( 
)Just a Quick Note to Anyone who sells Coins or other "Numismatic Objects". Recently I listed a Very Rare Romanian Gold and Silver Proof set that was won by a Buyer in Romania. Although I had it listed for Domestic sales only, 99% of the 10 bidders or so were Romanian. The Buyer, who paid quite a bit over my reserve, really wanted these Proofs and offered as much as was necessary to ship these to him in Romania.So, instead of looking into shipping rates and rules, I simply said Yes and he sent his payment via paypal.Then the Nightmare Began, First, I tried USPS Global Express, Filled out all the Customs Forms and took it up top the Post office, where I was advised That the post office Prohibits overseas shipments of Coins.I then tried UPS, Fed-ex etc.all said the same thing, Why? because Romania Outright Prohibits Coins from entering the Country. So,with a Heavy Heart (I really got a good profit on these Proofs), I informed the Buyer that I was going to have to Return His Payment, But wait! Paypal Doesn't allow Payments to be Made to Romania, just from Romania.So, Now i'm stuck with the Proofs and this guy's payment and I can't get either one Back to him.We emailed each other for awhile trying to come to a Solution, maybe wording the customs forms differently etc. but nothing was going to work. Finally after some extremely good Luck, He remembered a friend of his in the US who could bring the coins when he visited romania next year. So I sent the Proofs to his Friend and that was the end of that.The Moral of this Story? If your thinking about Going "Global" with your sales. Find out all the information you can before selling anything to anybody overseas.There is so much Red Tape on some Items that it would seem that, Instead of shipping simple coins, you were shipping an Aircraft Carrier or Something.Some Countries rules are Straight and to the point While other are Downright Ridiculous.
Guide created: 09/23/07 (updated 07/23/09)
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