# Questions: International shipping from the U.S. - Domestic shipping charges & Paypal fees



## Ms. Z (Mar 1, 2015)

*Questions: International shipping from the U.S. - Domestic shipping charges & Paypal fees*

FYI: I don't know if I am posting this in the correct forum.  Questions for those who sell on this site.  Hi everyone! I noticed that a few seller's charge a very low shipping fee and I am wondering how you manage to ship at such a low fees and still make money from the sale after paying the PayPal fee, packing materials (if necessary) and shipping fees.  For example some of you may sell a product for $5 and charge $3.00 shipping. When I ship a $4 bandana & charge only $2 shipping, the actual  shipping with tracking is more than $3, I paid New York City Taxes when I purchased the item, I have to purchase packing materials/bags and then PayPal charges for the transaction, at the end I usually only earn about $1 for that sale.     My other question is regarding international shipping from the U.S. ●is there a way to fill out the form so that I do not have to pay extra fees to ship it (besides the actual USPS shipping charge)? ●is there something I should write on the form so that the buyer does not incur any additional charges when the package arrives? ●have you had any problems with lost or damaged packages when shipping International?  I very much appreciate your assistance.


----------



## gildedangel (Mar 2, 2015)

To answer your questions,

  1. Some people are not looking to really make money off of a sale, but to just get the items out of their house in order to destash or declutter their collection and home. This is often when you see lower prices for shipping than the actual shipping cost, it's to entice buyers so they are willing to buy more items.

  2/3. The only way to write something on a customs form to get out of paying fees on either your end or the buyer's end is to lie on the customs form, which is not recommended as your package could be rejected and get sent back to you. It highly depends on what you are selling, but for a small makeup sale it's really unlikely that you or the buyer will incur fees. If it's a duty fee that the buyer has to pay, that's something their country imposes and there is nothing that you can write on the form to get them out of it outside of lying. Also, be sure to check that what you are shipping can be shipped to that country. For example, nail polish has to be shipped ground, so you can't sell it outside of the US.

  4. When I have shipped things and received things internationally I have never had a problem, but that doesn't mean problems don't happen. If you are going to ship internationally, be ready to take the financial hit if that package is lost or damaged as PayPal will side with the buyer. You can have the package insured, but that can be expensive and it's a long process to get your money.


----------



## Ms. Z (Mar 3, 2015)

Thank you, your response is extremely helpful.  I have made the mistake a few times, only getting $1-2 for an item, the packaging is worth more than $1-2 so from now on I'm just going to BACK2MAC them.   I am not willing to take the financial loss so I decided I will not be shipping anything internationally.


----------



## Andrew25 (Jan 25, 2016)

These shipping rates are according to the companies they send the shipment through. Depending on how much that specific company charges they write the shipping cost. Some parcel services are expensive because of their type of services when others moderately charges. So its not about the seller but the service the seller use for the shipping domestically or internationally.


----------

