Shipping to Russia

[sylviebee]

I have an offer from someone in Russia which I'd like to accept.  I came across a service which I've never used before: "International Parce Services."

Does anyone here have any information about that service?

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

I think that is eBay's own service.

If I am correct, there have already been numerous complaints about it for shipments from the USA to Canada.

 Personally, I do not ship to Russia.

There are third party insurance companies that will insure parcels fairly cheaply and which other posters have recommended. I believe one of those is ShipInsure.

If an insurer will not cover a parcel to Russia (or Nigeria or Brazil or Saskatchewan) do not ship there. The risk assessment has been done and the destination has failed.

[sylviebee]

Thank You femme.  Have you ever heard or used "Canada Post International Parcel Service?"  It seems to be a fully tracked service and might even come with $100 insurance.

I've never shipped to a country where it's been offered before and it's quite expensvie but so not as high as XPresspost (which I have used to Russia successfully).

When buying postage via Shippo I have the impression that insurance can be purchased for any country.

[sylviebee]

P.S.  I'm Sorry, I missed the first line of your response regarding complaints about the service.  That's exactly what I was wondering about.

[pjcdn2005]

@sylviebee 

I believe that the service that Femmefan is referring to is ebay international standard delivery which is for US sellers only. I think that you are asking about Canada Post International Parcel Air or International Parcel Surface? The air version is for countries that do not have Xpresspost. I've never used it or used Xpresspost International as the cost is too high for what I sell.  I suspect that the Air version is similar to Xpresspost though perhaps a bit slower as there is no 'on time' guarantee.   I thought that International Parcel was only available at the post office but I could be wrong.

I don't have the 2021 version handy but if you go to the international section of the 2020 small business parcel guide it tells you what comes with that service.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/assets/pdf/smb/2020_Parcel_PriceGuide_SFSB_level_1-en.pdf

[recped]

Canada Post offers Xpresspost to quite a few countries (70 as I recall). For ALL other countries they only offer International Parcel (either Air or Surface).

Basically the exact same thing except it has a longer service standard.

[cardconnoisseurs]

Here's the trick with shipping to Russia:

Don't ship to Russia. There's a reason that to make items available to Russia that you have to *specically* select that your item will be available to ship to Russia. Not even remotely close to worth it.

[intimewithmusic]

Hi.  Have you tried thinking outside the box? You haven't given any details about why you want to accept the offer. I'm assuming Russia isn't on your exclusions list if you rec'd the offer through "Best Offer".  I'm assuming the item has value to it and is something more appealing in Russia than North America.  Otherwise why not simply decline and be done with it?

I had a listing for  an original tour rider from 'DIO" (heavy metal band).  I ran into the same "opportunity". Russians and Eastern Europeans love their metal!  Russia is on my exclusions list and so the message came via Ebay messaging not "Best Offer". My business policies are my private business. There's no need to explain them to anyone.

When asked if I would ship I said "No thank you. Thanks for your offer. If you have a friend or relative in North America get them to purchase it for you.  I can ship it to them for forwarding. The listing included the "Best Offer" option. I told them how much I would accept. They had a friend in New York. He immediatley bought the item.  I sent it to New York with less risk. Everybody's happy.

IT

[intimewithmusic]

To my knowledge Shippo uses "Shipsurance". For complete details on their services you can bypass Shippo and go directly to their dot com website. There are hundreds of reviews about them.  Not sticking up for them but the majority of current ones I found are very good. It's worth mentioning online reviews tend to be subjects of complaint. Just look up family doctors or courier delivery times. They tend to attract dissapointed consumers rather than lovers.

You need to read the insurance policy you are buying and follow the guidelines.

Example: The Shipsurance guidelines clearly say " No branding on the outside of your packages that can elude to the contents." Most haters reviews with denied claims I uncovered included a photo of the box in question clearly showing exactly what is inside the box. Claim denied for good reason. 

It's also important to verify reviews are current and from direct experience not 3rd party hersey from days gone by (otherwise known as "fake news").