# We only ship to the US and Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 10, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521 "2006-12-10T01:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/61 "2006-12-11T03:22:22Z")
[QUOTE=PastAllReason] FWIW, I was on the [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) website a couple of weeks ago, and though I didn’t actually order anything, it appeared that Amazon out of the US will now ship to Canada. If you were actually interested in something on US Amazon, and this wasn’t just an example, you may want to check back. [/QUOTE] They’ll only ship DVDs, CDs, and books to Canada from the .com site. Anything else they won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/62 "2006-12-11T07:04:01Z")
[QUOTE=Grits and Hard Toast] It must be something like that. But in this case, with it being a small time, barely getting by company, I just feel a little education is needed. Either I need to be educated, if the pitters have a justification for feeling the way they do, I would like to hear it. Or the pitters need an education in that there are likely legitimate obstacles preventing these guys from being able to securely do business in other places. I just hate seeing what looks to me to be an unfair blaming of this company. [/QUOTE] **CarnalK** is right, I smelt some arrogance there. I don’t know if it was intended, but if their only way of protecting themselves from fraud is to preemptively declare 95% of the world’s population unsafe to deal with, I think it’s a valid assumption. > [@DanBlather](#): > > Visa will not protect the seller for CC transactions on the web. There is no signature and no physical card to look at, so the merchant must assume the risk. But that is also the case with US & Canadian customers, right? I doubt that there’s more credit card fraud in Europe than there is in North America. My card does have a CVV2, too. AVS might not work for me, but it will work in the UK. ([cite](http://usa.visa.com/business/accepting_visa/ops_risk_management/card_not_present.html)) So why don’t they ship there? > [@Grits and Hard Toast](#): > > If they could find a way to ship to these places and not get ripped off, they would. As I see it, they’re not even trying to find secure ways to ship internationally. That is a perfectly valid business decision. But it won’t get them any sympathy from me. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/63 "2006-12-11T07:22:44Z")
**Fish Cheer** , I’m Canadian so I’ve been taught from childhood to be hyper aware of American Arrogance (which is why I kinda jumped you for it, It’s wearing on me, lol) and I just don’t see it here. It seems simply a case of “overseas fraud is way too much hassle for us”. Even if Germany has the most efficient fraud investigation police force on Earth, the T-shirt guys would always have to make sure they get an English speaker on the other end of the overseas phone call to check up on the fraud investigation. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/64 "2006-12-11T09:33:24Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] How long does it take to look up the list of items banned for import into Aus, or those which have special rules or fees? [/QUOTE] It’s all on the customs website- www.customs.gov.au, but the short answer is that as long as you can import pretty much anything you like as long as it isn’t explosives, drugs, or made from protected animals. Even if there are “special rules or fees” on the items (and off the top of my head, I’m not aware of any on any item that any normal consumer is likely to be importing), they’re the importers problem, not the sellers. There’s no earthly reason why a seller in the US should charge a USD$10-$20 handling fee to ship a book/DVD/torch/general consumer item to Australia. **TheLoadedDog** , Tandy have indoor RC Helicopters. They’re about $100, IIRC. I think The Warehouse has them too, for around the same price. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/65 "2006-12-11T15:55:34Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] It’s all on the customs website- www.customs.gov.au, but the short answer is that as long as you can import pretty much anything you like as long as it isn’t explosives, drugs, or made from protected animals. e. [/QUOTE] Good link, but the list goes hwaaaay beyond “explosives, drugs, or made from protected animals” "Antibiotics \*Australian flag and coats of arms \* Asbestos Cat and dog fur products \*Ceramic ware - glazed \* Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) Chemical weapons Chewing tobacco and oral snuff - Cigarette lighters \* Cosmetics - toxic materials Credit cards - counterfeit Crowd control equipment (Anti-personnel sprays, _body armour_, _extendable batons, electric shock devices,_ acoustic shock devices. \*Cultural and heritage goods - general \* Cultural and heritage goods from Papua New Guinea \*Diamonds - from Liberia Diamonds \* - from Sierra Leone Diamonds - Kimberley Process \*Dog collars - electronic and protrusion \* Dogs - dangerous breeds Drugs and narcotics Embryo clones - viable materials Endangered animal and plant species - CITES \*Erasers - novelty \* Firearms and ammunition Fish and toothfish \*Fly swatters/mosquito bats - \* electronic Fuel - marked Growth hormones and substances of human or animal origin Hazardous waste Hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) \*Industrial chemicals \* \*Kava \* \*Knives and daggers \* Logs and timber products- from Liberia \*Money boxes, novelty - toxic materials \* Ozone depleting substances _Pornography and other objectionable material_ - Pencils and paintbrushes - toxic materials \* Pesticides Radioactive substances Steroids Suicide devices Therapeutic drugs and substances \*Tobacco - unmanufactured leaf \* Toys - toxic materials Trade Practices Act goods (Goods subject to a permanent ban under the Trade Practices Act 1974 including: glucomannan, _certain seat accessories and sun visors, certain toys_, oral snuff and chewing tobacco (if imported in quantities greater than 1.5 kg), _certain water ski releases_, gas masks containing asbestos, and _candles/candlewicks containing leads_.) Weapons (Military goods and other weapons including: blow pipes, _pistol crossbows_, _martial arts equipment_, knuckle dusters, _slingshots_, maces, flails.) Woolpacks " I have italized those items which are commonly sold here in the USA, are also sold on eBay, _and_ which a normal layperson might not think to look up. For example, some Yank might sell a T-shirt with an Aussie flag on it -"_Items or merchandise (such as souvenirs) that contain or to which is applied a representation of the Arms, a flag or a seal of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth"_. Or even a T-shirt that said “ANZAC” on it. :rolleyes: He’d get it confiscated and he’d have to refund. And, think if someone bought a diamond ring! A seller could be out thousands. I’ll point out that Aus isn’t particularly restrictive, either. I used to work for a forwarding company. Big companies would get overseas orders, then deliver the stuff to us, and we’d repack to various regs and handle all the customs stuff. We made a nice bundle doing this. Our largest Customer was Catalina-Martin, who is very big in the clothing world. If they- a multi-million $$ company- wouldn’t try to handle their own overseas shipping, why would some one-man eBay seller? Overseas selling/shipping isn’t a job for amatuers, trust it to the pros. True, now-a-days some of the companies like Fed-Ex will help you with many of the details. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/66 "2006-12-11T16:12:23Z")
[QUOTE=Stuffy] [QUOTE=Chefguy] Except you can’t track in real time which leads to Customer Service problems. [/QUOTE] True enough. I’ve told customer service folks that they can use my email as a waiver, and a very few companies have agreed. Most just refuse to change things. It’s just an annoyance that comes with living in Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/67 "2006-12-11T16:21:09Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] I used to work for a forwarding company. Big companies would get overseas orders, then deliver the stuff to us, and we’d repack to various regs and handle all the customs stuff. We made a nice bundle doing this. Our largest Customer was Catalina-Martin, who is very big in the clothing world. If they- a multi-million $$ company- wouldn’t try to handle their own overseas shipping, why would some one-man eBay seller? Overseas selling/shipping isn’t a job for amatuers, trust it to the pros. True, now-a-days some of the companies like Fed-Ex will help you with many of the details. [/QUOTE] If the T-shirt Company called up your previous forwarding company and asked the forwarding company to handle the forwarding of a single T-shirt to Germany, what would the response be, and if the forwarding company agreed to do it, approximately what would the fee be to forward that single T-shirt? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/68 "2006-12-11T16:21:25Z")
[QUOTE=kushiel] No. _laughs_ But there have been times I have been so desperate to get something only sold in the States that I’d pay a premium for it to make it worth the while. Smaller stores can get a pass for this, but it irks me when I go to someplace like [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) because something isn’t sold on Amazon.ca, and they won’t ship outside of the US. [/QUOTE] There may be legal issues with books and videos. Distribution rights might not be held be the same company. Plus don’t most Canadian province require films and videos to be content classified by a government agency? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/69 "2006-12-11T16:25:58Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] but for a company that is in the freakin’ export business, they should already know all that stuff. [/QUOTE] It is a T-shirt comany, not an export company. Don’t confuse popping a T-shirt in the mail to Canada with an export business. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/70 "2006-12-11T16:28:21Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] Fuck [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk) for not shipping amazon marketplace books (you know, the used book sellers that are linked to amazon) to Bulgaria. I saw a book I wanted that was one freaking pound. But no, you won’t ship it to me. Do you know how hard it is to get books in English in Bulgaria? (Okay, it’s not impossible, but selection’s bad and I have to ride a bus for an hour and a half to get to the closest bookstore.) But I see that you will ship to countries in the EU. I can’t wait for fucking January. SEND ME YOUR BOOKS, DAMMIT. [/QUOTE] Kyla, I appreciate how hard it is to get stuff in Bulgaria, as I have a cousin who was in Sofia working for the Peace Corps. I’d be happy to send you a book if you have an address I could send it to. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/71 "2006-12-11T17:24:56Z")
[QUOTE=Muffin] If the T-shirt Company called up your previous forwarding company and asked the forwarding company to handle the forwarding of a single T-shirt to Germany, what would the response be, and if the forwarding company agreed to do it, approximately what would the fee be to forward that single T-shirt? [/QUOTE] Damn, that was so long ago, my answer would be in clamshells, not dollars. 😛 “Too much”- will that do for an answer? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/72 "2006-12-11T17:43:20Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] There may be legal issues with books and videos. Distribution rights might not be held be the same company. Plus don’t most Canadian province require films and videos to be content classified by a government agency? [/QUOTE] _ahem_ Scroll up. > [@Raygun99](#): > > They’ll only ship DVDs, CDs, and books to Canada from the .com site. Anything else they won’t. I don’t shop online much, but it’s a bit frustrating to realise that I could order a movie DVD from [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) easily, but not a video game that’s on a DVD. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/73 "2006-12-11T17:47:39Z")
[QUOTE=brianjedi] What, praytell, is “ridiculously parochial and rather patronising” about discontinuing international shipping after being defrauded by overseas buyers with stolen CC numbers? [/QUOTE] Because when Americans don’t ship overseas, it’s parochial and xenophobic. When European online retailers don’t ship outside of the EU, it’s because of a reasoned, rational, well-thought out policy to reduce costs and limit fraud. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/74 "2006-12-11T18:14:36Z")
If it helps, here are three fine t-shirt stores that ship to (or are in) the EU: [www.lafraise.com](http://www.lafraise.com) (French and weird; print on American Apparel, which is ace) [www.threadless.com](http://www.threadless.com) (same concept in the US; print on Fruit of the Loom, which isn’t) [www.glarkware.com](http://www.glarkware.com) (a Television Without Pity spin-off with some pretty good designs, and possibly a bit closer to the [randomshirts.com](http://randomshirts.com) style; also American Apparel) The first two are particularly good, because they print user-designed submissions that get picked partially by popular vote. As a result they always have new and interesting things, and the design quality is actually better on average than pretty much any other site I know of. Also for more fashiony type shirts, [www.thegiantpeach.com](http://www.thegiantpeach.com) is well worth a trawl through. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/75 "2006-12-11T18:27:55Z")
[QUOTE=crazyjoe] Kyla, I appreciate how hard it is to get stuff in Bulgaria, as I have a cousin who was in Sofia working for the Peace Corps. I’d be happy to send you a book if you have an address I could send it to. [/QUOTE] reeeeealllllyyyy? hmmmmm… No, seriously, we’re joining the EU in a couple weeks now so I think things will get better. And, someday in the possibly distant future, the M bag of books my mom shipped me will arrive. (Since my mom only hears what she wants to hear, she thought it would take 6 weeks. No, mom, that’s 6 \months\.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/76 "2006-12-11T18:39:01Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Because when Americans don’t ship overseas, it’s parochial and xenophobic. When European online retailers don’t ship outside of the EU, it’s because of a reasoned, rational, well-thought out policy to reduce costs and limit fraud. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Anybody who sees credit card fraud as a matter of US & Canada vs Rest Of World is being parochial. If you find an EU website openly admitting the policy you describe, please share. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/77 "2006-12-11T21:04:23Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] reeeeealllllyyyy? hmmmmm… No, seriously, we’re joining the EU in a couple weeks now so I think things will get better. And, someday in the possibly distant future, the M bag of books my mom shipped me will arrive. (Since my mom only hears what she wants to hear, she thought it would take 6 weeks. No, mom, that’s 6 \months\.) [/QUOTE] The offer’s open. E-mail’s in the profile. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/78 "2006-12-11T22:10:55Z")
I don’t even understand the problem here. If the company thought it was profitable to ship overseas, I imagine they would. Obviously, they don’t think it’s profitable or it’s too much hassle, so they don’t. I’m not going to be insulted if an online retailer in Munich won’t ship goods here, so why should I care if the converse is true? A business is not required to service all 6.5+ billion people in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/79 "2006-12-11T23:11:24Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] I don’t even understand the problem here. (…) I’m not going to be insulted if an online retailer in Munich won’t ship goods here [/QUOTE] “International orders: We only ship to Germany. Due to an extremely high volume of fraudulent orders from foreign countries, we can no longer afford to accept orders from over seas. We understand that there are people across the pond that want to be random too and we’re really sorry. We hope in the future to be able to ship internationally again, but for now sorry. Those mean people with stolen credit cards ruined it for everyone!” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521/80 "2006-12-11T23:25:28Z")
[QUOTE=Fish Cheer] “International orders: We only ship to Germany. Due to an extremely high volume of fraudulent orders from foreign countries, we can no longer afford to accept orders from over seas. We understand that there are people across the pond that want to be random too and we’re really sorry. We hope in the future to be able to ship internationally again, but for now sorry. Those mean people with stolen credit cards ruined it for everyone!” [/QUOTE] And so? Their business decision. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-only-ship-to-the-us-and-canada/383521.md?page=5)