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Verbose Collector

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Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:42 pm 
 

So scratch everything I said. :oops:

Finally got home and got a look at the package, rather than relying on second-hand reports.

Turns out it was customs, and the amount I was charged for shipping was roughly the amount it cost to ship.  (No idea where she got the $9 shipping she told me then...)

Now to see if I can wrangle any money back from Canada Customs, as they assessed a bunch of books as "Computer Software". :roll:

So, final verdict: Service from mchobby was great (items are excellent condition, etc.), and it was all a miscommunication between myself and the person who was here when the package arrived. :oops:

  

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:30 pm 
 

In the US, "going postal" means flipping out and shooting up your co-workers.  So, we tend to talk to our mail carriers real polite-like.  :D

On the other hand, we get pretty inexpensive shipping and are perfectly safe so long as we do not make any sudden hand motions in the post office line.  8O

I consider $5 to be the highest reasonable cost to ship almost any standard-sized game book or any three modules within the US..and that means two-day priority envelopes.  (I'll still buy...I just factor in the shipping cost as part of the price...sometimes the main part.)  I am totally uninterested in "handling" as a shipping cost.  So long as the items arrive intact, the actual shipping method is irrelevant to me.

As a buyer, I prefer media mail because it costs less....and because  anticipating the arrival of a module or book is half the fun of the purchase....the other 50% being 25% searching out a good deal and 25% winning or losing a sniping contest.

Possibly because I will not bid without a firm shipping quote...I have had remarkably few problems with Ebay sellers shipping me items.  The couple of problems I've had have been very minor.  People are remarkably honest and usually mean well...and one time I misread the listing and bid on an item without realizing that the seller was in Singapore!  He was very nice about it and sent me a bonus item.   :)

I will deal with Tonya/Titan from time to time...especially when I buy multiple items and figure $3+ per item including shipping.

I have never had a problem with an Acaeum member...in fact, "going the extra mile" is common with Acaeum sellers.


"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

  

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Location: Wallasey, Merseyside, UK

Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:33 pm 
 

Badmike wrote:I'll be waiting in Texas for the Mounties to ride up.....they better be packing, cause I'll be.  Nuff said.

Mike B.


nuff said? you cant even fend off a giant shrew :)

hehe

Al


Are we nearly there yet?

  

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:35 pm 
 

g026r wrote:Now to see if I can wrangle any money back from Canada Customs, as they assessed a bunch of books as "Computer Software". :roll:


Aside from the word "bacon," the two words that Americans most often read after the word "Canadian" are "blended whiskey."

Perhaps that was part of the problem at Customs? :lol:


"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

  


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Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:09 pm 
 

I love Canada. It gave us hockey.

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:29 pm 
 

Xaxaxe wrote:I love Canada. It gave us hockey.


Ya, and we want that cup back too!

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Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:39 pm 
 

killjoy32 wrote:
nuff said? you cant even fend off a giant shrew :)

hehe

Al


That shrew may have been more competent than the Canadian Customs!

This all stems early in my ebay career, when I got unlucky and had Canadian Customs literally rip packages in half to check out the contents, then inexpertly slap some tape on them, and then I got an earful when the package arrived, even though it wasn't my fault (not to mention the buyer got charged extra for the privilege of having his package beat to hell).
The solution is to mark everything used books for under $25.  I went from problems every month to not a problem in years.  The customs officers, being obviously unable to read, seem to be entirely uninterested in such parcels.... :evil:

Mike B.


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Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:41 pm 
 

FormCritic wrote:Aside from the word "bacon," the two words that Americans most often read after the word "Canadian" are "blended whiskey."

Perhaps that was part of the problem at Customs? :lol:


They probably do end up opening many packages containing liquour that's being imported without the proper permits, and it would certainly be a shame to let such a fine product as that go to waste... ;)

  


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Post Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:16 pm 
 

Mars wrote:
Hey Deimos,  You must have been over the 500g mark (1.1 pounds).  If the envelope isn't too think you can send it either by Light Packet, or oversized Letter post for $6.20.  If its a bit thicker then it has to go Small Packet $8.20 air or $6.90 surface.  It sounds to me though that you were over the 500g and move up into the 500g - 1 kg category.  If your package is close to the 500g, just buy the postage online (or through paypal) and put the weight as 500g - they have a certain amount of tolerance on the actual weight.

For a module within Canada, I can send it by oversized Lettermail with cardboard for $2.55 (upto 500g, 1.1 pounds).

PS - my mountie suit is currently at the drycleaner.

Yeah, I picked up the new pamphlet and will be consulting it constantly.  I think my local post office conveniently likes to forget "Surface Mail" is an option when quoting rates.  Sometimes, I forget to call them on it.

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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:17 am 
 

Mars wrote:
Ya, and we want that cup back too!


Who knows..sometime in the next century or so maybe even Toronto can win another Stanley cup.   :P


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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:23 am 
 

deimos3428 wrote:Was it Canada Customs?  

Sometimes they like to charge citizens for the privilege of rifling through their stuff, but it's semi-random as they don't have the manpower to check each and every package.

The fee is a base $5, and a percentage of the item's declared worth on top.  Plus there'll be GST.  This happens most often when the seller lists the items as "Games" instead of "Used Books", but it can pop up anytime they're bored, really.  You can ask the seller to mark it as a "Gift", but you're playing with mail fraud there, technically.


Australia is pretty good with books.  Usually, there is no tax for items under AUS$1000.  But the thing I have alays found interetsting is how they not only tax based on the value of the item but also the shipping charge.


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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:24 am 
 

jasonw1239 wrote:Who knows..sometime in the next century or so maybe even Toronto can win another Stanley cup.   :P


I think that's getting a bit beyond the bounds of even a wish spell. ;)

  

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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:26 am 
 

killjoy32 wrote:
nuff said? you cant even fend off a giant shrew :)

hehe

Al


Careful Al.  I think we have stirred Mike enough.  Then again. maybe we haven't stirred him enough.  :twisted:


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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:28 am 
 

Xaxaxe wrote:I love Canada. It gave us hockey.


I love Canada it gave me  :lol:


"... and may I remind you that this ain't the end. I can still kick some ass." - Tom Petty

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Verbose Collector

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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:36 am 
 

Not improvstone wrote:Was it Canada Customs?  

Sometimes they like to charge citizens for the privilege of rifling through their stuff, but it's semi-random as they don't have the manpower to check each and every package.

The fee is a base $5, and a percentage of the item's declared worth on top.  Plus there'll be GST.  This happens most often when the seller lists the items as "Games" instead of "Used Books", but it can pop up anytime they're bored, really.  You can ask the seller to mark it as a "Gift", but you're playing with mail fraud there, technically.


Looking at it now, I think the reason it ended up getting opened was that the seller's customs form didn't say "books" or "games" or the likes, but rather listed the actual module titles.  So a Canadian Border Services Agency employee gets it, sees "Dark Sun - Forest Maker" and a bunch of other things and has no idea what it is.  Opening it up, he finds a bunch of thin boxes in shrinkwrap, and immediately assumes "Computer Software - On CD-ROM". :roll:

All that said, having attempted to navigate their site to find out what exactly I need to send to challenge the fees, I now have a bit of sympathy for my Paranoia players.  Christ, bureaucracy is frustrating.


Last edited by g026r on Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
  

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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:00 am 
 

Somehow I don't think I wrote the last quote .....


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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:01 am 
 

Yeah, that was deimos.  Oops. :oops:

  

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Post Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:34 am 
 

g026r wrote:Yeah, that was deimos.  Oops. :oops:


It is OK. I tend to agree with Demios most of the time.  8)


"... and may I remind you that this ain't the end. I can still kick some ass." - Tom Petty

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