USPS International Shipping issues?

Generally, yes. The recipient may have to pay tax on the declared value. But don't want to be too low to raise suspicion why you might be spending $100 for instance to send $5 worth of goods.

What size box (no & size bottles are you sending?

Some worry, some don't. I've seen things like bottle caps, half full Tic-Tac containers, uncooked pasta etc used as noisemakers

 

I've been reading the forums and a few folks have said that declaring around $30 is safe so I'll go with that.

I'm sending 6 bombers and 6 12oz bottles. I have a 12 bottle shipper that measures 20x10x20. I could probably pack into a smaller box, but I trust the foam.

 

That should be fine with the value etc. Safer with the shipper too.

 

as a follow up, my package was declared lost by USPS. UK says they don't have it, USPS says they have no idea what it is.

I may or may not be refunded for the shipping cost and/or the value of the contents. they are asking for the original shipping receipt - not even a photocopy or a reprint will do. well, I don't have that. I can see in my USPS account the history of the shipment, and USPS knows how much I paid to ship (they pre-filled the claim form with the amount). not sure if my missing the receipt will be a deal breaker or not.

to be refunded on the value of the contents - I need to provide a receipt of whatever I shipped. of course was beer, and since I shouldn't be shipping that I either need to provide a false receipt (which I wouldn't do) or just eat the cost of the beer. sort of sucks there. either way if you put a low amount on you receipt, you are probably limited to that amount of compensation should your box get lost. this may be why they require the original receipt with the declared value on it - without that I could probably say that I had $400 worth of stuff in there.

so, sucks either way. dealing with USPS customer service is awful, nobody has any clue and they can't answer anything. it took 2 months for my box to be declared lost.

 

That's a pain. Sorry to hear it didn't turn up.

 

My box made it to Holland safely and passed customs! This morning I received a USPS text saying it was delivered. My trader does not have it though. Does USPS consider packages "delivered" once they are in the hands of local post?

 

is it illegal to ship beer using usps internationally?

 

My package to NL or Belgium takes 7-8 days.

The package from them usually takes 2 weeks to 3 weeks.

this is experience from 10-12 trades internationally

 

I've had a package take over a month to get to an APO. I've also had a package get lost as well. I refuse to use it ever again.

 

I have had great success with USPS to The Netherlands, Sewden, Spain & The UK, Belguim was my only trouble spot and to be fair it was during the busy Christmas season when shipping domestically SUCKS.

If you get an account with stamps.com, you can do your customs declaration and shipping all in one and drop it of with a pre-paid label. Whenever I used to go to the P.O., the clerk would just roll her eyes when she had to do a label and screw around with the customs stuff.

Since I have been using the stamps.com option the shipping time has been almost half. I shipped a box to The Netherlands late in the day Monday, it's already in Amsterdam ready to head to a smaller town, I would guess on Monday. That's pretty good service.

If I am shipping cans, I list them as energy drinks, other liquids are list as sauces or specialty sodas. Don't try to hard to cover the slosh, just write contains liquid on the box, once they see that they assume that you also knew that and probably packaged it correctly.

Price wise I have normally kept the weight around 22 lbs to be safe, sometimes if you go over 10kg there will be an adder from some European countries.

 

I just shipped to the Netherlands using usps and the only hiccup was severely screwed up tracking. I dropped the box off on a Monday and didn't recieve any tracking data until the box got to the outbound international facility on that Friday. No acceptance scans or progress along the way, so I was a little nervous. It arrived the following Wednesday, so only eight business days from connecticut to the Netherlands. Overall the service was quick, the lack of tracking was troubling though.