Anyone else have problems shipping to the Russian Federation?

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

Against my better judgement I shipped some costume jewelry to the Russian Federation. I told the buyer that I did not ship to Russia as it could take forever & that other sellers have had problems with that country.  But the person begged me to make an exception. Of course tracking was very expensive & the buyer didn't want to pay that.  I sent the parcel May 5/16 & never heard anything so assumed they received it. Today I get a notice of Items Not Received case being opened. I know how this is going to end. I will be forced to refund. Hard lesson learned. I will no longer ship to certain countries. No exception made anymore.

[silverpinups]

Keep your shipping locations to Canada, USA, Europe (exclude certain countries like Ukraine, Poland and Italy), Japan and Australia.

Exclude everything else especially, Russia, China and South America.

I've learned from experience to avoid these locations unless the buyer is willing to pay for Xpresspost-International, no exceptions.

[momcqueen]

I'm sorry to hear this has turned out the way it has.

In future, try limiting your ship-to countries to the ones serviced by Canada Post Tracked Packet.

It's expensive, yes, but not as costly as Xpresspost.

If the buyer begged you to ship to Russia, you could have agreed on the take-it-or-leave-it condition it be tracked at their expense. They had you over a barrel you as soon as you agreed to ship without tracking.

For quick reference, these are the countries served by Tracked Packet:

SHIP-TO LOCATIONS BY TRACKED PACKET ONLY FOR ALL ITEMS WORTH LESS THAN $100 CAD AND WEIGHING LESS THAN 2 KG

Austria
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Croatia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Hungary
Italy
Ireland
Iceland
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Malta
Netherlands
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
USA

Please note the max insured value is $100 (you'd have to buy third-party insurance privately if the amount exceeded a hundred bucks) and the weight limit is 2 kg everywhere except USA where it is 1 kg. There is also a size restriction but I don't know it off the top of my head.

For more information, check https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

That link includes services and a rate guide but it doesn't reflect the actual price discount available through paypal. 

[silverpinups]

"In future, try limiting your ship-to countries to the ones serviced by Canada Post Tracked Packet.

It's expensive, yes, but not as costly as Xpresspost".

Tracked Packet-International is an excellent service (I use it all the time) but no signature and only 100.00 insurance.

Xpresspost-International has signature Included and up to 1000.00 in insurance. 

If I'm selling something to a somewhat "shady" location and I'm not crazy about the transaction but the buyer is enthusiastic about buying it then I would only ship it Xpresspost-International. 

It's fast, the buyer will be more serious, hopefully more honest and the seller is fully covered (up to a 1000.00 anyways). 

[momcqueen]

Good advice.

Some of the shadiest locations, however, aren't served by Xpresspost, only Air Parcel. Xpresspost is imperative for any item valued at more than $850 CAD because you need a signature.

Signature Confirmation, as described below, if the full amount of the payment, including shipping and taxes, is $850 CAD, or its foreign currency equivalent provided below https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full#11
  

850 Australian Dollar (AUD)	4,600 Norwegian Krone (NOK)
1,750 Brazilian Real (BRL)	34,000 Philippine Peso (PHP)
15,000 Czech Republic Koruna (CZK)	2,300 Polish New Zloty (PLN)
4,100 Danish Krone (DKK)	450 Pound Sterling – United Kingdom (GBP)
550 Euro (EUR)	950 Singaporean Dollar (SGD)
6,000 Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)	4,950 Swedish Krona (SEK)
170,000 Hungarian Forint (HUF)	700 Swiss Franc (CHF)
2,700 Israeli Shekel (ILS)	23,000 Taiwan New Dollar (TWD)
77,000 Japanese Yen (JPY)	24,500Thai Baht (THB)
10,000 Mexican New Peso (MXN)	750 United States Dollar (USD)
950 New Zealand Dollar (NZD)

Those countries where Xpresspost is not available to use are the ones with Air Parcel Service. No signature there means do not ship anything valued at more than $850 there or you'll be giving it away.

[silverpinups]

"Those countries where Xpresspost is not available to use are the ones with Air Parcel Service. No signature there means do not ship anything valued at more than $850 there or you'll be giving it away".

That's why location is very important, sellers need to protect themselves and use good judgment from excessive losses.

I sold a batch of photos (up to 30) valued at 4000.00CDN to a collector in New York back in March/16.

I sent it Xpresspost-USA and maxed out my insurance at 1000.00CDN.

I shipped the package on a Tuesday, after 4pm and he received it on Friday morning.  

Was it stressful? Yes, but very fast!

I can't believe Canada Post doesn't offer more for insurance.....

[femmefan1946]

But the person begged me to make an exception.

First red flag.

Of course tracking was very expensive & the buyer didn't want to pay that.

Second red flag.

Your not shipping him a kidney. This is a want not a need. If he doesn't want it as much as you want to get paid (and stay paid) a polite 'no, but thank you for your interest' is sufficient.

I've sold books to the former Soviet states with no problems, but on my terms.

Some sales are not worth having.

With no tracking, you will lose the INR dispute, so you may as well refund voluntarily now.

However, since most people are honest , so you can send an eBay Message to the refunded scammer customer asking that when the item does arrive, that she return the refund using Paypal's Send Money service.

It might work.

[ricarmic]

Hi! When shipping to countries like Russia, it is important to know the import restrictions.

Check here:

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/pgIntDest-e.asp?letter=R 

This is on the list of prohibited items:

• jewellery
• jewellery, costume including precious stones of any kind, natural diamonds

So the odds are probably higher that they were intercepted in customs. Don't know what they do with intercepted stuff, but they probably don't send it back....

[momcqueen]

Oh golly, could that be the reason the buyer was so desperate this seller ship to Russia? Because most of it gets intercepted by customs and probably incinerated*? 

*Or shows up on their girlfriend's wrist in a week, later to be sold on the lucrative Black Market in exchange for eggs and bread.

I don't know if Russia is one of them but some countries have a very poor reputation for corrupt Customs clearance.

[momcqueen]

And excellent resource there. Succinct. I'm bookmarking this thread and the site so I'll have easy access to the Restrictions link again.

[momcqueen]

To satisfy my own curiosity, I just picked random countries and read through their Prohibited and Restricted list and it seems so utterly unexpected what some places won't accept, things one would not ever consider to be off-limits. Like you can't import candy or books into Croatia? Why not? Jewelry not being allowed into Russia also surprised me. What harm can costume jewelry do unless it's made with dodgy material like lead or cadmium in which case you'd think that would be the prohibited substance and not the jewelry itself. 

Other things, like drugs, obviously make sense.

And you cannot import prison-made goods into Canada? How would you know something is prison-made? Is that a Human Rights call? 

Fascinating reading. 

[mr.elmwood]

My only problem country is Mexico. I think I am 1 for 8 in parcels arriving. I am blocking that country.

[momcqueen]

Where do they get stuck? Can you tell? Assuming you ship with tracking.

[silverpinups]

Yes, Mexico is another big shipping no-no!!

[pjcdn2005]

Like you I hVe a problem with Mexico -3 items sent -3 inr's

For me, China has the same record.

Ive never had a problem with Russia.  

[femmefan1946]

And you cannot import prison-made goods into Canada? How would you know something is prison-made? Is that a Human Rights call? 

Exactly.

In many countries (and the Soviet Union was one) prisoners are effectively slave labour.

At one time the dime store packets of stamps bought by children were assembled in Soviet gulags. Because what other work can you get out of a tubercular elderly physicist who wanted to emigrate to Israel?

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

Very interesting site on import restrictions. Will check it out for other countries. Why costume jewelry should be a problem is beyond me.

[avenueshopswapsell]

No children's crayons or watercolour paints to New Zealand...why on earth?

Then again, I find it very interesting that I can post, sell and ship a paintball gun to the US on .ca, but I cannot post the very same item on .com because I am in Canada...same difference?

[g-coinxchange]

Mostly true. I do not believe that customs officers steal other people merchandise to buy eggs and milk. They rather use the proceeds to buy Bentleys and Ferraris. Oh, and they do not consider this as a theft. They believe they are doing a great business.  Some time ago one of the customs officials in Russia was dismissed and arrested. His mansion was valued by real estate agents at $15 million. Hopefully there will be more arrests...

[g-coinxchange]

I agree that some restrictions are bizarre. May be they previously faced some issues with those items. Some people get really creative when it comes to smth illegal or have sick minds by default.