Posting Coins to the US from the UK on eBay?

Hi all!

As some of you may know, I frequently sell Roman coins on eBay, mostly to make enough money to fund my collection. I have been thinking of adding a postage option to buyers in the US, Canada and a couple of places like Australia and New Zealand, so that they can buy without having to go through the Global Shipping Programme (which is what I use now), as it is generally very expensive.

If I were to post without the Global Shipping Programme, the postage costs for they buyer would go down from around £20 to £10, and I think my listings would show up more in the eBay algorithm (from what I've seen looking at other UK based sellers). The downsides would be that I have less seller protection, and I would have to fill out a customs form each time I post something.

Does anyone have any experience posting ancient coins from the UK to the US? Are there any potential issues with customs and import fees etc. that I may have to look out for?

Thanks!

 

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I'm in New Zealand and have never had to pay any customs or import fees on coins, etc from UK

 

I've received two "letters" from the UK this past week with Norwegian 2 øre coins in them. They arrive quickly, I've never not received an order from the UK, and the postage has been about 3 pounds. Never any customs nor duties.

Steve

 

I can tell you that when shipping items from the US to other countries through Ebay, it prints out all required documents when you purchase the postage. I don't ever fill out any additional paperwork.

 

I'm in Canada - and yes I do not frequent any seller that uses the Global Shipping Program.. way too expensive for the level of coin that I purchase.
Many good sellers of fairly inexpensive coins throw a stamp on the mailer and just post it. Arrives without fail.

 

From the UK to the EU is expensive nowadays. Everything over 20 pounds costs you 20% and expenses which may well double your cost!

 

There are no import duties for ancient coins coming into the USA and at least before the pandemic, service from the UK was fast. I recommend awareness of US import restrictions and transparency regarding customs declarations.

 

In the U.S. duties are if, and, who, where to and from. Most of the time I have had no problems. Good question good luck!

 

I worry with each shipment I receive from the UK to the USA. I have lost 2 coins out of about 52 purchases by my records. Both of the lost coins shipped via the Royal Post, with tracking and signed delivery. The coins were not ancient. For both the shipping was about 20 pounds. On one purchase, I received only the shipping envelope, which was torn on the bottom to remove the coin. The envelope had a mess of ink stampings from along the way, declaring the envelope was received torn without the contents. The second was just lost. USPS said that it never landed in the USA. I have never lost a domestic coin out of 139 shipments to me. I have lost no shipments sent to me from 81 other non-UK international shipments.

I don't trust the Royal Mail and/or the UK customs.

I did lose 1 coin from Israel, but this could have likely occurred because of incredibly poor packing. Large coin sent in a business envelope, with the coin held in a "V" of paper. The paper was just larger than the coin. The top of the V was taped. The other two sides of the V were open. The envelope was received torn at the bottom, and only the V paper inside, still taped.

 

I think losses can occur in any direction.

I sent 2 coins from NZ to USA that never arrived (or did they?). You are relying on the recipient to be truthful.

A package to me containing 50 postcards from France to NZ went missing, although 3 other lots of 50 posted at the same time arrived. Very annoying because there were some quite rare ones in that missing lot.

Always wonder where these packages end up.

With coins I now 'conceal' them in a square of tin foil taped onto card. Not sure if that fools the pilferers, but hopefully any Xray image is square and not round.

 

I'm in Australia and have received several coins from the US and the UK. I have never had any issues. I have never had a coin go missing sent from any country, although some were very late arrivals.

However, I have noticed eBay's default postage costs are often so absurdly high, that it's not worth buying the coin. Also, the reality is postage doesn't cost nearly that much! If you can provide your own global flat rate (at a much more reasonable price) you'd get more customers.

 

You do highlight a problem. Mailing abroad from the US is very expensive, typically much more than mailing in the opposite direction. The lowest rate USPS offers to Australia for any kind of merchandise, a smallish coin valued at $10 for example, is a whopping $19.20! The same to the UK is a relative bargain at only $17.85.

 

At 10,000 vs 3,000 miles, surely Australia is the "bargain" there!

As an interesting comparison I just bought a copy of Ferrando II, a large hardcover book weighing in at almost 4lbs, and paid EUR 16 in postage from France to US.

 

Maybe so. Still, I can remember when either destination was less than $3 for the same 1oz bubble mailer...

 

My experience with selling coins to US buyers through ebay was really, really bad. A lot of hassle, and I was outright scammed on at least 2 occasions. Made me delete my ebay app and never look back.

 

I've done thousands of deals over more than 20 years on eBay, including mailing to every continent except Antarctica. I can count the serious problems on one hand (ok maybe both hands and a toe or two, but no more). Ancient coin folk are an honest lot by and large. You just have to mind the rules, track, and insure when necessary.

 

I've got to say that my experience with eBay has been overwhelmingly positive. I'm pretty cynical by nature, but dealing with endless strangers on eBay in many different countries (I'm US-based) really has bolstered my faith in humanity (or at least the coin collecting/selling portion of it).

It was getting a little dicey last year, but even the US post office ultimately seems very reliable. They are perhaps a bit like Churchill's assessment of America though, in trying all possible alternatives before finally always(?) doing the right thing.

I have had quite a few coins take many months to arrive for no particular reason, and the USPS is currently still searching for one I complained was missing... I suppose I should tell them they've already delivered it to me, but given that the reason I had to complain was because USPS themselves returned it (a piece of registered mail) as undeliverable** back to the sender in Spain, I'm just curious how long it may take their left hand to figure out what their right hand is doing.

**Undeliverable because the sender had inadvertently omitted the city from the address, and the USPS was unable to figure out the city from the zip code !!

 

So, here's a case in point ... I live in NJ, awaiting this coin ...

I'm pretty sure the most cost effective route from one part of NJ to another is not via Minnesota!

 

Yes to these recent posts about the US Postal Service. So far I’ve only lost one coin in 20 years, though I don’t purchase as many as most folks seem to do on this board. Maybe 12 to 20 coins a year. Several internationally.

A recent phenomenon is that a coin leaves Europe for New York pretty quickly. Four days or so. Then four days from New York to Memphis. And then when it’s 80 miles away in some Memphis sorting center, it may be weeks. That’s when I get nervous. When it’s 80 miles away.

And no, I don’t think the right hand knows what the left hand is doing at the Postal Service. Its own internal tracking and logistics seem to be in disarray. I’ve had the Postal Service tell me one day that they can’t find a package that arrives the next day in my mailbox. One would think electronic tracking would eliminate the confusion. But apparently it doesn’t.

I don’t want to be too hard on the US Postal Service. It’s a minor miracle that pretty much everything that gets mailed arrives where it should. Still, I think the service has gotten worse in recent years. Maybe it’s DeJoy. Maybe it’s more complicated than that.

 

I was looking at buying a coin book from the US and the dealer will no longer ship to the UK without prior arrangement and states that the typical shipping cost for a single book is $65-$85.

About a decade ago I could ship a mail sack full of books from the US to the UK for less.