Common courtesy when trading...

[plateauguy]

I guess I've just been lucky. When I shipped USPS a pipe to Canada I put "tobacco pipe" on the customs form. I don't think there was any delay.
I like to ship USPS Priority for all of the above reasons, and have had great success.

 

[pruss]

USPS is just fine: UPS not so much.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I have been training the US carvers who ship to me not to put "smoking pipe" on the customs declaration as that will guarantee it gets opened. I explained this to Rad some time that the customs inspectors will think "drug paraphernalia" and open it. I asked him to put wood carving instead and this has been fine.

 

[troutface]

A forum member kindly warned me about another member who had not fulfilled his end of a trade. I contacted the OP and lo and behold it is the same person I was warned about. Because of possible legitimate shipping issues this time of year I am not jumping to conclusions yet. Let us give the man some time to uphold his end, but I'll be watching this one closely. Mods have been notified.

 

[wnghanglow]

I haven't sent a tracking number yet and no ones complained, I hope I haven't offended anyone with my cheap shipping lol it's true it's not much to get tracking but it's still more than I need to pay and that doesn't sit right with me. Still if anyone asks I would spend the extra $2 and do it.

 

[ssjones]

Guys:

I'm late to this thread, thanks for the headsup member "troutface".

Astrange1: can you please forward to me the PM's of the trade?

I'll look into it.

 

[instymp]

USPS partners with Fedex & UPS, doing a lot of their local deliveries. Fedex can be shipped "No signature required". Many complain about paying $5 shipping buy I get what I pay for. Once sold something on ebay & buyer said he never got it, no sig required so I ate it & wrote it off to experience. Sorry for you loss!

 

[tbradsim1]

I'm gonna say something that may sound ugly but it's not said in that vein, when you trade it's up to you to do it right, Insurance, Tracking, if it costs 2 to 5$ extra thats the only way to go , if you Cheap Charlie you should not Trade, Man Up and do it right. I once did a favor cleaning a pipe for a Very, Very , good friend and when I sent it back I insured it for 200$. Why it wasn't my pipe, he was very grateful and astounded that I did this. Do it right or don't do it.IMHO

 

[mrenglish]

This bites. I hope it works out and the trade goes through.

 

[alpascia]

@peckinpahhombre we understand that sometimes customs applies duties and fees in USA (american customers told us, about 4%) but we ship using FedEx International Priority service (best service), totally insured, and it costs only 10 euro (approx 13 us dollars). In this way you can buy taxfree from us and you save the italian VAT 22%. For orders over 500 euro the insured shipment is included (free).

 

[nsfisher]

As some of the older members may remember. I entered a raffle on here with many others. I won 25-30 tins of tobacco. I received 6! It has been well over a yr and 1/2 now and have still not received the remainder.

 

[rmbittner]

Threads like this remind me of why I don't like trading tobacco. I prefer to either sell it or just gift it outright.
I will say, though, that USPS can be extremely poor when it comes to shipping. My wife -- who runs an Etsy store -- has had packages go to our local Michigan sorting facility, sit there for two days, ship to the wrong state, come back to the sorting facility, and THEN go off to the correct destination.
Once when I was shipping things for her, I took my iPad to the P.O., showed the clerk the tracking information and crazy routing, and asked why something like that would happen. Of course, she had no idea. (She's also the person, though, who, when sending out something overseas for us, repeatedly asks us which word is the city and which one is the country.) We also have a USPS delivery person who likes to throw packages onto our porch from his idling car in the driveway, so we're no fans of our local Post Office. (Never had a single issue with FedEx or UPS, who pickup/deliver to us multiple times a week.)
Just my .02.
Bob

 

[fitzy]

Wow that sucks.
I've got to say I had a similar experience but not quite the same. I had a trade deal with a guy in the UK. I did my end of the bargain and when he tried to send me his end of the deal he got some notice from the UK customs saying that the package he shipped was seized. He offered to reimburse me but I told him not to worry about it. Last time I trade overseas. lol

 

[ssjones]

Forum members:

I have received the information on the trade from member astrange1 (the OP) and also reached out to the other trading party. Once the information is received and investigation concluded, appropriate action will be taken, which could include being removed from the forum.
As stated in the Buy/Sell/Trade section, PipesMagazine cannot be responsible for what occurs being trading members. I'm reminded what my local Post Master said to me of when I had a pipe trade go sour, on another pipe forum, when I inquired what action I could take: "Are you nuts?" was his response. Proceed at your own risk!
I'm going to close this thread now, as it is being investigated. I do appreciate the discretion astrage1 showed in making the post.