- Joined
- Apr 19, 2003
This is a continuation of the threadjack here ...
Many suppliers are willing to ship via USPS to our area. Priority air mail services provide low-cost tracking numbers which will show the exact location of the package online.
The reason why some are unwilling is due to exclusive shipping arrangments made with a single carrier. Others just can't be bothered with filling out a single customs form and making a trip to the post office.
The other area where suppliers fail to provide adequate service is in credit card transaction handling. Many providers, including Adobe and Microsoft, are willing to process transactions where the billing address chosen is one which is on file and approved by the financial institution, but not necessarily the primary address. Upon reasonable proof and validation with the financial institution, the supplier will approve the transaction. I had the unfortunate experience the other day where a vendor refused to call the 800 number of my financial institution, simply because it would require picking up the phone.
It's more their loss than mine, as last year I placed over US$70K in orders with one supplier alone. It's a grave inconvenience, however, in those instances where a given supplier is the sole distributor of a given item.
Tankguys, I do feel your pain about the irrational occasional customer who is either too lazy or ignorant to check with their local customs office, but I doubt that this is often an issue with US territories or Canada.
Which brings us to the definition of 'international'... Shipping a package to the US territories or Canada is far different from shipping one to say, Turkmenistan or Myanmar. A small amount of effort on the part of most suppliers to identify areas where shipping is easily facilitated by USPS (such as Micronesia, Canada, Samoa, etc...) would likely bring a good deal of business as well as generating some good will.
TankGuys said:It's actually harder than you think
There is a fair amount of annoying paperwork to fill out for 'international' orders, especially with FedEx/UPS... they are a nightmare. USPS isn't as bad.
Then, however, packages often get held up in customs for a few weeks, then you get irate e-mails from customers demanding thier package, even though it's not your fault it's being held up in customs.
Then there is the fact that the only real way to track packages is via Global Express Mail (which most customers aren't willing to pay for) so you have no idea where the package is, or when it's going to show up, two things which most customers don't particularly appreciate...not to mention the times it does take the package 5 weeks, but the customer gets jumpy after a week and files a dispute with thier credit card company. On top of all this, you also get people who refuse to pay the import duties/brokerage fees, so the pacakge gets sent back to us and we get double billed for shipping.
So yea, it's a pain, and not a completely simple matter
Many suppliers are willing to ship via USPS to our area. Priority air mail services provide low-cost tracking numbers which will show the exact location of the package online.
The reason why some are unwilling is due to exclusive shipping arrangments made with a single carrier. Others just can't be bothered with filling out a single customs form and making a trip to the post office.
The other area where suppliers fail to provide adequate service is in credit card transaction handling. Many providers, including Adobe and Microsoft, are willing to process transactions where the billing address chosen is one which is on file and approved by the financial institution, but not necessarily the primary address. Upon reasonable proof and validation with the financial institution, the supplier will approve the transaction. I had the unfortunate experience the other day where a vendor refused to call the 800 number of my financial institution, simply because it would require picking up the phone.
It's more their loss than mine, as last year I placed over US$70K in orders with one supplier alone. It's a grave inconvenience, however, in those instances where a given supplier is the sole distributor of a given item.
Tankguys, I do feel your pain about the irrational occasional customer who is either too lazy or ignorant to check with their local customs office, but I doubt that this is often an issue with US territories or Canada.
Which brings us to the definition of 'international'... Shipping a package to the US territories or Canada is far different from shipping one to say, Turkmenistan or Myanmar. A small amount of effort on the part of most suppliers to identify areas where shipping is easily facilitated by USPS (such as Micronesia, Canada, Samoa, etc...) would likely bring a good deal of business as well as generating some good will.
We just have to be careful in so doing, to make sure we don't run too many risks as to outweight the benefits.
