Re: Problems with ordering oversea's...

Grant wrote:

>    I was actually just kidding, but that said there are still options.
 You can
>  order international money orders from the US Post Office.  They send
them from
>  a central site, so there is a fee and some time lag, but it is a
viable option
>  for infrequent orders.  I don't remember how much it costs. 

I hadn't tried that. I _did_ go to the post office and ask for a money
order. They said they could only give me an International money order in
U.S. funds, which shocked me as Canada Post does it in a number of
currencies. They didn't say anything about a centralized shipping point
for international money orders!

>  It is also very
>  easy to get a credit card now to allow you to order directly.  If
you're 
>  making small orders that you would pay cash for anyways, you can just
pay the
>  card off immediately, and it's no additional cost to you.

I'm not having much luck getting credit cards down here, though I still
have my Canadian cards. The problem is that Canadian credit ratings
don't transfer to the U.S. I should have a U.S. credit card soon,
though.

I do remember talking to someone who wasn't crazy about sending his
credit card information by e-mail. It would make things easier for them
if Jon had a secure server for handling credit card transactions over
the web.

>    I don't mean to diminish the difficulties you may have ordering
from 
>  England.  I'm just trying to say that there are workable options
available to 
>  almost everyone who might be ordering.  The relatively tiny group of
customers
>  who might not be able to order are most likely too small to justify
an entire 
>  US distribution arrangement.

You're probably right (I haven't had problems, as I have a Canadian
credit card or could use my wife's card, or our Visa debit card). My
intention was just to show that there is a barrier for some people to
buy stuff by mail from Britain, which is one of the reasons GZG stuff
sells well on eBay, even sometimes exceeding retail prices.

While a credit card is an option, a lot of people are scared off by
horror stories and don't like using a credit card (even though they are
probably safer with a credit card than a money order; if you pay by
credit card and don't get your order, you can get a refund from the
credit card company if you act fast enough).

Doug wrote:

> Allan had already mentioned the whole PO money order thing, but I'm
not
> sure he got it QUITE right. The PO clerk that explained it to me
suggested
> you pay in dollars, and at the time it's issued in the 'central site',
it's
> changed to whatever exchange rate is going then. So far, from what
other's
> have said on eBay and here, he may have been blowing smoke to me
nether
> regions.

I wasn't given this "central site" option. The type of money order I was
offered was the type that they print at the post office itself, and
that's in U.S. dollars.

Another option is to pay by Western Union, which has an option whereby
they will e-mail the sender telling them a money order is on the way,
and they send a physical money order to the sender. However, I don't
know how you pay Western Union. I don't know if you need a credit card,
or what.
 
--
Allan Goodall		   agoodall@att.net
http://www.hyperbear.com   agoodall@hyperbear.com