Today's postings
- [Baren 39318] Re: International shipping: tax question ("Clive.ca")
- [Baren 39319] Re: International shipping: tax question (Bette Wappner)
- [Baren 39320] Re: International shipping: tax question (Charles Morgan)
- [Baren 39321] Re: International shipping: tax question (David Bull)
- [Baren 39322] Re: International shipping: tax question (Bette Wappner)
- [Baren 39323] Re: International shipping: tax question (David Bull)
- [Baren 39324] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
Message 1
From: "Clive.ca"
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:15:18 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39318] Re: International shipping: tax question
Send Message: To this poster
My postal worker said Canada is one of the cheapest places to send mail.
Carol Lyons
Irvington, NY
That's because Canada Post didn't charge for storing it for three
weeks, Carol:-)
Message 2
From: Bette Wappner
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:23:27 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39319] Re: International shipping: tax question
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Louise and others,
Please give FedEx another chance. My husband works for them and I
think its a very good company. We can all have bad experiences with
any carrier because mistakes can happen.
And with my personal experience, unfortunately with all carriers it
seems, that the least amount of problems come when you don't claim
high or any value or claim it as expensive art, etc. Most Bareners
have already mentioned to just describe your print(s) as: "printed
matter". That's what I do and there is no hassle.
Dave Bull would probably have some very good advice since has shipped
abroad for many years.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Bette Norcross Wappner
Please give FedEx another chance. My husband works for them and I
think its a very good company. We can all have bad experiences with
any carrier because mistakes can happen.
And with my personal experience, unfortunately with all carriers it
seems, that the least amount of problems come when you don't claim
high or any value or claim it as expensive art, etc. Most Bareners
have already mentioned to just describe your print(s) as: "printed
matter". That's what I do and there is no hassle.
Dave Bull would probably have some very good advice since has shipped
abroad for many years.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Bette Norcross Wappner
Message 3
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:51:19 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39320] Re: International shipping: tax question
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Just about any parcel brought into Canada by FedEx or UPS will be charged $40 to $50 by FedEx or UPS as a "brokerage" fee just to bring it through customs. The standard mail services have to bring things through customs, but they do not charge you to do so.
FedEx may well be a fine company, but they gouge you to take things across the border, compared to the postal service. Also, the last time I checked, FedEx is the most expensive way to send things. UPS is second. The Postal Service is by far the cheapest.
I do not doubt that FedEx is a good company, and as reliable as any. But it is expensive.
Cheers .... Charles
FedEx may well be a fine company, but they gouge you to take things across the border, compared to the postal service. Also, the last time I checked, FedEx is the most expensive way to send things. UPS is second. The Postal Service is by far the cheapest.
I do not doubt that FedEx is a good company, and as reliable as any. But it is expensive.
Cheers .... Charles
Message 4
From: David Bull
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:52:58 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39321] Re: International shipping: tax question
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> Dave Bull would probably have some very good advice
> since he has shipped abroad for many years
Well, I of course have no experience shipping _from_ the US, which I
think is what the original question was about, but anyway, here's a
quick recap of my own experience - all shipping _from_ Japan.
To the US:
Although our US friends like to complain about their postal services,
from my point of view the US is the easiest, safest, most reliable,
least problematic country of them all.
I ship smaller individual prints (to subscribers) in custom cardboard
packages like this one:
http://woodblock.com/box/images/postage_mini.jpg
They go via 'Small Packet' and/or 'Printed Matter'. I put the real
value on the label. They are not trackable, nor are they insured. But
the US is _very_ casual about import duties, and although these prints
are technically dutiable, in practice they never get stopped or
charged at all. They go straight through. And in 20 years, I have
never had so much as a single one go missing.
For sets of prints, or people who want faster shipping, I use the
international EMS service. This is the post office's 'answer' to the
FedEx type of company. It's very fast, very reliable, and fully
trackable. It of course costs more than Small Packet stuff, but it is
not unreasonable at all.
To Europe (continental):
I use the same methods as I do for the US, but the results are a bit
different.
The 'I got it!' report from the customer usually comes quicker than
such reports from US based customers. This makes sense, given the
geographical factors (far smaller delivery areas).
One major difference is that _larger_ packages (and all the ones that
go by EMS) get stopped by the Customs of the arrival country. The
recipient is usually charged a VAT (kind of a sales tax), and
sometimes Duty also. European residents are fully aware of this, and
when they order something from overseas, they know that this will
happen, and (presumably) factor in this cost when making their
purchase decision.
England:
Similar to Europe but with problems. 'Small Packet' stuff is usually
no problem, but larger stuff sometimes gets handed off to some kind of
private company, and can involve high brokerage costs to the recipient.
Also, I've had more reports of damage from British customers than from
the rest of the world combined. I had a subscriber to my Surimono
Albums who had to give me a different address (a relative) for
delivery because their local postman had a habit of busting my
packages over his knee in order to get them folded up to fit in their
mail slot. He continued to do this even after frequent complaints by
the customer ...
(And over at the Mall we've had a couple of problems with English
customers not receiving their packages, although the tracking shows
'attempted delivery - then returned to sender'. It seems like the
parcel services over there just don't give a damn ... If the person
wasn't home, it's easier for them to send it back to Japan than to re-
try ...)
Canada:
This is a kind of mix of the US and England. Small Packets go through
with no problem usually, but larger ones go into the maw of CanadaPost
- get handed off to some kind of private company I guess - and don't
surface for weeks (or months). And then they do, massive brokerage
charges and taxes are sometimes applied, frequently totalling more
than the cost of the goods. Again, the people over there are very
familiar with this, and are usually prepared for it. I am sure that
my business is hurt by this sort of thing, as a Canadian looking at my
order form is really going to hesitate before pressing the 'Place my
order' button, as he/she well knows what kind of trouble may be in
store ...
Among these four groups, Canada is the worst, by far.
Three cheers for the US of A!
Dave
> since he has shipped abroad for many years
Well, I of course have no experience shipping _from_ the US, which I
think is what the original question was about, but anyway, here's a
quick recap of my own experience - all shipping _from_ Japan.
To the US:
Although our US friends like to complain about their postal services,
from my point of view the US is the easiest, safest, most reliable,
least problematic country of them all.
I ship smaller individual prints (to subscribers) in custom cardboard
packages like this one:
http://woodblock.com/box/images/postage_mini.jpg
They go via 'Small Packet' and/or 'Printed Matter'. I put the real
value on the label. They are not trackable, nor are they insured. But
the US is _very_ casual about import duties, and although these prints
are technically dutiable, in practice they never get stopped or
charged at all. They go straight through. And in 20 years, I have
never had so much as a single one go missing.
For sets of prints, or people who want faster shipping, I use the
international EMS service. This is the post office's 'answer' to the
FedEx type of company. It's very fast, very reliable, and fully
trackable. It of course costs more than Small Packet stuff, but it is
not unreasonable at all.
To Europe (continental):
I use the same methods as I do for the US, but the results are a bit
different.
The 'I got it!' report from the customer usually comes quicker than
such reports from US based customers. This makes sense, given the
geographical factors (far smaller delivery areas).
One major difference is that _larger_ packages (and all the ones that
go by EMS) get stopped by the Customs of the arrival country. The
recipient is usually charged a VAT (kind of a sales tax), and
sometimes Duty also. European residents are fully aware of this, and
when they order something from overseas, they know that this will
happen, and (presumably) factor in this cost when making their
purchase decision.
England:
Similar to Europe but with problems. 'Small Packet' stuff is usually
no problem, but larger stuff sometimes gets handed off to some kind of
private company, and can involve high brokerage costs to the recipient.
Also, I've had more reports of damage from British customers than from
the rest of the world combined. I had a subscriber to my Surimono
Albums who had to give me a different address (a relative) for
delivery because their local postman had a habit of busting my
packages over his knee in order to get them folded up to fit in their
mail slot. He continued to do this even after frequent complaints by
the customer ...
(And over at the Mall we've had a couple of problems with English
customers not receiving their packages, although the tracking shows
'attempted delivery - then returned to sender'. It seems like the
parcel services over there just don't give a damn ... If the person
wasn't home, it's easier for them to send it back to Japan than to re-
try ...)
Canada:
This is a kind of mix of the US and England. Small Packets go through
with no problem usually, but larger ones go into the maw of CanadaPost
- get handed off to some kind of private company I guess - and don't
surface for weeks (or months). And then they do, massive brokerage
charges and taxes are sometimes applied, frequently totalling more
than the cost of the goods. Again, the people over there are very
familiar with this, and are usually prepared for it. I am sure that
my business is hurt by this sort of thing, as a Canadian looking at my
order form is really going to hesitate before pressing the 'Place my
order' button, as he/she well knows what kind of trouble may be in
store ...
Among these four groups, Canada is the worst, by far.
Three cheers for the US of A!
Dave
Message 5
From: Bette Wappner
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:48:24 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39322] Re: International shipping: tax question
Send Message: To this poster
Dear Dave,
After I sent my post I realized it was unfair of me to put you on the
spot. Sorry.
But I appreciate your kind and most informative response.
Sincerely,
Bette.
After I sent my post I realized it was unfair of me to put you on the
spot. Sorry.
But I appreciate your kind and most informative response.
Sincerely,
Bette.
Message 6
From: David Bull
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:54:52 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39323] Re: International shipping: tax question
Send Message: To this poster
> ... unfair of me to put you on the spot.
No such feeling at all ... please relax!
Today is 'basement cleaning day' (the _crap_ that's down there!), so
it didn't take much incentive to get me to spend a few minutes at the
keyboard! :-)
Dave
No such feeling at all ... please relax!
Today is 'basement cleaning day' (the _crap_ that's down there!), so
it didn't take much incentive to get me to spend a few minutes at the
keyboard! :-)
Dave
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: Dinner is Served!
Posted by: Sue
 That's the title of the print, and here it is. I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turned out. I had a good print session, the block printed fairly easily and I was able to make full use of my home made drying rack. It's so much better than laying wet prints down over surfaces, windowsills etc! Here are a few pics: Here is the rack strung out in my studio. I've only made half the length of pegs I originally planned for now, till I can move into a bigger space. There are 48 there though and that's not bad. Each colour represents 12 prints so I can keep an eye on how many I'm printing without all that tedious counting.  Many thanks to David Harrison for his idea, which I adapted. This rack cost me about £15 which includes postage and packing charges. I didn't have to buy the cord as I had enough in the shed, but blind cord would do the job. It needed an application of hair wax to the cut end though, to make it easier when I was threading the cord through the beads as the bead hole was only just big enough.  And here it is in use. The only thing I found was that the thin Japanese paper I print on was almost too thin for the pegs to hold. However, I merely tore up small strips of tissue paper and folded them between the jaws of each peg, as I pegged each print. It serves a dual purpose of protecting the paper surface, too. I'm really pleased with it. When I have a permanent spot for it I'll make up the other 48 pegs/ beads so I have a print hanging capacity of 96. . . . [Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here] |
This item is taken from the blog Studio Window.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.