jlz Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Is Germany becoming like Italy? I sold a record a month and a half ago and it still has not arrived and now I have a paypal dispute against me. I read on the ebay message boards that a lot of people are in a similar situation as me and how someone didn't get their package until after 3 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strassencowboy Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 i'm from germany and i always get my packages from all over the world ... uk, us, can, jp, aus... maybe you'll take the tracking method next time?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Vool Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Hmmm, I *normally* get my packages as well...but have to say though that until now (at least ~ 80 packages from oversea), two packages have got lost... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarostino Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 i think ive had like 3 packages that got lost so far. its unlikely but it can happen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest deathbydrums Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 In the last year I found it more common, although in a few of those instances I was suspicious if it was really lost. For a while I avoided shipping outside of North America but now I sometimes request payment sent as a gift if I'm unsure who I'm sending records to overseas or if they have few feedback ratings. EDIT: Although 2 people have told me that sending money as a gift through paypal is not available from Germany, despite me giving instructions on how to do it, so that may not be an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somber_silt Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Did you send your record via airmal or surface mail? If you chose the latter, it may take up to 8 weeks for your package to arrive. I received a record sent by VC user jerseydave77 today. I think it is safe to send records to Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papashawn Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I've had a couple packages that were shipped to Germany recently that took a couple months or more to arrive. Never used to have that problem. I had a paypal claim against me too, and with 1st Class International packages, you don't get proper tracking so it's hard to prove that the package was even shipped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Vool Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 EDIT: Although 2 people have told me that sending money as a gift through paypal is not available from Germany, despite me giving instructions on how to do it, so that may not be an option. Tried to do this once, but didn't work for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoonbill Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 when shipping to germany, i always mark as "merchandise" and usually put value between $15-20 no matter what. your package is almost certainly stuck in customs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bivouac23 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Germany doesn't track anything, I send items from the UK and pay extra for tracking, they get tracked up until they leave the UK but once they arrive in Germany, nobody knows where it's gone?! The items usually arrive after about 3-4 weeks even when you pay the premium service that should take only 3 days... it's crazy that Deutsche post don't track the items. I bought a record from Denovali Records, Germany, a few months back and it also took 3 or 4 weeks to arrive in the UK, the address on the front clearly said United Kingdom but when I finally got it, it was stamped 'missent to India'. Crazy?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
withengineheart Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 when shipping to germany, i always mark as "merchandise" and usually put value between $15-20 no matter what. your package is almost certainly stuck in customs. yup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nihac Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 It's the German customs who mess it up. Sometimes they keep the records for weeks before forwarding them to the people. It sucks, but usually it works - very late, but better late than never. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarostino Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 also after many many many conversations with the people at the customs office some guy finally told me that especially if its marked as a "gift" a package gets stuck at customs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somber_silt Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 also after many many many conversations with the people at the customs office some guy finally told me that especially if its marked as a "gift" a package gets stuck at customs yes, because you have to pay taxes according to the content's value either way. another funny fact is that they always add the shipping costs to the price of the item/s to calculate the value of the content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 yeah, the custom sucks. had like 4 packages which where there. one got send back to usa, cause of no real reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somber_silt Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 yeah, the custom sucks. had like 4 packages which where there. one got send back to usa, cause of no real reason. wow, i thought they would only sent them back, if you did not show up at their office in a timely manner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlz Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Is there anyway someone from outside of Germany contact the customs office? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarostino Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 you can try calling them (probably also emailing) but from my experience the people working there have very poor english skills. what town did you ship the record to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 wow, i thought they would only sent them back, if you did not show up at their office in a timely manner. the times before i got a letter and picked them up at the custom. after some time, i got an email from the seller, saying he got it back. don´t know what they did with that package... the seller luckily shipped it again and i got it 2 weeks later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christidal Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 The good news is that usually nothing ever gets lost on the way to Germany, or within Germany, except stealing neighbours maybe? How quickly a package gets to the buyer in Germany depends strongly on the customs office and officer. Sometimes they let it pass through, other times they will keep even a single LP and make the recipient drive for several miles to their office to pick it up - even if the value is below the gift limit (25 Euros). Some customs people are really the Nazis of today (as in Soup Nazi - even though I'm sure customs offices are a popular workplace for actual Nazis). Once they held a package but didn't send me the notification that allows me to pick it up. They also refused to let me pick it up without the little piece of paper and after two weeks they sent it back to the US. I'm sure the heartless cold customs bitch I talked to on the phone a couple of times was a Nazi. A real one, you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudeboydh Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I just sent some 7"s to Germany.... Hope everything goes alright... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnio Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Hot Topic packages usually arrive within 4 days in Germany. Those are fully trackable (first you have to use USPS; after the package arrives in .de you can use dhl.com with the same tracking code) Never had any problems with sending to US or CA / nor with getting packages from there. But you really should use package tracking... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.