Sending chips USA Europe (1 Viewer)

[StoneDonkey]

I received an offer on some chips from a member in Europe. It turns out he has someone to send them to in the USA so it's not an immediate issue. However, I am still curious if any veteran sellers who are willing to send to Europe can tell me what's involved in case this ever comes up in the future.

1. Does PayPal asses foreign transaction fees to the sender or recipient? IE will the sender of $ know exactly how much I will be getting. If I say I need $160, can may counter part easily know that is what I will get net of fees?
2. Alternatives to PP?
3. What do people tend to use for shipping? For less than 100 chips/less than 1kg? International from USPS? DHL? UPS?
4. Any calculator sites to closely estimate shipping costs?
5. Are the assessment of customs and duty fees the norm? Are they made in the country of the recipient so not my problem?
6. How should I indicate contents? "card game pieces"?
7. Anything else I should know?

Thanks for any help.

 

[arch3r]

1. Whoever is paying just need to make sure that the recipient receives payment in whatever currency they asked for. All transaction fees and whatnot should be the responsibility of the buyer.
2. There are plenty but not familiar with the particulars of any of them nor the pros/cons. I have always used PP and never had an issue.
3. I tend to send larger packages overseas ( I reship for a few chippers in Germany ), and always use USPS flat rate boxes.
4. Since I use USPS and flat rate boxes, the usps.com site is what I use
5. I leave that up to the buyer as to what they want me to claim the value of the package is. Paying those fees is on the buyer.
6. I usually describe the contents as "obsolete gaming tokens"
7. Secure the contents really good and tape the shit out of the box. At a minimum I tape every edge and run a line of tape around all three dimensions of the box. But usually now I just wrap the entire box in tape. It protects it from tearing/splitting at the seams, helps maintain overall box integrity and adds a moisture resistant barrier to the package. These packages are not handled with love and care during the journey so it's the shippers responsibility to protect the contents as best as they can.

 

[Tonysquander]

1. Yes, tell them you want to be paid in US dollars. If there’s a transaction fee, it is on their side.
2. Venmo and there are some European based ones pay apps. I cannot remember the names of them. I’m sure some euro members will weigh in.
3 and 4-use Pirate ship. It is free and will give you options on what service to use/costs/timing
5. Yes, and yes, that is again on their side. It’s based on declared value. Work it out with the buyer and then it is their risk, especially if they do not want insurance for full value to avoid being fully assessed taxes. Just make sure you have a clear agreement on declared value, and whether they want insurance, and in what amount, at their cost and when risk of loss shifts from you to them.
6. I usually put “toy poker chips”
7. If you do not have the plastic customs envelope for the paperwork, you can put it in a Ziploc bag and tape it to the side. Often there are discrepancies between the address given, and the how the address populates with USPS or other service, always confirm the address with the buyer, and I like to hand write the specific address they gave me on the side of the box just as a backstop.

USPS will mail you plenty of free mailing supplies, including the plastic sleeves for customs, just go to its site and order them.

 

[StoneDonkey]

Thank you fine people!

 

[TheOffalo]

3 and 4-use Pirate ship. It is free and will give you options on what service to use/costs/timing

Second PirateShip! They have a "feature" called Simple Export Rate (you have to chat with their support to activate it, seems a bit hoop-jumpy but it's easy) that makes it fairly inexpensive to ship to Canada and still relatively cheaper than most services to the rest of the world (as long as your package is at/under 4 pounds).

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

alternative to pirate is PayPal.shipstation.com if the item is purchased via PPG&S it’ll have the address already plugged in and connect the tracking to that specific transaction. You can still use shipstation for F&F and it functions similarly to pirate. One other benefit is that you can pay with one click using your PayPal funds.

I’ve seen is UPS/FedEx can outdo USPS in price and delivery time (by a lot) for certain weights/locations. shipstation used to give you those estimates at checkout as well but recently I stopped seeing them as much.

Note: usps declaration/export form is a lot easier than fedex/ups. UPS has continually bungled the processing of the form for me recently though.

 

[Eriks]

alternative to pirate is PayPal.shipstation.com if the item is purchased via PPG&S it’ll have the address already plugged in and connect the tracking to that specific transaction. You can still use shipstation for F&F and it functions similarly to pirate. One other benefit is that you can pay with one click using your PayPal funds.

I’ve seen is UPS/FedEx can outdo USPS in price and delivery time (by a lot) for certain weights/locations. shipstation used to give you those estimates at checkout as well but recently I stopped seeing them as much.

Note: usps declaration/export form is a lot easier than fedex/ups. UPS has continually bungled the processing of the form for me recently though.

Have had amazing experiences with both UPS and Fedex delivering packages USA-Sweden. More expensive than USPS but soooo much faster. Packages instantly dance through customs as well, wheras USPS ones will be left with the regular postal service and can sit for weeks.

 

[TheOffalo]

Note that if shipping to Canada or Mexico, UPS (only, afaik) may charge a brokerage fee if ground service like UPS Standard. All the UPS "Worldwide" (Saver, Expedited, Express) include regular brokerage fees. But I haven't found UPS to be cheaper than PirateShip's simple export rate, so I've just stuck with that.

 

[Budha]

Another suggestion is to put either your, or recipient’s name, address + email or phone # on several (or all) of the individual chip (Warneke) boxes. Tape the Warneke boxes (I use painters tape for the Warneke boxes)

This way, in the event the outer box splits, and chip boxes fall out, the mail service knows where they are supposed to go and will still attempt to deliver. (I’ve had it happen to me, received an empty small single rate box because the end wasn’t taped and the Chip box fell out in transit - gone forever.

I can’t stress tapping the absolute shit out of the outer box enough.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

I can’t stress tapping the absolute shit out of the outer box enough.

+1 any international packages should essentially be waterproofed (taping 100% of the surface area) and any padded envelopes should be mailed placed inside a second one with the address/# of the recipient on both.

I’ve had it happen to me, received an empty small single rate box because the end wasn’t taped and the Chip box fell out in transit - gone forever.

Just my preference but I never use SFRBs alone. If I’m using an SFRB I always put it inside multiple padded flat rate envelopes and just sent it as a PFRE which is either the same price or cheaper and adds multiple extra layers of padding.

 

[Thomacetti]

I received an offer on some chips from a member in Europe. It turns out he has someone to send them to in the USA so it's not an immediate issue. However, I am still curious if any veteran sellers who are willing to send to Europe can tell me what's involved in case this ever comes up in the future.

1. Does PayPal asses foreign transaction fees to the sender or recipient? IE will the sender of $ know exactly how much I will be getting. If I say I need $160, can may counter part easily know that is what I will get net of fees?
2. Alternatives to PP?
3. What do people tend to use for shipping? For less than 100 chips/less than 1kg? International from USPS? DHL? UPS?
4. Any calculator sites to closely estimate shipping costs?
5. Are the assessment of customs and duty fees the norm? Are they made in the country of the recipient so not my problem?
6. How should I indicate contents? "card game pieces"?
7. Anything else I should know?

Thanks for any help.

Depending on the count, I’m willing to bring them with me from Vegas And ship them from Belgium.
I’m a trusted member (or I think so) and would go out of my way for this to help out fellow chippers US and EU

 

[StoneDonkey]

I am ok for this time but that is super nice of you to offer!

 

[Budha]

+1 any international packages should essentially be waterproofed (taping 100% of the surface area) and any padded envelopes should be mailed placed inside a second one with the address/# of the recipient on both.


Just my preference but I never use SFRBs alone. If I’m using an SFRB I always put it inside multiple padded flat rate envelopes and just sent it as a PFRE which is either the same price or cheaper and adds multiple extra layers of padding.

Agree - I try to do the same as well!

 

[Thomacetti]

I am ok for this time but that is super nice of you to offer!

I have a soft spot for

Stoners
Stoned donkeys
US people that are willing to send stuff International