I used to accept international orders and shipped them through the USPS Global Priority Mail. Once I stopped having time to make the 45 minute trip to the nearest post office, I stopped accepting non U.S. orders.

I would like to try going international again. I currently ship domestically using UPS services which conveniently come to my location every day for a low cost. Which shipping services (USPS, FedEx, UPS) have you found the easiest to ship out of the U.S. with? The customs papers for different countries are all so confusing and seems so time consuming to figure out. What have you found to be the best strategy for you?

Hello Classy!

I would say USPS is the best and least expensive way to ship internationally. No matter which you choose, the paperwork will be probably equally cumbersome, though I do not ship on a daily, or even monthly basis, out of the country, so maybe if you have an account with one of them, it may make it significantly easier.

USPS Global Priority Mail does not appear in my pull down menu list of shipping options. How does it appear to you when you're in administrative mode?

Okay, tech support says that you folks are doing global priority mail as a custom shipping method. He writes:

Hello Robert-

Currently, I do not believe that USPS calculates rates for Global Priority online. I'm on their site now, and from looking around their international shipping calculations, I only see the Airmail and Economy Parcel Post, Global Express Guaranteed document service, and Global Express Mail. So, if you want to use Global Priority (which is probably the best rate for speed vs. price) you would probably want to get some up to date rates from the Post Office and then make a custom shipping table for international shipping (your domestic customers will see it too, but they obviously will not select since you would note that it was for places like Western Europe, etc...)

Thanks, Andy. I take it that UPS Global shipping rates can be calculated. Is that right?

We have found the USPS to be the easiest international shipping method / customs - all of our international orders are shipped via USPS.
A couple things will make it easier for you:
1.) Set up an online account.
2.) ALWAYS insure your shipment - you are able to use the insurance code as a tracking tool.
Be aware, however, once your package leaves the continental US it becomes very difficult to get information from the country to which you are shipping.
You also might talk with the local Postal manager about your letter carrier picking up your packages from your location - we've had success with that.

Good Luck,
Mike