From

Location

Message

Date Posted

South Bloomfield, Ohio

As the season for sending and receiving this year's seeds to and from growers and various clubs gains momentum, I would very much like to mitigate the delays and pitfalls associated with delivery to the addressees, especially those in European countries. Domestic deliveries have been a non-issue.

I had an auction winner from Germany not receive his seeds at all last year and this year I am having difficulty getting a package to a grower in Spain. When I am sending valuable seeds, I want to be assured they will get there. UPS tracking shows them at the distribution point in the destination countries.

Are there any country specific suggestions as to how to better ensure their delivery? I usually send a 6 x 9 bubble envelope inside a full-sized manila envelope with return postage.

10/24/2021 2:45:07 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Oh, and I declare the contents as "merchandise" on the customs form.

10/24/2021 2:47:10 PM

valtierra/spain

I think large envelopes are a problem. Customs are becoming more demanding. the best thing is a very small envelope, that they consider it letter, the letters do not look at them normally it is customs.
Another option is by express transport, I have sent to South Africa and they arrive in 5 days, but the envelope costs about $ 40.
In my opinion, the smaller the letter the better, last year I used 5x4 inch letters and
they all arrived safely.

10/24/2021 4:14:59 PM

valtierra/spain

the seeds are very small, they do not need large envelopes.

10/24/2021 4:17:19 PM

Grittyville, WA

But a small thin envelope marked merchandise might seem suspicious lol. I was surprised to get packages sent to the UK and Canada, honestly marked as garden seed. A plastic DVD case might hold a seed ok?

10/24/2021 6:06:15 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

The UK and Canada have never been a problem. I send the bubbles as a return for the seeds being sent, so an envelope will not be large enough. Also, envelopes tend to go through some very rough machinery during the sorting process and I've had some very pricey seeds utterly destroyed.

As much as I hate to risk losing very valuable seeds, I hate even more that an auction winner never receives them. It may eventually come down to figuring out alternative ways to get them overseas rather than through the mail. Forty bucks for an express shipping envelope plus 15 bucks overseas shipping eats an entire $25.00 auction lot up, and then some.

10/25/2021 10:48:49 AM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

The thing about it being an actual letter, is you don’t have a customs form and don’t have to declare it as anything. I’m talking a letter and not a bubble pack. I can embed my seeds in a piece of corrugated cardboard and mail it like a letter. It costs less than $3 to Europe instead of $14. I don’t do that with auction seeds, but maybe the time has come? If bubble packs aren’t making it… I’ve never had a problem with the method I described.

10/26/2021 5:53:36 PM

if bubble is inside a large manila type envelope its cheaper to send over seas both ways. than mailing the bubble it
self

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=268588

10/26/2021 10:31:06 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

I remember those days, Don. That particular one was in 2016. I'm not sure what caused the increase we have today. It was $15.50 to Spain.

Perhaps the small bubble alone without the manila mailer is the answer and let the return bubble come from the sender. The central issue right now is getting it out of customs and on to the final destination and keeping them from being tied up in customs in the first place.

10/27/2021 10:04:45 AM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Here's an idea for RECEIVING seeds from overseas growers:

Send money to their PayPal account in their own currency to cover what they consider to be reasonable cost to mail to the U.S. in lieu of mailing a return bubble provided, of course, they have a PayPal account.

10/28/2021 1:00:10 PM