Shipping Perfume

[Diamondflame]

Notice how UK customs officers are smelling better these days...?

[lpp]

And, presumably, their partners!

[portugal]

myself i have 3 bad news to give regarding lost shippings:

1st shipping from cheapsmells.com (uk store) to Malta. Shipped out on the 25th january and never arrived >( in the meantime they simply cancelled all international shippings of perfumes

2nd feelunique.com - actually it was 2 items: 1 shampoo and 1 spray for her hair - shipped out on the 29th also never arrived

3rd case some perfumes from a seller in the US - item left USA on the 7th and never arrived.... usually would arrive within a week

so basically 3 out of 3 lost packages... hope you can be luckier than me

Hi just to give some good news... the package from feelunique.com with the shampoo and the spray for my gf finally arrived...

nevertheless the perfumes from cheapsmells.com and the one from the USA seller didnt arrive yet...

[sroreilly]

Hmmm... on the 8th I placed an order from Germany to the US. I have the tracking and they used DHL... should I be worried that it hasn't arrived yet? Also according to tracking it hasn't scanned into the US yet either...

[Sylver]

I have lost orders (and refunded) from cheapsmells.com and feelunique.com, both retailers from UK.

I just ordered on 11th February from fragrancedirect.co.uk and i was expecting another delivery failure. To my surprise, it has arrived yesterday. But with a different path, i see a label on the box from Hungarian Post-office, before arriving to my country. Never happened before and its not logic either, but it did arrive in several days, so it was not a wrong sending (that would of caused a high delay until reaching the destination). Perhaps they figured out some other way to send to Hungary and from there to different european countries, i dont know...; the bad part is that compared to other retailers, fragrancedirect offers a low selection of fragrances, even for designer brands.

[david]

Hmmm... on the 8th I placed an order from Germany to the US. I have the tracking and they used DHL... should I be worried that it hasn't arrived yet? Also according to tracking it hasn't scanned into the US yet either...

I wouldn't worry at this stage, but I would make inquiries.

I dug up an old basenotes thread, (I think it was from 2006 ?) regarding perfumes no longer being allowed to be shipped to US military bases worldwide.
This really makes me think that these new enforcements are very much to do with terrorist attempts to send bombs, (pehaps in liquid form) by disguising them as fragrance.

[hednic]

Hmmm... on the 8th I placed an order from Germany to the US. I have the tracking and they used DHL... should I be worried that it hasn't arrived yet? Also according to tracking it hasn't scanned into the US yet either...

I wouldn't worry but I'd be a bit concerned. I received an order as recently as Friday of last week from Italy from an Ebay member who used DHL Express and it arrived in two days passing through Belgium on the way to DHL's Cinncinati hub. Customs cleared in an hour according to the time log. I'm sure it's fine.

[PalmBeach]

Hmmm... on the 8th I placed an order from Germany to the US. I have the tracking and they used DHL... should I be worried that it hasn't arrived yet? Also according to tracking it hasn't scanned into the US yet either...

DHL Paket is absolutely awful. I placed an order with First in Fragrance on 12/10/12, shipped on 12/11/12 via DHL Paket (which is Deutsche Post). Package sat in Germany until 1/7/13. Once it finally arrived in the US, it took less than an hour to clear customs, but another three days before they finally handed off the package to USPS in Miami. Once USPS received the package, I had in two days.

Now, several packages shipped by Colissimo out of France, took three days to arrive in US and was delivered by USPS within 5 days of receipt in US.

[slider17]

i received two packages yesterday, one from France and the other from the US.
All good.

Maison Francis labelled their goods as "Press Kit", which i thought was a good idea.

I think atm its just the UK that are playing hard ball.

edit: just received another package today from France!
Damn! Heeley parfums really know how to make a beautiful sample box!

[Paul P]

I ordered Rive Gauche Pour Homme and Encre Noire from eBay - even though the seller and item was supposedly in California, the box came from Germany, and had the stickers attached as shown. i've never seen these stickers before. As an aside, I've never had any issues receiving perfumes, from Australia or overseas, and I sincerely hope that continues.

[rum]

Here we go again.... another fabulous way to run an otherwise superb industry into the ground.

[mumsy]

It's a conspiracy plot from the larger perfume houses to stop niche perfumers taking over the world.....

[portugal]

its good news to see that some of you have been receiving your packages...

[Marais]

I just received a parcel from Germany, labelled 'Priority' and sent via Deutsche Post (Luftpost). No evidence of customs tampering. Although not labelled as perfume.

[lpp]

http://www.basenotes.net/threads/324...rity-Shipments



& guys, not encouraging law-breaking in any way, but please remember that these pages may be viewed by anyone with an internet connection, so you may not be doing your suppliers any favours by naming them!

[SherpaPsy]

I am thinking perfume mules will start to pop up, I'd be happy to do it if I was travelling further than from Worcester to London and back once a week.

[Livingdead]

This is a bloody joke. Now it is no different from being back home in Malaysia where the customs and post offices are absolutely rubbish. How wrong for me to even think otherwise.

[lpp]

@ SherpaPsy - Hehe - 'perfume mules' .

[SherpaPsy]

@ SherpaPsy - Hehe - 'perfume mules' .

Its not so far out of the realm of possibility. I have a lot of expat friends from the US/UK and Canada in Puerto Vallarta, they are always getting things brought down to them.

[nelbert]

In the past few weeks I've sent samples to various countries in Europe, varying in size from 1-30mls, and the folks who've bothered to reply to me have said their samples arrived fine. There are a few Post Offices near me and I've found one where the staff dont bother asking me what's inside anymore...when they did I told them it was computer/usb sticks - its not like its being recorded/written down anywhere. Sonner or later I possibly will have a shipment stopped/refused or whatever.
Has something changed with planes recently or am I missing something coz it seems like business as usual and I'm sure it will quieten down soon. The delays to international mail if every single item of post is to be scrutinized will be horrific

[lpp]

Sorry, meant 2 post stats on the USPS thread.

- - - Updated - - -

Its not so far out of the realm of possibility. I have a lot of expat friends from the US/UK and Canada in Puerto Vallarta, they are always getting things brought down to them.

& don't forget the Channel Tunnel commuters.

[david]

Sorry, meant 2 post stats on the USPS thread.

- - - Updated - - -




& don't forget the Channel Tunnel commuters.

In future it will be known as the "Chanel" Tunnel.

[lpp]

In future it will be known as the "Chanel" Tunnel.

Hehe

[mumsy]

Is anyone here a computer boffin? What about volunteers all around the world who offer to do a short trip within their own area so we make our own perfume post like pass the parcel only really big time?

I often travel from Oxford to London for instance. An hours drive and could pass frags either way.

We would need to map out the whole world like that, almost like a blood supply except ours is frags. How we make sure everyone is honest though is another matter. It may have to be samples only or be tracked by an app on phones. All possible.

The penny post began like that.

[lpp]

If u gather the participants, then work out the sequence it should be fine!
So many people commute distances these days, inc. the Tunnel.

New thread?

Volunteers @ given points/agreed times 4 exchanges

Only problem could be rail/road delays/people needing to attend work/meetings, so no waiting.

& you'd need to really trust all concerned as one fail would break the chain.

[kbe]

My understanding is that First Class mail could travel by plane as well as truck or train. First class, parcel post or media mail is on a space available basis for air transit. If there is room with the priority mail and air mail other mail just maybe will be transported by air, if not it will be transported by surface. It's at the USPS discretion.

But....if you identify it at the post office at send-off and the postal worker marks it hazardous then it will NOT be sent via air even if the opportunity arises.

[CologneFan85]

Postal service is too paranoid this is stupid

[Paul P]

Postal service is too paranoid this is stupid

If I have understood correctly the things I've read, the various government postal services are not the problem. The various Aviation authorities are also not the problem. The real problem appears to be the Universal Postal Union, that seems to be pushing for this very strongly. The UPU is the worldwide UN "department" that controls the postal services (provided they are signatories to it, and most western countries are signatories). The UPU puts out a directive, and the signatories have to fall in line and obey. That's my understanding.

[voidvader]

I think (and expect) that nothing changes for the small buyers as us. I will notice the example of litium batteries that were strictly regulated few months ago. All the sellers from USA told me the rule was just for heavy importers. They can´t analise all small boxes, it´s not feasible. Maybe its also prudent declare the products as "beauty products".

[mumsy]

If I have understood correctly the things I've read, the various government postal services are not the problem. The various Aviation authorities are also not the problem. The real problem appears to be the Universal Postal Union, that seems to be pushing for this very strongly. The UPU is the worldwide UN "department" that controls the postal services (provided they are signatories to it, and most western countries are signatories). The UPU puts out a directive, and the signatories have to fall in line and obey. That's my understanding.

This is the real crux of the matter... where has this come from and why out of the blue and so fast? What has been the trigger for all this? Why no national publicity? It isn't just perfumes, but loads of things.

I was talking to an historic builders supplier yesterday who ships stuff around the world. He was unaware of anything at all and was horrified. They ship strippers and varnishes and paints... all sorts of things. This just isn't good for anyone. I'm sure we will find that the cause is a stupid pen pusher in a Union office who has no idea of the ramifications resulting the categorisation of this type of goods.

I think we needn't panic too much. They will soon be all out of a job with no parcels at all to deliver. Then there will be a union of no-one.

I have thought of a name for our private postal system and will think about a system if that is possible. It will be true snail mail but may improve as an answer emerges.

PPPP = prohibited perfume parcel post - operated by and for perfumistas.... method to come and any suggestions welcome on this thread.