Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
...capetown
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Greeting cards for overseas.
I sold on Ebay for twelve years and only ever had a couple problems with non receipt claims. Since Ebay I've spent the last 9 years selling on Stamps2go. I've had 970 orders
and I haven't had any problems worth mentioning. It seems to me I have my insurance paid up for a long time. I can afford to lose some for the insurance I never paid.
If you can't afford to lose a shipment anywhere then add insurance for countries you can. Don't ship to the rest. Ebay allows you to pick what countries you will ship to, others don't. Best bet maybe to ship only to U.S. The same stamp is probably just as likely to sell to some one in the U.S. as anywhere else on the globe.
The U.S. and many countries are very dependable. I think the problem more often is dishonest buyers claiming non receipt. However non receipt claims seem to be more common from buyers in different countries and for higher valued material.
Hope that made some sense?
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I have a short list of countries I will ship to. Mainly Western Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan. The rest, no way. Italy is real bad, won't ship or buy from there.
I used to move out some of my empty albums on Ebay. Lately shipping on these is horrific, even to US addresses. I try to use Media Mail but get questioned on it at times by Postal people. .
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Like AntoniousRa, I have shipped all over the globe with few problems and if one shipment gets "lost" then I bear the cost. (I do claim the postage back from Royal Mail as I always get Proof of Posting and some times the value but you have to provide receipt of the original purchase cost, not easy if it came in a mixed lot!!)
My very first "lost" shipment was to an address less than twenty miles from my house!!
I did have one claim made against me where I contacted ebay and asked how many claims this person had made for "lost" items. Within 24 hours the claim had mysteriously disappeared!!
The main problem today, in my opinion, is that some buyers have no clue how the postal system works and expect a package to arrive in a day or two even though they live on the other side of the world. Or they want to know what the tracking number is even though they did not pay for tracking!!
How many of these "lost" packages turn up after the buyer has been refunded and they never notify the seller and the buyer just keeps the items??
There are buyers who want everything on the cheap and moan about costs of shipping. I often get comments like "The postage cost for 1st class is only 67pence". Aye thats fine if its for a few stamps, but 6 First Day Covers weigh a lot more plus the thickness is greater as well. Never mind the cost of envelopes, cards, walking to the Post Office and back, normally in the rain etc etc etc.
It is up to each individual seller to determine what their policy is going to be and what system is best for them. What countries they are going to ship to. What suits one seller may not suit another.
It is what you are comfortable with and this may only come with trial and error.
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I can make a good plug for international shipments -- I just received an envelope from snowy12 in Australia--the postmark said April 16, and here it is -- APRIL 23, ONE WEEK! Domestic shippers don't do better than that! 
BOB
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"You can send these for under $1 domestically in the USA. If you throw in an old CD disk with the stamps, it adds additional stiffening and some would argue that you can then get by using the very inexpensive USPS 'media mail' rate."
If you can send it first class for under or around $1 domestically, why would you want to pay $2.66 to send it with the more unreliable Media Mail?
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Unreliable in the sense that first class mail is normally delivered within 3 to 5 days. Media Mail is low priority and gets onto the truck and moves to the next destination if there is room for it. It can sit at a location for days before moving on. It is subject to inspection at any time. That makes it possible for the contents to be damaged when the package is opened and/or sealed.
Too many people use it wrongly, defeating the purpose for which it is supposed to be used, costing the USPS lost revenues that are made up with higher prices in the other classes of mail. In my online purchases, I have received many items that certainly do not qualify for Media Mail, including stamps and model trains. I have also paid for better service shipping only to find out two months later when the item is received that the seller shipped it to me via Media Mail, pocketing the higher fee I paid. USPS staff know of the abusive use of Media Mail, and right or wrong often do not treat such mail with the care that other classes of mail receive.
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Michael,
Ok never mind, I removed the posts.
Don
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I don't think you needed to remove your posts. I think people need to understand that using an inappropriate mailing service category hurts everyone in the long run.
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thanks one and all for your responses. The one thing I didn't get was a method of low reasonable cost but one that gives you the option for a claim if the item is lost in the mail. In order to insure you need a shipping label as proof of your shipment, and again for one ounce for foreign shipping plus insurance that can go up to about $10 instead of $1.15 per ounce for postage. If you have a $5 item to mail it doesn't make much sense that your item balloons up to $15 with first class/package plus insurance added. Right now I am just taking a chance and hoping my letters will arrive. I stopped China and Russia as the mail going there disappears. Thanks again for your responses...capetown
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Michael,
I was apprehensive when I wrote it, knowing it was not fully kosher. But I wanted to try to offer a possible solution and felt others could make the ethical decisions for themselves.
More times than not, I seem to get a fair amount of ‘push back’ when I post here. Heck, if you recall within the first week I joined here you sent me a message saying that a seller ”has asked that you stop contacting her regarding the stamps she has for sale” when I never had contacted anyone at all. I am not sure if it is me or if it something else but for whatever reason(s) my posts are rubbing folks the wrong way. I apologize for this and will refrain from posting.
Don
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Don,
I am a neutral party here. Please continue posting - there are very few people with your depth of knowledge, or who are more willing to share their knowledge with others than yourself.
As for the continuing battle related to International shipping you are absolutely correct that it is a question of ethics. I have nothing in the game - I quit sending items overseas long ago for a variety of reasons. I did work for the Federal Government for almost 20 years (now retired) and have seen what happens when they unleash the flying monkeys. It is not pretty and I fear that it won't take much to make them sense a problem (lost revenue) here and address the issue. They have vastly more weapons in their arsenal than most people realize and seemingly petty offenses can turn into major problems in a hurry.
We need experts on this board willing to help all of us - from novices to dealers who have been around awhile (Since 1985) but still get stuck on seemingly common items once in awhile. Please rethink - this board is a much better place for the sharing of your knowledge and wisdom.
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"I am not sure if it is me or if it something else but for whatever reason(s) my posts are rubbing folks the wrong way. I apologize for this and will refrain from posting
"
Don,
I have the exact same feeling when posting on the Stamp Community board, but hopefully that is only my perception and does not necessarily reflect the facts. So despite any reservations to the contrary I do continue to post there.
The written word is so much easier to misinterpret than a face to face conversation especially when written by most of us who are not trained journalists and are instead just making do with the skills we learned in high school.
Personally I don't recall anything that you may have written that could be rubbing people up the wrong way.
I think that it would be a mistake for you to stop posting here.
Clive
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That is a common emotion for me, not only on here but on some other boards I participate on. I sometimes tend to rant a bit and that doesn't always come across well.
I think at one time a couple years back I posted that I was not going to post any more on here and got a lot of nice supportive messages so decided my perceptions were overblown.
This is one of the most friendly and supportive forums on the net. Believe me, I've been on worse ones. One on Delphi and one 'Down Under'. This one is a walk in the park compared to them.
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Don, As far as I am concerned you are most probably the most valuable contributor to the
chat board. All of us probably rub someone else the wrong way from time to time but that goes with the territory. It certainly should not be reason enough to loose such a fine contributor as yourself.
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It is possible too that on an international board such as this what is mild criticism in one country can be interpreted as something completely different in another, and also a fair number of the members do not have English as a first language. I myself am fluent in Broad Yorkshire ( commonly known as Tyke !)
If I can be mildly controversial I feel that this is partly ( but even I have to admit not wholly )the case with your favourite antipodeian board. The tendency there is not only to call a spade a spade but refer to it as a (great Australian adjective ) shovel ! This is almost entirely geographical, and from experience I can tell you that is how a great many people in that country communicate as a matter of course.
In my experience most adverse comments on THIS board are not made "with malice aforethought", and it is beholden on all of us to watch what we write,but also when on the "receiving end" to give some wriggle room to the sender. Where offence has been taken an apology soon follows.
Malcolm
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Hi Everyone;
I may, or may not disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.
If folks on here can tolorate my harsh opinions, rants, and long-winded diatribes, at least occa-
sionally, then your remarks are just fine. 
Despite my strong opinions, and not being an expert at anything in particular, I still manage to
have some interesting and meaningful exchanges of ideas on here. 
And I thank all contributors for helping me to learn better communications skills and manners,
and also learning about other collecting topics, that I don't care to collect, but still find interest
ing to read about. 
You should have read some of my dribble, when I first joined. I was on strong pain meds after
a open surgery, double hernia repair. A number of members put me in my place and set me
straight on some of my remarks.
This forum only works when we have a variety of ideas, especially from our many interesting
experts, like yourself Don, so stick around.
Still just sortin....
TuskenRaider
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Don,
Here are some others that have probably "rubbed others the wrong way"
at one time or another;
-Mitch
-T Raider
-Clive
-Ian
-Dan (yes, that Dan!)
-Michael #'s
-MYSELF
....and on and on...
...see a pattern here?
I would be willing to bet that almost everyone here has rubbed SOMEONE here the wrong way at some time in the past.
Thicken up your skin just a bit (no offense intended) and continue to post here - we all have needed to do that now and then!
Your opinions and knowledge are valued here by many more than are offended by it.
...stick around!
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Slightly off topic but the cover on the left was posted from England to Malta where a family member was going to send me the stamps.
However the envelope arrived with just one stamp left as can be seen on the right. Guess they maybe fell off the plastic bag along the flight.
Irritating, but that's life.
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Many self-adhesive stamps do not like plastic surfaces or bags. Same for US issues.
Tad
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03:37:36pm
Anyone have a solution to the problem of mail going overseas, and the cost of safe delivery. The options that I have found so far like registration, certification, mailing label, are very expensive and you cannot just mail a letter...it has to be a "first class/package". The cost of airmail plus registration for one ounce is close to $20. So if you want to send some stamps safely without paying an arm and a leg for postage what are the options, if any. I would love to hear if there are any alternatives. The options for domestic mail for safe delivery are also not so great!
...capetown
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re: overseas mail delivery
Greeting cards for overseas.
I sold on Ebay for twelve years and only ever had a couple problems with non receipt claims. Since Ebay I've spent the last 9 years selling on Stamps2go. I've had 970 orders
and I haven't had any problems worth mentioning. It seems to me I have my insurance paid up for a long time. I can afford to lose some for the insurance I never paid.
If you can't afford to lose a shipment anywhere then add insurance for countries you can. Don't ship to the rest. Ebay allows you to pick what countries you will ship to, others don't. Best bet maybe to ship only to U.S. The same stamp is probably just as likely to sell to some one in the U.S. as anywhere else on the globe.
The U.S. and many countries are very dependable. I think the problem more often is dishonest buyers claiming non receipt. However non receipt claims seem to be more common from buyers in different countries and for higher valued material.
Hope that made some sense?
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re: overseas mail delivery
I have a short list of countries I will ship to. Mainly Western Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan. The rest, no way. Italy is real bad, won't ship or buy from there.
I used to move out some of my empty albums on Ebay. Lately shipping on these is horrific, even to US addresses. I try to use Media Mail but get questioned on it at times by Postal people. .
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07:46:06pm
Auctions - Approvals
re: overseas mail delivery
Like AntoniousRa, I have shipped all over the globe with few problems and if one shipment gets "lost" then I bear the cost. (I do claim the postage back from Royal Mail as I always get Proof of Posting and some times the value but you have to provide receipt of the original purchase cost, not easy if it came in a mixed lot!!)
My very first "lost" shipment was to an address less than twenty miles from my house!!
I did have one claim made against me where I contacted ebay and asked how many claims this person had made for "lost" items. Within 24 hours the claim had mysteriously disappeared!!
The main problem today, in my opinion, is that some buyers have no clue how the postal system works and expect a package to arrive in a day or two even though they live on the other side of the world. Or they want to know what the tracking number is even though they did not pay for tracking!!
How many of these "lost" packages turn up after the buyer has been refunded and they never notify the seller and the buyer just keeps the items??
There are buyers who want everything on the cheap and moan about costs of shipping. I often get comments like "The postage cost for 1st class is only 67pence". Aye thats fine if its for a few stamps, but 6 First Day Covers weigh a lot more plus the thickness is greater as well. Never mind the cost of envelopes, cards, walking to the Post Office and back, normally in the rain etc etc etc.
It is up to each individual seller to determine what their policy is going to be and what system is best for them. What countries they are going to ship to. What suits one seller may not suit another.
It is what you are comfortable with and this may only come with trial and error.
Login to Like
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re: overseas mail delivery
I can make a good plug for international shipments -- I just received an envelope from snowy12 in Australia--the postmark said April 16, and here it is -- APRIL 23, ONE WEEK! Domestic shippers don't do better than that!
BOB
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11:57:45pm
re: overseas mail delivery
"You can send these for under $1 domestically in the USA. If you throw in an old CD disk with the stamps, it adds additional stiffening and some would argue that you can then get by using the very inexpensive USPS 'media mail' rate."
If you can send it first class for under or around $1 domestically, why would you want to pay $2.66 to send it with the more unreliable Media Mail?
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09:45:29am
re: overseas mail delivery
Unreliable in the sense that first class mail is normally delivered within 3 to 5 days. Media Mail is low priority and gets onto the truck and moves to the next destination if there is room for it. It can sit at a location for days before moving on. It is subject to inspection at any time. That makes it possible for the contents to be damaged when the package is opened and/or sealed.
Too many people use it wrongly, defeating the purpose for which it is supposed to be used, costing the USPS lost revenues that are made up with higher prices in the other classes of mail. In my online purchases, I have received many items that certainly do not qualify for Media Mail, including stamps and model trains. I have also paid for better service shipping only to find out two months later when the item is received that the seller shipped it to me via Media Mail, pocketing the higher fee I paid. USPS staff know of the abusive use of Media Mail, and right or wrong often do not treat such mail with the care that other classes of mail receive.
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re: overseas mail delivery
Michael,
Ok never mind, I removed the posts.
Don
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09:53:32am
re: overseas mail delivery
I don't think you needed to remove your posts. I think people need to understand that using an inappropriate mailing service category hurts everyone in the long run.
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10:17:09am
re: overseas mail delivery
thanks one and all for your responses. The one thing I didn't get was a method of low reasonable cost but one that gives you the option for a claim if the item is lost in the mail. In order to insure you need a shipping label as proof of your shipment, and again for one ounce for foreign shipping plus insurance that can go up to about $10 instead of $1.15 per ounce for postage. If you have a $5 item to mail it doesn't make much sense that your item balloons up to $15 with first class/package plus insurance added. Right now I am just taking a chance and hoping my letters will arrive. I stopped China and Russia as the mail going there disappears. Thanks again for your responses...capetown
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re: overseas mail delivery
Michael,
I was apprehensive when I wrote it, knowing it was not fully kosher. But I wanted to try to offer a possible solution and felt others could make the ethical decisions for themselves.
More times than not, I seem to get a fair amount of ‘push back’ when I post here. Heck, if you recall within the first week I joined here you sent me a message saying that a seller ”has asked that you stop contacting her regarding the stamps she has for sale” when I never had contacted anyone at all. I am not sure if it is me or if it something else but for whatever reason(s) my posts are rubbing folks the wrong way. I apologize for this and will refrain from posting.
Don
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11:12:12am
Auctions - Approvals
re: overseas mail delivery
Don,
I am a neutral party here. Please continue posting - there are very few people with your depth of knowledge, or who are more willing to share their knowledge with others than yourself.
As for the continuing battle related to International shipping you are absolutely correct that it is a question of ethics. I have nothing in the game - I quit sending items overseas long ago for a variety of reasons. I did work for the Federal Government for almost 20 years (now retired) and have seen what happens when they unleash the flying monkeys. It is not pretty and I fear that it won't take much to make them sense a problem (lost revenue) here and address the issue. They have vastly more weapons in their arsenal than most people realize and seemingly petty offenses can turn into major problems in a hurry.
We need experts on this board willing to help all of us - from novices to dealers who have been around awhile (Since 1985) but still get stuck on seemingly common items once in awhile. Please rethink - this board is a much better place for the sharing of your knowledge and wisdom.
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re: overseas mail delivery
"I am not sure if it is me or if it something else but for whatever reason(s) my posts are rubbing folks the wrong way. I apologize for this and will refrain from posting
"
Don,
I have the exact same feeling when posting on the Stamp Community board, but hopefully that is only my perception and does not necessarily reflect the facts. So despite any reservations to the contrary I do continue to post there.
The written word is so much easier to misinterpret than a face to face conversation especially when written by most of us who are not trained journalists and are instead just making do with the skills we learned in high school.
Personally I don't recall anything that you may have written that could be rubbing people up the wrong way.
I think that it would be a mistake for you to stop posting here.
Clive
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re: overseas mail delivery
That is a common emotion for me, not only on here but on some other boards I participate on. I sometimes tend to rant a bit and that doesn't always come across well.
I think at one time a couple years back I posted that I was not going to post any more on here and got a lot of nice supportive messages so decided my perceptions were overblown.
This is one of the most friendly and supportive forums on the net. Believe me, I've been on worse ones. One on Delphi and one 'Down Under'. This one is a walk in the park compared to them.
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re: overseas mail delivery
Don, As far as I am concerned you are most probably the most valuable contributor to the
chat board. All of us probably rub someone else the wrong way from time to time but that goes with the territory. It certainly should not be reason enough to loose such a fine contributor as yourself.
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11:09:26am
re: overseas mail delivery
It is possible too that on an international board such as this what is mild criticism in one country can be interpreted as something completely different in another, and also a fair number of the members do not have English as a first language. I myself am fluent in Broad Yorkshire ( commonly known as Tyke !)
If I can be mildly controversial I feel that this is partly ( but even I have to admit not wholly )the case with your favourite antipodeian board. The tendency there is not only to call a spade a spade but refer to it as a (great Australian adjective ) shovel ! This is almost entirely geographical, and from experience I can tell you that is how a great many people in that country communicate as a matter of course.
In my experience most adverse comments on THIS board are not made "with malice aforethought", and it is beholden on all of us to watch what we write,but also when on the "receiving end" to give some wriggle room to the sender. Where offence has been taken an apology soon follows.
Malcolm
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re: overseas mail delivery
Hi Everyone;
I may, or may not disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.
If folks on here can tolorate my harsh opinions, rants, and long-winded diatribes, at least occa-
sionally, then your remarks are just fine.
Despite my strong opinions, and not being an expert at anything in particular, I still manage to
have some interesting and meaningful exchanges of ideas on here.
And I thank all contributors for helping me to learn better communications skills and manners,
and also learning about other collecting topics, that I don't care to collect, but still find interest
ing to read about.
You should have read some of my dribble, when I first joined. I was on strong pain meds after
a open surgery, double hernia repair. A number of members put me in my place and set me
straight on some of my remarks.
This forum only works when we have a variety of ideas, especially from our many interesting
experts, like yourself Don, so stick around.
Still just sortin....
TuskenRaider
Login to Like
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re: overseas mail delivery
Don,
Here are some others that have probably "rubbed others the wrong way"
at one time or another;
-Mitch
-T Raider
-Clive
-Ian
-Dan (yes, that Dan!)
-Michael #'s
-MYSELF
....and on and on...
...see a pattern here?
I would be willing to bet that almost everyone here has rubbed SOMEONE here the wrong way at some time in the past.
Thicken up your skin just a bit (no offense intended) and continue to post here - we all have needed to do that now and then!
Your opinions and knowledge are valued here by many more than are offended by it.
...stick around!
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Approvals
re: overseas mail delivery
Slightly off topic but the cover on the left was posted from England to Malta where a family member was going to send me the stamps.
However the envelope arrived with just one stamp left as can be seen on the right. Guess they maybe fell off the plastic bag along the flight.
Irritating, but that's life.
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re: overseas mail delivery
Many self-adhesive stamps do not like plastic surfaces or bags. Same for US issues.
Tad
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