Using bubble mailers adds to the cost. I have found that out. The postal service in my town uses the thickness of the envelope as a barometer, and bubble mailers, while adding security, add to the cost.
I am still trying to find a cheap method as well. Hopefully we'll get some good advice.
I've been successfully shipping overseas using first class letter rates and keeping the total weight below 3.5 oz. to avoid customs forms. I also add an extra 21 cents for the non-machinable charge. Of course I have my own scale so I never have to go to the post office.
Another thing is a tracking number. Many European collectors insist on sending coins with a tracking number. To add a tracking number in Europe means that a sender needs to pay like an extra euro, however tracking number in USA costs 12 Dollars.
before I accept a swap with someone from Europe I make sure that they are ok with me sending unregistered mail. I provide a photo of a recipe from my post office which says "Shipping to Germany (for example)" that is a guarantee that I really sent coins. However I am not willing to pay 12 dollars for a stupid number.
Shipping to Europe is 99.99% safe and unless you are sending something really expensive I strongly recomend to avoid paying for the tracking number.
The cheapest way by far is first class letter under 3 ounces with no tracking. Put the coins securely inside a greeting card and mail them like that. This keeps you from having to do customs and keeps it safe because it looks like a normal letter in the mail.
Verweis : "Myeackle"Rob,
The cheapest way by far is first class letter under 3 ounces with no tracking. Put the coins securely inside a greeting card and mail them like that. This keeps you from having to do customs and keeps it safe because it looks like a normal letter in the mail.
Matt
That is just the way I send my coins to fluke in the UK - no problems so far. Fluke sends them back to me in bubble envelope. Hope this helps. Ed
Those who believe they can do something and those who believe they can't are both right.
- Henry Ford
I am beginning to think the best way is just to put the coins in some cardboard or a greeting card in a regular envelope, weigh it, put enough stamps on to cover the postage (including the non-machinable fee) and drop it in a blue box.
I've done half a dozen international swaps at the post office, and there is no consistency as to whether they ask for a customs form. Some clerks have made me fill out a form, others have said the form is only if it goes as a package (at $12+), some clerks have gotten all weird because they feel "metal" in the envelope and find something in the prohibited items that bans mailing coins or "copper alloys" or whatever.
You can't mail a letter overseas less than an ounce with only 47¢ postage. Overseas has their own rate.
I use cardboard from a 12 pack of soda with the coins in between. You have to keep the thickness less than 1/4 inches or it will go as a package (higher cost). A customs form doesn't change the rate. The rate changes between letter and package. On the customs form I always used "hobby supplies" and never had a problem.
A customs form will make the letter or package take longer as it will have to go through customs about an extra week.
Jesse11 the greeting card with postage covering non machinable and writing "NON MACHINEABLE" on it is your best bet I have done tons of swaps all over Europe and Asia with only one card that has gone missing and the replacement arrived fine. Plus it's the only thing that really makes most swaps worth the postage when you consider how expensive it can be.
Yeah, I try to go with small swaps which can go first class, non machinable for under $2 or very large swaps which justify the high postage costs from the US. Mailing large lots of cheap coins overseas is just not worth it any more.
I just bought a replacement charger for Abby's Leap Frog (her "computer like mummy's") and it cost $1.75 including shipping in a bubble mailer with tracking. The seller is still making a profit even after paying eBay and PayPal fees, the cost of the mailer and shipping. If it was going in the other direction it would have cost around $20 just for mailing.
We are being shat upon from a great height.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
May I send a registered letter to the US/World (outside of Europe) with a couple of coins it will cost me 19,60 euros.
May I send a box with 2kg it will cost me 24,60 euros.
In both cases the post costs are outrageously high, so swaps round the 2kg are the smartiest thing to do. Although it compensate mr the most.
Little swaps regular mail are much cheaper, but that it's a " no no" to me.
I did several swaps to USA and Canada and never used registered mail and also didn't request it. Never had any problem (besides a single mental sick person that stole from many members).
About the fact that adding a tracking number only adds 1 euro here in Europe, that is not true.. at least not in the Netherlands. Shipping up to 250 grams is about 6 euros while adding a tracking number makes it 16,50 euros.
I prefer non-registered mail.
Verweis : "PajaSkot"To add a tracking number in Europe means that a sender needs to pay like an extra euro, however tracking number in USA costs 12 Dollars.
Well, that isn't quite true. Of course it depends on in which country you live. In Sweden with registered mail with tracking number costs at least11 USD, and that is if the envelope weighs less than 50 grams.
Thanks for all the info everyone; this confirms what I suspected in terms of cost and tracking issues.
Recently, I sent a couple letters with coins in them for Littletommy's daughter (they're in Australia). I placed each coin in a tiny zip-lock bag and then taped them between sheets of cardboard. The first one weighed just under an ounce so it cost me about $1.15 to send it (I just dropped it in my local mail box). It made it to them in exactly two weeks. The second one was shipped the same way, but weighed just under two ounces, so it cost roughly a dollar more. I'm waiting to see if the same two weeks holds. Since these are gifts, I wasn't worried about tracking or customs forms, I was more interested in if they would go unmolested from New York to Australia (so far so good).
Verweis : "Steve27"Thanks for all the info everyone; this confirms what I suspected in terms of cost and tracking issues.
Recently, I sent a couple letters with coins in them for Littletommy's daughter (they're in Australia). I placed each coin in a tiny zip-lock bag and then taped them between sheets of cardboard. The first one weighed just under an ounce so it cost me about $1.15 to send it (I just dropped it in my local mail box). It made it to them in exactly two weeks. The second one was shipped the same way, but weighed just under two ounces, so it cost roughly a dollar more. I'm waiting to see if the same two weeks holds. Since these are gifts, I wasn't worried about tracking or customs forms, I was more interested in if they would go unmolested from New York to Australia (so far so good).
Verweis : "ken6528"How much is 2kg to ship to the UK? $65.50 usd not registered
Surely that has to be a joke? :/ I want some Air tite capsules as the UK ones are poor, but for that price I may as well take a cheap flight to NY and fill up 40kg of baggage allowance.
