On Sat, 1 May 2004 02:22:02 +1000, Jake Anderson wrote:
> what is it with america and not shipping outside USA? seems in every other
> country if you arent willing to ship international your a nutter.

I can only speak from my own experience, but...

Almost every U.S. shipper makes it extremely difficult or expensive to
ship worldwide. The one notable exception this is the USPS -- but it
has one caveat -- you can't get reliable tracking or delivery
guarantees from them. About all you can get is a "hey -- we delivered
it" confirmation from them. If something goes awry in shipping, you are
pretty much on your own. Anyone who has had a parcel lost in the USPS
system can attest to this. They have no clue where anything is at a
given point in time, unlike Fedex or UPS.

I personally like Fedex the best for international shipments.
Everything is tracked along the way and they deal with customs/duties
in a reasonable manner, but they are not cheap. UPS's problems with
customs fees has been chronicled on the PIClist recently. USPS is a
pain for me, I have to go approximately 3 miles to the local Post
Office and wait in a long line while the minions behind the counter
move at the speed of mating elephants to ship anything with them.
Unlike a lot of countries, the mail carriers here do nothing but
deliver mail and parcels -- no pickup of parcels or even letters!

One other problem I've heard horror tales about is problems with
international fraud and banking problems, especially with credit cards
and the legal problems that ensue on a transaction gone bad. On a
personal shipment basis and with small orders, Paypal seems to be a
reasonable compromise. I can see how larger companies like Amazon.com
may opt to avoid international shipments where the percentage of fraud
or non-payments could kill their already razor-slim margins. Then add
in the complexities of legal issues across borders and legal systems
and you have a potentially large problem.

I certainly wish it were easier to ship internationally from the U.S.

Matt Pobursky
Maximum Performance Systems

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList
mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu