Esav Benyamin
MidniteSuperMod
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 90,915
Not really a knife post, so out of General Knife Discussion, and off to FEEDBACK.
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this thread, but i didn't want to put it in whine and cheese in case it got out of hand.
I know some sellers can be quite specific about only shipping to CONUS, it does annoy me a bit but i'm not having a go, i just want to know what people reasons are for this? is patriotism? fears over lost packages? impost and export duties?
i would be interested to hear peoples opinions.
Nathan
Shipping to other countries is more expensive and a pain in the butt in terms of paperwork. There's also the risk of Customs seizure. It's that simple.
While I accept most of the other arguments I don't think the "more expensive to ship" argument has much value. When I buy from overseas I pay whatever the shipping charges are. The seller is not one single cent worse off than he would be shipping domestically.
When I purchase from a US resident I immediately let them know I am in Canada. I also tell them I will take 100% responsibility should it go missing or seized in Customs. However, I pay for USPS Expressmail with a tracking number that is tracked via Canadapost.ca or USPS.com. I won't take responsibility if they do not buy the level of shipping I pay for and tell them if its lost I will expect full renumeration. As far as I am concerned without a tracking number I have no idea if it was shipped or not.
I respect people's wishes if they say CONUS only and I do not bother asking.
I did offer to purchase a knife from someone who did not specify CONUS only and he refused because he did not want the responsibility if it were lost etc. Ironically, I was selling a knife a few weeks later and the same seller wanted to buy my knife. I told him I would not sell to him based upon our previous contact.
ADD this too: Seems a lot of misinformation being shared here too. There is tracking outside of CONUS. I have a file folder full of old tracking numbers from US shippers to prove it. I know of a recent shipment that the Post Office told the shipper there is no tracking outside of CONUS.
Here is the USPS URL -
[URL="http://ircalc.usps.gov/IntlMailServices.aspx?Country=10054&M=2&P=1&O=0&sd=1"]http://ircalc.usps.gov/IntlMailServices.aspx?Country=10054&M=2&P=1&O=0&sd=1[/URL]
At this point the seller has to accept me on my word and the bit that can upset me is that by not trading with me it implies that my word isn't worth the same as that of someone in the US.