Why the lack of shipping outside US?

To present the other side - I've had a folder seized by customs, and another that seemingly just disappeared in another country (despite showing as delivered, on tracking) . I've had buyers give me attitude because I didn't understate the value on the customs declaration, so they had to pay duties/taxes in addition to the purchase price. (Seems counterintuitive to understate the value and insure for the actual value... and I suspect that, if there was a claim, such a thing would bite the seller in the ass).

Because of my experiences, I have stopped most international shipping. I will still consider shipping a fixed blade to Canada; but that's about it.
That said, I don't think I have ever sold a traditional...I think I'd consider shipping trads to Canada; but I wouldn't be easily convinced to take the risk on other countries.
 
Higher risk and some times unable to insure or track
Slight hassle of custom forms
Slower conclusion to transaction
Always asked to lie on custom forms, so buyer can avoid taxes(big problem with me)
Not as familiar with the whole process as a domestic shipping, and even the communication can be taxing due to time differences-what can be concluded in minutes domestically can take days internationally.
Also a bit more difficult to know what the shipping fees -with domestic I know
Have lost 3 knives shipped international(out of 12-15 deals), none domestic(out of hundreds)
Don't like fereners :)
Still regardless of what the ad states it doesn't hurt to ask if the seller will ship international-especially if buyer takes responsibility if there is a loss and covers additional cost of shipping
Other option is to get a US address they can ship to-I have never refused to do that.
 
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I sent a forum member, one knife to Canada via UPS. It was costly and the customs charged him $50, on a $175.00 knife. I was disappointed for the young guy, however he didn't blame me, and was happy about the knife. I still felt like I didn't give him the best service. We had agreed on UPS, because of the tracking.
 
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I always ship international (at one time I was at the receiving end of "No international shipping", and know how it feels), and there is good news:
  1. USPS allows printing of postage online for international packages (which includes customs forms). There is no need to visit the P.O. to ship international.
  2. For most of the civilized world, USPS First Class + Registered provides an absolute ironclad guarantee that the package will reach the destination, or returned back to the sender. Registered service has certain packaging requirement, and entails a visit to the P.O., since the package must be personally handed over to the clerk. See the sticky for details.
Yes, shipping international does involve risk mostly associated with the buyer being dishonest and/or customs regulations, which sets an upper bound on the risk tolerance of the seller. However, a bit of due diligence goes a long way - the communication, bladeforums history, any references found via google search, published customs regulations for destination, and so on. I do it for the fun aspect and it also helps me realize the true meaning of "patience".
 
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The buyer needs to know and be able to negotiate his local customs/duty process, that is THEIR responsibility. There was a time here (2012-2015) where almost any folder except SAKs and Traditionals were verboten, so I just didn't bother trying to import one, that has changed and now as long as it is not an auto or assisted then it is fine. Bought a bunch of them now. As for duty, in Australia at present as long as you stay under $1K Aussie (to be safe say $700US) including the ticket cost of shipping, then there will be no fees to pay. Unfortunately some don't like to do their homework or pull BS (needlessly here for the most part) with writing down the value of goods.
 
An an avid eBayer, I am not sure why there is an aversion to international shipping. I do have reservations regarding shipping to Russia as too many packages sent in that direction appeared to have never reached their intended destinations.
KELAMA said:
The Philippines...USPS refuses to allow insuring packages being shipped there, it's that bad!
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Not true as I do ship to the Phillipines. USPS Priority Mail International insures all merchandise for up to $200 with an inclusive fee. USPS Priority Mail Express International is able to insure merchandise up to $5000 with a surcharge.
 
stonesell said:
I sent a forum member, one knife to Canada via UPS. It was costly and the customs charged him $50, on a $175.00 knife. I was disappointed for the young guy, however he didn't blame me, and was happy about the knife. I still felt like I didn't give him the best service. We had agreed on UPS, because of the tracking.
Click to expand...

Just so you know, USPS First Class (the least expensive service) provides and end-to-end tracking to Canada (and several other countries), if you print online postage via their website. See "252.2 Electronic USPS Delivery Confirmation International" for details.
 
choombak said:
For most of the civilized world, USPS First Class + Registered provides an absolute ironclad guarantee that the package will reach the destination, or returned back to the sender.
Click to expand...

I am not familiar with the pricing on registered mail. Is it a high price service or a small bump over priority?
From feedback I have heard before it seems to work, but does it work at an affordable cost?
Obviously a loss is the costliest, but it has to be reasonable for the 2 parties to agree to send it that way.

The risk of shipping international is not equal across the globe. Some countries really aren't much of a problem, others are a huge problem, and still others are so unfamiliar the seller has no idea. Rather than say I will ship here, not there it is much easier to say I will not ship outside the US. While this is a problem to the international buyer, it is very little problem to the seller, who will get the sale domestically.
 
Railsplitter said:
There's a U.S. based service somewhere in the Pacific Northwest that will forward packages anywhere in the world. The seller only needs to ship to that service provider in the U.S. and they take care of it from there. There are a few members on this forum that reside outside of the U.S. and they use the service with good results as far as I know.

It allows them to purchase from members who refuse to ship overseas because the seller doesn't actually ship it overseas.

I'm sorry but I don't know the name of the place as I've only shipped there one time. You might consider looking it up or maybe someone who uses it will reply.
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I think I found the service provider I mentioned in my post above. Here's a link to the service in case any of our friends outside of the United States might be interested.

https://www.amforward.com/
 
I've often wondered why we don't see more sellers on the Exchange from outside the US.
I have a list of knives I want from other contries that are either not available here or cost significantly more.
 
adamlau said:
An an avid eBayer, I am not sure why there is an aversion to international shipping. I do have reservations regarding shipping to Russia as too many packages sent in that direction appeared to have never reached their intended destinations.

Not true as I do ship to the Phillipines. USPS Priority Mail International insures all merchandise for up to $200 with an inclusive fee. USPS Priority Mail Express International is able to insure merchandise up to $5000 with a surcharge.
Click to expand...

^ I can assure you, the USPS didn't offer this back option in 2008- which was the first (and last), time I've shipped there. I had just returned from a very long stay in the Philippines, and wanted to ship a couple of Nokia cell phones back over there. I went a USPO in Monterey, & the postal clerk (ironically a Filipina), told me that USPS packages, were uninsurable, due to their horrendous service/chronic theft problems. I ended up shipping this package anyway (uninsured), & guess what happened? :thumbsdown:

Glad to see that things are improving in the PI. :thumbsup:

BTW: I was able to bring back a couple of bali-songs with me, that I had picked up on my way through Batangas! :D We need a bali-flipper emoticon!
 
Peter Hartwig said:
I am not familiar with the pricing on registered mail. Is it a high price service or a small bump over priority?
From feedback I have heard before it seems to work, but does it work at an affordable cost?
Obviously a loss is the costliest, but it has to be reasonable for the 2 parties to agree to send it that way.

The risk of shipping international is not equal across the globe. Some countries really aren't much of a problem, others are a huge problem, and still others are so unfamiliar the seller has no idea. Rather than say I will ship here, not there it is much easier to say I will not ship outside the US. While this is a problem to the international buyer, it is very little problem to the seller, who will get the sale domestically.
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USPS First Class is typically between $13 and $20, and Registered is $14 (fixed), bringing your total to $34, as opposed to USPS Priority Mail International small flat rate box is $32.95. Tampering registered parcels is a federal offense.

"Registered" service derives its name from the register with signatures maintained at every point of exchange from origin to the destination (which explains why you need to visit the P.O. for having this service). Most civilized countries have a reciprocating registered service, and even though USPS may claim their responsibility ends when the item leaves the US shore, the destination country will now start maintaining similar signatures at every point of exchange. As a result, a registered article can be tracked on USPS web-site, and then on the destination post website all the way till it is delivered. Pretty awesome, IMO. As an example, see the tracking for RE214181847US, a package I recently sent to a buddy in Assam, India, initially tracked on USPS, and then on India Post:
https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?tLabels=RE214181847US
http://ipsweb.ptcmysore.gov.in/ipsw...events.asp?itemid=RE214181847US&Submit=Submit

While I realize registered is not for everyone, I am extremely pleased with the results I've had so far... I continue to ship all international parcels where added security is desired via First Class + Registered option of the USPS. Economical, and totally reliable!
 
Yep I too can vouch for USPS Reg. I can track it each step of the way from the US to Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney (often via Tokyo), to the International Mail Centre (sometimes it goes in and out of Customs) and then onto the next two depots that have it arrive at my PO for collection.
 
For me it's a lot of extra work. I can only get to the post office on Saturday morning. I can't get reliable shipping costs online. The shipping cost charts on the USPS website are not always reliable. That means I have to box the knife up, wait until Saturday to go to the post office to get a shipping price quote and find out which of the customs forms I am supposed to use, go back home and see if the buyer is okay with the shipping cost, then if he is, I will probably have to wait another week to make another trip to the post office to mail it, assuming the buyer still wants it. For a domestic sale I can use the after hours self service system and ship it out the same day and be done with it. It would probably be less of a hassle if I did it often enough to become familiar with the process, which must be pretty simple once you know what to do, but in the meantime I would prefer to just take the easy route.
 
Magizm7 said:
As a new member to the forum and living in the UK I was pleased to see so many traditional folders appearring on here for sale but I think I can count on one hand the sellers that are willing to ship outside of the US and they seem to be the ones at exorbitant prices.

What is the reason behind this? I have purchased lots of knives from the traditional and smaller US online retailers without any problems.

A lot of these knives are hard to get in the UK, anybody willing to share some of the goodies with rest of the world?
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Many people from outside the US50, have no idea what their knife laws really are. They assume everything sold on here is legal where they live, and when a knife is yanked by customs or stolen by the post office, the seller is out his knife. The buyer gets his money back and that sucks for the seller. A retail store will sell to whomever they want, they may have a better idea of what the laws are since it is their business to sell knives and such after all. Really cannot compare an individual selling a couple knives to a place that makes their livelihood from the sales of knives. In short, it is not worth the risk for a lot of people. Although, some people will ship anything overseas, they really couldn't care less, that is until they lose something. Locking folders are illegal in a lot of places in Europe, as are folding blades over 3.5".
 
popedandy said:
For me it's a lot of extra work. I can only get to the post office on Saturday morning. I can't get reliable shipping costs online. The shipping cost charts on the USPS website are not always reliable. That means I have to box the knife up, wait until Saturday to go to the post office to get a shipping price quote and find out which of the customs forms I am supposed to use, go back home and see if the buyer is okay with the shipping cost, then if he is, I will probably have to wait another week to make another trip to the post office to mail it, assuming the buyer still wants it. For a domestic sale I can use the after hours self service system and ship it out the same day and be done with it. It would probably be less of a hassle if I did it often enough to become familiar with the process, which must be pretty simple once you know what to do, but in the meantime I would prefer to just take the easy route.
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I realize this is getting offtopic, but I'm curious about your "The shipping cost charts on the USPS website are not always reliable" statement, can you elaborate? https://postcalc.usps.gov/ has always provided me accurate price. And as I stated earlier, USPS now allows international postage printing online from their website, which also includes all customs forms -- all that remains is dropping off the package in the big blue box! If you haven't tried that, I'd suggest checking it out, since it may save you a lot of effort. :-)
 
Ive shipped GAWs to forum members in the US no problemo -but thats not for business. I understand.
MY major problem is when Jeff the postie whizzes up my street on his postie bike .If I've got Boris or Oz the pythons out for a walk on the path in the sunshine
Jeff always stops to chat about them and that means the mail is getting delayed. :(:p
 
That said -I did have a run in with an overly officious female post nazi at Wollongong PO. She insisted the knife (a german bull folding trapper trad type thing) was illegal in America.
When I told her I bought it from "America" she pulled out this preposterously large compendium of rules which was hopeless and yielded no valid info. She then insisted that it might come open in transit and stab someone.( who?) Myself and several other customers stared open mouthed at this piece of gibbering paranoia. Nevertheless - she was in control and that wasn't about to change for any silly commonsense ideas.
I suggested taping the knife up with sellotape - which seemed to appease her only to fail at the last minute because she wouldn't sign the form because it might get her in trouble and it was her job on the line here.
AAAAAARRRRGGGGH. OK byee.
I went to see my man at Gwynneville PO on the way home and it was Oh-another knife Jon? wheres this one off to?
and done.
Thanks Champ can I buy you a coffee?
 
When i first started my collecting back in 06 I took delivery of huge tactical carson flipper tanto operation iraqi freedom thing plus 2 kershaw ken onion spring openers.
but don't tell anyone:cool::rolleyes:
 
Magizm7 said:
As a new member to the forum and living in the UK I was pleased to see so many traditional folders appearring on here for sale but I think I can count on one hand the sellers that are willing to ship outside of the US and they seem to be the ones at exorbitant prices.

What is the reason behind this? I have purchased lots of knives from the traditional and smaller US online retailers without any problems.

A lot of these knives are hard to get in the UK, anybody willing to share some of the goodies with rest of the world?
Click to expand...

I and about 20,000 other Americans working for the US Government have the same issues. While technically my address is US and the postage is US but people have to fill out a customs form to ship
 
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