anyone ever ship a cue to Taiwan?

CueJunkiee

CueJunkiee

Shoot with the Best TOOLS
Silver Member
figured this is gotta be the place to ask :-)
how'd ya ship?
what kinda pain in a@# is it?
how much was it?
was it insured?
was it paid through paypal?
anything i missed?
should i bother?
thanks
 
Yes, I've shipped a cue to Taiwan from Califoria via USPS Global Express mail ... the cost can be calculated on www.usps.com website. And it's trackable to destination.

I received/sent via PayPal .. but it was to an established AZ member.

Big question to ponder is insurance ... USPS will only insure the declared value of the shipment. However, buyer, for tax purpose, typically ask the seller to put low value on the shipment. So that's something to consider .. declare full value, pay the insurance and let the buyer deal with tax or declare low value and take some risk.

From California, my shipment took 3 days .. .much faster than shipping to Japan.
 
Perhaps u would want to check with Chady Liu (Poolchady) or MATTY here? They are established collectors from Taiwan.

Bgrds
Raist
 
how'd ya ship? Fedex
what kinda pain in a@# is it? Fedex was ok
was it insured? not insured
was it paid through paypal? wire transfer

Note: you need to watch out how the money will be wired. If the person's bank can't wire the money direct to your bank, an intermediary bank will be used. You need to know this so that factor in the additional handling fee.
 
Jazz said:
Yes, I've shipped a cue to Taiwan from Califoria via USPS Global Express mail ... the cost can be calculated on www.usps.com website. And it's trackable to destination.

I received/sent via PayPal .. but it was to an established AZ member.

Big question to ponder is insurance ... USPS will only insure the declared value of the shipment. However, buyer, for tax purpose, typically ask the seller to put low value on the shipment. So that's something to consider .. declare full value, pay the insurance and let the buyer deal with tax or declare low value and take some risk.

From California, my shipment took 3 days .. .much faster than shipping to Japan.
Click to expand...

Use global express mail/ems through the post office. It's the way to go. The service is reasonable (around $40), takes about 4-5 days, and is a first-rate service. Knock on wood, but we have never had any problems, save one delayed shipment to the U.K. If you send it via FedEx or UPS, you're looking at at least double that. FedEx still gives decent customer service for overseas shipments. The customer service for UPS sucks...period...here and abroad.

Ask the buyer how he wants it declared? You will have to fill out a customs form at the post office that briefly describes what's in the package...just red-tape, but it's got to be done. If your buyer wants it declared low (to save him having to pay high tariffs/import fees) then the post office might frown on an insurance claim for say, $1500, when you declared it at $100. Not to mention a claim will probably drag out for months. Also, if you ever had to file an insurance claim for a lost or damaged cue, the insurance is sticky when you start talking overseas. I'd look into the specifics. From what we have been told, the insurance does not cover anything that might get lost when the packages gets overseas (i.e. when it lands, is unloaded, goes through customs, and then is delivered). Due to that, IMO, the insurance is for the most part pretty worthless, unless there's just no way you can financially incur the loss.

Just my $0.02.

Sean
 
monski said:
how'd ya ship? Fedex
what kinda pain in a@# is it? Fedex was ok
was it insured? not insured
was it paid through paypal? wire transfer

Note: you need to watch out how the money will be wired. If the person's bank can't wire the money direct to your bank, an intermediary bank will be used. You need to know this so that factor in the additional handling fee.
Click to expand...

FedEx is good. They provide you a good triangular tube box for packaging. It will reach taiwan in 2-3days. Wire-transfer of $20-25 will be charge as commission by your Bank if there are more routing/stop, so you might want to ask him to send a little extra.

Claim (insurance) given by the forwarder will be limited to a certain amount. e.g. $500-$1k (You need to check that out with which forwarding company that you decided to use). So if your cue is value at $5k, you mind want to seek other insurance provider. It is also required by the forwarder that you must state the cost of the cue(claim purposes), this together with the consigner/nee detail will be attached on the outer side of the box. You can label it as gifts, possible he might get away with custom's tax.
 
I agree with Sean, UPS sucks. Express mail/EMS like USPS does a great job. They even provide tracking number, and it cost almost half that of its competitor.
 
cueaddicts said:
Use global express mail/ems through the post office. It's the way to go. The service is reasonable (around $40), takes about 4-5 days, and is a first-rate service. Knock on wood, but we have never had any problems, save one delayed shipment to the U.K. If you send it via FedEx or UPS, you're looking at at least double that. FedEx still gives decent customer service for overseas shipments. The customer service for UPS sucks...period...here and abroad.

Ask the buyer how he wants it declared? You will have to fill out a customs form at the post office that briefly describes what's in the package...just red-tape, but it's got to be done. If your buyer wants it declared low (to save him having to pay high tariffs/import fees) then the post office might frown on an insurance claim for say, $1500, when you declared it at $100. Not to mention a claim will probably drag out for months. Also, if you ever had to file an insurance claim for a lost or damaged cue, the insurance is sticky when you start talking overseas. I'd look into the specifics. From what we have been told, the insurance does not cover anything that might get lost when the packages gets overseas (i.e. when it lands, is unloaded, goes through customs, and then is delivered). Due to that, IMO, the insurance is for the most part pretty worthless, unless there's just no way you can financially incur the loss.

Just my $0.02.

Sean
Click to expand...

I'll second to Sean, indeed usps is the most economic way to do the shipping to taiwan compare to fedex or ups , my previous experience is that if you do global express through usps it'll cost you merely $30~$40 with 1B2S, takes about 4-7 days to arrive with tracking#, I guess thats reasonable, no prob at all with the delivery. thats the way I recieved most of my cues from Az'ers.

there's one thing that might need to be taken care of, and thats the custom that may incurred during the shipping , no matter what the real value is, state no more than $200 on the item description and put a label on the package as a gift , the premise is that both party must have an accord beforehand in case the package is stolen or lost, while I don't have such an experience however I did pay for $150 of custom just because I requested the seller to declare the value as it really is:p

Well, its kind of easy to do paypal or international wire transfer through local bank in Tw, IWT will charge the sender $13~$15 extra for processing .
I work in the bank thus I am familiar with the process. I reconmmend both way.
 
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MATTY said:
I'll second to Sean, indeed usps is the most economic way to do the shipping to taiwan compare to fedex or ups , my previous experience is that if you do global express through usps it'll cost you merely $30~$40 with 1B2S, takes about 4-7 days to arrive with tracking#, I guess thats reasonable, no prob at all with the delivery. thats the way I recieved most of my cues from Az'ers.
there's one thing that might need to be taken care of, and thats the custom that may incurred during the shipping , no matter what the real value is, state no more than $200 on the item description and put a label on the package as a gift , the premise is that both party must have an accord beforehand in case the package is stolen or lost, while I don't have such an experience however I did pay for $150 of custom just because I requested the seller to declare the value as it really is:p
Well, its kind of easy to do paypal or international wire transfer through local bank in Tw, IWT will charge the sender $13~$15 extra for processing .
I work in the bank thus I am familiar with the process. I reconmmend both way.
Click to expand...

Over the past 5 years, I shipped cues from US to Taiwan, China, Singapore, UK, Australia, and Japan. USPS is the best imho. UPS sucks and Fedex is expensive. Shipping by USPS only costs you $25~$40 depending on the weight and the size of the box. It is trackable online and it only takes 3~5 days. Besides, somehow the foreign custom officials rarely open up the USPS' tubes for inspection but they inspect Fedex's boxes all the time. Believe me, you wouldn't want to see how they use their utility knifes on your shipping box when you have a million dollar cue in it. Just put "used pool cue" on the form and mostly you will bypass the inspection.
Regarding the insurance or declared value, $85~$100 is good enough. The risk of losing the cue during the transportation is much lower than the risk of buying cues on the flea-bay.
Ivory, this is another thing you will need to watch out. Usually it's illegal to export or import in foreign countries. Behind the closing door, I would say don't worry about it. A normal foreign postman won't be able to tell the difference between plastics and ivory. You do need to make sure that your shipping box is not from famous cuemakers like Ginacue or Szmaboti. USPS has a list of custom cuemakers who used to ship ivory contents overseas. Anything from these names or addresses will be inspected. Just use a different name and address.
Regarding the payment. I use Paypal e-check service. It's only 5 bucks and it's risk free. The thing is most foreign buyers can't use e-check. Personally I think wire transfer is the easiest and fastest way to pay. Money order is ok but it takes forever to cash.
 
thanks all!
Now to disipher what he gave me for an adress and put it on a label!!
i've ALWAYS used USPS for shipping cues and never had a problem... only time i use fedex is overnighting higher end stuff like my SW...
 
poolchady said:
Regarding the insurance or declared value, $85~$100 is good enough.
Click to expand...

Then what happens if a high dollar cue comes up lost? That would present quite a dilemma would it not?
 
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