Shipping to Puerto Rico

[msau4301]

I have shipped several times to Puerto Rico in the past and was able to use Tracked Package USA with tracking. My understanding was Puerto Rico is a territory of the US (though not sure exactly what that means?!), but do know tracking still worked and I never had a problem before.

I just had a buyer (who has purchased from me before) saying she is trying to bid but it is saying I don't ship to Puerto Rico. I am currently set up for Canada and the US only. Does anyone know if something has changed recently? Thanks to anyone who can help shed some light for me.

[reallynicestamps]

It's part of the USA, and has a USPS zipcode.

Does that appear in your customer's address? They would have to look for themselves about that.

In the short run, you can give your customer the cost to ship to the USA (if you have a Flat Rate) or use this to work out what you would charge.
https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/information/app/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

Since they could see the listing, your Shipping likely says "Contact seller for shipping cost."

[msau4301]

Yes thank you, I did think it was part of the USA that's why I wondered why she was getting the message "seller may not ship to your location". I'm not sure what happened (maybe has always been this way?) but she reached out to me when she saw the message to ask if I would ship there and I told her I would be happy to  and thought it should work. She said it is now working for her (and I hadn't changed anything!) I think she just wanted to make sure before she bid. I thought she was trying and having no luck but turns out she was just asking because of the message. Thanks again! 🙂

[marnotom!]

eBay's sense of geography is a bit different than the US State Department's, I think.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Puerto-Rico-not-with-US-in-Exclusion-List-Options/td-p/4...

[msau4301]

Thanks for the link marnotom! Yes, I also saw when I checked my shipping policies section that Puerto Rico was listed under Central America & Carribean which is why I got confused. Especially since this is a repeat buyer who had no problems in the past. When I click on her name it shows Location: United States. When she sees my listing she's told "Seller may not ship to your location" but she was still able to bid anyways.

The only constant seems to be that there are always inconsistencies...and glitches of course!

[doc_scribe]

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@marnotom! wrote:

eBay's sense of geography is a bit different than the US State Department's, I think.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Puerto-Rico-not-with-US-in-Exclusion-List-Options/td-p/4...

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My last sale to Puerto Rico went through as  @pjcdn2005 noted in that link:

‎

"I think that on .com, both PR in the Caribbean section and US Protectorates have to be checked off to totally block it.

That is because some Puerto Ricans write their address using PR as the country and others use it as a state with US as the country.  If they just have protectorates blocked and the buyer has PR as the country, the sale will go through.  It's definitely a glitch."

In my case, selling to Puerto Rico was not something I wished to block, merely ensure that Buyers were using US instead of PR as their eBay country code so that any invoicing or shipping estimates would automatically display my U.S. Tracked Packet rate vs. a much higher International Tracked Packet rate with significantly longer delivery time.

[38e_avenue]

I had the same problem with a buyer from Guam. The problem has been resolved after my advice of changing the country from "Guam" to "US".  

[msmaggie060]

It's possible that there is an eBay glitch. I had a buyer tell me she received a message that I didn't ship to New Zealand even though my listing did not exclude that country. I added her eBay name to my exclusions list as that has sometimes worked in the past. Told her to wait a day and today she was able to purchase the item. Sometimes you just need to wait and try later.

[pjcdn2005]

If you haven't done so already, ask the buyer to change their country to the US.  If they have Guam as the country and you have that blocked they won't be able to buy.

[dinomitesales]

If you use calculated shipping this also could be an issue with Canada Post's integration with the listing. To get the majority of services to Puerto Rico you have to specify the country as "United States" and the state as "Puerto Rico". Annoyingly, Canada Post also recognizes "Puerto Rico" as a country, but that designation is used only for it's FedEx Priority WorldWide service.

So like others have said, it depends what the buyer has in the "country" field for their shipping address.

[msau4301]

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@doc_scribe wrote:

In my case, selling to Puerto Rico was not something I wished to block, merely ensure that Buyers were using US instead of PR as their eBay country code so that any invoicing or shipping estimates would automatically display my U.S. Tracked Packet rate vs. a much higher International Tracked Packet rate with significantly longer delivery time.

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That is the same for me, I do not wish it to be blocked, I use Tracked Packet also. Her message said she was in "Puerto Rico, zip code 00987 USA" so I thought it would have been easy-peasy. Still hopeful will be okay, auctions end over next couple of days but I'm trying to remain optimistic. It does make me wonder however if others have seen the "seller may not ship to your location" and just left instead of asking like she did.

Thanks to all who have contributed here! 🙂

[msau4301]

She said she is in Puerto Rico, USA so I think she is set up properly. I will know in a couple of days when the auctions she's bidding on end. Thank you! 🙂

[doc_scribe]

Should be fine @msau4301 , but easily correctable over-the-counter if necessary.  Since all valid Puerto Rican addresses are already mirrored in Canada Post's database under both PR and US country codes, a CP agent can switch to US without affecting the validity of any other street address already printed/written on your package. Same destination, just a different service/rate/routing classification.

As others have noted, you should never need to use PR as the country code, unless shipping via courier like FedEX.

[38e_avenue]

Something funny (it really happened!): a buyer from Atlanta put Georgia as the destination country 😉

[msau4301]

Lol, geography is not everyone's strong suit! I once had a US seller say she wouldn't ship here since she "doesn't ship overseas"!

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@msau4301 wrote:

Lol, geography is not everyone's strong suit! I once had a US seller say she wouldn't ship here since she "doesn't ship overseas"!

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@msau4301 

To your customers mind, the Great Lakes are oceans and a very long swim for the mailperson!! 🏖

-Lotz

US sellers are able to block HI and AK because of the water between.

[byto253]

Have to watch at the counter to, I did have one clerk want to apply internation instead of USA rates to PR.  

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@byto253 wrote:

Have to watch at the counter to, I did have one clerk want to apply internation instead of USA rates to PR.  

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@byto253 

@38e_avenue 

@doc_scribe 

There has been an off and on glitch with eBay Labels and Shippo(goes back over 1 year) not recognizing PR as a US state. You have to confirm it's correct before processing the label or you get billed for Intl rates vs US rates.

-Lotz

[38e_avenue]

Here (in Montreal) we also have another problem: "United Kingdom? There is no sich country". The CP computer accepts only French names, so United Kindom must be Royaume-Uni. It's a problem which I have here repeatedly (recently with Latvia - Lettonie in French ("is there such a country?"). A few years ago I also disputed a parcel to Singapore ("Singapore is a city - you forgot to add the country's name"). 😃    

[doc_scribe]

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@38e_avenue wrote:

Here (in Montreal) we also have another problem: "United Kingdom? There is no sich country". The CP computer accepts only French names, so United Kindom must be Royaume-Uni. It's a problem which I have here repeatedly (recently with Latvia - Lettonie in French ("is there such a country?").  

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To be polite...that is...uhm..."absurd".  🤐

But even out here in TROC we have a similar headscratcher over the use of United Kingdom (UK) vs. Great Britain (GB). I have no idea what the distinction might be in terms of postal rates or delivery. Some counter staff have suggested that in practice they're interchangeable...which is only true I guess until the day they're not.

Wasn't avoiding this kind of confusion the entire point of Country Codes?