February 1, 2008

Shipping 'Over There'

I just got an inquiry concerning shipping to another country and they were kind of disappointed to find out how much and how long it will take. Here are just some of my own personal Rules of Thumb to keep in mind when shipping overseas.

* Regular shipping time varies upon countries and customs may hold up boxes for an undertimed length of time, so if you need materials for a specific date, plan well in advance!


* Customs also may charge for the books to get released. If you can, provide your own account information (FEDEX, DHL number) when ordering. Sometimes it helps if the carrier is for the person or company in the country.


* Some countries may have the book there at a distributor or warehouse. If you can and you want to save time and money, the country you are shipping to may have access to the book. Chances are unlikely, but sometimes a popular book can be easy to get in other countries.

* There is no thing called 'Not Enough Information' so, when placing an order for overseas include everything you can about the receiver of the book(s). Email, phone, fax, cell number, even another person for delivery can be helpful. (Mom's maiden name is ok to leave out, but you never know...)


Hope this helps for some of you that order overseas. If you have any questions about pricing, availability of a certain title(s) just give us a call and we'll be glad to assist you!


In the meantime, here are the top selling titles we sent out overseas this past January:

Hostage at the Table - Mexico

Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls - Mexico

Customer Centered Selling - Malaysia

The CEO Within - Sweden

The Dip - Canada

Happy February Everyone!

Posted by Roy at February 1, 2008 11:38 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Roy,

These are great tips.

What we've always found is that major industrialized nations that are easy and inexpensive to call tend to be the ones with the most reliable shipping mechanisms.

Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia for example.

Then there are 3rd World nations infamous for online fraud that no one in their right minds wants to ship to.

And of course in between, that's where it can get tricky.

But you're absolutely right to remind people about unexpected customs tariffs and more local availability from local distributors.

Thanks for sharing these,

Joshua Feinberg

Posted by: Computer Consultants Kit at February 5, 2008 11:14 AM

Thanks Joshua! Another tip just came to me today too, someone wanted to ship to Bangladesh and told me that if we mark the packages as 'Gifts' they would go through without a hitch in their customs.

Every country is different, it also pays to contact a customs agent within that country if you can.

Posted by: Roy Normington at February 5, 2008 3:14 PM
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