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Post by threegirls on Nov 29, 2020 16:13:35 GMT
I've never ordered anything of value from outside the US. I'm thinking about purchasing something off of Etsy and the item will be shipped from The Netherlands. Item has free shipping without track and trace and without insurance. Item is $53.00
Should I buy track and trace and insurance? Seller does not have the cost listed. Any guestimates as to how long it will take to get to the US (Midwest)? I'll be paying on a credit card. If the item is lost in the mail will my credit card company reimburse me?
If for some reason the item is lost in the mail, $53.00 wouldn't put me under financially speaking but it is a vintage item that is hard to find. I'm wondering if insurance helps it not get "lost" in the mail.
Anything else I need to know about international shipping?
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Nov 29, 2020 18:12:13 GMT
Timewise, for reference, I ordered a couple of pens from an etsy seller in the Netherlands back in May. It took almost exactly a month (May 19-June 20) to get here; I am also in the midwest. I'm not sure if it was able to come airmail or not.
I ordered some washi tape from a seller in Hong Kong in July. At that point, Hong Kong had suspended air mail to the US. The seller offered me the option to cancel or have it shipped surface mail. I chose surface. Those showed up in I think September.
A couple of variables: one of the reasons I think the Hong Kong shipment took so long is because I think it might have gotten stuck in Los Angeles customs which, last time I checked, was super backed up. I believe it's the main entry point for shipments from China/Japan/Taiwan. However, from the Netherlands, I'm guessing your package will come in on the East coast... I have no idea what the customs ports on that side are like.
I think that I would at least inquire on the cost for trace/track and insurance. You can always choose not to purchase them. But I would also ask if the seller knows whether the tracking is even going to work once your item is stateside. If I send something to Canada with a customs form, I can actually track it on USPS.com through the customs form number... but only until it gets to Canada. Then I can't see anything about its movement in Canada, although that's just with basic shipping, nothing special purchased.
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Post by chaosisapony on Nov 29, 2020 18:16:01 GMT
While I've never shipped to or had anything from the Netherlands specifically I can say that without tracking it seems like my packages had a 50% chance of making it to my friend overseas. With tracking and insurance, it's been almost 100%. I do not trust international shipping for anything important or costly but definitely wouldn't even attempt it now without tracking and insurance.
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Post by sam9 on Nov 29, 2020 18:20:46 GMT
Could you pay with PayPal? I'm not sure that your credit card would cover items lost in the mail. In normal times I've ordered things from overseas (to Canada) many times and never had any problems. Most of the times the items seem to take less time to get to me than from the US. My sister recently ordered a phone case from Hong Kong and it arrived in 8 days, just regular mail.
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Post by katlady on Nov 29, 2020 18:46:28 GMT
I've ordered things from Japan. One company I order from uses some type of shipping that I can track my package the entire way. While the package is still in Japan, I can track it through their shipping company and then via USPS once it hits the U.S. It even tells me when it entered and left customs. There might be something like that in Europe. I've never had an option for insurance though. Thankfully I've never had a package lost.
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