International shipping

[mfinn]

Does anyone have experience shipping dry goods to a destination like Brazil?
I had someone contact me and ask me to ship my Inland coral saw to him in Brazil.
He said he was willing to pay the shipping charges which look to be about $90 via usps.
I said I was unwilling and he seemed to get a little upset.
Is shipping international as straight forward as shipping inside the continental USA?

 

[Silver14SS]

I once shipped a car driveshaft to Russia. It was surprisingly painless - I sold it on eBay, they paid with PayPal, I can't recall what carrier I used for shipping.

I was prepared for it to turn into a disaster and be a total loss for me, but it all worked out fine. If worried about a payment dispute after the fact, customs issues, or any other surprises - is there any kind of 3rd party or escrow type service to use?

 

[TopShelfAquatics Verified Sponsor]

Lots of those places have crazy high taxes so its cheaper to buy from the US and have it shipped in. I'm not completely sure about the legality or the logistics of it but honestly I would not bother yourself with it too much. The buyer can purchase it from a retailer that has more protections than you do

 

[andrewkw]

As a Canadian I've always found it interesting that so many people in the US are hesitant to ship internationally. At least here you fill in a customs form online which consists of the persons address what you are sending and dollar value. Takes 1-2 minutes to fill out online, and at the post office they scan the barcode and it prints the form. I find this actually saves time since I don't have to write the person's address or my return address on the envelope / box since the customs for contains both.

For UPS / Fedex you just select the country, what it is and value and it's included on the shipping label.

 

[mfinn]

As a Canadian I've always found it interesting that so many people in the US are hesitant to ship internationally. At least here you fill in a customs form online which consists of the persons address what you are sending and dollar value. Takes 1-2 minutes to fill out online, and at the post office they scan the barcode and it prints the form. I find this actually saves time since I don't have to write the person's address or my return address on the envelope / box since the customs for contains both.

For UPS / Fedex you just select the country, what it is and value and it's included on the shipping label.

I've shipped to Canada and done the customs forms.
At the time ( several years ago) there was no item number to list aquarium pumps on the custom forms.
I don't remember exactly what we listed the 6 Poseidon pumps as, but I think it had something to do with farm equipment.