Can some other members post up stuff about shipping from other countries?

US SHIPPING OPTIONS!

Ok, so in the United States, there are four primary shippers: The US Postal Service (USPS), United Postal Service (UPS), DHL (its not an acronym, it's the last name initials of the three founders!) and Federal Express or Fedex.

USPS: This is the government/public postal service. They're not always the most efficient but are by FAR the largest and usually the cheapest, especially for international shipping.

UPS, DHL, Fedex: Unlike USPS, all packages shipped via these services are trackable online. I'm not sure how customs forms work for international shipping because I've never used these guys for international shipping. The reason for this is that they tend to be WAY more expensive in terms of customs handling costs. So in most cases for international shipping your best bet is to us USPS. I have personally had problems with UPS even though they're probably the second largest shipper. These guys sometimes abuse packages. I dont have much info about DHL or Fedex for US parcels.

USPS, local (w/in the US):

First off, learn to LOVE ircalc: http://ircalc.usps.gov/ This website will let you calculate postage costs for domestic or international shipping. For parcels, there are several mailing options:

1) Media Mail: this is typically the cheapest and slowest but there are some limitations (http://www.usps.com/consumers/domestic.htm#H6).

2) Bound Printed Matter: Only a little more expensive than media. Again, there are some limits on what you can send with this (http://www.usps.com/consumers/domestic.htm#H5) and it's also WAY slow.

3) Parcel Post: The 'standard' package method. Typically takes less than 2 weeks.

4) Priority Mail: The second-fastest method and most preferred by our users. You can get nice flat-rate boxes which will fit 2-3 pairs of jeans and the shipping cost alone is never more than $8.05 as of 5/3/06. This is 2-3 business days.

5) Express mail: gauranteed overnight delivery, except sundays obviously. Some 'additional services' below cannot be added to this because it has it already. All you can do is add insurance or a return reciept request. This one is pretty expensive...

Additional services:

a) Certificate of mailing: Just a paper showing you did, in fact, send the package

b) Insurance or registered mail.

c) Certified mail, delivery confirmation, signature on reciept of package, or return receipt.

d) COD

Each of those services costs more.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING WITH USPS

First off, NOT ALL COUNTRIES ACCEPT ALL SERVICES! For instance, italy and france will not accept global priority mail. For any international parcel, you must fill out a customs form that tells the recipient country what's in your box. Some items are subject to import tarrifs. Basically you say if the contents are a gift or a commercial item. Tarrifs (which are paid by the recipient) vary WIDELY on country and depending on declared value. That said, here are the shipping options:

a) Surface. By boat baby! No tracking, nothing. All you get is a customs label number which you can use to open a claim if the thing gets lost. All other services give you a customs label number as well... Good luck with that! 4 weeks minimum usually more like 6+ for packages just to europe. May be faster to canada...

b) First class AKA standard par-avion. See "a" except 3-4 weeks delivery time.

c) Global Priority Mail: 4-6 business days, which is fast! BUT! No tracking number (all you can tell is when something left the US, not too useful in a dispute) and NO INSURANCE! Yes you can purchase insurance through u-pic but USPS wont give it.

d) global express mail. I use this and love it. 3-5 business days and you get a tracking number and automatically get $100 of insurance. More insurance added is not expensive (like less than $2 for another $100, etc). Not super cheap but not too expensive either. A pair of jeans to canada is $17.90 and to the UK is like $30-ish

A note about declared value: If you DO have insurance on a parcel and you need to CLAIM that insurance (if the item is lost or damaged) you may be ONLY able to collect the amount declared. WARNING TO BUYERS! This means if you ask for a declared $30 value to avoid paying import duty, and the parcel is lost, even if you paid $1000 worth of insurance (which would be a customs red-flag anyways but that's another story) then the most you could collect would be $30. CAVEAT EMPTOR!