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Customers may complain about shipping costs but...


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I got an order from a customer today that didn't complain about the price. They called me from Canada. A Catering Company. A really great order, but they have to have them by a week from Wednesday. Since I make everything to order, the only USPS servic that can get it to them in time is GXG and costs $105.00 vs. a priority rate of about $35.00-36.00.:shocked2: They didn't even bat an eye! I did tell them it usually doesn't cost that much, for future reference. They told me they only just found my website. They placed the order and I've been working on it all day. After all the gripings about shipping expense in this economy, it was refreshing to know that some people can still afford it and understand, even if the cost is terrible.:tiptoe:

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The order shipped yesterday. Geez...the paperwork for that type of service is amazing!:shocked2: And no one at the Post Office seemed to know everything that needed to be done to make sure it went thru Customs okay. I wanted to print the label online, but you have to do the customs declaration online too before it will let you pay/print. What fun!

I tried to do it Wednesday night and something was wrong with the program. You have to enter a total package weight. Then you have to list the item, the quantity, and their calculator multiplies it out, and it cannot exceed the total package weight. Well...the package was 12 lbs. total. Each candle was 8 ozs., 24 candles. Kept multiplying out to 31 lbs.!:shocked2: Wouldn't let me proceed.:angry2: Took the individual candle wt. down to 1 oz each(my eighth and final try) and still said it was over 13 lbs.!:angry2: Gave up for the night with a splitting headache. Early yesterday morning everything worked fine!:yay::laugh2:

Interestingly enough, for that service you also have to list item type. They must have 180 categories you can choose from, including corpes and body parts(!), but nothing that candles really fit in. When I took it to the post office to ship, they said minerals, since it's wax(oil), just so you know if you ever have to do one.

In any event, I shipped it yesterday and it will be there today. Nice to know you get good service for $100.00! The customer was ecstatic!

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I had ordered some Battery Operated candles from a company in Canada just before Xmas last year and I was shocked at the shipping cost! I hadn't requested any special time frame or anything. Wasn't prepared for Custom's Fees and such! Ouch! It took quite a while for that order to come in too, now I can understand why. Good luck with this new customer!

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I had ordered some Battery Operated candles from a company in Canada just before Xmas last year and I was shocked at the shipping cost! I hadn't requested any special time frame or anything. Wasn't prepared for Custom's Fees and such! Ouch! It took quite a while for that order to come in too, now I can understand why. Good luck with this new customer!

debele, you made me laugh! For the GXG shipping service there is a "battery operated products" item description!:laugh2:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I do a lot of international USPS shipping and it is a pain but it can be simplified. I will write in the first section the basics of what it is, like for instance i would have just said candles. Then list it as quantity "1" and the weight van be fudged since there is always the extra for packing materials. It doesn't have to be perfect. Then just give the value for the whole lot. If you send multiple items internationally in a flat rate box they only give you 5 lines but you can cram a bunch of abbreviated names in each line. I've just learned how to make it work.

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I do a lot of international USPS shipping and it is a pain but it can be simplified. I will write in the first section the basics of what it is, like for instance i would have just said candles. Then list it as quantity "1" and the weight van be fudged since there is always the extra for packing materials. It doesn't have to be perfect. Then just give the value for the whole lot. If you send multiple items internationally in a flat rate box they only give you 5 lines but you can cram a bunch of abbreviated names in each line. I've just learned how to make it work.

I do alot of international shipping too using the flat rate boxes. I can do those custom forms in my sleep, but this was Global Express Guaranteed(GXG). The forms are completely different, as Fedex and USPS are partners for this service, and the customs forms are actually almost that same as Fedex exactly. Almost anywhere in the world they guarantee delivery in 1-5 business days, as they go thru a Fedex run customs office. There are far more requirements on their forms, and very little you can fudge.:tiptoe:

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