Post to Russian Federation?

soolin

I have the Russian Federation currently blocked as my stuff was taking weeks to arrive there (assuming it arrived at all). I now have a Russian buyer begging me to let him bid on a £20 item and I feel awful at keep turning him down.

Anyone here sell regularly to Russia and if so has the situation with post got better?

martindow

I've not sent anything there recently but I do see that carriers who a while ago were not accepting parcels to Russia now do so. This does imply that there may be fewer problems than there were.

ste1234

I don't sell things to Russia but have had to send various documents there in the past. I only used DHL's service (which was recommended from the Russian end) and all documents arrived safely usually in around four/five days. Some were large letter and some packet size.

If you do go with DHL make sure you get their non-EU rate to charge your customer, I initially made this mistake! I would say, as you know, there is a risk posting to Russia (especially outside of Moscow/St P) but check insurance/claim terms etc - might be ok if things go wrong with DHL.

Kayster

I send small items via RM airmail small packet and it usually arrives but it regularly takes over two months - fortunately most Russian buyers allow for this. When i was at the post office last week I was told RM no longer accept parcels to PO boxes in Russia because the loss rate is unsustainable.
I had to stop using couriers last year as they would only deliver to business addresses but i have not tried recently.This was after the parcel had been collected from me and was then returned to me before it left the UK. My problem then was my customer refused to believe I could not deliver and things got a little delicate.

soolin

thank you for the responses. I do prefer to only use RM, but will email the buyer and see what we can arrange here.

EDIT: Kayster, that had been my issue before, which was why I blocked them. I had things take 12 weeks and then had to faff around trying to arrange for payment again as I had already refunded.

porto_bello

For the sake of a single sale, I'd avoid Russia.

At best, it'll take forever to arrive undamaged. At worst it'll be a regrettable tale of a INR or SNAD and associated feedback and DSR damage. [Though not sure if DSRs from a Russian buyer count towards the average].

The only time in recent years I've dealt with Russia has been when the buyer provided a UK address and added this as their Paypal address, so the transaction was between myself and the buyer's UK based 3rd party address, with items sent 'signed for' or 'special delivery'.

PS Sorry to be so pessimistic, but for most sellers, it doesn't take many bad transactions to take your DSR and Feedback average into dangerous territory!

worbikeman

I use RM, never had any problems so far touch wood on probably a dozen or more sales to Moscow and Ukraine.

PoorCharleyBear

I had a Russian buyer for a 99p item, but the postage costs were GBP 10.00 without tracking (through RM) as Russia does not have an arrangement with RM to track parcels and most couriers wanted a kings ransom. The buyer was not happy but still paid the postage as she wanted the item. The hassle was not worth it and have excluded all Russia.

soolin

Thanks again.

I have decided not to allow the bidder as I think the item will go well, and may make more than I thought anyway and I would prefer it to go to a country where my losses were lower.