I own a small business, and I do ship internationally. The majority of my business is US based, but we do ship all over the world.
And, boy, is it a pain. First, UPS and FedEx, while nice, charge an arm and a leg to ship internationally. The one pound rate for UPS is about 5-20 times more expensive than the post office depending on the location. Customers won't pay for the expensive shipping.
Second, when the customer chooses the cheap shipping, you can't track it. The US Postal Service tosses your box into the void, and who knows where it goes from there.
Third, after the post office loses your package, the credit card company comes back after you saying that the item wasn't received. Charge back time. That's a $25 charge plus you lose the money for the sale.
And, if it does go through, there's the paperwork. I need to fill out a form in triplicate for packages over 5 lbs. The US Postal Service doesn't have software that does this automatically, of course. By hand, every time.
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I own a small business, and I do ship internationally. The majority of my business is US based, but we do ship all over the world.
And, boy, is it a pain. First, UPS and FedEx, while nice, charge an arm and a leg to ship internationally. The one pound rate for UPS is about 5-20 times more expensive than the post office depending on the location. Customers won't pay for the expensive shipping.
Second, when the customer chooses the cheap shipping, you can't track it. The US Postal Service tosses your box into the void, and who knows where it goes from there.
Third, after the post office loses your package, the credit card company comes back after you saying that the item wasn't received. Charge back time. That's a $25 charge plus you lose the money for the sale.
And, if it does go through, there's the paperwork. I need to fill out a form in triplicate for packages over 5 lbs. The US Postal Service doesn't have software that does this automatically, of course. By hand, every time.
Oy.