EBAY US, shipping cost and method

[LENS]

Hi guys, would like to hear from you the experience you bought things from ebay.

I had bought things before, but mostly ship to my US friend address and he brought it back to me. however, i find it is hassle for him.

anyway, i think usually the shipping cost to a US address is around US$10

How much usually the shipping cost to singapore address? it seems could be like US$25 to almost US$50, why there is such a difference?

and i read about using vpost.com.sg, it seems able to let you consolidated items and provide you a US shipping address so that you are able to bid items that ship to US only.

Would like to hear from your experience..thanks.

 

[hongsien]

Fo ebay sellers I now ALWAYS ask beforehand how much shipping costs are, sometimes they kill you on the shipping! If you didn't ask before ending the auction, they can quote you anything and you MUST pay that amount!

I always tell them to use www.usps.com

US sellers usually like to use the insured ways of sending, so thats why sometimes it is higher than what it seems......or they use UPS (some sellers live far away from the post office)

HS

 

[brian]

Fo ebay sellers I now ALWAYS ask beforehand how much shipping costs are, sometimes they kill you on the shipping! If you didn't ask before ending the auction, they can quote you anything and you MUST pay that amount!

I always tell them to use www.usps.com

US sellers usually like to use the insured ways of sending, so thats why sometimes it is higher than what it seems......or they use UPS (some sellers live far away from the post office)

HS

No experience with vpost, but I agree with hongsien on using USPS. Try to avoid UPS/FEDEX if you can, and that's becuase they declare every single item that comes into the country, so if its GST taxable, you're guaranteed to get it. With USPS, since it goes thru the normal postal system (can still get them to have it trackable and insured) its only inspected at random, so there's a high chance that you may get thru without paying GST.

 

[LENS]

Fo ebay sellers I now ALWAYS ask beforehand how much shipping costs are, sometimes they kill you on the shipping! If you didn't ask before ending the auction, they can quote you anything and you MUST pay that amount!

I always tell them to use www.usps.com

US sellers usually like to use the insured ways of sending, so thats why sometimes it is higher than what it seems......or they use UPS (some sellers live far away from the post office)

HS

ha i just won an item, now i am sending email to the seller asking how much difference to ship to my friend US address and my singapore address..
Hope i won't get a huge amount.

As what i have seem, usually in ebay US$10 is stated for US address.. as for those items that ship worldwide, if i use their shipping calculator it can be like US$25.

guess i just tell them to ship USPS.. actually for US$25 is still ok, but like almost US$50 is a bit too expensive..

so vpost isn't able to get it shipped cheaper?

 

[FilterFunk]

given my limited experience in ebay..
if the seller is a Huge retailer with like 200k ratings.. some of them do use UPS/Fedex.. and it could get cheaper than USPS (i was once quoted for $50 for another item at 500g), i got my flash for US$39.95 shipping..
but again as mentioned by a bro, its almost certain that you get taxed if the amount exceeds $X which varies with different countries.. SG, IIRC is $300. for the record i am based in Australia at the moment..

 

[LENS]

hi guys, for what i understand, shipping through vpost means you let the seller ship to vpost US address and vpost will ship back to singapore? from seller to vpost US address is confirmed by seller, but issit much cheaper for vpost charge when it is shipping back to sg? or almost same if asking the seller to ship oversea directly?

 

[goyyy]

hi, my fren used vpost before... if anyone of u going to use vpost, i suggest that u get the weight, measurement of the package n then go to vpost website to calculate the charges.... https://www.vpost.com.sg/vpostusa05/calculate.htm

Rates: https://www.vpost.com.sg/vpostusa05/intro2.html
vpost charges a base charge, follow by additional charges based on actual weight or vol weight. need to be careful with the vol weight. my fren brought a toy from US. the toy was small and light but PACK in a BIGGER box... therefore the charges are based on vol weight which turn out to be very high...

 

[LENS]

So most guys bid from ebay US, ship directly to singapore?

 

[Hacker]

I've heard of horror stories where mistakes were made on the item value, very high and the taxes were a killer of course! Correspond with the seller upfront on everything to be absolutely clear.

Be careful of lenses where sometimes, they only inform you of where to collect your parcel some days later and it sits in some humid place for some time, weekends and holidays inclusive!

 

[LENS]

Actually i am a bit relunctant to bid too expensive things through internet, just feel too risky. I usually bid older manual camera or some compact manual, and lens.

Some sellers are refused to ship oversea, and if u are registered users in oversea, you can't even bid.
for a normal size SLR, local US shipping cost is usually US$10, but shipping to singapore can be US$30-50..
but if a small compact or lens, the shipping cost to singapore can be US$15-20..

I only got it shipped to Singapore before, after comparison, i always asked my friends to bring it back for me, but just feel a bit inconvenient if you want to bid many things ha.


Anyway, do we have to pay any tax for things we have bidded?

 

[LENS]

has anyone just send the credit card info to the seller for transaction? this seller got a payment website that doesn't work and end up he requested the credit card info, the seller seems operate as a camera exchange shop.. just feel it is not safe to expose credit card info, but no other choice..

 

[nuts]

Use paypal for payment.

for shipping, vpost may be cheaper for consolidation of items, or buying multiple items. for single item, may not be cheaper
cos it charges a base charge per shipment (something like S$13) plus certain percentages for every item; and if your items exceed S$300 or S$400 (can't rem), gotta pay GST

has anyone just send the credit card info to the seller for transaction? this seller got a payment website that doesn't work and end up he requested the credit card info, the seller seems operate as a camera exchange shop.. just feel it is not safe to expose credit card info, but no other choice..

 

[theRBK]

try not to give your credit card number... the saler may be honest but who knows how the data is kept and whether it is safe from hackers... at least with commercial credit payment handlers, they are responsible if theft occurs...

why not get them to ship to your friend, and then get your friend to ship it back to you via USPS instead of bringing it back personally... might be cheaper than vPost... I only use vPost if the seller does not ship directly to Singapore...

 

[afbug]

hi guys, for what i understand, shipping through vpost means you let the seller ship to vpost US address and vpost will ship back to singapore? from seller to vpost US address is confirmed by seller, but issit much cheaper for vpost charge when it is shipping back to sg? or almost same if asking the seller to ship oversea directly?

These days, vpost is not necessary cheaper. They used to be slightly cheaper generally until they increase their price. eg, if buying CDs from Amazon, its cheaper to ship it directly to SG. Amazon dun ship electronics to SG, so in this case, vpost is useful as it gives you a local US address.

 

[LENS]

try not to give your credit card number... the saler may be honest but who knows how the data is kept and whether it is safe from hackers... at least with commercial credit payment handlers, they are responsible if theft occurs...

why not get them to ship to your friend, and then get your friend to ship it back to you via USPS instead of bringing it back personally... might be cheaper than vPost... I only use vPost if the seller does not ship directly to Singapore...

so for same items, will vpost charge more expensive than using USPS? i thought it will be cheaper since the service is not up to mark of those express..

 

[Linda-Lee]

Hey..

I have bought some stuff over ebay once and have my shipping made through Vpost.

Here is the info of my transaction, perhaps it could give you a better idea to come to a decision to use Vpost instead, or not:

Item:
Hallmark Ornaments (Chargeable Weight: 3.2kg) (Weight: 3.2kg)

Value:
(USD) 78.00

vPOSTUSA Total Shipping Charges:
(SGD) 41.76

Of course, do take in the consideration of the shipping amount from your seller, the cost for having him to have the pacel sent to Vpost US headquater.

I would think that Vpost is troublesome such that you have to email them the invoice of your item and stuff, in addition, the long wait for your item to arrive. However, I went through with it as after doing my calculations, I realised I got to save a small amount of money with their service.

Hope it helps

 

[theRBK]

depending on size and weight, if it fits into a flatrate box, it might be cheaper... check with your friend in the States...

 

[LENS]

hi guys, up this old thread.

this time, i wonder what shipping service you use to ship items to US? Just go to post office to buy a box and and ship it? is there a standard price for shipment? thinking of selling off something in ebay. What we need to be awared of shipping item?
thanks.




By the way, just to share my experience of buying items from ebay.. i had used vpost, but so far there are 2 items are still untraced..after 1 month...but 2 items had received. vpost allows you to consolidate similar items to save a cost that charge for every shipment, what you need to do is, pay only when you have received bills in a span of 2 weeks. But however, their schedule is hardly regular and punctual. Items usually late or untraced, so end up i waited 2 weeks but fail to consolidate them. You will be charged for extra $ if over 2 weeks.

 

[hongsien]

hi guys, up this old thread.

this time, i wonder what shipping service you use to ship items to US? Just go to post office to buy a box and and ship it? is there a standard price for shipment? thinking of selling off something in ebay. What we need to be awared of shipping item?
thanks.




By the way, just to share my experience of buying items from ebay.. i had used vpost, but so far there are 2 items are still untraced..after 1 month...but 2 items had received. vpost allows you to consolidate similar items to save a cost that charge for every shipment, what you need to do is, pay only when you have received bills in a span of 2 weeks. But however, their schedule is hardly regular and punctual. Items usually late or untraced, so end up i waited 2 weeks but fail to consolidate them. You will be charged for extra $ if over 2 weeks.

Singpost has a website with shipping charges to overseas, and buy a weighing machine get those for the kitchen use, can weigh up to 5KG, no need to get those expensive ones........

Untraced items lost at vPost? How is that possible? I have never used them but if things can get lost, how? Typically, mail from the US to here will take at least 2 weeks, sometimes 3 weeks to arrive, so vPost is not that much longer I see....

HS

 

[LENS]

Ok then will check out singpost and go post office personally, but i wonder any certain standard shipping cost? because it seems in ebay most seller put a standard shipping cost.

For the untraced items in vpost, first case is due to the sudden termination of vpost alternate shipping address, i think vpost terminate a shipping address without such as 1-month notice period, and I updated it in my ebay shipping address, but it happened that the seller got the older address, and even i updated here and paid throught with that address, and the seller didn't get noticed. So the item is shipped to the terminated address. I have emailed vpost what they will do for items that had shipped to that address, but no answer. and i have emailed the seller to acknowledge me if it is returned to him. 2nd case is unknown..the seller claimed he had shipped it out, but vpost still haven't updated me it is been received, i have emailed the seller also, and he said we can just wait and see..

but i have no problem to receive items from ebays US to singapore, and even to my friend's address in US. So likely that vpost wasn't able to locate them?

if u have made payment to vpost, the item will reach singapore in around 5 days.