I can't print a shipping label to ship an item to Guam...suggestions?
I did some quick research on this and discovered that other sellers have run into this same issue. One solution seems to be using pirateship, which I've never heard of till now. I read that there is some sort of "ebay integration" to do it through them. I see that some sellers have canceled the sale. Sort of hate to do that since it could incur negative feedback and doesn't seem the right thing to do. I contacted the seller to inform her that I've run into a shipping issue but are investigating options. Is there no way to do this through eBay? I've never sold anything to Guam before. Thanks....
8 comments
iamalwaysright
·3 years agoCreating postage online thru Pirateship is always going to be cheaper than the price at the PO counter.
richard1rst
·3 years agoLet me guess. You are listing the COUNTRY as Guam.
NOPE - you list the STATE as Guam (using the abbreviation GU) and then you list the country as United States with the appropriate USPS ZIP code.
Basically you use the same format as if you were sending it to any of the 50 states. Except in this case the state (well, actually, the territory) is Guam.
gretschwhtfalcon
OP3 years agoI didn't do anything...simply went about trying to print out a shipping label as usual. But, in either case, I did wind up using pirateship. Worked like a charm! Love that site. Needed a bit of humor also at that point. Thanks for replies!!!
wastingtime101
·3 years agoHey @gretschwhtfalcon - great to hear you used pirateship instead of cancelling the transaction. A brief history:
For a while sellers purchasing labels to US territories through eBay labels were running into problems with packages returned to sender due to a lack of a customs form generating.
eBay is now blocking purchase of shipping labels to territories and APO/FPO/DPO with an error that says something about not selecting an item (I forget the exact wording) so the best course of action is to purchase labels to those regions elsewhere until (unless) eBay fixes the issue.
gretschwhtfalcon
OP3 years agoInteresting about items being returned to sellers due to lack of custom info. I'm also reading that customs is only needed if a package weighs more than 1 lb. Oh well...either way hope it gets there and all is well afterwards.
iamalwaysright
·3 years agoYes, that should be perfectly fine because a customs form will print out for you when you use Pirateship to Guam.
The ONLY problem there might be is if the buyer files a return where you have to provide a shipping label. I don't know how your returns are set up. But if you'll need to provide a return shipping label for the buyer, you might run into problems like I did. Ebay won't be able to generate a return label for your buyer neither and they won't tell you why. Not entirely sure why but I suspect it's because you legally can't sign for a customs form on behalf of the buyer on a return label who will be the sender.
gretschwhtfalcon
OP3 years agoGood point on a potential return. Hopefully no issues! What's weird is that when I took the package to the PO the agent found the whole thing strange that I had to go outside of eBay to get a shipping label. She said they have no problems with sending to Guam. After putting in the buyer's zipcode, she came up with info that said there should not be any customs info needed. Also, USPS shipping amount came to way more than I paid at pirateship.
sassykzt
·3 years agoGo ahead and use Pirateship! I ship approx. 50 -80 packages through them daily from 3 diff. platforms. Looking at the past year I shipped 5 packages to Guam -- no issues and delivered in 4 - 5 days ( from OH). They are a US territory and you might qualify for USPS first class shipping costs if the package is 15.9 oz and under. If over , they have a cubic rate and box in a bag rates that are quite economical. They also have UPS services.
If you don't want to ship to US territories in the future, edit your business policies (shipping ploicies) . Go to each applicable shipping policy you have and checking the box for US protectorates -- then Guam and other territories will be excluded.