USPS Global Priority Mail: 12 dollars to Spain?

[Xavi]

Hello,

i just bought a DBA army on ebay. being an European, I had to ask the seller for the shipment cost. I have never dealt with USPS prices, so I have some concerns (due to lack of knowledge) about the final price.

The seller asked me for this price to send the DBA army to me:

USPS Global Priority Mail: US $11,75

It seems a little steep to me. Looking at the USPS webpage http://www.usps.com/global/sendpackages.htm I found that parcels should not be that expensive. however, I have no idea about intertional rates and other factors that might increase the price.

Is this price correct for sending a parcel containing a DBA army to Spain? Thank you very much :)

Cheers,

Xavi

[El' Jocko]

Looks about right to me. Here's the table for Global Priority Mail to Spain:


Global Priority Mail (GPM) (230)

Flat-Rate Envelope

Small $5.25
Large $9.50

Weight Limit: 4 pounds

Variable Weight Option

Weight Levels and Prices

0.5 lb. $8.50
1.0 lb. 10.50
1.5 lbs. 12.75
2.0 lbs. 15.75
2.5 lbs. $19.00
3.0 lbs. 22.25
3.5 lbs. 24.25
4.0 lbs. 27.50


I doubt a DBA army will fit in an envelope. :) So you need to go by the variable weight option. It would be $10.50 for up to 1 pound, $12.75 for 1.5 pounds. I don't see the seller's charge of $11.75, but it's close to what I'd expect.

(And congratulations on your new army.)

- Jack

[Xavi]

Thanks fr the reply. I am off to pay for a new army! :) Luckily I have a gaming club to take care of most of the stuff I buy for them. otherwise I would already have more armies than i can expect to play in the next months :P

Cheers,

Xavi

[Jeff Caruso]

DBA armies I've sent out recently run about $8.00 US to UK, little more to Netherlands, etc.

Insurance increases shipping nearly double and its very hard to collect let alone file a claim. manual is inches thick.

Jeff

[SIGNIFER]

Xavi

I live in Australia so the bulk of the items I buy must be ordered from overseas. I recently ordered some 10mm figures from Old Glory in the U.S., approx 7 packs or $100 worth as I recall and the postage quoted was 148% of the cost of the order ?!! - which I then cancelled !

As a brief and I emphasise APPROX comparison, the cost of an Old Glory 10mmm blister pack of 100 infantry figures is:

In the U.S. $15.00 + 148% postage =$37.20US = $49.60 Aus
In the U.K. P12.00 + 20% postage =P14.40UK = $36.00 Aus
In Australia very hard to come by, limited stocks = $30.00 Aus

Even allowing for the additional cost per pack in the U.K., (no doubt due to freight costs), the price to buy from the U.K. is much cheaper.

Regretably U.S. postage costs tend to make me look for alternative suppliers, or just not buy U.S. products and buy alternative figures, usually from the U.K. where postage costs to Australia are very reasonable.

I think the main problem is most U.S. suppliers that I have dealt with insist on the parcel insurance factor, but as Jeff Caruso indicates it seems it is difficult to make a claim in the event of a loss.

As a footnote to the insured parcel scenario, I have been ordering figures and kits etc. from overseas for approx 35 years (yes that does date me !) and have had only one parcel go astray about 20 years ago, which as it turned out, the U.K. supplier had addressed incorrectly to "Austria" not Australia. You can't win 'em all

Keep your brushes pointy
Pete

[Jeff Caruso]

I attempted to make a claim on a package I sent to a US address and the first thing I was informed I had to do was obtain the original packaging and then there was a limited time to file the claim. The deadline passed before I could get the original packaging back.

An article in a newspaper summed up the USPS Insurance Program as a scam. Basically, there are so many hoops to jump through that it simply is not worth it. Plus the additional cost factor.

Also, you have to use different packaging. I can't insure the small bubble envelopes I send out the majority of international orders in. Insurance requires a hard box. I was told that at the Post Office. I don't know if that has changed but why pay exhorbitant fees when the probability of being compensated is so small?

Based on a problem with PayPal recently, I have to look at using some verified shipping system which possibly will require insuring withthe dreaded USPS. YUCK!!!

The Global Prioirty rates I've seen are also far more expensive and only get the package there a couple of days earlier.

I have a package for Greece and I'll take it in tomorrow to the PO and get quotes on all the various choices and post them here.

Jeff

[Jeff Caruso]

I went to the PO yesterday and the cost to ship two DBA armies to Greece is $8.00, no insurance as letter/small packet. Valued at approx. $50.00 US.

Registered mail is $15 so that is close to the same price Xavi quoted for Spain.

Verified that under USPS insurance the original packaging MUST be returned is claiming damage.

Could be a problem for lost package.

Jeff

[Timurilank]

I went to the PO yesterday and the cost to ship two DBA armies to Greece is $8.00, no insurance as letter/small packet. Valued at approx. $50.00 US.

Jeff

This is also acceptable, as customs or duty on *Luxury items* in most European countries, make the placement of an order overseas too costly. All of my OG orders to the states, bring the original cost plus shipping to about the $70-$80 range. This has not been bothered with by customs.

cheers,

[Stelzone]

I bought a bunch of minis from Spain not long ago, didn't worry about shipping. Paid double the cost on shipping, lesson learned. Thought I'd save by ordering from a company that carried everting I wanted instead of several orders to different companies.

Shipping to Europe has always seemed cheaper than having it come to the US.

[Stelzone]

I bought a bunch of minis from Spain not long ago, didn't worry about shipping. Paid double the cost on shipping, lesson learned. Thought I'd save by ordering from a company that carried everting I wanted instead of several orders to different companies.

Shipping to Europe has always seemed cheaper than having it come to the US.

[Lee Shackelford]

I've been in Taiwan for 12 years now and have received many items from both the US and England. England to Taiwan is definitely more expensive, whether the item is 1/4 kilo or several kilos in weight.

Lee Shackelford
Linkou, Taiwan, as far away from historic gaming as one can get.

PS I've had my brother in California and other sellers send DBA sized and larger armies/packs-of-figs in the $9.50 Global Priority Flat Rate Envelope..... no problems and arrived very fast. (4 pounds in weight is actually a nice number of figures, and none have been damaged, even though they had no special packing except for the small Essex ziplock baggie

PPS The poor chap in Australia at least has a shop or two in Australia .... out here in Taiwan, there are NO shops that sell historic figures...just a few that sell 40K and such.....I've gone into shops and haven't even seen locally produced historic figures on the shelves.


PPPS Besides the lack of shops, I suffer from the lack of DBA/DBM gamers ... anyone want to come and visit, we can put you up in the library and show you around the island

[Jeff Caruso]

Just this week I sent some Carthaginian samples to Australia ( or was it NZ?) am\nd it only cost $4.55 and when I sent a DBA army of Marians it was $9.00.

Wasn't that much difference in weight but evidently enough to double the cost.

Jeff

[Roland Fricke]

I sent three bags of Butterfingers candies to Germany (apparently hard to come by) and it cost $9 by surface. It took six weeks to get there. The postmaster asked if I would prefer prioity mail but that was $18. So $11.75 for airmail doesn't seem bad at all. I usually pay from $10-15 for painted eBay armies from England.

[Xavi]

Just to clarify, When I got the parcel the price marked in the envelope was 10 cents off the demanded price, so it seems my suspicions were completely unfounded. It seems expensive to me, but that is a problem of the US postal service, not the seller :)

Cheers,

Xavi

[rudynelson]

I use global priority a lot. The envelopes of $9.50 are the only ones that have a flat rate. Anything sent in a Priority box is based on weight, so the price is right.

While I mostly use the flat rate packets for books, they will hold a DBA army in a bag but not in a box. it will be lumpy but will go. Or at least my post offices that I use will accept them. So if you have them send them in little baggies instead of the box, they should fit.

You are lucky that it is not to Italy. They are not part of that system, so anything from there has very steep postage.

[Pthomas]

Just this week I sent some Carthaginian samples to Australia ( or was it NZ?) am\nd it only cost $4.55 and when I sent a DBA army of Marians it was $9.00.

Wasn't that much difference in weight but evidently enough to double the cost.

Jeff

Jeff,

There is a big difference in cost between sending in a flat rate envelope and a flat rate box (nearly double), so if you are concerned with damaging the figs, find a firm, but relatively thin box and insert that into the flat rate priority envelope (the large flexible one, not the cardboard one), that will give you good protection and be cost effective.

[SIGNIFER]

Its me again

I know this sounds like US postal service bashing and apologise for that but here is another example.

I just went through the process of ordering a 200mm resin figure from Verlinden in the US, costing $49.95US. When it came to entering the destination ie. Australia, the postage (Fedex or something similar I believe) cost went from $9.50US up to $34.00US, which is 68% of the cost of the figure, making the total cost $83.95US which = $112.00AUS -

I admit that 200mm figures are hard to come by in retail stores in Australia but when they are available I have seen them for around $80.00 to $90.00AUS, which would of course include import postage costs. I cancelled the order with Verlinden and I doubt that will ever again buy figures from the US.

This must make it very difficult for US producers to gain substantial overseas markets. but then again the US is a prettyy big market in itself so I don't suppose that would worry them too much.

Pete

[Captain Blood]

Another factor to consider is whether the shipper goes to the US Post Office or to an independent shipping outlet (Pack Mail, UPS Store, etc.). They charge more for the same amount of postage!

[Lee Shackelford]

FEDEX is NOT the USPS .... it is a private company....and everyone knows that they are expensive.

Lee