Shipping: a swappers worst enemy

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As a new member with not many swaps under my belt I was wondering if any of you have had similar experiences with shipping costs. Or if you know of a good way to ummm... "circumvent" those costs.

I ship by registered letter. And I really appreciate it when the person I swap with does too because I can track the progress. I am Canadian and Canadian registered letters are pretty pricey for overseas. After 3 swaps to Europe and 2 to the Far East this is a breakdown of my shipping/give/receive totals.



That 3rd swap was the most painful. It was just to Italy but the person at the counter told me I was obligated to send it as a registered package and not a letter because it had "objects of value".

So... next to attempting to commit customs fraud and risk having the coins not get to their anxiously awaiting recipient my hands are kind of tied because I always tell them what I send contains coins.

Anyone have any suggestions? Because I'd really like to not spend 5.5 dollars for every 3 I get.
I'm based in Toronto and the easiest solution to that is not to send by registered airmail. But then of course, you are limited to those countries that it is safe enough to send by regular mail. In my case, it means I can only really swap confidently with people in Canada, US and most western european countries except Italy and maybe portugal. Note that, sending around 20 coins by regular mail to say UK can still set me back $10-15. So that too isn't exactly cheap!

I tend to swap relatively cheap coins and go to ebay to buy more expensive stuff. Its just less stressful that way and imho you probably end up shelling out the same instead of swapping more expensive stuff and using tracking.

In swap 4, you seemed to have spent $82 (coin value+post) to get $26 in value B. !!! Really that should have been an ebay transaction

The final option is to time your swaps whenever you have someone crossing the pond (assuming you swap mostly with European countries)
Outings administrator
I will point out that if you package them as flat as possible they should mail much cheaper, and if you ditch the registered part then even if you lost one out of ten packages, I think you would come out quite ahead.

Call them hobby supplys
Taking a break from swapping for a while, but still interested in pre 1799 Spanish coins, I will make time for that!

Looking for pre 1783 coins
I haven't send a single registered mail for my swaps. My most valuable swap was to Ukraine about 2 years ago and even that one arrived safe in relatively reasonable time. I have swapped with Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Mozambique, India, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Australia... Never had a single issue, every letter I sent reached its destination. -- Knock on wood! -- Sometimes it takes much longer than 10 business days Canada Post promises but eventually every single one made it.

Also, as redsmithstudios mentioned, I try to pack my packages as flat as possible and always make everything tight and firm, no movements at all. If asked at the postal office what's inside, I always say "tokens". If the form is required I write "Hobby supplies". I also try to write it as "badly" as I can so it is quite hard to read. Never state the value of more than $20 even when there is considerable more. Yes, there is a risk of losing a letter but to me it is a risk worth taking.

There are also different options that may be a bit cheaper. Sometimes a "light package" vs. "small package" is better, other times the other way around. I can really figure out what makes this difference. But never send surface mail. That will be really-really slow, like 2 months to Europe. So for me it is basically the cheapest air mail all the time.

HTH!
"Hobby supplies"
I like that. That is the truth and yet not :)
Thanks for all the replies guys .
In the future, I guess I'll be keeping my hobby supplies as flat as possible when I mail them.

I'm also hoping the person I swap with will be ok with un-registered air mail every now and then.
I know I would be definitely be ok with it if the member has a ton of 5 stars and everything.
Ouch, Canadian post really has some high prices :(

I only had one swap with a Canadian member so far and it was by regular mail. There were no problems so maybe you should try shipping it regular instead of registered, especially if the value of the coins isn't very high. Just make sure the coins are between 2 pieces of cardboard so the post office can't see what's inside.
I collect and deal in ancient Roman coin. In case you're looking for affordable ancient coins or need any help with the coins you already have send me a message.
"Hobby supplies" is good explanation. I have used "Numismatic material" and "Tokens", which is not totally correct.

Have you thought about what happens if you registered mail disappears? In Finland I will get maximum 30 eur compensation from our mailing office. It does not matter if my "hobby supplies" is worth more than that. Registered mail costs me 9,30 eur extra. Meaning, if I don't use registered mail and every third package disappears, I'm even. I don't want to use registering because of the price and because I don't thing our mailing system is that bad.
From the post expense point of view- I love my country very much.
Registered letter to almost every country costs not more than 2,50 eur.
% of lost parcels is close to 0.
Every single coin on the world should meet its collector!
In my few amount of swaps, the most expesive letter that i sent was just 18 dollars to Kazajistán, so maybe your mail is just expensive
I know one person who put "Round metal disks" on the customs form. (8 When I started, I swapped International, but quickly started to swap in US only. It was too expensive otherwise. I usually just send in a regular legal envelope for 1 or 2 stamps.
Quote: "nthn"​I know one person who put "Round metal disks" on the customs form. (8 When I started, I swapped International, but quickly started to swap in US only. It was too expensive otherwise. I usually just send in a regular legal envelope for 1 or 2 stamps.
​I've gotten two labelled that way. It amuses me every time.

Postage costs are a big deterrent for me when it comes to swaps and purchases. They really can get out of hand.
The only time I have had a package go missing was when I sent it registered. Everything else I have sent through regular mail has arrived safe and sound.

The amount you are sending on postage means it's really not worth your while swapping. I would recommend doing small swaps of up to 10-12 coins, that way you can sandwich them between a couple of pieces of cardboard, or even get that thick corrugated cardboard, cut holes to fit your coins and embed them in the cardboard, then send them as a regular letter.

The standard declarations to tell the truth, but not actually outright say that you're sending coins have already been mentioned. Hobby supplies, Numismatic supplies (not many people actually know what that means), metal discs, souvenir tokens, etc
Quote: "smoked_caramel" I also try to write it as "badly" as I can so it is quite hard to read.

​That right there is a touch of genius. Bad handwriting isn't illegal (fortunately for me).
Non illegitimis carborundum est.  Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!  
Quote: "nthn"​I know one person who put "Round metal disks" on the customs form. (8 When I started, I swapped International, but quickly started to swap in US only. It was too expensive otherwise. I usually just send in a regular legal envelope for 1 or 2 stamps.
​Most peopl i've seen have to write what is on the letter, but i've never have done that, even if its registered, i guess its not obligatory in México, they just ask you what is inside, and try to guess, funny
I usually put them inside a folded paper and tape the paper down onto another larger paper so it is flat and they won't move. If they are already in a 2X2 I ship them in it. I declare it as "collectibles." So far I haven't had any problems, but it is pricey, About USD 12-15 per transaction, so make sure that you maximize the weight bracket for that price so that you can trade more for your money.

Cheers,
Trade only within the US.
You can also ask swappers to pay (in coins) all or a portion of your excess cost if registered mail is needed. The answer for me has been yes almost all of the time, and the cost of registered mail is noted on my profile so they know what they are getting in to if they really need registered.

I'm amazed that Canadian post is even higher than US! The ladies at my post office are used to me now, and unfortunately (for me) they do their jobs well and I can't get anything through registered without paying the full painful cost.

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