Question
I've just had my first buyer from Spain for an item under $10.00.
I have shipped to Germany, England, Australia, Canada, the Middle East and a couple places I can't remember right now. but not Spain yet.
My packages seem to get to England in reasonable time, Australia takes a couple months, Canada a few weeks.
What can I expect when shipping to Spain? Does it take forever? Are there any customs hold ups?
And about the packaging. This is something I normally put in a manilla envelope for shipment in the US. Not breakable. But is it likely to get torn up if I don't put it in some kind of box? This would be sort of hard to do because it's a tube shape about 18" long and in a plastic package.
I usually take an envleope and cut it in half length wise and tape the long edge really well. It does well for shipping in the US. But how about a really long trip?
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Answer
I've never had any problems shipping to Spain - but I am shipping from Australia, and use airmail. Italy is the only European country that I seem to hit inexplicable delays with (6 and 8 week delays, but ultimately arriving safely), although a friend has had a couple of very slow packages to France recently. I haven't been getting customs delays that I know of, but most of my parcels are printed matter and are less likely to attract customs interest.
Pack securely, but in my estimation, domestic parcels are just as likely to get damaged as international packages. I think it is how they are handled as much as the distance they are travelling. It is a long time since I have had anything damaged (touch wood), and I think most were damaged in the USA - but that was at a time when almost everything I was selling was going to North America.
Good luck, Kevin
Answer
Thanks Kevin. I think I'll package as usual and just tape the heck out of it.
It's not breakable. The package would have to be really torn up to damage it. They always seem to make it in good time and good condition here in the States. And, come to think of it, I have shipped the same item to England similarly packaged.
Answer
Originally Posted by piquezn
I've just had my first buyer from Spain for an item under $10.00.
What can I expect when shipping to Spain? Does it take forever? Are there any customs hold ups?
And about the packaging.
No special requirements for Spain. Airmail to Spain is fast and internal delivery times are fast. No customs delays unless the item is flagged or prohibited by Spanish Postal regs (you did check?). As with all international packages make sure you have a legible return address, and address the package to confirm to international Postal regs and you should have no problems.
p.s. zero PayPal Seller Protection for shipments to Spain, but you already knew that.