Shipping TE from USA to International - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: jjoonathan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 01:41:49 am
content: I've shipped a handful of substantial bits of gear overseas and every time this is what happens:1. I file my EEI and get an ITN number. Customs robot goes beep boop.2. I get shipping quotes from USPS, DHL, and UPS: $200, $550, $850 respectively. The specifics change, but DHL and UPS always give me a "lol get lost" quote.3. WTF? I thought they were supposed to compete?4. Either I ship USPS (so far, so good) or my customer shakes their head at my terrible shipping quotes, volunteers to make their own arrangements, and procures a DHL or UPS label at a price much lower than the one offered to me. Embarrassing.Clearly there's a cool kids club that I'm not invited to where they serve competitive shipping quotes all day. How do I get in the door? I recently heard that the trick was to use a shipping reseller, so I tried one called "goshippo." I entered all the addresses and customs details and sure enough DHL and UPS were willing to give me much better quotes this way! Unfortunately, at the final stage of purchasing the labels I got an error: goshippo doesn't support international shipping.Bonus points: their logo is a globe.EDIT: Brianna at goshippo support figured out the root cause of my problem (the ship-from address doesn't auto-populate the address of a new account which is what determines if one is allowed to use the goshippo carrier account), fixed the problem with information from the failed transaction, and used a special dry-run test mode to verify that the problem had indeed been fixed. All of this based on vague complaints. Wow! That has to be one of the better support experiences I have ever had. I'll be happy to give goshippo another chance next time I need international shipping.Assuming I'm on the right track about how finding a good shipping reseller is the key to getting good international shipping quotes, does anyone around here have recommendations?

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 09:48:37 pm
content: https://www.g2.com/products/shippo-shippo/competitors/alternativeshttps://www.netparcel.com/cheapest-international-shipping-from-usa.html

author: jjoonathan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 10:49:45 pm
content: I can google up a list of them too, but if they each waste as much of my time as goshippo before revealing their true colors, I'm in trouble. That's why I went fishing for recommendations.Have you used netparcel for overseas shipping before? If so, I'll be sure to give them a try next time and report back.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 11:08:23 pm
content: Their Canadian prices are often very good, but I checked quote from US to UK and price was incredibly high via DHL (30cm 1kg $230).Shippo lists an example here going to UK:https://goshippo.com/blog/ups-vs-fedex-vs-dhl-vs-usps-international-shipping-rates-comparison/https://support.goshippo.com/hc/en-us/articles/203723905-Shipping-Internationally"From the United States: International discounted rates are available automatically through Shippo's DHL Express and USPS account provided to all Shippo users."Why would they post this if they don't support it? odd

author: Kosmic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 11:42:52 pm
content: Quote from: jjoonathan on February 02, 2021, 01:41:49 amFedex and UPS offer massive discount with volume. This is pretty much the trick Goshippo is using. Check with your friends and family if you could piggy back on one of their employers account. Not sure how it would work to use their discount but pay the bill yourself.

author: jjoonathan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2021, 11:48:30 pm
content: Yes, shippo accepted international addresses, customs information, billing information, and even provided tantalizing quotes before throwing an error. The error is what I was paraphrasing when I said they didn't support international shipping. It might have overstated the restrictions (old code, perhaps) because when I emailed them for clarification they came back with:> At this time, our Shippo master carrier accounts are only enabled to ship from within the US and Australia. However, we do support international shipping! You can ship from other countries by adding your own carrier accountThis is a direct quote. I interpreted "from" as "to," as I am shipping from within the US (though I have since asked for clarification). It's a steep caveat that makes shippo unsuitable for almost all of the international shipping I do.

author: jjoonathan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2021, 12:07:05 am
content: Quote from: Kosmic on February 02, 2021, 11:42:52 pmYes, this is the trick I hope to use tooQuote from: Kosmic on February 02, 2021, 11:42:52 pmI've done that at my employer, but both the mailroom ladies and the account managers noticed. It wasn't a *big* problem, but it's definitely a plan C if I can't arrange shipping through a reseller or on a customer's account.

author: thermistor-guy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2021, 12:33:13 am
content: Quote from: jjoonathan on February 02, 2021, 01:41:49 amTry talking to a freight forwarder. Maybe set up an account and try it out. I use shipito.com (but for importing, not for exporting).Consumer-oriented freight forwarders like shipito will get more competitive rates than you will as an individual. You pay the forwarder's overhead of course, but you should save overall, especially for casual/low-volume use.

author: jjoonathan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2021, 01:59:07 am
content: I'll give them a look, thanks!

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2021, 03:22:06 am
content: I've had good luck with Parcel Monkey. IDK if they are the best rates, but usually 1/3 USPS/Fedex/UPS/DHL/.... I haven't gotten the run around in several uses. And when the dust settles and you finally get a shipping label it is picked up (in my area) either by Fedex or UPS.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2021, 10:19:03 am
content: I use shipitto.com too.Mainly for getting stuff from the US over here to europe. Sometimes a seller doesn't want to deal with the international hassle so i need a US address to get it out. Other times the sellers selects UPS for international and then they give there automated "haha go away" price to ebay, so something larger might cost 1000$ to ship. So it ends up being cheaper to pay USPS to ship it to shipitto.com warehouse, pay the processing fee and pay them to ship it over to me including all the customs hassle already in it.As for shipping huge heavy boatanchors over the puddle it seams like the Ebay Global Shipping Program is the cheapest.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 03, 2021, 11:21:25 am
content: We no longer can ship to UK due to Berxit paperwork and taxes.We ask the UK customer to arrange a pickup via their freight firm or forwarder.Same tactic works in general:Use INCOTERM EWK = Ex Works, then overseas customer is responsible for EVERYTHNG, pickup, freight, customs and shipper in US just packs it, applies customer provided track lable and places package on loading doc for pickup.EWK terms means shipper responsibility is fulfilled when package is avail for pickup at shippers location.Kind Regards,Jon

author: jjoonathan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2021, 04:50:31 am
content: I updated my post to reflect good work from goshippo support.Quote from: jjoonathan