Shipping cost from USA to Europe

[Marcin]

Hello,
I decided to open topic without PM to someone from USA. Sometimes we want to buy many cpus usually "goldscrap auctions" and we don't know shipping cost. Where we can calculate that ? What is difference between UPS and USPS ? There are other companies ?

[Mixeur]

Look at this : http://ircalc.usps.gov/default.asp?Mode=Intl_Single&CID=10114

[Cpuswe]

USPS (United States Postal Service) is the equivalent to Polish post office. Owned and run by the government. In my opinion very affordable shipping.

UPS,TNT,DHL,FedEx and so on are private companies, and almost always very expensive to ship with.

Yepp, the http://ircalc.usps.gov is the one i use also.

[JAC]

[Marcin]

I always ask seller about his shipping cost to Europe and I giving him an example before end auction

Thanks for help. Here is very useful measure calculator : http://www.dieselnet.com/calculator/units1.html

[debs3759]

For a heavy auction with many chips I would ask the seller to split the lot into smaller lots with maximum weight of 4 pounds, and then have it shipped using Global Priority Mail envelopes. That's the cheapest way I know to ship a large weight internationally from the US ($9.50 for 4 pounds, approx 1.75 Kg). The only problem with that is that thick items won't fit, so would need shipping separately

[Marcin]

Great TIP Debbie. Thanks

[chipcollector]

Even though some sellers do charge $10-$15 for shipping, and you end up winning the auction knowing that cost, you can't complain to the seller and then leave him a negative feedback because you clearly agreed to the terms before bidding. I've had that happen to me a lot. I once shipped a small package to india and charged the man $7 for shipping (which is extremely cheap) I later got a complaint, followed by a negative feedback from "overcharging". Screw him.

[debs3759]

I agree, if a seller advertises a price then nobody has a right to complain, the published shipping price should always be considered part of the final price. It's a different matter if you/I contact a seller before bidding and agree on a shipping method and price - I know if I bid on something that will ship internationally but doesn't state the price I will ask about and negotiate on method and cost before bidding (I guess this is what Marcin is looking to do - I know most sellers are quite amicable if consulted in advance).

[Marcin]

[Cpuswe]

I have a standard letter that i copy and paste with the standard text IF they ship outside US and a scanned pic of the CN22 form from a previous buy (The reason for it being 'Ship to: United States seems alot of time to be a fear of long custom forms) And then also a link to ircalc with prices for Flat-rate envelopes. I have "helped" several with their foreign-shipping-syndrome. For example i got two Intel keychains extra from a girl i "helpded" who had been "afraid" of putting "Worldwide" as shipping.

So a tip for all us non-US is to explain as much as possible for the seller. And just not a simple "Do you ship outside-US?"

Edit: If any one want to use: http://hem.bredband.net/b292677/pics/cn22form.jpg (download the pic if you want it, i am changing ISP in a month and will not keep the storage space.)

/T

[Marcin]

Cpuswe - 100% agree + I would prefer to inform sellers to mark parcell as "gift" not "other"

Value of package is very important it can't be to much high (depends on custom's law). I bought some time ago K6-III+ 550 and seller wrote GIFT and value 160 USD. I paid 40 USD tax

After all I know all packages with value more than 35 EUR or USD ( I don't remember exactly ) from outside European Union are charged by TAX.

[tlccomp]

[Marcin]

And I must add one ... CPUbar make great thing by adding short information printed on paper : "Vintage COMPUTER PROCESSORS (CPU's) for historical interest and education. These CPU's are OBSOLETE, they do NOT WORK, and are NO LONGER MANUFACTURED. There is NO VALUE FOR CUSTOMS purposes."

Most of parcells to me from ASIA are opened and checked. After that CUSTOMS send me call to explain about content. This time parcell from CPUbar was not keeped.

I have prepared one explain in Word file and when I get invoice I print that document and send by fax. On next day I have parcell.

[tlccomp]