If you can avoid sending it through the mail, do it! I had a Generations Metroplex sent to me through Standard Mail and it had thin tissue paper surrounding the box. Luckily due to it's weight, it arrived well, but I know some people that weren't as fortunate. Their boxes looked like Tyson used it as a punching bag. The SDCC would have to be completely wrapped in bubble wrap or something like it to protect it (obviously). Doing anything less to someone paying that much for a figure would be a travesty. After wrapping it, you'd have to find a box big enough to fit it in. Good luck with that one... Current postage prices would be through the roof on that. Hasbro Toy Shop doesn't even use any kind of wrap for Metro. They use paper on top, and a few air bags. Though they have signature confirmation on their packages, so it goes through better hands at the post office. Honestly, your best bet would be to sell it to a local buyer. Possibly on Craigslist or something like that. I sold my Metroplex through Craigslist to a local buyer that couldn't find one when it came to the stores.
Can anyone recommend a cheap, yet safe, method for me to send my Yellow Sam's Club RiD optimus Prime and Dark RiD Magnus to Singapore from Florida?
The cheapest and safest i would recommend is Priority Flat Rate International or Normal Priority Mail International .. I would also first pack and weigh the package because if it is over 4 pounds total your cheapest option is priority, anything over 4 pounds can not be shipped first class anymore.. Me personally, i would never ship first class for something like that.. It would take forever to get there and because it is in the shipping system for such a long time its got a much greater chance of being damaged.. I would pack it all up and pack it very good with bubble wrap and peanuts and get the package weight and then check the price difference between Priority Flat Rate International and Normal Priority Mail International. You can check all of this on USPS.com .. If it is under 4 pounds then you can ship it first class but i wouldn't recommend that one.. Here is the shipping caculator on the site http://ircalc.usps.com/default.aspx?country=10378
Holy shit customs forms are difficult. I just wanna send 2 toys to Singapore, wtf is with all these forms and questions!? I'm so confused by this stuff, it's like they make it purposely difficult so people won't want to ship overseas and then they wonder why more people don't use the USPS.
I tried shipping my package Priority International or w/e it was called, but there's no tracking method available. This scares me because I'd have no way to prove to paypal I sent the items, what do I do?
Yeah the customs form you filled out for the package has a number on it that you can use for tracking.
Couldn't someone just grab a customs form and use the number on it and not even ship anything? Or it a form they give you after it's filled out? I know my questions are probably getting annoying, but I've never shipped anything overseas before.
They could yeah but when the number is checked it will not give any info at all. It will start out says "accepted" when you track a good form. If you try and track a bogus number it will say no info available. And if a used old number was use it would have all the old tracking info that gives where it was delivered to and date and time. And such. It's hard to fake it. The post office will have the names and addresses if both parties in their system so they can even match that up.
Ok, thanks for the heads up. I'm just glad there will be a way to actually verify to paypal that I did in fact send the package so I'm protected. Another question, is it possible to have international packages marked as "fragile" so it gets handled better? Never had too much of a problem with domestic shipping but I fear international shipping may be far rougher.
Yeah you can ask them to put fragile stamps on it. Or what I do I print some large fragile stickers out on paper and tape one to the top and all four sides. Just google fragile stickers and you will get lots of pics you can save and print.
Ok, another question. Do I mark the item as "gifts" or "merchandise"? Merchandise makes me scared that I'll have to have a license to sell/ship or something, so I just put it as a gift this time. If that was wrong I'll just fill out some new forms since I didn't ship it today, I just wanna be covered from every angle.
Some countries charge taxes to the receiver when they get something in the mail. If you mark it as gift they may or may not get charged taxes. Mark it as goods and they will get the tax charge. If its something you sold I would mark it as goods. I only mark things as gift when it's to a friend. If its something sold on eBay or boards I mark as goods
OK, just one more thing. The number on the Customs Form acts like a tracking number right? The buyer is telling if he can't track the package not to ship it out.
Yup it can be tracked. If he is outside the USA he can use this site here Universal Package Tracking Service @ Packagetrackr it's an international universal tracking site. I use it to track all my international packages comming and going. If you are shipping priority mail then they may even give you a tracking number now since tracking is free on international. Just ask the post guy at the PO. If not the customs form will work fine.
Thanks for all the help. I think this is the longest it's taken to ship out a package, I know it's by far the most difficulty I've had shipping one out. It's been hell so far, but after tomorrow it'll be shipped and I'll be a happy camper.
Yeah some international shipping can be a pain and some international customers can be a royal pain lol Good luck with it
Well a lot of it's been me. He sent me the initial payment, but paypal took $10 out in fees, so he sent an additional $10. I was worried paypal wouldn't protect me since I'd only have 1 tracking number to input for 2 different payments, so I refunded him both payments and asked him to resend it all as one payment so I'd be protected. It refunded him the first payment, but not the second since my account didn't have the necessary funds in it due to fees. So my paypal had to withdraw the amount of the second payment from my bank, which takes 48+ hours, in order to issue him his refund. Top all that off with the trouble I've been having with figuring out the shipping procedures and it's easy to see how this has been one hell of a ride.
