postage box , a postage fee is a postage fee , what difference does an address make to anybody taking this position? A buyer for the parts you're trying to sell is a buyer wherever they may be located.

Genuinely interested in learning why this is.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 8:56 am

I suspect that some sellers do not want to go to the effort of correctly filling out the "USPS Customs and Dispatch" form.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 9:21 am

iowegian wrote: I suspect that some sellers do not want to go to the effort of correctly filling out the "USPS Customs and Dispatch" form.

Thanks , we don't have this issue when sending packages out of Ireland, I just sent a parcel this week and the lady at the post office just asked what the contents were and the value of the contents.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 10:02 am

challomoner wrote: iowegian wrote: I suspect that some sellers do not want to go to the effort of correctly filling out the "USPS Customs and Dispatch" form.

Thanks , we don't have this issue when sending packages out of Ireland, I just sent a parcel this week and the lady at the post office just asked what the contents were and the value of the contents.
I learned the hard way that United States Postal Service has recently gotten more strict with how the form is filled out and they can return it to sender if they don't like it.
For "description of contents" it used to suffice to say "used auto parts". Now
they want to know exactly what it is. For instance----"used 1966 Volkswagen headlight trim ring".

Sat Jun 15, 2024 10:41 am

iowegian wrote: challomoner wrote: iowegian wrote: I suspect that some sellers do not want to go to the effort of correctly filling out the "USPS Customs and Dispatch" form.

Thanks , we don't have this issue when sending packages out of Ireland, I just sent a parcel this week and the lady at the post office just asked what the contents were and the value of the contents.
I learned the hard way that United States Postal Service has recently gotten more strict with how the form is filled out and they can return it to sender if they don't like it.
For "description of contents" it used to suffice to say "used auto parts". Now
they want to know exactly what it is. For instance----"used 1966 Volkswagen headlight trim ring".

Still not exactly a deal breaker imo , some of the stuff I've enquired about has been advertised for 18 months without finding a buyer. If a buyer turns up that happens to be overseas I wouldn't let the inconvenience of filling out a form correctly stop me making a sale. Renewing adds for years on end would annoy me more than spending 5 minutes filling out a form at the post office.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:02 am

challomoner, I agree with your thoughts here.

I find it even more annoying when a seller states, "Local pickup only." Really, WTF"
I'm not flying or driving my ass to that seller, when they could easily pack the small part in a post office flat rate box and ship it to me. For far less that the airline ticket, car rental and hotel costs.

And like you stated above. Those same parts languish in the classifieds for years.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:29 am

Way too many scams to even take a chance on international sales. You may not see it where you live but living here in the USA there are lots of foreign buyers that try to scam American sellers.

Because of illegal drugs and hazardous materials, the USPS has gotten really strict about international shipping.

You also have to deal with the currency exchange rates and import taxes and terrif fees.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:43 am

vwracerdave wrote: Way too many scams to even take a chance on international sales. You may not see it where you live but living here in the USA there are lots of foreign buyers that try to scam American sellers.

Because of illegal drugs and hazardous materials, the USPS has gotten really strict about international shipping.

You also have to deal with the currency exchange rates and import taxes and terrif fees.

Yes....and they are not just doing it on their own hook.

The USPS does not own a single airplane. They actually never have although in the '20's they "owned" a few but contracted the flying out.

100% of all USPS overnight and shipping to foreign countries (what we used to call "air mail") is done in either the holds of commercial jetliners or on contract air cargo flights.

The commercial airlines have gotten much more strict about the contents of the US mail in their holds and simply started enforcing it and passing it on to USPS. Ray

Sat Jun 15, 2024 12:11 pm

challomoner wrote: iowegian wrote: challomoner wrote: iowegian wrote: I suspect that some sellers do not want to go to the effort of correctly filling out the "USPS Customs and Dispatch" form.

Thanks , we don't have this issue when sending packages out of Ireland, I just sent a parcel this week and the lady at the post office just asked what the contents were and the value of the contents.
I learned the hard way that United States Postal Service has recently gotten more strict with how the form is filled out and they can return it to sender if they don't like it.
For "description of contents" it used to suffice to say "used auto parts". Now
they want to know exactly what it is. For instance----"used 1966 Volkswagen headlight trim ring".

Still not exactly a deal breaker imo , some of the stuff I've enquired about has been advertised for 18 months without finding a buyer. If a buyer turns up that happens to be overseas I wouldn't let the inconvenience of filling out a form correctly stop me making a sale. Renewing adds for years on end would annoy me more than spending 5 minutes filling out a form at the post office.
I agree. With the exception of the one time that I did not follow the specific
instructions on the form, I have never had a problem mailing many, many VW parts and collectables to Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Thailand, India, etc. Getting paid with PayPal has never been a problem either. The only deal breaker on International sales might be the effort involved to calculate the postage for the buyer (although that is easily done on line at USPS's website) only to have the buyer balk at the shipping cost. But, for some of us, it is a hobby (and not an essential source of income) so the time involved is not such a big deal.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 12:19 pm

iowegian wrote: I suspect that some sellers do not want to go to the effort of correctly filling out the "USPS Customs and Dispatch" form.

Yes.
It's really easy if you are printing things out online but still a little bit more work.
In person at the counter it's kind a pain but mostly because it takes a lot longer to fill out all the paperwork.

I think it's too much work or added time for some people.

Some sellers have had issues with a few international buyers and so they say they don't want to deal with any of them.
It's their right if they want to limit their pool of buyers.

I've seen people say more specific things too, like "No shipments to country XXXX" or "Continental USA only".

For the USA - So no Hawaii or Alaska? Not sure why as this is since it's no different than sending it across town.

Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:28 pm

---oh look a soapbox---

It is also annoying that many of these vendors will also not ship to the US Military and families stationed overseas. I've been overseas for over 30 years, an have had a USPS postal box on the base I'm associated with. We get regular US mail and packages at the base post office that has a US ZIP Code. I don't support purchasing from those vendors; and sadly one is CB Performance.

Reasons vendors don't ship to APO AE or FPO AP addresses:

The PSC or CMR accepts mail via USPS, will not accept UPS, DHL, FED EX etc.

In order to ship USPS the vendor has to go to the post office, USPS does not pick up packages from the vendor.-inconvenience-

A customs form must be included with the shipped package-again inconvenience.

Cost in not really a factor, in fact most vendors overcharge the customer for shipping to AE or AP zip codes, but it ALL goes to Chicago now. AE use to go to New York (09114 zip) and AP used to go to Oakland CA (96379 zip). Vendors only pay shipping to that destination, not the overseas destination.

So really these vendors run around with their "Support our Troops" sticker on the car yet they don't.

Our mail room on base is now offering using pirateship . com to pay for shipping, print the label and includes the customs form on the address label. I just shipped a Thing air cleaner from Germany to Washington state for $22, it's not that hard.

---steps of soapbox---

Mon Jul 15, 2024 5:50 pm

EverettB wrote: iowegian wrote: I suspect that some sellers do not want to go to the effort of correctly filling out the "USPS Customs and Dispatch" form.

Some sellers have had issues with a few international buyers and so they say they don't want to deal with any of them.
It's their right if they want to limit their pool of buyers.

I've seen people say more specific things too, like "No shipments to country XXXX" or "Continental USA only".

For the USA - So no Hawaii or Alaska? Not sure why as this is since it's no different than sending it across town.

iowegian wrote: I learned the hard way that United States Postal Service has recently gotten more strict with how the form is filled out and they can return it to sender if they don't like it.
For "description of contents" it used to suffice to say "used auto parts". Now
they want to know exactly what it is. For instance----"used 1966 Volkswagen headlight trim ring".

Having one too many issues with overseas shipping is what has turned me off on shipping internationally, with some exceptions of course. I've paid $90 to ship a couple of $50 cylinder heads just for them to get sent back because the invoice was not noticed by the postal workers. I have also had packages sent back for a lack of what they think is a proper description.

I do have a couple of regular customers that I ship to in Australia/Canada/etc., but only with a mutual understanding as to who has what responsibilities should things go south.

I typically only include "continental US/lower 48" when shipping is included in the price and adjust accordingly for Hawaii/Alaska/Puerto Rico. I think local pickup is fine, especially for larger objects that are difficult to ship (rear hatches, seats, etc.). I live in a city where there are a lot of VWs so it hasn't been a problem like it would be in smaller niche locations.

If someone outside of my typical radius is inquiring about shipping I try to be as explicit as possible in regard to pricing, responsibility for taxes, damaged packages, etc.

I think it also comes down to how dedicated someone is to selling their parts. Selling things for profit/just listing some parts you have lying around that don't take up too much space Not everyone may have the time, or even knowledge (I myself have had to google a lot just to make sure I am doing this whole shipping thing right) to go through the hoops of sending a part out.

Tue Jul 16, 2024 8:35 pm

I ship tons of things internationally all the time. I can't ever really recall any issues. In fact, I have a lot of good friends all over the non USA who simply text or email me when a USA seller refuses to ship to them and I'll handle it and forward it. You might try asking a vendor you do business with in USA if they will be willing to reship for a fee if you have it sent to them.

You don't need to go to the PO- use a service like Pirate Ship and they have a pick- up option. It's actually fairly easy.

Mon Sep 23, 2024 10:46 am

When I started this thread I was trying to buy a pair of nos 1970 only tail light lenses that were offered in the classifieds. I emailed and spoke to the seller on the phone, he was a nice old guy but despite our communication the transaction never moved forward due to him not providing a price with shipping.

Long story short, the nos 1970 only lenses are sitting here on my table tonight thanks to George (Tram) who posted above this post.

Not only did George purchase the lenses at his own cost, he repacked them and sent them to me all without receiving a cent from me. What a guy !

Thanks George you're a legend :D

Mon Sep 23, 2024 1:15 pm

I sell and ship rarely but I just don't want to deal with the paperwork on "foreign" sales. After having problems with *everything* I shipped to Canada I now refuse to ship to our neighbors to the north. Why? It took weeks or more to get through customs processing at Canada Post. The buyer is complaining to me and I have no where at Canada Post to check on the status. The status just said "Arrived - In Process".

Tue Sep 24, 2024 2:15 am

We are the most cosmopolitan people in the world, I resent this post.

I won’t ship to NJ , though.

Tue Sep 24, 2024 4:53 am

I live in Canada and I have bought many things from the USA over the last few years. My biggest problem is that the US postal service does not recognize our Canadian address as valid. Without fail EVERY order WILL come back as "Invalid address" unless I invent a fake address that satisfies their addressing norms.

On our end it works, all we need is the postal code, name of the town we live in and our name and it gets here just fine. Once it arrives in our town the people in the post office here know us so the fake address is ignored.

I really don't get it. Postal codes rule in mailing. It's not up to the US postal service to police our Canadian rural addressing system. If you tell them it's a valid address and has been in use for over 70 years then it is... period, but they still will not accept it.

What I am getting at is that some of the international issues are right at home with your own US postal service and not the fault of foreign markets. Fix it!

Tue Sep 24, 2024 5:09 am

OB Bus wrote: I sell and ship rarely but I just don't want to deal with the paperwork on "foreign" sales. After having problems with *everything* I shipped to Canada I now refuse to ship to our neighbors to the north. Why? It took weeks or more to get through customs processing at Canada Post. The buyer is complaining to me and I have no where at Canada Post to check on the status. The status just said "Arrived - In Process".
There is no excuse for this! The end buyer is just too lazy to phone or go on line and use the tracking number you gave him to locate the whereabouts of his goods.

I call BS on this statement: "After having problems with *everything* I shipped to Canada". Tens of thousands of packages from the USA go through our postal system daily.

Unless you have only shipped one package or are shipping illegal goods.

Tue Sep 24, 2024 12:37 pm

I have had things "Lost" when I shipped out of the United States. There is no shipping company that I am aware of, that offers insurance on out of country packages. SO, Not only do I have to refund the money paid to the buyer, I don't have the part to re-sell..= double loss for me. Therefore, I do not offer shipping outside of the United States.

Tue Sep 24, 2024 7:46 pm

Canada post will insure packages going out. I would have to check on insurance for incoming mail.