Customs Problem

[oldjudge]

I did a trade with a friend in the UK at the start of October. He mailed a card to me, international postal registered mail. Using the registered mail tracking number I have verified that the card arrived in U.S. customs at Kennedy Airport in NYC on October 14 (per the USPS web site). However, it has yet to be delivered. I have tried contacting the postal authorities over here and they say that they can't track the package till it leaves customs. I have tried contacting customs but they have provided no information. Are there any suggestions as to what I might do to find out the package's status?

[pwilk17]

Living in Canada, I deal with cards being stuck at customs (mainly going into USA, sometimes coming this way) all the time. I would not worry about it at all. I have had cards stuck in customs for up to 6 weeks - there is no rhyme or reason to it. If you do not have your card(s) by early December, then you can worry about it - I am sure you will have the card(s) soon.

[Leon]

Hey Jay
I know you are asking for help and I can't really provide any. Just thought I would chime in and say I have had mucho issues the same way you are. It always sucks and I have never been able to track, check or speed up anything internationally. It's like a black hole....Two weeks is a short amount of time in my experiences.......Sorry I can't help any but as the previous poster said....you probably have a good 30 days before I would be too concerned. regards

[sox1903wschamp]

Originally Posted by pwilk17

Living in Canada, I deal with cards being stuck at customs (mainly going into USA, sometimes coming this way) all the time. I would not worry about it at all. I have had cards stuck in customs for up to 6 weeks - there is no rhyme or reason to it. If you do not have your card(s) by early December, then you can worry about it - I am sure you will have the card(s) soon.

I second this. I have been waiting on some Hockey cards since 10/13. I buy a lot of Hockey from our friends up north and I have learned to be very patient. Sometimes it is only a few days and other times, several weeks.

[oldjudge]

Thanks guys. The reason I am posting is because I have probably had about 15 UK shipments in the past and none took more than two weeks to arrive. Maybe I was just lucky.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Thanks guys. The reason I am posting is because I have probably had about 15 UK shipments in the past and none took more than two weeks to arrive. Maybe I was just lucky.

Come to think of it my issues have been from the postal system from our neighbors directly to the north (Canada)...I don't remember issues with UK shipments and have had a few ...

[drc]

You call that an international customs problem?

Benny Hill (one phone): "I'm calling to apologize for my behavior at your house last night, Herr. I'm guess I'm not accustomed to the strong German beer you served me. I must say, though, that you and your wife have a beautiful home. I in particular was impressed the gold toilet in your bathroom. What? You don't have a gold toilet in your bathroom? But you have do a gold Victrola in the bedroom?"

[pwilk17]

I receive items from the USA very quickly (coming through Canada Customs easily). When I ship items from Canada to USA (going though USA customs) - I have sometimes had huge delays and very unhappy American friends awaiting my items. US customs can and do hold up shipments quite often for no reason. That being said, you should have your items soon.

[pwilk17]

Whether your items are coming from Canada, U.K., Russia etc., - To enter the USA they go through US Customs. The delay is US Customs, not the country they are coming from!

[19cbb]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but wanted to ask others about shipping charges from Canada.

I've been asked to pay $15 Can$ to ship two cards.

This is the message I received from the seller:

Canada post USA letter is $15.58 and is insured up to $60.To this I add $1 for packaging-trust this is ok

Any opinions?

-Jimmy

[baseball tourist]

Originally Posted by 19cbb

Don't want to hijack the thread, but wanted to ask others about shipping charges from Canada.

I've been asked to pay $15 Can$ to ship two cards.

This is the message I received from the seller:



Any opinions?

-Jimmy

Canada Post is quite expensive and their rates have caused me some issues with Ebay buyer and in fact with Ebay itself recently.

I mainly sell jerseys and not light packaged items such as cards, and I ask for a $15 US flat fee to cover US buyers (shipped from my home in Vancouver, BC) "Expedited" postage fees. With the fluctuating exchange rate of the day, this typically gets me within a dollar of the actual cost, but most often it is short and I eat the difference.

Why don't I charge more...because many of my US customers are used to paying less than half of that rate to have similar items shipped across the nation. If i charge more, I lose customers who assume that I am taking advantage. In fact, Ebay sent me emails suggesting that I consider lowering my rates to remain competitive, yet I am actually losing money with my rates. If I revert to non-expeditied service the packages are sent via 'Ground' service and take far too long to arrive (considering Customs delays etc.) for most buyers to handle. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Back to your question...I don't know of any Canada Post service option that offers any less than a minimum of $100 CAD insurance included for the price, but as I deal in small packages mostly, i could be wrong.

Here is a link to the canadapost.ca site's info page for determining "Xpresspost" rates to the US. You can plug the weight, size etc using metric measurements) and your senders postal code and your zip, and see if a fair rate was quoted.

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/busi...tusa.jsf#Rates

chris

[sox1903wschamp]

Originally Posted by 19cbb

Don't want to hijack the thread, but wanted to ask others about shipping charges from Canada.

I've been asked to pay $15 Can$ to ship two cards.

-Jimmy

I think that is high. I have an 8 card auction win coming to me right now and I paid $10 postage (Ebay). $10-$12 is the most I have paid and I even had some programs and larger Beehive photo's included on some of my orders.

[baseballart]

The postal rates for packages from Canada to the US can be found at http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/ap...execution=e3s1

Max

[Jantz]

From my experiences mailing internationally, packages seem to jump the pond faster than traveling through the woodline.

I've always wondered why that is. Just like it costs almost as much to send a card to Pennsylvania (I live in Ohio) as it does to send one to Japan.


Jantz

[drc]

I've shipped 8x10 photos to England and was surprised at how fast it took. It was like shipping to Boston.

[pwilk17]

I mail cards from Canada to USA regularly. I charge a max of $2.50 for an unlimited amount of cards. You can mail up to around 20 cards in card savers and up to 12 in top loaders taped between two sheets of cardboard and in a bubble mailer to the USA for $2-$3. The package needs to stay fairly thin to fit in the letter mail category, therefore you can stack about 5 cards in card savers taped between cardboard and be fine and 3 in top loaders. This is regular mail and there is no insurance. I always mark the package on the envelope printed matter which is true and does not require US customs clearance. I have sent and rec'd thousands of items between Canada and USA by regular mail including hundreds of cards valued at $400 to $2000 by regular mail with zero problems. It is quicker than any item that has to enter customs and extremely reliable. If you absolutely have to have insurance, it can be quite expensive. If anyone ships the cards in a box etc. (like a box used to hold a set of cards), the price will jump into the $7 to $12 category depending on the size of the box used. This will include $100 insurance and I think additonal insurance is around $1-$2 per $100 of value added.

[19cbb]

Many thanks for all the info.