Has anyone successfully ship to Russia? Care to share your experience?
I have a potential Russian bidder who interested to bid on a few of cosmetic items. I'm planning to use Registered Mail. Is it secure enough? How's the Customs regulations over there?
Hi, Safest way to ship your item to russia is either e-parcel or poslaju (ems) coz both trackable and reliable. Russian customs quite slow in processing and handling. Except poslaju, the item will reach your buyer around 3 - 4 weeks but sometimes a bit longer. To expedite it, better enclosed 2 copies of ebay invoices with the package (buyer must pay some taxes, depending on value). All the best and good luck!
Hi, I just have posted an item to Russian ebayer last month. The item which is a book were posted via Malaysia Registerd mail.The book were safely reach to the ebayer within a week.So its up to you to use which postage option.
To play it safe it is always ask them to use the reputable courrier service like DHL or FedEx, as all item are traceable. The other party might urged you to go for the lowest possible mode of delivery but the risk are totally on your side. Look at the jeeky jeek post dated 01-08-09, you would know the consequential.
I do not recommend to ship by Fedex or DHL due to the customs regulation. Your package might get returned and you get hit by huge bill. It happened to us couple of times. We shipped using our Fedex discount. Got package returned and bill was three times higher.
Hi there, E-parcel is not available for Russia. Tracking will stop at Hong Kong transit point and viola...Item goes missing, Paypal dispute.. I don't know how it looks from your side (is it a e-parcel or not), but all items I've received from HK (RB*********HK) were trackable with Russian Post. But the wait time is awful, I'm still waiting for a package sent from HK at Feb, 5th. Some Russian buyers end up with boycotting Russian Post service that can't handle the load: http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1334086.
For Russia, I suggest using DHL Global Mail service, at least the tracking no will appear on tracking WEB and to avoid shipment being dispute by buyer. Of course this is AIR Mail service and can not compare transit time and handling issue. All shipment may take up 20 - 30 working days for delivery sometime even faster delivery. If shipment indication depart via HK post to Russian, it recomemded advice buyer contact their post office after shipment depart 1 week later to clarify shipment status.
The best is still register mail because it is cheap. But Pos Malaysia do not know anything once the parcel leave final transit point. Let buyer know the consequences of their slow custom handling and agree to do their part to trace the parcel from their site. Russian postal required proof of receipt, always get ready with the photo of the back of stamped registered slip. They don't entertain tracking numbers.
EMS the best option to Russia. I live here and a lots of time bid on ebay and had my parcels delivered in 15 days with no problem at all ! UPS its also a great option but more expensive. DHL Its not currently accepting parcels to Russia due to Custons delays in release the parcels. It will probably back shortly as Russia Custons has added more people to work ...I am currently waiting for 18 parcels to arrive. Ebay itens posted on 12/06 EMS Tracking- Arrived in Russia / Custons Released on 17/06 . Means... 5 days fro America to Russia/ Released from Custons and I will probably get it in the next 5 days in my City ( Kursk ) Total 10 days. I am not sure about Custons charge. The only thing I am sure of : If the Custons find out it an commercial iten it will be taxed 30% of the original Value. If a gift or personal use itens up 2kg no Tax. 10,000 Rubles its the max ammount an iten can be for personal use with no more than 2kg to be free from Taxe ( 1 American Dollar = 27 Rubles ) Hope it help a bit....
Now Russian custom limit is up - 1000 EUR per month for one receiver. The reasonable price and safe way to ship to Russia is: USPS PRIORITY MAIL INTERNATIONAL - but only Medium and Large Boxes have the tracking numbers that you can trace after Russian board on EMS site - http://www.emspost.ru/(you have to place a number in the box Отслеживание отправления EMS) I have successfully shipped to Russia by USPS FIRST-CLASS MAIL INTERNATIONAL too. For instance, 8.3oz costed me $11.19 and were delivered within 25 days from Idaho to Krasnoyarsk (Siberia, Russia). But this way is appropriate for the cheapest items only. In case you ship the electronics I strongly recommend to put the IMEI in a custom form.
Make sure you send the package registered mail. I mailed a package to Russia and was forced by ebay to refund the amount when the buyer said he did not receive the package. I mailed the package Priority mail. There is no tracking for priority mail once it leaves the US. Ebay will support the buyer, not the seller in the event the buyer says he did not receive the package. Marsha
I use register mail to ship to Russia almost every month.No pro problem. But if expensive stuff,I think you should covered a insurance or Pos laju.These days Malaysia Post provides quite fast shipping as I always received comments about fast shipping from my buyers,especially buyers from UK.
There are many intermediary companies that ship goods bought from US online stores, including eBay, to Russia and other countries of the former USSR. For example, take a look at Global Orders USA - http://www.globalorders-usa.com. They ship to Russia, European countries, and Israel. Instead of having to jump over various international shipping hurdles, just partner with such a company, and let them do the shipping while you can concentrate on selling.
gojetjet, the same thing happened to me. I used USPS Priority International and had a tracking number that stopped tracking at the last US location where it was scanned.
What's frustrating is it hasn't even been 3 weeks and considering how slow Russian customs is, that's not enough time. What's worse is, this item cost me $195 to acquire and I was selling it at a break-even price due to missing tags. In the end, with the cost of shipping to Russia, I lost over $300 after the buyer (who also has 0 feedback) was refunded.
With my husband and I both from the social gaming/tech industry which has been hemorrhaging employees, downsizing, and so many shutting down their operations, we both lost our jobs this year - 2 months before learning we have a baby on the way.. So this loss hit us pretty hard. And while the first eBay customer rep I spoke to was sympathetic, the person at "accounts management" basically told me not to ship overseas anymore if I wasn't willing to have this happen again.
I'm relatively new at selling, but that day I realized that "eBay Seller Protection" was a joke.
eBay "protection" is, indeed a joke. I shipped a package by USPS Registered Mail. I had been naive about the terrible custom delays in Russia. It has been 45 days and it had not arrived. When the buyer notified me, I immediately called the USPS and they put in an inquiry to Russia. They said that the Russian postal service has 60 days to reply. But, eBay requires the buyer to put in a claim at 45 days, which he did. I explained the situation, but eBay still issued a full refund to the seller from my Paypal account. They claim that my tracking number is not "traceable". This is completely untrue. The USPS is tracking it now! (As others noted, the USPS website doesn't seem to give info beyond when it is sorted prior to leaving the US.) If it finally arrives then eBay has basically stolen it from me. If I'm lucky, the buyer will be honest and will pay me again when it arrives. But, he will have to do so out of the goodness of his heart. I had a perfect feedback record and eBay screwed me over. I will probably not sell on eBay again and will certainly not ship to Russia again. Registered mail comes with some insurance (not enough to cover the item). But, if it is delivered, I cannot file an insurance claim. Totally screwed by eBay's misleading "protection" policy. And, it is clear from a lot of online info that eBay is well aware that shipping to Russia is a problem yet still handles delivery delays by their rigid 45 day policy.
Updated. I not ship to Russia recently because some of my customers claim they not receive the item. I was not able to communicate with Russia Post because their call center is support by their language. Even the item was delivered it could take up to a month a more to do that.This could effect you ebay seller standing.
Be careful when shipping to Russia now. I'm from Russia and now we have delays. Our russian post can't deal with our customs, so while they are dealing we have a lot of parcels in airport, waiting while both sides begin to work normally. So, middle delivery time is 1.5-2 month by regular post (USPS First Class Mail / USPS Priority Flat rate will use regular russian post at russia). Tracking numbers are working, but with delay of 2-3 days. Track numbes LJ*********US и LC*********US will stop tracking at USA. EMS and other expedited shipping (UPS for example) works better.
I just have received a big size parcel from US by USPS Express Mail International (EMS) in 20 days. Concider it is ok for my region, it's quite far from the center of Russia... But many parcels from China are still "Hangs" in the status of "Export".. One is already more than a month. Probably it is because of the problems in moscow Airports, the customes and the post both are not able to process the current of the parcels and tones of it stays in airports. I hope they will improve the situation soon as possible, because it have become a state scandal... But what can we do in such situation (like a buyers)? I understand that, in such case, it's not a seller's guilt. From other side, if I have payed for an expencive item then I afraid to louse money... May be I'll usk seller fo refund and then I'll retern money if parcel still will come.. Otherwise after 45 days it will be no way to get money back in case of a really swindler seller. But I have never did that before. It was no case that parcel did not come to me from Ebay. Once I've got a small packet with flash card after 3 month, but it still came here. Usially i takes from 3 weeks to 45 days (for the parcels from US). USPS Tracking numbers starting from the "L" letter are usually inpossible to track after enering Russia, because they change the number while registering the parcel. Tracks starting from the "R" button can be tracked in Russia. And track with the letter "E" in start, will be tracked for sure.
Thanks for the information, mrshanti. My package had a number that started with R, so that is good! (No word on it from the USPS inquiry to Russia yet.) I almost bought the eBay shipping label, that would have had a number starting with L but, luckily, I ended up going to the Post Office instead and getting some advice and bought the "R" labeled shipping. The "L" label would have been sold to me by eBay Shipping with no apparent warning that it could not be tracked, though one of their employees later told me that in a phone call.
I recently accepted buyers from Russia. First one never paid so that ended. 2nd one I shipped, $70 total bill for item and shipping. I shipped March 13, 2013. She has not rec'd so she has put a complaint which has debited my paypal the $70. I will never ship to Russia again. Yes, previous poster discussing what a crock the buyer protection plan is was correct! My customs and mailing receipts don't count.
Внимание!!! Специальные заметки для покупателей из России.Обработка почтовых отправлений на российской таможне проходит с большими задержками от 4 или более недель! Практический всегда посылки из США вскрываются при таможенном досмотре. Российская почтовая служба может без предупреждения кого-либо заменить почтовый идентификатор с международного на внутрироссийский, поэтому никто не может проследить продвижение посылки по территории России. Это документально подтверждённый факт. Пожалуйста, принимайте во внимание эти факты при покупке товаров. Будьте терпеливы, понимайте и разделяйте все возможные риски с российской стороны.Со своей стороны я гарантирую доставку товаров только до границы страны, фактически экспорт. Наши посылки принимаются к пересылке в тот же день или днём позже через USPS. Таким образом, почтовый идентификатор назначается в этот же день или днём позже. It says something like this (translated by my russian customer): Attention! Special note to buyers from Russia. Russian customs processing mailings delayed by 4 or more weeks! Customs always reveals the postage from the U.S. Russian postal service may without notice substitute mail id from the international to the domestic Russian, so no one can track the progress parcels within Russia. It is a proven fact. Please take these facts into attention when your are purchasing goods. Be patient and separate all the possible risks from your side...
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