Yet another dorky ebay question about shipping to other countries

Stork

Alright, the title should have warned away anyone who doesn't like these types of topics....

This is a bit of a variant of something I've asked before...

Are there any countries that anyone does not feel comfortable shipping to based on inherent risks, such as an utterly unreliable mail system? I understand one of the private insurance companies (DSI) won't insure packages to Mexico.

Also, I was reading an auction from a seller in Mexico, and apparently he thinks so poorly of his country's mail system, he makes a trip across the border once a week to mail stuff. At least, I think that's what he meant.

I've actually been having some pretty varied shipping experiences from here and ebay, all good. I have now shipped to places like Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, South Korea, China (by way of Utah), Japan, Lebanon and Kuwait. I have recieved mail from these places (well, not the latter two but definitely from Utah and China) but also from a few more. Absolutely no problems as yet.

In light of world events, or postal services, are there any specific countries on anyone's 'no-send list'?

Thanks for any input


Cathy

ajaan

China.

danglen

The only countries I won't ship coins to unless they go via REGISTERED mail are: Brazil, Portugal and Russia. Also, I now have a policy that I won't ship orders of over $100.00 to other countries unless the buyers pay for REGISTERED mail or are willing to pay using some form of payment OTHER than PayPal or credit cards. I got burnt on a $500+ order to Canada where the buyer said he never received the goods and since I sent the order via regular Air Mail, PayPal dinged my account faster than you can say "scam".

Gazza

Sending anything of value into the Philippines keeps their postal service very happy. I have heard that all international mail is x-rayed on entering the country looking for spoils. I made the mistake of sending a small amount of cash in a birthday card which of cause never arrived, I was actually dumb enough to try it twice. I once sent an inexpensive camera to my gf of the time by registered delivery, it actually arrived On my next trip I ask why she wasn't using the camera I had sent. She said" This is the camera that you sent and I wondered why you had sent such a crappy camera" It had been substituted for the camera I had sent The funny thing was though, the crappy local camera used as the sudstitute was actually more expensive than the one I had sent

coinpictures

Standard text for all my auctions:

* No shipments to the following countries: Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola (including Cabinda), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, Burma, Burundi, Chechnia, China, Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guinea - Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria, North Korea, OFAC Restricted Countries, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zaire, and Zimbabwe.

Why? Because DSI will not insure shipments to those countries. I'm not about to be left holding the bag. If DSI is excluding certain countries, I'm sure it's for good reason: fraud, theft, unreliable delivery, etc.

The USPS list of excluded countries is MUCH longer... and in most cases with USPS you have to ship via Air Parcel Post in order to get any insurance coverage at all, which is is hella expensive compared to Air Letter Post. DSI has no such restriction.

JamminJ

Russia is worth avoiding entirely.

For many countries registered is the way to exept for the most nominally valued packages: Cyprus, all of the Middle East, Most of Asia (excluding Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore), South Africa.

Civilized countries with bad mail systems include Italy and Greece.

bobking

I think registered mail is reliable. You must pay more attention to packaging for international mail. Sometimes foreign mail carrier may steal the item then send an empty envolope to the buyer.