Large Book shipment to Hong Kong

[plight]

I’m posting for a friend who had an offer on a set of Shakespearean Books.
He is on vacation and doesn’t have access to a laptop to research this so well.
The total weight of the books are 90 pounds They are 39 Leather bound books.

Any suggestions for shipping internationally to Hong Kong?
When i put the info into ship as one lot got only a UPS estimate of over $1000.

Are they ways to ship that might be more economical?
Here is the link to the page:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Complete-Works-of-William-Shakespeare-in-39-Volume-Set-Easton-Press-Leather/202661402560?hash=item2f2f8f97c0:g:gz0AAOSwT9lctRKF

thanks for the help!

• This topic was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by plight.

[Ryanne]

just a quick note, for domestic shipments, they should have Media Mail as the first option, that would a lot cheaper than fedex ground

[Timo]

There used to be something years ago called something like ‘bag mail’. If USPS still has it, this was for overseas books and such.

Airmail M-Bags may be the name these days.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by Timo.

[Clarity]

Check out M-Bags like Timo suggested. I used to use them to ship books to Europe years ago. They are quite a bit cheaper. The post office will provide you with a large, sturdy bag and a tag. I used to box the books and then put them in the M-Bag. If your friend goes the M-bag route, be sure to label the boxed books with their address and the buyers address in case the boxes get separated from the M-bag.

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-M-bag-Service

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

One other quick note. It is procedural. Upon looking at your fiends listing, I see that he has not opted in for the Global Shipping Program and also has his preferences set for “Domestic Shipping Only”. The listing says the books are in Boston and that he only ships to the United States.

If he would opt into the GSP then it would be much cheaper for him to just ship everything to Erlanger, KY USA and then Pitney Bowes [Ebay’s International Contract Shipper], would handle the whole transaction.

accepting an International offer is going to mean the seller will have to handle all of the details that involve the custom forms, VAT value added taxes, import fees and dealing with any specific laws pertaining to the item being imported, books in this case. Not that is any big problem but still should be considered in advance.

When I looked at the listing, went to the shipping tab, it did not even allow me to select a country other than the United states so what is the buyer thinking that the shipping is going to cost him and how did he even see the listing in the first place?

Another issue will be both Buyer and Seller protections. With the GSP both would have some protections under that program.

And lastly, consider how you have your listing or store set up. Better insure this item and for $1,000 it will be a cost. Who will pay for return shipping if the buyer decides not to keep the books and what damage will be done to the books if they have to make a round trip to and from Hong Kong and they are not re-packed very well.

So, a lot to think about. Considering the listing states he only sells domestically in the USA I wonder how the item was seen in an International listing. I don’t think Hong Kong is considered “domestic”.

Good luck figuring it out.

mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[Antique Frog]

You might want to lay off shipping anything to Hong Kong for a couple of weeks, till the situation re the protests gets resolved.

[plight]

Thanks for all the responses. He also said that for some reason the global shipping would not go through on the listing because he does list most things that way. Maybe the seller went on to the USA site? He appreciates the information….

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by plight.

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