Transatlantic purchases

[Pip]

Hi

I don't know if any members in US or Canada have a similar problem when trying to buy from the UK, but I do find it annoying when I find a movie (or sometimes a book) that I want to buy from the US or Canada, listed on eBay or Amazon or similar sites in the US, only to find that the seller will not sell outside of North America. Sometimes an email to the seller can persuade them otherwise, but some will not even consider the option.

So, what I am wondering is, is there a Britmovie member across the pond who might want to set up a forwarding exchange with me? If they wanted something from the UK that the UK seller won't export, they could have it sent to me and I would send it on to them, and vice versa: I could get America-only items sent to them and they would re-send them to me here in the UK. All postal costs covered by whoever is buying of course, so a PayPal account would be easiest. I suppose we would have to agree in advance what we would do if something got lost in the post 'mid-Atlantic', but apart from that I don't think there should be any snags.

If anyone in the US or Canada is interested, I'd be pleased to hear from them! Or if anyone has any other (polite) suggestions

Pip

[JohnB_Toronto]

The problem seems to be unique to US sellers who won't sell outside of the USA. I've never quite fathomed why not - especially as they don't have to ship until they've been paid in full anyway. I've never come across a seller in any other country who puts on a similar restriction. Although some will agree to ship to Canada if you write to them in advance, most of those sellers who advertise as "USA only" won't ship to Canada either and many won't even ship to Alaska or Hawaii (strictly the continental US) so you're best to try a find a USA contact in the lower 48 States to be sure of having someone capable of handling all of these kinds of sellers.

[ChristineCB]

Stand in a post-office queue for an hour to ship 4 DVDs, and then ask your question again! Watching only a few dozen people line up to wait for 1 or 2 clerks, only to see some customer pose a problem that makes the clerks disappear for 20-30 minutes at a time... then having them return to the desk, say, "Sorry, no" and put out their "Break Time" or lunch or something.

Do that two times in a row and write me again about your willingness to donate huge portions of your day to queue-time.

That said, I have done it and will do it.

As for WHY IS IT NECESSARY... that's the GW Bush Administration's idea to keep terrorists from flying books and ninja-DVDs into American buildings. I'm almost certain several of my friends in UK have received DVDs from me and are ONLY planning to heave them back across the Atlantic, sheering off some poor American skyscraper.

That's why we have to queue up to the post office and fill out Customs forms - so our disks can be used against us in future terrorist attacks.

Don't laugh. GW's now saying that "Leaving Iraq is the only thing that will be reminiscent of Vietnam."

"Join the Army - Live In Iraq" is going to be the Republicans' next compaign slogan.

Or maybe "Iraq - the 51st, -2nd, -3rd or -4th State."

"Dear Kurds and other Iraqis - you'll miss Saddam if this happens."

[Pip]

Originally Posted by ChristineCB Stand in a post-office queue for an hour to ship 4 DVDs, and then ask your question again!

I know what you mean Christine - it can be the same in the UK and its getting worse as the Post Office reduce branches, reduce staff numbers and make the mailing options/rules more complicated (we now have to grade postal items by size and thickness and weight, then by type of service and destination).

I try to avoid town centre Post Offices and busy times - usually manage to catch my nearest village PO after the first rush, but still sometimes get caught by a bulk mailer in the queue or some such!

JohnB - sometimes continental Europeans don't seem to like mailing to UK, or more often - if eBay - only take payments by bank transfers (which I don't do - too much hassle!) - often though they will accept cash if asked - though this can be a bit risky: I don't think I would send cash more than an amount I would be prepared to lose, though been lucky so far!

Pip

[BristolUK]

Slightly off topic, but what puzzles me is how you can find an item on the Marketplace section of AmazonCanada and the same seller is selling it on AmazonUSA...but if one orders from the USA site, the delivery costs to Canada are double or four times the rate charged on the Canada site.

Crazy....same seller, same post office queue, same packaging, same delivery address...4 times the rate.

It's still worth comparing both though, as there are more sellers on the USA site and the prices can be much less than the higher rate of delivery costs.

But the bargains are not what they were. 6 months ago I could buy from AmazonUSA Marketplace for a solitary cent (VHS) or a couple of $ (DVD) plus $3.50 or $6.50 depending on the format. Now it's $12.50 delivery whatever the item.

That's a huge difference.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by JohnB_Toronto The problem seems to be unique to US sellers who won't sell outside of the USA. I've never quite fathomed why not - especially as they don't have to ship until they've been paid in full anyway. I've never come across a seller in any other country who puts on a similar restriction. Although some will agree to ship to Canada if you write to them in advance, most of those sellers who advertise as "USA only" won't ship to Canada either and many won't even ship to Alaska or Hawaii (strictly the continental US) so you're best to try a find a USA contact in the lower 48 States to be sure of having someone capable of handling all of these kinds of sellers.

I had one once who, when they took the package to the post office, the clerk queried why the address label said England but the some other document said it was going to the UK. The clerk thought they were totally different places. The clerk then queried it with their supervisor who also thought they were different places!

Steve

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by BristolUK Slightly off topic, but what puzzles me is how you can find an item on the Marketplace section of AmazonCanada and the same seller is selling it on AmazonUSA...but if one orders from the USA site, the delivery costs to Canada are double or four times the rate charged on the Canada site. Crazy....same seller, same post office queue, same packaging, same delivery address...4 times the rate. It's still worth comparing both though, as there are more sellers on the USA site and the prices can be much less than the higher rate of delivery costs. But the bargains are not what they were. 6 months ago I could buy from AmazonUSA Marketplace for a solitary cent (VHS) or a couple of $ (DVD) plus $3.50 or $6.50 depending on the format. Now it's $12.50 delivery whatever the item. That's a huge difference.

If the same seller is selling in the marketplace in Amazon.com and Amazon.ca then they could well be a small company. Most individual sellers would only offer it in one place.

But I have noticed that it's much more expensive to have something sent from the States than from Canada. I've seen it many times with packages of the same weight and people I trust not to add a bit on top (separate charge for handling and packing). The difference is usually at least half as much again when it's sent from the States.

Steve

[rjd0309]

Along with Christine, I also would be willing to forward purchases from the USA to the UK. I'm at my local post office twice a week anyway; wouldn't hurt to mail a few more parcels.

I thought that I was the only one to get stuck in a queue behind a bulk mailer, or some other nitwit who has a 20-minute transaction.

There are also many sellers in the UK who will not ship to the USA. AmazonUK will ship across the pond. SendIt also gives good transatlantic service. And DevotedDVD delivers to the USA from Australia.

[ChristineCB]

I'm close to the central downtown post-office, and am always stunned to see so many people in line from opening moments to closing, and so few clerks. Out of 10 service lanes, it's common to see 1, 2 or 3 clerks only. The only time I've seen a 4th one appear, at least one more is getting ready to shut down!

The term "going postal" should be more righteously used for Post Office customers who go beserk at this treatment! Where are the 7 plagues when I need them?!!

American postage rates did rise starkly a couple of months ago - especially in the low-weight group. My costs for 4-DVD packets almost doubled, and the 10-DVD packets did, too. But strangely, I just sent 40 DVDs for only a dollar or two more than 20 DVDs! So they increased the low-weight prices but gave only a minor increase over the larger 1.5 or 2.0-lb weights.

I can certainly vouch for RJD, by the way, and I've bribed him enough so he'll vouch for me. If you want me to mail you tons of gold buillon, oh yes, send those to me and you can be CERTAIN we'll ship it on to you. Uh huh... sure...

[Mr Cosmo]

Hi Christine and I can certainly sympathise. I have used USA postal services only twice and they are very different from the UK ones and seem to be very much as you describe.

The problem we have in the UK is that now the queues in teh Post Office are longer because the clerks are asking everyone if they want to move their phone accounts or take out insurance because they are paid an incentive to get people to do this - but of course it now takes twice as long to get served.

One way I overcame the problem descrbed in the first note is to get the item sent to my US hotel when I stay there. (I realise not everyone makes regular USA trips) - but even this came unstuck when something didn't show.

Re Iraq - yo realise in years from now we will probably all be paying reparations for the actions of Bush and Blair. OK - that's as political as I am going to get - it;s Friday afternoon - time to go out and play