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Best way to send box to Lake Chapala


Denise

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It may cost more than the value of the contents, or could vanish at customs if it is used clothing.  It may not be worth the gamble.  Can it wait until you visit; or he does?

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We had a case here recently where the friend of a dying local woman was trying to get her wedding dress sent here to honor a last request.  None of the shippers would handle it because of Mexican customs.  She was trying to find someone to carry the dress (just a regular dress, not one of those big frilly ones) and I never heard how this turned out.  

There's a reason for the local cottage industry here where people go to the U.S. border and bring stuff back personally.  Having a recent shipment from Amazon rejected by customs for no justifiable reason has convinced us we'll continue to get stuff here the old fashioned way, bring it ourselves or have friends bring it or use one of these services.  

Not only did they completely misidentify our shipment of items for a fish pond (I guess they weren't persuaded by the pictures of fish on the packages), they made some ridiculous requirement that a $100 order required an importers license.  Import specialist told me that was complete nonsense.

Just FYI, DHL and Amazon totally dropped the ball here, failing to notify us of the incorrect customs specification or the illegal requirement until our stuff ended up being sent back to Amazon.  They refunded our money but we didn't place the order in the first place because we wanted to end up with a refund.  Their customer service response was pathetic.

 

 

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In 2013 we sent 2 boxes, each slightly over 70 pounds, with mainly kitchen stuff, sheets and used clothing from Houston to PV. We used Estafeta USA and their price included any import duty, etc. They arrived here in one week with no problems at Customs. We continue to use their service probably about every other month. We have never had a problem and never been charged more than the initial quote. We continue to receive all kinds of items Amazon says do not ship to Mexico.We get it to Mariana in Houston and she gets it to us. Once some meds from India get delivered we will be getting our latest box which will be close to 40 pounds on its way probably next week. Looking forward to my new instant pot. We routinely buy used clothing on eBay and have never had a problem.

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Actually pappys, the range of experiences reported on this matter just confirms it is still a crap shoot.

As noted earlier, there's a reason for the local cottage industry of fetching stuff from the border, there's a reason many go there personally to shop and bring stuff  back and there's a reason we ask our visiting friends to bring stuff for us with them.  I've had 50 percent experience with ordering from Amazon now, not nearly enough of a percentage to justify relying on the much more certain and already established process.

The item that got through cost me 25% more than it would have if I picked it up in Texas.

I wish Amazon luck in operating profitably in this environment.  In a low margin business like they are in, it doesn't take much at all of this sort of thing to wipe out any profits.  They probably lost a good $40 or more on my $100 order which included "free" shipping.  I'll wager DHL charged them to haul the stuff back up north even though IMO DHL was very much at fault here.

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It has become obvious that Customs at airports are much more likely to be a problem than at the land crossings. Estafeta uses all land shipping so perhaps that's why we have never had a problem when using them. I gave up on ordering direct from Amazon almost 2 years ago as my success rate was about that of MC. Now everything goes to U S Global Mail in Houston and they hold it, repack it in one box when we ask them to, and send it to Estafeta USA and Mariana gives us a price and we give her a CC number and so far no problems. Much cheaper than a run to the border.

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Very good information Pappys, thanks for posting it.  

Could you describe in greater detail just how you do this?  Who is Marianna?  How does it get from U.S. Global Mail to Estefeta USA and what is the cost of this arrangement including repackaging?

Gracias!

 

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