Anyone in Texas done an international trade? How did it go? How did you ship? If you'd rather PM me information that would be cool too.
I've done several over the years - Canada, Sweden, Denmark (multiple), Britain - although I haven't had one in the last couple years. It is expensive and you do run the risk of it being held up or confiscated by Customs (in each direction). They were all successful, but did have a couple held up and required further communication with foreign authorities to swear that the goods were not for commercial resale.
It is illegal to use USPS. FedEx, UPS, DHL, all have their own policies. It is illegal to export alcohol for resale, so declare it as a gift.
Use USPS as it's Int rates are way lower than the others. Declare it as a gift with a total value below $35 or whatever the limit is now. USPS is not going to file charges against you for shipping beer, but I wouldn't admit to it when you drop it off or they won't ship it. Neither will the others, for that matter.
Of course they won't throw you in jail. They will seize and destroy the contents, no questions asked. With other carriers, you will most likely get a chance to explain, pay the duties, and get the beer on its way. Also, common carriers will allow you to export alcohol, but they will add a surcharge and require an adult signature from the recipient.
Incorrect. FedEx and UPS policy will only 'allow' shipping of alcohol if you are licensed to import and/or export alcohol. Now if you want to use anecdotal evidence, I've had Intl shipments via USPS that were held at a foreign customs station, explained, the recipient paid the duties and picked up. Also had a shipment from overseas to myself which was stopped by US Customs then allowed to continue to me via USPS. USPS knew what was in the package and still shipped it. On the other hand, a buddy was contacted by UPS that a bottle had broken on a package he shipped to himself. He said he would come pick it up, but they told him alcohol shipping was against their policy except for those licensed and they threw the whole box away. My point is, all of the shipping companies will toss your box of beer, if the agent that finds it follows their company policy. If they aren't legalistic and want to help the customer, they will let the package go to it's destination.
Six bottles sent to Alaska from Dallas via FedEx ground set me back 86 bucks. Wouldn't dream of doing an international trade.
Fair enough; I don't know about company policy. I can only speak to the law/Customs side of this issue with any amount of expertise. Your USPS story is definitely the exception. That Port Director must be a BA!
About two weeks. Sometimes less. It goes by ground to Seattle, then ferry to Alaska. Had a trading partner who worked at Midnight Sun for awhile.
For what it's worth I have shipped internationally (To Norway) within the past few weeks. The ONLY way to ship internationally is to go USPS and take the "risk"... Shipping through a private carrier (i.e. Fedex, UPS, DHL...) is going to cost you exponentially more, and will not get there any sooner. You can get accurate shipping estimates online, but since you don't want to disclose your contents anyways, you must list the value of the box at $25 or less to ensure the cheapest shipping. No point in saying it's worth anything more because it if gets damaged, you won't get it back anyways. When you drop it off at the Post Office fill out a quick customs form and sign off that there isn't any liquid, food or batteries in the box. Best to ship using Styrofoam or insert some type of noisy device in case they shake the box and hear it is liquid. I use a box rice or some tic-tacs... They will ask what it is, just tell them it is fine china or glassware and that it was professionally packed. That way they don't open it to ensure it is properly packed, and they will put several fragile stickers on the box. Sign the form and ship out. My boxes take about 8 or so days to get to Norway, and it takes 4 or 5 days for my trading partner's boxes to get to me. In terms of pricing, my last box was about 30-40 pounds and trackable shipping ran $130ish... So it is expensive and really only worth it if you can't get it any other way. Definitely worth it for me.
