Customs and quality with international shipments
logger7
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When we buy numismatics from Canada and other countries, I assume there are no duties tolled? What kind of transits and tracking quality are you seeing on priority shipping to and from other countries? I appreciate ebay global shipping with their system and guarantees. My usps pro said that if you ship to Canada they want detailed descriptions as they are sending items back. I see some of the Canadian sellers marking valuable coins "gift" with no problems. Thanks for information on this.
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I buy quite a bit from Canada and usually see USPS tracking kick in once it hits USA customs.
Shipping from Canada to the USA has affordable options but returning anything to Canada is expensive.
Marking a sold item as a "gift" violates rules on both sides of the border. Just because they don't frequently enforce the rules doesn't make it right.
An 8 ounce parcel (no tracking) from Toronto to NY costs $11.74. With tracking it is $20.50.
An 8 ounce parcel from NY to Toronto costs $14.85 retail or $12 eBay international. Both have tracking.
At this point with a us to Canada priority mail shipment I'm at 8 days, went through customs.
I'm unaware of any duties assessed for international packages (at least with coins) entering the US. I ship tons internationally and just write "numismatic collectible" for the description since it's not wrong, but it's not overly detailed for any worker handling the package to know what's inside (that the value is also there notwithstanding). I've never had an issue with that description.
As far as the gift thing goes, many international shippers will do that because that's how they prefer to receive their items since it may reduce or negate any duties. It doesn't really matter for packages coming to the US because there aren't any duties (see above), but it's falsifying a customs form which isn't legal, and I never agree to such requests for packages I ship.
I participated on a message board for eBay sellers (not run by eBay) many years ago. One of the members worked in the customs office in Canada. At that time (don't know how it works today), he said packages would be inspected at random and shippers who were found to be abusing the "gift" option would be put on a list for more careful inspection and possible refusal of shipments.
Is international express more reliable and significantly faster than regular priority or registered?
It's typically tracked much more reliably and is most likely going to arrive faster. Some of this depends on where you're shipping. I don't ship Priority International; I go First Class, Registered, or Express (based on destination and/or value). First Class somewhere nearby (like Canada) can be quick, but it can get stuck. Express pretty regularly arrives within a week or two or faster, even halfway around the world. First Class and Registered can take weeks. Regardless, customs is always a question mark--if they hold up a package, it doesn't matter what service you paid for, it's going to sit for a while.
Mine showed "customs clearance" a couple days ago so I assume it is nearly there. How is tracking in Canada usually and security of shipments?