Hi All,  Kevin McElhone's posting yesterday about taxes and duties
reminded me that I wanted to write about shipping costs to foreign
countries.

Sometimes you don't know how good you've got it until you compare
prices to those paid in other countries.  Last week I sent a 16-pound
parcel to Chile.  The shipping cost was $319.00!  After the parcel
arrived, the customer wrote to inform me that they had to pay another
$307.50 in import duties.  The value of the product was $615.00.
So, in total, it cost the customer more than the value of the product
to get it delivered to their home.

But here's the rub.  They want another product that's valued at only
$270.00.  Unfortunately, it weighs more than the other item, and the
cost of shipping will be around $340.00, plus they will have to pay
$135.00 import duty, for a total of $435.00 for $270.00 worth of goods.

And we think we've got it bad...

Musically,
John A Tuttle
Player-Care.com
Brick, New Jersey, USA