Shipping outside the US

Hello everyone, hope all are safe here is my question, I only have free shipping in the U.S, does anyone ship outside of the US and what carrier to you use and average price you charge and do you sell more inside the US or more outside. Love to hear your comments please and thanks, don

I have shipped outside the US a couple of times. Customs is a tricky part of it.
I like to use UPS because they have an office near me with very knowledgeable and I get a discount for shipping there. UPS can set up the shipment so that you are billed when the package hits Customs. USPS cannot do that.
When I shipped to Canada recently, the package was held at Customs and they didn’t notify anybody. I happened to check the tracking to find that out. And I had to pay Customs there. The other day I shipped to the UK and so I’m watching to see what happens and be ready to pay Customs.
Customs can be really expensive. You can use this calculator: https://www.simplyduty.com/import-calculator/ to check or calculate Delivery Duties upfront. I have only used it for the UK shipment so I don’t know how accurate it is but I’m told it’s pretty accurate.
A lady in my local USPS office told me that you can get a break on Customs if you classify it as a gift. I know if you put a value on it, the higher the value, the higher the customs.

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I have only shipped a couple of things overseas, and it was to a good friend. So, we waited until it arrived and went through customs for her to pay me the amount owed. She also paid me through a relative who lives in the states, in order to simplify things and avoid fees for online billing. The pieces were fairly large, and the tricky part was to keep the packaging (which was extensive to avoid damage) within the sizing restrictions of the USPS. I priced-compared shipping through UPS and FedEx and they wanted 6 times the amount, because of that final mile they contract for delivery in each country. My way let the local French post handle that final mile. The paintings arrived with no issues, but the buyer had to handle the customs part. I’ve frankly avoided shipping my miniatures out of country because I don’t want to deal with the many details.

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