new sam hobers

[Sator]

Originally Posted by California Dreamer

In over 5 years eBay buying, I have had just one package go missing. This was sent to Australia from the USA. Circumstances were unusual in that it arrived as we were moving house, and got lost in the shuffle. It supposedly got sent back to the seller and I never heard of it or my money ever again.

Tracking might have helped here, but insurance was the real issue.



Exactly. You can track a lost consignment all you like and it won't help one iota. Insurance is the key - as long as you have this as your backstop you can sleep easy.

 

[Kent Wang]

I think Soph would like these satins. His ties are usually quite conservative.

 

[edmorel]

You can't insure Global Priority Mail, it can be tracked though (although everyone, including the post office, tells you that it can't). Not to be a Richard but at the end of the day you should simply look at the total cost of the item, shipping included, and decide if it's worth it to you. If the tie is $85 and the shipping is $30, I simply ask myself if it is worth $115, not why is the shipping so expensive. I'm sure he could, as many do, price shipping into the product but does it really make a difference if he changes his prices to $110 for the tie and $5 for the shipping?

Yes, I know what you will say, "but the US customers get the ties for $91 all inclusive", well then you simply have to come to the realization that, as Americans, we are entitled to get the best of everything at the best prices because we are better than the rest of the world. American exceptionalism and all that.

 

[Alias]

Well hey our dollar sucks so we should get some slack.

 

[knittieguy]

Originally Posted by Will

They are accepting more orders than they have the capacity to sew, so their backlog is increasing. It's gone from three weeks late last year to four, and now to six.

The alternative is that they reject your orders to sew mine, or the reverse, and we wouldn't want that.

(The above was apparently written while David was writing his post above. I admit that he probably knows more about his own backlog than I do.)

I thought maybe they were just waiting for my credit to improve.

 

[The Grapist]

You can't really fault David for wanted to protect both himself and his customers. I ship most of my international sales via Global Priority (I give people the option of Priority and Express, and surprise, surprise, 95% of the time they go with the cheapest method). It's nice when you can charge someone only $10 to $15 to ship something out to them, and the delivery times are very fast most of the time. However, I have had instances when the package I shipped got lost in the mail. And despite the fact that I give people warning that Priority is not insured, and it leaves them at risk, once the package is lost, in the eyes of PayPal, Google Checkout, and the customer, it is my fault and my responsibility. I lost $250 from one transaction this way. It is not something that I'd like to happen again, and by insisting on using Express only, David never has to worry about that happening.

 

[Sator]

I seem to recall numerous instances in which I have paid for shipping by USPS Global Priority and have been offered the option of purchasing additional insurance. Lance from VCH for example offers this and is incorportated into his checkout procedure. It still works out cheaper than Global Express.

 

[The Grapist]

It is not offered according to USPS. If it was available with Priority, would be a very happy man.

 

[Sam Hober]

Originally Posted by Sator

I seem to recall numerous instances in which I have paid for shipping by USPS Global Priority and have been offered the option of purchasing additional insurance. Lance from VCH for example offers this and is incorportated into his checkout procedure. It still works out cheaper than Global Express.
Hi Sator & California Dreamer, Thank you for taking the time to work on ideas for shipping more cost effectively to Australia. I fully realize that your posts are intended to help the Sam Hober Company. And I certainly agree that finding a way to safely and reliably ship just one pocket square or tie to Australia would be fantastic. Hopefully one day we will find a good method. For now my friends here is what the US post office offers: Lets start with One tie mailed from Denver Colorado to Sydney Australia which with our two piece gift box, packaging and thank you card is roughly One pound and three ounces. Please note that only with Express mail is there a free box of the correct size. Express mail which includes a box, tracking and insurance and speed =$27.45 Global priority mail $13.75 plus a nice shipping box at retail = $16.00 (roughly) Sadly insurance, tracking and delivery confirmation are not available for global priority mail. To be clear I have asked at several local post offices and called the post office help number about five times. The post office sometimes will give you different answers depending on who you talk to, but in this case everyone had the same story.... Perhaps the website that you visited made a typo? So it seems that insurance and tracking for global priority mail is another sartorial myth. (If this is not so I will be happy to rethink our overseas shipping policy, and I will be very grateful to you.) Surface packages: Too slow, and not that cheap, around $24 Surface letters again too slow and no insurance Airmail letter More expensive than Express when you add in a box and registered mail. Airmail parcel again no real savings and slower. As the Grapist notes packages do get lost from time to time and we will need to take the loss and replace the ties. No one likes to absorb a loss but as Will notes in a whimsical way (note for the record I like Will very much and appreciate his humor. He also comes up with wonderful ideas on a regular basis) we are doing very well and have an increasing backlog - so if packages get lost it puts pressure on us to make the ties again - and super quickly. We don't mind hard work but we don't always have the exact same silk to work with and then we would have an unhappy client. Which is simply not acceptable. Even an issue like shipping rates to Australia is something that we will spend hours researching and trying to resolve. Just maybe one day I could self-insure with global priority mail and add a surcharge of say $4 and up. Just a thought... Ending this post on a positive note Australians have a great policy on duty. Better than the USA and far better than Canada. I wish all countries were so internationally minded - good job!