Tales of discogs derring-do

["BING E BONG"]

Just joined. Some fella in Australia offered me 40 quid for my Children of Nuggets box. I'm happy to send, but what sort of packaging? Plain brown paper on a box like that? How much shipping do I charge? And what's this about customs forms?

[rayge]

Jan 17, 2020 9:35:40 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

Just joined. Some fella in Australia offered me 40 quid for my Children of Nuggets box. I'm happy to send, but what sort of packaging? Plain brown paper on a box like that? How much shipping do I charge? And what's this about customs forms?

Plain brown paper won't really do on that, not international. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions of the box, but if I'm sending box sets, the method I've found works best is to wrap the box securely in corrugated cardboard - just cut up an old cardboard box – with tape and put it in a padded envelope of the right size and use some FRAGILE printed white tape to secure it.
 As for shipping charges, you need to go to the Post Office and pick up a copy of their prices guide (they will also let you have some customs forms and some Air Mail stickers). If you haven't got a weighing machine to hand, take the box to the PO with you and weigh it along with the envelope and some cardboard to get an accurate measure. Something this valuable, it might be worth sending it tracked and signed (or just tracked, I don't think T&S is available to Oz), although when you set the price, you should send the buyer a message giving them the option of just getting it by straight airmail at a lesser price providing they accept the risk of it going astray. Australia is more expensive than almost anywhere else (Rest of the World 2 group) anyway.
On the customs form, be sure to describe the contents as a second-hand box set, and tick the 'other' box.
And you didn't ask for advice on this, but I'm giving it anyway. When you send the invoice, send a message thanking them for the order, telling them which shipping method you've chosen and suggesting alternatives they might try, and signing it with your name, to let them know they are dealing with a person, not an organization: my standard reply goes something like

Hi, And thanks for the order. I have set shipping for standard Air Mail, If you would prefer Tracked and Signed, let me know and I will add £4.30 to the invoice.
Best wishes
John Coan

When they pay, thank them and tell them when you are going to post it, and when you do post it, send them another message along the lines of

Sent this morning. Hope you enjoy it. Any problems with my packaging, grades or descriptions, please contact me before leaving feedback. Thanks again for the order.
All best
John C

And leave feedback when you send it.
Best of luck. Nice selection of records btw.
This is my lot
www.discogs.com/seller/dyinglight/profile

["BING E BONG"]

Great - thanks a lot, Ray.

[nolamike]

I've started going through and cataloguing my entire collection. I don't really see myself trying to sell anything any time soon, but it's fun to go through and see what I have, and also prevent myself from accidentally buying duplicates (a real problem with 7"s).

["BING E BONG"]

Couple more questions before sending - do I include a note in with the box? all invoicing etc. is done via discogs on their site, right? so there's no need to put a paper invoice in? (I don't have a printer at home anyway)

And do you take payment before shipping? what's standard practice?

Thanks!

[Deleted]

When selling I think you're meant to include the invoice, but I tend not to bother unless it's a bulk buy. No one has asked me for one yet.

I use this website for estimating costs and finding couriers.
www.parcel2go.com

["BING E BONG"]

Just weighed the parcel at the PO and they said it would cost £18.60 for either tracked or signed shipping to Australia. And then there's tax on top of that.

We'll see if this fella is still interested.

[Deleted]

Jan 20, 2020 13:16:29 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

Just weighed the parcel at the PO and they said it would cost £18.60 for either tracked or signed shipping to Australia. And then there's tax on top of that.

We'll see if this fella is still interested.

Royal Mail tend to be on the expensive end of international shipping I've found.

[rayge]

Jan 20, 2020 12:42:57 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

Couple more questions before sending - do I include a note in with the box? all invoicing etc. is done via discogs on their site, right? so there's no need to put a paper invoice in? (I don't have a printer at home anyway)

And do you take payment before shipping? what's standard practice?

Thanks!

I never include an invoice. And you should never, ever send anything until the payment is in your paypal account, or whatever.

[rayge]

Jan 20, 2020 13:16:29 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

Just weighed the parcel at the PO and they said it would cost £18.60 for either tracked or signed shipping to Australia. And then there's tax on top of that.

We'll see if this fella is still interested.

Don't forget to add on packaging costs. Just invoice him and send a message saying how the costs break down and offering him the chance to pull out if he likes: if he has any sort of experience on discogs, he'll know how this works. I've never had anyone balk at paying the postage to Oz.

["BING E BONG"]

Thanks Ray. I would have thought he'd have been able to pick this thing up for much less, closer to home - looks like he might be out in the sticks. But 65 quid for something I picked up for 30 quid NEW just a few years ago is a bit steep!

[Deleted]

Jan 20, 2020 13:40:53 GMT "BING E BONG" said:

Thanks Ray. I would have thought he'd have been able to pick this thing up for much less, closer to home - looks like he might be out in the sticks. But 65 quid for something I picked up for 30 quid NEW just a few years ago is a bit steep!

You'd be surprised what people will pay for something. I've shipped things where the cost of the shipping has been three times that of the value of what's being shipped.

["BING E BONG"]

Nice that the crazy people in the world work for OUR benefit sometimes, G!

[Half Machine Lipschitz]

I assume it's out of print. Someone's selling the same box for $360CAD on Amazon. That's about £210.

[Half Machine Lipschitz]

Not that they'll get that, of course...