RepGuide #6 – International Shipping Extras

Shipping is such a big topic that we bring you a second part, that’s a bit shorter to spice it up. Another part of international shipping that’s independent from the shipping service of your choice are so called value-added services. They are available for all carriers. These options can make your shipments safer and cheaper.

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Declared Value

The declared value is an arbitrary number you choose. Wegobuy/Superbuy will split your different items so their prices to add up to the declared value. The declared value is noted on the commercial invoice, a printed sheet attached to your parcel. If you have too many items for it to be plausible they’ll leave out items. Customs will look at this invoice. 22$ is recommended if you want to ship now without reading the next guide.

We will tell you more about customs in the next episode

Free Extra Services

Free services only remove stuff from your parcel. Both of these two options are worth considering if your country is tough on customs.

Package removal removes shoe boxes and other containers. It’s a way to reduce shipping costs.

Brand tag removal removes the outside tags, not the collar tags.

Value-added Services

Wegobuy value added services are charged options that change how your parcel is shipped. Most of these are easy to understand, for instance gift wrap or wood box. You have to check value-added services in the package details to expand this section.

We strongly recommend using Moist Barrier Bags, this plastic wrap costs <$1 and provide more security to your parcel and make it less likely to be inspected. You can also easily tell if your parcel was opened.

Coupons & Credits

There are numerous ways to get coupons. The easiest is to use the link above to sign up (only possible with new accounts). You get credits for your future shopping sprees after receiving a parcel.

Always use as many coupons and credits as you can. They grant you a fixed price discount, not a percentage, so there is no reason to wait for a bigger order. Some also expire.

Insurance

Is Insurance necessary? Definitely notis not necessary and not recommended, to make it short.

We used to buy insurance ourselves because it was cheap and the rate was small in comparison to the amount insured. But when looking at all the facts from the Superbuy service page, there is no reason to buy insurance.

Insurance only covers lost parcels that cannot be found after a month, due to natural disasters, failure on superbuy’s end and similar events. It does NOT cover parcels confiscated by legal authorities. We’ve never had a case ourselves or heard of a case where a parcel was lost and insurance covered it. In an event like this, Superbuy also covers parcels for free anyways (although the amount you get is smaller if you didn’t have insurance).

The only positive effect we can imagine is that we felt like it might give us preferred service and leverage in case something happened, but this has not been tested.