Shipping cues to China.

[jay helfert]

I sold a very nice Kent Davis cue to a fellow in Shanghai and I shipped it to him via First Class U.S. mail. It was insured for $500 (real value about $750). They told me at the post office it should take ten days to two weeks. After a month we both began to get worried. I went to my post office and they tracked it to Shanghai, telling me it was hung up in Customs. They told me to wait until after Christmas to make a claim. The cue finally arrived this week, after about a month and half in transit. Very doubtful I will be shipping to China again.

 

[waylander]

A month is not unheard of for shipping overseas, especially with customs and especially near Christmas.

Funny thing is that I've had packages from the US take almost a month to get to me in Canada....

 

[blucollar]

Pretty common transit time to china....i am an ebay powerseller and see these transit times quite often....USPS gets it there fairly quick but it always gets hung up in customs

 

[duanet85]

long shipping

I had a golf shaft take 3 and a half weeks to get from Chicago to Hawaii. The package that was mailed along with it was sent same usps priority and took 4 days to be delivered in l.a. also once on here had a cue take almost 2 weeks to go south one state. Sucks on eBay when you ship right away and the post office messes it up.

 

[Guerra Cues]

I sold a very nice Kent Davis cue to a fellow in Shanghai and I shipped it to him via First Class U.S. mail. It was insured for $500 (real value about $750). They told me at the post office it should take ten days to two weeks. After a month we both began to get worried. I went to my post office and they tracked it to Shanghai, telling me it was hung up in Customs. They told me to wait until after Christmas to make a claim. The cue finally arrived this week, after about a month and half in transit. Very doubtful I will be shipping to China again.

Jay,

You need to use express mail USPS. Price difference is about 10/15 bucks and is well worth it.

 

[Hidy Ho]

I don't know about China but since I've moved to Singapore from California last year, I have had some shipping experience to here.

For me, the only way to get a shipment is USPS Int'l Express mail which only takes about 3-4 business days. For a cue, it's around $50 shipping cost.

I've had someone mistakenly ship me a cue using Int'l priority mail and that took something close to two weeks and it was only around $10 cheaper .. not worth it.

I've had FedEx and DHL shipments and for those, the shipper has to be very good with the paperwork as anything with declared value over $400 Singapore Dollar will be held by the shipping company for tax due. I had someone write $400 USD instead of 400 SGD (which is around $500 SGD) and it took me close to a week to figure out the tax issue before my cue was released to me. Plus, these shipments are very expensive, over $100 for a cue.

 

[JB Cases]

To China takes forever if you ship regular mail, including "first" class. You MUST use the International Priority Express service if you want it to arrive in less than two weeks.

I just got a case that was shipped on the 27th. It arrived on the 2cnd. Priority Express with insurance is the only way to go. Although be aware that if the insurance is high that will trigger customs so your buyer should either be willing to pay duties or assume the risk if the shipment should be lost.