Dealing With Canada Post

Here's something that makes me wonder--When I ship my orders via Canada Post Small Package Surface to buyers in the U.S., I am asked to fill in a customs slip which sticks directly on the package.  On the slip there's a section in which I'm supposed to write what exactly is in the package, and how much it's worth.  Now, if I were shipping pencil sharpener parts, that wouldn't be a problem, but I'm shipping my painstakingly, lovingly handcrafted jewellery.  I might as well write, "Look here! Expensive, handcrafted jewellery in here! Help yourself!"  Perhaps this is a jaded, suspicious view of the world, and I certainly don't want to suggest that the people who work in the postal services are especially suspect, but I've heard of many situations where stuff was waylaid in transit and never arrived at its destination.  That's why you can't send cash in the mail, right? 

So, how does one get around this?  I understand that U.S. customs wants to know, especially after 9-11, exactly what is coming into the country, but geez!  I finally came up with a plan.  Instead of writing "jewellery" on the package, I'll write "beads."  That's what the jewellery is made of, mostly, anyway, so I'm not misrepresenting what's in the package, and "beads" aren't as attractive as "jewellery" to potential thieves.  As for the amount, so far I haven't had any orders over $45, so no big deal.  I wonder what would happen if I got a big order, and didn't put the entire value on the package?  How does knowing the value help customs or Canada Post, anyway?  Do you, readers, have any insight on this issue?  I'd love to hear from you.

Yours, Diana

S*#@@! Shipping Delays

In a past post I vented about a shipping delay that caused my Etsy customer inconvenience and cost me any hope of profit from the sale of a bracelet.  In a nutshell, I shipped the bracelet on Dec. 6th, way before the Dec. 13 deadline for shipping goods to the US in time for Christmas, but it still hadn't arrived by Dec. 18th.  I ended up shipping another bracelet, by ExpressPost, at a loss.

Recently, though, I was reading the Forums on Etsy, and came across a post about shipping delays to the US.  Apparently, many sellers have been experiencing delays in shipping, caused by increased security at the border.  Some shipments have taken up to 60 days to arrive!  As I searched further, I found many more posts about the delays.

Many Etsy sellers are putting a warning about possible shipping delays, along with this link which explains further, in their policies sections.  This is what I put in my policies section:

****NOTE - Recently, many sellers and buyers have experienced frustrating delays in shipments coming into the U.S. from other countries, including Canada.   Apparently, the delay is caused by increased security at the border, and shipping can take up to six weeks in some cases. If your order has been affected by this delay, I do apologize, but I cannot be held responsible for replacing your package until the six-week period has elapsed.   Here is a link to Royal Mail's website, where the problem is explained further.  

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400144&mediaId=3800088

Again, I do apologize for this delay.  It is extremely frustrating for me, as a seller, as I make it my mandate to ship immediately upon order, usually the next day.  I am hoping that this delay at the border is a temporary situation, made worse by heavy holiday shipping traffic. 

Since the last shipment, I got another order from the US, and it reached the customer in 7 days, so I'm hoping the shipping delay was temporary.  We'll see.

Later, readers.

Shipping Snafu

So far in my journey to bead tycoon status I've made four sales on my Etsy online shop.  The last sale involved a lot more customer service than any of the others.  The customer convo'd (contacted via the Etsy communication system) me with a request to adjust the length of a bracelet he wanted to order.  I contacted the buyer to let him know I'd be happy to make the change.  He then ordered the bracelet.  As per my shop policies, I wanted to send the order out inside the 3 business day time period, but I was having trouble getting more of the exact type of chain that I used for the bracelet in the picture.  I convo'd the buyer with pictures of the original chain and a chain that was as similar as I could get, and asked if the change would be OK with him.  He convo'd me, saying no problem.  So, I made the bracelet, and shipped it out by US Post Light Packet on December 6th.  (Through Canada Post, of course.)  This was within the 3-day time limit promised in my shop policies.  I then emailed the buyer to let him know that the package had been shipped.  Mission accomplished...or so I thought.