So a very stupid ebay dealer sent me some switches that were not as advertised. I am returning them. They were fairly expensive, being code (BCD) switches. Anyway, USPS wants $9 to return them to Taiwan. This is the lowest cost service with no insurance or delivery confirmation. It's $3 for documents, but $9 for merchandise of any kind. There is no way the vendor paid anything like that. I have gotten international shipments for $3 shipping included. Why is the cost this asymmetrical? And more importantly, should I just change my packaging and claim it to be documents? 
"Why is the cost this asymmetrical?" It's a rip, isn't it!
To send to Taiwan you have to fill out an export form and hand the package to a post office employee. Will they ask you "Is this a document?" Who knows, seems to vary by who you hand the package too.
If they happen to X-ray it, switches don't look like documents.
And more importantly, should I just change my packaging and claim it to be documents?
Hum, does that subject you to come kind of Federal crime if they were to discover otherwise? Sounds like penny wise pound foolish to me. 
Lefty
retrolefty:
And more importantly, should I just change my packaging and claim it to be documents?
Hum, does that subject you to come kind of Federal crime if they were to discover otherwise? Sounds like penny wise pound foolish to me.
Lefty
Depends on what the meaning of "documents" is. The switches encode data based on their position. I surely thought that made it a document. Right now it documents exactly 25 zeros. ] How is this so different that writing down 25 zeros on a piece of paper? ]
P.S. We rarely prosecute people for lying on gun forms in this country.
I'm assuming subsidies are involved somewhere. Big companies get a preferred rate, and we get to pay for it. It always shocks people when they ask me ship a 15lb prop internationally, and I have to inform them that USPS shipping costs $70, UPS costs $150, and FedEx costs $190. Yet they can have a $30 Ikea chair mailed to them for free through amazon prime.
JoeN:
P.S. We rarely prosecute people for lying on gun forms in this country.
I highly doubt that. I "failed" a background check because I put "ME" instead of "Maine" on the form in the address field.
I highly doubt that. I "failed" a background check because I put "ME" instead of "Maine" on the form in the address field.
Failing the check is not the same thing as being prosecuted for a crime. I watched CPAN last week where a justice department attorney testified in a House hearing that in 2012 they had around 40 prosecutions as the result of failed background checks where many thousands of failed checks. They said the success rate of winning such prosecutions is so low (they have to prove intent, difficult he said) that they don't spend much of their limited budget going after the people trying to scam or lie on the background check.
wizdum:
JoeN:
P.S. We rarely prosecute people for lying on gun forms in this country.I highly doubt that. I "failed" a background check because I put "ME" instead of "Maine" on the form in the address field.
And they didn't prosecute you. Did they?
JoeN:
wizdum:
JoeN:
P.S. We rarely prosecute people for lying on gun forms in this country.I highly doubt that. I "failed" a background check because I put "ME" instead of "Maine" on the form in the address field.
And they didn't prosecute you. Did they?
And I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up on that list. The system is working as intended, 80,000 people were denied access to firearms because they had a criminal record, but checked the "I do not have a criminal record" box, right after putting in their full name, address, and SSN. We already lead the world in incarcerated persons per capita, how about we dont start jailing people for typos.
wizdum:
JoeN:
wizdum:
JoeN:
P.S. We rarely prosecute people for lying on gun forms in this country.I highly doubt that. I "failed" a background check because I put "ME" instead of "Maine" on the form in the address field.
And they didn't prosecute you. Did they?
And I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up on that list. The system is working as intended, 80,000 people were denied access to firearms because they had a criminal record, but checked the "I do not have a criminal record" box, right after putting in their full name, address, and SSN. We already lead the world in incarcerated persons per capita, how about we dont start jailing people for typos.
Your numbers look about right. The fact that this is almost never prosecuted, which I stated, is also correct. Just found this today:
With that said, another problem with UBC's would be enforcement. How would the government go about policing private firearm transactions? This follows the same hypothetical enforcement problem as straw purchasing, where one person buys a firearm with the intent of providing that firearm to someone who cannot legally purchase one himself or herself. If we keep in mind that the prosecution of known background check fraud is lax, where the FBI reported in 2009 that out of 71,000 cases only 77 were prosecuted, law enforcement will need to come up with better techniques to enforce laws regarding UBC's and straw purchasing.
So, my guess is that if I had reported those switches as documents, my chance of being prosecuted would have been even less than 1 in 1,000. And who knows what percentage of those prosecutions result in a conviction. Like I said, I misunderstood the question. Stupid me.
Anyway, I kept the switches. I will find a project for them someday.
And I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up on that list. The system is working as intended, 80,000 people were denied access to firearms because they had a criminal record, but checked the "I do not have a criminal record" box, right after putting in their full name, address, and SSN. We already lead the world in incarcerated persons per capita, how about we dont start jailing people for typos.
Part of the law that created the Federal background check system is that no permanent records could be kept for any transactions taking place, so that it couldn't be used as a 'gun registry database'. They have to erase all transactions within 24 or 48 hours or something along those lines. So I strongly suspect your not on any list for having 'failed' the background check.
Just to be clear the process is go to a gun shop, want to buy a gun, they check with the system, it gives a go/no go response and a day or two later the transaction is erased so they don't know if a gun was really purchased or not and if so who bought it. Really not sure if they might save the 'failed' responses or not but I suspect for only the serious reasons for failing (prior criminal history, etc) not typos on the State.
Lefty
Back to original topic, here is international shipping rate:
Weight (ounces) Weight (Lb) 1 Canada 2 Mexico 3-5 4-6
1 0.06 $6.55 $6.55 $6.55 $6.55
2 0.13 $6.55 $6.55 $6.55 $6.55
3 0.19 $7.35 $8.85 $9.45 $9.15
4 0.25 $7.35 $8.85 $9.45 $9.15
5 0.31 $8.55 $11.55 $12.75 $12.15
6 0.38 $8.55 $11.55 $12.75 $12.15
7 0.44 $8.55 $11.55 $12.75 $12.15
8 0.50 $8.55 $11.55 $12.75 $12.15
12 0.75 $9.15 $13.50 $14.90 $14.30
16 1.00 $10.55 $15.05 $16.75 $16.25
20 1.25 $11.95 $16.60 $18.60 $18.20
24 1.50 $13.35 $18.15 $20.45 $20.15
28 1.75 $14.75 $19.70 $22.30 $22.10
32 2.00 $16.15 $21.25 $24.15 $24.05
36 2.25 $17.55 $22.80 $26.00 $26.00
40 2.50 $18.95 $24.35 $27.85 $27.95
44 2.75 $20.35 $25.90 $29.70 $29.90
48 3.00 $21.75 $27.45 $31.55 $31.85
52 3.25 $23.15 $29.00 $33.40 $33.80
56 3.50 $24.55 $30.55 $35.25 $35.75
60 3.75 $25.95 $32.10 $37.10 $37.70
64 4.00 $27.35 $33.65 $38.95 $39.65
Excuse the formatting failed on the first few lines. I'm looking at $12.75 for shipping most of my 5 oz weight kits to most parts of the world, UK, Belgium, Russia, India, Australia, New Zealand, Romania, Germany, etc. It's pretty depressing to see such high rates.
liudr:
Back to original topic, here is international shipping rate:Excuse the formatting failed on the first few lines. I'm looking at $12.75 for shipping most of my 5 oz weight kits to most parts of the world, UK, Belgium, Russia, India, Australia, New Zealand, Romania, Germany, etc. It's pretty depressing to see such high rates.
Especially when it is crystal clear they are not paying anything close to those rates.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370488023521
What do you think the shipping cost is out of the total $5 price for this product?
I've looked at buying some part from a USA supplier (a sensor or a board that would weigh practically nothing). Then at checkout they want to add on something like $30 or $40 for shipping (by mail, not priority courier). This is crazy.
Then I found a frequency counter on eBay for under $90. Plus, free shipping! So, guess who got the business?
And yes the frequency counter arrived intact, and it works.
A quick recheck shows that things might have improved a bit. The cheapest shipping is now more like $7 to $12 (depending on supplier, for the same thing). They must have responded to complaints. I think possibly they only offered "expedited" shipping before, thinking that is what customers want. However I don't want to pay $50 to ship a Uno board to my house.
Here is how much a regular package goes from China post:
If I sent my phi-2 20X4 kit (5 oz) from China to USA/rest of world, I spend around $6, half of what I pay if I send it from USA to China/rest of world. So before USPS price hike they were in par. This is what a typical person pays. As far as I know, China post is also doing very poorly, due to internet (no one is writing letters anymore), and lots of private local and regional deliver services, even private international ones, through which most these free shipping packages go. You will find an NY or CA address on the package cause the package was shipped to NY or CA distribution centers and then cheaply shipped to you via USPS (commercial rate, not our rate).
You also can't exclude some sellers trying to make themselves good names by charging too little.
liudr:
Here is how much a regular package goes from China post:If I sent my phi-2 20X4 kit (5 oz) from China to USA/rest of world, I spend around $6, half of what I pay if I send it from USA to China/rest of world. So before USPS price hike they were in par. This is what a typical person pays. As far as I know, China post is also doing very poorly, due to internet (no one is writing letters anymore), and lots of private local and regional deliver services, even private international ones, through which most these free shipping packages go. You will find an NY or CA address on the package cause the package was shipped to NY or CA distribution centers and then cheaply shipped to you via USPS (commercial rate, not our rate).
You also can't exclude some sellers trying to make themselves good names by charging too little.
OK, I really wonder how they get these small packages of parts to the USA for $4-$5 then. I'm only too willing to buy them. Never had any problem with resistors, capacitors, LEDs, voltage regulators, EPM240s, MAX7219s, etc. or the other bits and pieces I have received from China and Taiwan.