Suggestions needed for shipping of records to India

[Shylo]

What is a cost effective and reliable/safe way of shipping records to India from Europe/US ?

Whoever has sourced records from abroad, kindly advise. I was planning to buy some records from Discogs and wanted to understand this bit better. Also, wanted to know if the Seller on Discog would be open to my specific inputs on shipping

Cheers

 

[haisaikat]

Usually sellers on discogs provide variety of shipping options as part of their listing which you should read thoroughly. From my personal experience, it is good to have them shipped with tracking options as they are more reliable. Normally 2 to 3 weeks of time through ordinary post is okay since discog sellers pack very nicely in card board envelopes that are hard to bent unintentionally. But even the ones shipped with tracking options (from seller) may land up in ordinary post when it enters India. So what I did is to avoid the leaving-at-doorstep delivery I asked our postman to hand it over in person and in return Rs 10 per delivery as "baksheesh", worked like a charm.

 

[Shylo]

Thanks :thumbsup: haisaikat for the info. Will bear the same in mind while ordering

 

[peace_sells]

The most reliable way to buy from discogs is to make sure that the seller has a very high/good feedback percentage (atleast 95%). He'll do his best not to disappoint you. That means he will pack it well, ship it on time & communicate appropriately.

Now buying from Europe..Germany, France, Poland..sellers from these 3 Eu countries offer the most economical shipping rates. Whereas Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Italy sellers..very high shipping rates!

As far as giving suggestions to the seller about packing..most sellers take that into consideration. You can talk it out. If the seller simply refuses to tailor his packaging style, don't force. If the guy has good feedback he will make sure that he packs it well.

One more thing: some sellers might ask you to make the payment outside discogs. Meaning they would simply send you a paypal invoice of the agreed amount and expect a payment from you. There would be no order ID created on discogs. Do NOT agree to do this unless you know the seller very well personally. There are some sadists out there in this world that simply love to cause trouble.

 

[Shylo]

Thanks a ton peace_sells !!! That was very informative and helpful. Will bear in mind. I just placed two orders -- one with with a Canadian seller and another with a US seller. Both had excellent review scores. Infact the Canadian seller had a 100% score !!

Will trouble you if I need any further inputs

Cheerio

The most reliable way to buy from discogs is to make sure that the seller has a very high/good feedback percentage (atleast 95%). He'll do his best not to disappoint you. That means he will pack it well, ship it on time & communicate appropriately.

Nfow buying from Europe..Germany, France, Poland..sellers from these 3 Eu countries offer the most economical shipping rates. Whereas Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Italy sellers..very high shipping rates!

As far as giving suggestions to the seller about packing..most sellers take that into consideration. You can talk it out. If the seller simply refuses to tailor his packaging style, don't force. If the guy has good feedback he will make sure that he packs it well.

One more thing: some sellers might ask you to make the payment outside discogs. Meaning they would simply send you a paypal invoice of the agreed amount and expect a payment from you. There would be no order ID created on discogs. Do NOT agree to do this unless you know the seller very well personally. There are some sadists out there in this world that simply love to cause trouble.

 

[reubensm]

The best buys come from Germany. Shipping is usually by DHL but delivery is by India Post in India. My postman is known to us and calls up and asks us to collect from the nearby Post office. Shipping costs are also low compared to UK/Australia and definitely much lower than the US/Canada. Sellers in Germany have to adhere to strict rules on online selling and their stuff is often in top shape. The tricky thing is most of them are quite sensitive about paypal fees hence ensure that you talk about that aspect before sealing the deal (if you intend to pay by paypal).