I've got my eye on a wall-hanging on ebay, and the US seller does ship internationally. "USPS First Class Mail International" costs less than $9 US to ship to Belize, much to my surprise.

Has anyone ordered anything this way, and if so, how does customs work? Do they open the package? How do they know how much customs to charge? Is the value declared on the exterior of the package by the shipper?

Is it likely that the item will actually get here to me in San Pedro?

Thanks in advance for your insight/experience!

Emily

USPS/Belize PO is reliable. The Post Master will send you a notice of the package arrival...and when you go thee he will open the package in front of you and assess duty, taxes, etc., payable at that time. You should have some documentation of the price you paid plus any shipping costs..so he can better assess you.Don't try to play games with him on value...he will catch you!

Thank you very much for this info! Of course I wouldn't try to fudge the value; I'd bring a printed copy of my invoice from the seller. Chances are the seller would also include one in the package, but that's not always the case with ebay sellers.

Emily

Used to buy off of eBay international sellers ad had everything shipped USPS with no problems. Just ask seller to include invoice in the package, makes life easier. Just remember duty is charged on price plus shipping cost.

Have stuff sent all the time via USPS, but you might want to ask the seller to use the international express or priority mail rather than just regular first class. It will cost more but not only will it get here sooner but most importantly you will be able to track it on the internet as every now and then a parcel can get misrouted and you need to be on top of it to make sure it doesn't sit gathering dust in a foreign po where nobody knows where Belize is!!! The LA sort facility seems to be the worst for this (so if the seller is on the west coast you definitely want to upgrade your shipping) and the favoured destinations are currently Brazil and Belarus!! Like I said I bring in a lot of stuff and have learned a lot about tracking, subcontracted postal services and worldwide routing!!!

Thanks for the tip, gecko-girl! It turns out the package is only 12 oz, which is why the shipping is so low. But I think I am going to just have it shipped to a friend in the US to bring down. It will take a little longer but cost less. I mostly just wanted to see how this would work since I won't always have the option to have a friend bring things down to me, so it is good to know that the international shipping is not that big a deal.

Regards,
Emily

Used to buy lots of stuff on eBay - until Paypal decided to keep my money. Two years on they've still not refunded my $2000, and ignore any communications. I'm done with them. I just use Amazon these days.

Sorry that happened to you Probus. I've been lucky, I guess. Have been buying on ebay since 2003 and selling most of that time too. Never a problem with Paypal on either side.

Emily

I know quite a few people who've experienced severe inefficiency from Paypal/eBay, though no-one else who's lost as I have. The seller I was dealing with when I lost my money herself had had major problems with them, and closed her account shortly afterwards. I believe dissatisfaction with them is actually pretty common, but news of it is suppressed. If you knew the actual facts associated with my case you'd be wary of dealing with them again - or indeed any US bank. I've three times had big problems with mainstream US banks, twice personally and once corporately. My personal problems were remarkably similar to each other and were based on failure of the banks to acknowledge or act on secure communications. Those were Washington Mutual (now deservedly defunct) and Bank of America. I forget which bank in Delaware it was which lost over ten million $ of my company's money for three weeks, many years back, but it cost them dear. We sued them in the BRITISH courts and won many millions. I had/have never before or since encountered such arrogant incompetence as I have from US banks.

The above problems were all payment-related concerning Paypal. I also had a major problem with eBay - valuable property was stolen from me here in Belize and taken to the USA, where it was put up for sale on eBay. I'm talking about $50k's worth. When I found out about the auctions I contacted eBay, and they refused to cancel or suspend the auctions unless I could quote a US police case number to them. Obviously I couldn't as the crime took place in Belize, and the sales went ahead.

eBay and Paypal are of course the same organisation, and I regard it as deeply untrustworthy. Were they British based I would have had grounds to have them prosecuted.