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Replies: 5 / Views: 5,217 |
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
I realize that the topic of shipping coins has been much debated on this Forum. However, the discussion has mostly been of domestic shipping in the US. I sell coins on ebay and the cost of shipping outside the US is a major problem. I only use bubble mailers for shipping. The standard charge for these from US to Europe is $13.50. This sometimes exceeds the cost of the coin. I have considered using standard (non padded) envelopes. However, to protect the coin some kind of rigid inset is essential. This makes the envelope a "package", with the same charge as above. In spite of this, I see many ebay sellers charging well under $10 for shipping to Europe. One seller is charging $3.00 for "Standard International Shipping". Is the seller willing to lose $10.50 on the sale? Another is charging $4.50 for a coin selling under $20. There are many such instances. Can anyone please share their experiences of the costs of sending coins internationally via USPS, and any options for saving costs? Am I missing something?
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Valued Member
Germany
303 Posts |
I do not know how much it costs from the US to Europe but I ship coins the other way around and feel quite lucky that I can offer sending coins to the US for 4.95 USD via registered mail. I use air cushion envelopes and pay about 4 € if they are not too heavy. Sometimes I buy coins from the US and the costs for shippin and handling vary between 3 USD and 20 USD. Most expensive is the global shipping program that ebay offers.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
616 Posts |
Do you print your own postage through ebay's shipping program online? If so, most of the cheaper international shipping options aren't available for purchase online, you must purchase in person at your post office. If you have a smartphone or a tablet, you can download the USPS app and it allows you to compare the current postal rates of all their shipping options from specific US cities to anywhere in the world, by simply entering the size (deminsions) and weight of the package, after which, you will see live, realtime pricing info for every shipping option they can offer you. I have used this app on a regular basis for the last few years, and it has always been the most accurate way for me to know the most reliable and economical way to ship items internationally. But even the app doesn't include all the shipping options sometimes, but it does tell you that they are available, but only in person at your local Post Office. I mostly ship USPS First Class Mail Large (padded) envelope for around $7.00 worldwide.     
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Valued Member
United States
152 Posts |
Easy solution. Purchase a huge roll of foam paper (thin spongy material) from bubblefast.com and a package of card stock paper from Walmart, Staples, etc. One fold over of foam paper, 2 sheets card stock paper, and send international first class. Even as a "large envelope" if the thickness is too much only drives the cost up the 3$ range in my experience. Use the APC (automated postage center) if you want to go through the screens.
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
18014 Posts |
I thought I'd bump this thread as I've been watching a coin (a 5-centime piece I need to complete a date set) being offered by a French seller on ebay. It's not rare or expensive - the price was about $7. The dealer's charge for shipping to the UK (only priority mail was shown) was over $10! I put an identical coin (different date) in a flip, then between two pieces of card in an envelope so that it was secure, and weighed it - it came to 17 grams. I checked the French Post Office website and the cost of sending an envelope this size and weight via airmail to the UK would have been only about $1.20. I e-mailed the dealer to ask if he could send it to me via normal airmail rather than by priority mail, but he refused, so has done himself out of a sale. Yet I regularly send and receive coins to and from France using ordinary mail and have never had any problem. My French pen-friend used to post me coins back in the mid-1970s! Obviously I'd pay for registered or recorded delivery if it was something valuable like a gold coin, but I refuse to pay more for postage than the coin is worth! There is another reason why I prefer receiving low-value items via 'normal' mail. Since the British Post Office closed my local branch a few years ago, I now have to drive to the main sorting office in a nearby town to collect registered or recorded delivery items, if I am away from home when the postman calls. The opening hours roughly coincide with my normal working hours, and there is nowhere to park nearby. So I have to spend my lunch hour driving round in circles trying to get a parking place and then joining a queue to pick up my item... and in the past two years, the sorting office has once lost my package (an 1895-O Morgan dollar, which fortunately turned up back with the sender a few weeks later) and has once given me an item of mail that turned out to be addressed to a completely different person in another part of town...
Edited by NumisRob 01/20/2017 12:42 pm
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Replies: 5 / Views: 5,217 |
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