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CONUS-only why?

Love the BST and am just curious why everyone always makes it CONUS only? Is it that much of a PITA to ship to Canada or elsewhere? I recently lost a "deal' on BST because of this.
I'd have no problem kicking in extra for shipping. Is this just a thing that people add to a post through habit?

It's frustrating.:confused1
 

rockviper

I got moves like Jagger
I'm Canadian as well, so often say "Gosh darn it! Wish I could have bought that one!"
Talking with a bunch of US-side folks from here, it seems that the post office hassle is much more evil than ours up here. The customs declaration I fill out is pretty simple when I ship outside of Canada, but the US side sounds like it's awkward and having to stand in long lines might just not be worth the hassle for folks.... and I can't blame them for that. Sometime the lineup just isn't worth the extra few bucks.

If there is a CONUS item that I'm really interested in, I'll still PM the seller to see if something can be worked out. I've also had one or two of my Southern friends act as a purchasing intermiediary for me for those "I WANT IT!!!!" items.

Anyways, that's my two-cents.
 
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I can't speak towards shave related sales but I've had a lot of experience buying and selling CDs, some of which were international sales. I quickly became a CONUS seller after a few international sales experiences. For me, it was a big drag to have to fill out the customs forms, then stand in line at the post office for the special handling and then having to pay the higher shipping costs. When selling CDs, I was going for minimal loss, breaking even or making a little money wherever possible. Most of the time, my margins were $1.00 or less and it just wasn't worth the hassle for me. I'm guessing it's very much the same with shaving products.
 
Yeah, some people just dont like to deal with the extra customs form I guess. I dont mind it, as long as the buyer covers the extra cost. Also, it might has to do with people putting a "shipped" price on their items based in the U.S. and just not wanting to deal with how much of difference is going to be OR simply just forgetting, I personally put a "shipped" price and then add, "willing to ship overseas if buyer pays cost." Sorry you lost out on a deal.
 
I've sold items on BST both with and without a CONUS tag. The few times that I've had to ship across the border, the cost to do so was akin to highway robbery. In fact, the cost to ship a few razors was almost as much as the cost of the razors themselves. Thankfully, the buyer understood this and was willing to help with the shipping costs. Other times, items cannot be shipped across the border due to regulations. Aftershaves, for example, contain alcohol and can't go across. The customs process in general is a bit of a pain in the rear too. That's why so many people just won't bother with it.
 
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I love that we still have antiquated laws from the prohibition era:thumbup:! Recently could'nt get a simple bottle of cologne shipped here, nice.
 
What customs stuff are you filling out? I have sent various items to europe, pacific, Canada through the USPS and have never filled out any paperwork. I take the box unsealed - They usually ask me what is in the box, I tell them, then they write on a sticker and put it on the box and I fork over my money. I know UPS / FedEx is a pain and expensive.

I have never understood why people have so much trouble with international because the cost isn't even that much more that domestic. The last thing I sent was a razor to the Netherlands and he got it in 4 days and it cost me $10.

Maybe I am just lucky to have a great Post Office, but it is just like shipping something to Texas. The only thing I don't like is the tracking gets wonky and that leaves the door open for someone to say they never got it.
 
What customs stuff are you filling out? I have sent various items to europe, pacific, Canada through the USPS and have never filled out any paperwork.

Wow, you're the luckiest person ever, I constantly send stuff overseas -my oldest son is in Germany- and even though is an APO address, I still have to fill that customs form out.
 
shipping is terrible to/from Canada to many rules and money spent, plus tracking ends at the border and a honesty problem could occur---------most people here i have seen are good eggs , But the issue still lies
 
Wow, you're the luckiest person ever, I constantly send stuff overseas -my oldest son is in Germany- and even though is an APO address, I still have to fill that customs form out.

Through the USPS? I have a buddy that has an APO that I shipped misc items like DVD's and stuff that you cant get over there to various Pacific countries. Are you talking about a piece of paper that you write the addresses and declare value? Takes like 30 seconds? Or you talking about something else?
 
I've been buying and selling CDs for over a decade (hundreds of transactions) and not once have I ever had a purchase or sale from Alaska or Hawaii. Odd maybe, but not something that has ever been an issue for me. My guess is that it's an exception one is not going to encounter very often though I suppose the odds are 1 in 50.
 
I neglected to fill out the Customs form once and purposely didn't fill one out another time because i didn't want to wait in line to hand the package to the postal clerk. Both made it to destination without a hitch. I've handed over packages at the Post Office three other times and each time got a different lecture as to what should have been done with the forms that I printed from the USPS.com website.

To answer the OP, I think it is on part due to the added rigamarole required to ship internationally. We can't just drop a parcel in our mailbox or hand to our mail carrier, which we can for domestic shipments.
 
Through the USPS? I have a buddy that has an APO that I shipped misc items like DVD's and stuff that you cant get over there to various Pacific countries. Are you talking about a piece of paper that you write the addresses and declare value? Takes like 30 seconds? Or you talking about something else?

Lol, yeah, that's the customs form... and yeah, I dont mind it either.
 
Lol, yeah, that's the customs form... and yeah, I dont mind it either.

They have those behind the counter and must figure it is faster for them to fill out with information on the package than hand me the pen and figure it out. I just assumed it was their job to fill out since they never handed me one. Hardly a "Big Drag" to fill out as someone stated, I don't even think it takes 30 seconds..
 
What customs stuff are you filling out? I have sent various items to europe, pacific, Canada through the USPS and have never filled out any paperwork. I take the box unsealed - They usually ask me what is in the box, I tell them, then they write on a sticker and put it on the box and I fork over my money. I know UPS / FedEx is a pain and expensive.

I have never understood why people have so much trouble with international because the cost isn't even that much more that domestic. The last thing I sent was a razor to the Netherlands and he got it in 4 days and it cost me $10.

Maybe I am just lucky to have a great Post Office, but it is just like shipping something to Texas. The only thing I don't like is the tracking gets wonky and that leaves the door open for someone to say they never got it.

That's 70% of it for me, along with the tracking issues you mentioned being the remaining 30%. When I ship international at my post office, they hand me the form and stand there watching me, along with the 10-15 people behind me in line and expect me to fill it out in full, including my and their name, address, phone number (which most buyers never include) and the form is TINY, with barely enough room for the information and that's if you can write legibly in extremely small letters/numbers (which I can't) because if it ends up being illegible and customs can't read it, there is no telling what they will do with the package. If any info is missing they will not accept it at my post office, I've had to go home and contact people to get their phone number and then go back to the PO and start over. There is the extra cost as well, but that doesn't concern me as much since most are willing to pay the extra to cover it.

That in a nutshell is why I normally do not ship international..I make exceptions once in a blue moon but I have to be in an exceptionally good mood.
 
If you ship online there are no customs forms just a couple extra fields to fill in. The problem is tracking ends at the border unless $40 is spent shipping the package so there is no proof of delivery so the recipient can say they did not receive package and paypal will refund money unless there is a proof of delivery.
 
I can sort of understand with international even Canada, but is shipping to Alaska or Hawaii onerous?

I sold some blades and brushes to a fellow B&B member in Honolulu and it was just like shipping to any other state, it got there there 2-3 days and there were no extra forms or charges.
 
As Americans make up the majority of the people on here, they have the option of restricting their sale to CONUS and still having a big pool of potential buyers.
 
If you ship online there are no customs forms just a couple extra fields to fill in. The problem is tracking ends at the border unless $40 is spent shipping the package so there is no proof of delivery so the recipient can say they did not receive package and paypal will refund money unless there is a proof of delivery.

+1 This

Paypal requires the seller to provide proof of delivery to be covered. That tacks on roughly $15-20 to shipping for an inexpensive item, add more for insurance. For something over $400 you want to insure, you have to use EMS shipping, which gets very expensive very fast. Last time I used it I believe it was over $60. I have nothing against the forms, but I won't ship internationally without registered mail unless I'm paid via paypal personal. I think most people that have been burned once don't want to make the mistake again
 
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