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Why CONUS Only?

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
There are many items listed for sale on BST that I would be interested in but most often their sale is restricted to CONUS only.

If a buyer is willing to pay for shipping beyond CONUS, why not allow them to buy?

Instead, how about "free shipping CONUS" and giving a reduction in shipping cost to outside the CONUS equivalent to say the cost of the "free shipping"?
 
It's too easy for something to 'go wrong' when shipping overseas and even if it's absolutely 100% not the seller's fault... The buyer still has the ability to claim with PayPal forcing the seller into a refund and ultimately taking a hit. Less likely here then say eBay because we are a bit more of a community but still, not worth dealing with that.

I want to pop the items in a USPS priority box, know exactly how much it costs ahead of time, and know it will be anywhere within the country within a few days and neither myself nor the buyer have to worry or wait.
 
This is the "latest" update on a package I sent to Australia on 10 June:


June 16, 2020, 1:25 pm
Arrived
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
Your item arrived at an origin transfer airport in INTERNATIONAL, LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES on June 16, 2020 at 1:25 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

Rates are high and it seems to take forever. This is a PIF so I am not as concerned as I would be if someone had sent me money. OCONUS just seems to produce more anxiety.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
It's too easy for something to 'go wrong' when shipping overseas and even if it's absolutely 100% not the seller's fault... The buyer still has the ability to claim with PayPal forcing the seller into a refund and ultimately taking a hit. Less likely here then say eBay because we are a bit more of a community but still, not worth dealing with that.

I want to pop the items in a USPS priority box, know exactly how much it costs ahead of time, and know it will be anywhere within the country within a few days and neither myself nor the buyer have to worry or wait.
There is risk with all postal services, that's why they have registered post with signature on delivery and insurance. Yes, that costs but at the buyer's expense.

As for PayPal (if that is still used), the same can happen within CONUS. There are other methods of payment, like BTC, that don't have that problem.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
This is the "latest" update on a package I sent to Australia on 10 June:


June 16, 2020, 1:25 pm
Arrived
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
Your item arrived at an origin transfer airport in INTERNATIONAL, LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES on June 16, 2020 at 1:25 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

Rates are high and it seems to take forever. This is a PIF so I am not as concerned as I would be if someone had sent me money. OCONUS just seems to produce more anxiety.
I have some PIFs to go to the US that are still waiting after two months for PhilPost to again start accepting mail to go the US. The receivers just have to be (and are) patient.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
G
I have items listed on BST currently listed as CONUS to show the delivered price domestically. If someone were to contact me to discuss I would entertain a conversation.
Good to hear. Next time, how about stating that in your initial listing. That would please many outside of the CONUS.

I assume CONUS does not include Hawaii and Alaska, etc..
 
If it makes you feel any better, I have seen lots of items on BST's on other forums where they won't ship conus because the seller is in Europe. It goes both ways. No seller wants to be dragged back into a transaction post sale. The chances of something going wrong with international shipping is greater than domestic. Sure, lots of things get where they need to without any issues. But that's the seller's call. I understand a seller who isn't interested in shipping overseas and I don't bother looking at those listings.
 
Tracking service to the Philippines is more expensive.
Can bring the price out of line in some regards.



What are you looking for anyway?
 
And one more thing. There are still lots of sellers who WILL ship outside the US. So you're not totally shut out of the market for stuff coming from here.
 
perhaps use a shipping forwarder like Shipito - www.shipito.com

I currently live in the US, before that South Africa and this is how I managed to order items from different sellers in the US, consolidate into a single box and ship to South Africa. Hope this helps...
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Tracking service to the Philippines is more expensive.
Can bring the price out of line in some regards.



What are you looking for anyway?
Let the buyer decide if the shipping cost is getting out of line.

I'm not looking for anything in particular, just making an observation and suggestion.
 
G

Good to hear. Next time, how about stating that in your initial listing. That would please many outside of the CONUS.

I assume CONUS does not include Hawaii and Alaska, etc..
Yes, CONUS is the 48 mainland states (continental United States) but again, would be happy to discuss with those in HI or AK or globally.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
And one more thing. There are still lots of sellers who WILL ship outside the US. So you're not totally shut out of the market for stuff coming from here.
True, but most of the stuff I am interested in is SR related, not DE blades. I have now generally stopped looking into BTS because of this CONUS or EU only thing.
 
G

Good to hear. Next time, how about stating that in your initial listing. That would please many outside of the CONUS.

I assume CONUS does not include Hawaii and Alaska, etc..

Yes, CONUS is Continental United States, not including AK and HI.
Anything else is OCONUS.
The only reason AK is OCONUS is because of America's Hat (something called Canada eh)

I have ordered items from businesses in America's Hat several times and have not had any issues.
I did order some blade samples from The Blade Club, and that is going to take a while to get here. Hopefully by Christmas.
But shipping to PI, or Africa can be dicey. Corruption, instability... Sometimes it's not worth the hassle for some people.
Heck, even here you never know. Seems FedEx has messed up the delivery of my order from WCS, and they are not quite sure what is going on with it.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I assume that the same "reliable" shipping service is available to HI and AK as the other 48 states. Only the cost is different.
 
Even though I never shipped anything to HI or AK I would have to presume the same USPS flat rate box applies for them as well. Even Puerto Rico is considered domestic shipping. I sent a perfume there few months ago and was surprised it was flat rate like anywhere else in the US and it arrived in 2 days.
 
I've had enough domestic packages go missing without the headache of adding customs and multiple shippers and tracking systems to the mix.
 
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