LeftyBassist.com

There's a cat over on TB who is interested in my Spector, and he's in Moscow... he doesn't have many posts, but he has positive feedback from other members who have shipped to him successfully and have had positive experiences.

I realize that I would have absolutely ZERO seller's protection through PayPal, but I checked the USPS website about shipping to Russia using Express Mail International, and they have some pretty liberal shipping policies.

First of all, their size restrictions are fantastic... 60" max length with a 108" length + girth max size. I would have no problem shipping a neck-through bass inside its hard case and a cardboard box under those restrictions. Secondly, their insurance will cover up to $5,000 for a box that size. Third, is that they do provide you with a "proof of delivery", although that doesn't mean you get a signature. And lastly, shipping is only about $180 and delivery is guaranteed in 3-5 days... very cheap, all things considered.

What worries me the most is insurance... it covers both loss and damage, but if the loss or damage occurrs in Russia, USPS will have to coordinate with their postal service to honor the insurance claim... and this seems risky to me for some reason. I have these visions of KGB agents with AK-47's opening all the boxes and keeping all the good shit, while all the garbage is delivered via steam train to various barb-wire enclosed cement buildings with no windows.

Obviously, I'm a child of the 80's and I know Russia is nothing like it used to be... ... but I'm a little worried about doing this.

Does anyone have any experience with this... should I be worried or should I just go for it?

I've never shipped to Russia. I've come to the point where I'd rather be cockpunched by Mike Tyson than ship internationally. Too many problems. Sounds scary to me.

Chris, I know you are eager to sell your bass but it is incredibly risky to do any business with Russia.

I am gonna agree with these guys. International is always a little bit of a pain period. I had fortunate "Luck" with most of my international transactions but there is always that.. "what if". Sell with caution if you decide to move her. Ship with caution as many try to get you to declare very low value. Keep in mind its ok if nothing happens. It's NOT ok if something happens. My recent 87' fretless thumb nt 5 bass went to a guy in Germany. We declared $600 and when it got there, customs wanted proof he paid $600. All in all, he had to show them the PayPal receipt proof for $1950 USD. He got stuck with the fees..... Germany might be tougher but just making a note here.

Note: I am spewing my mouth here but this doesn't go for everyone nor international people here on the board. No offense, just protected shipping help. I just wish it was easier.

My personal opinion is i would never ship anything of high dollar value internationally.

Except to Canada of course. To me, that's sending stuff back home. Still i would think twice if the $$ value was sufficiently high.

I usually ship internationally and have had no issues so far (France, UK, Even Brazil), but Russia seems to be a big no-no

last month I sent a bass to Sweden, everything was prefect, box just made the USPS limits for size...delivery times on time etc, but BOY was the buyer shocked when he saw what he had to pay to get it out of customs because I wouldn't lie on the declaration forms.

For the people who say Russia is a no-no... Is there anything specific you know about or have experience with or is it just a gut feeling?

The reason I ask is because I talked to someone at USPS yesterday and they pretty much said that I should have nothing to worry about. He said he deals with lots of shipments going over there now that trade and commerce have opened up so much in the last 20 years.

He said that if I was shipping to pretty much anywhere in Africa, however, he would definitely convince me otherwise.

Anyway... I've shipped to the UK for a board member here before and it was actually during that volcanic eruption a few years back... Several sleepless nights and some heartburn later and he got it ok. I also shipped a J-Retro preamp to Sweden and even traded a MacBook pro to a guy in Germany for a bass and those deals worked out ok as well.

I definitely hate the stress involved... But it has worked out for me ok so far so I've been leaning towards going for it.

Also... I forgot to mention that he has NOT asked me to lower the price on any of the documents. In fact, he even asked me to send him a PayPal invoice for the full amount and to include a copy with the shipping documents.

So, as far as those types of warnings go, he has been pretty straight up.

Gut feeling for me. Nothing fact-based, but if I were in your place i would have a hard time doing it. YMMV.

One suggestion I have is to have the address in both English and Russian (Cyrillic). Note that the Russians traditionally have the address information in reverse of the US format, but I think in recent years they have complied with US and western European formats (i.e. name, street address, city, state/province, postal code, country). If you do ship the bass have the recipient email you his address in Cyrillic.

I shipped to Warsaw, Poland once. When I did it, I let the buyer take all the risks. I got paid via wire transfer to my account in advance, and I shipped using an international freight forwarder, from which you can buy insurance directly. Do a Google search of local international freight forwarders in your area and ask what your options are. They have networks of delivery companies that will clear customs and take the package to the buyer's door.

But as mentioned by others, don't do Paypal. And pack the bass well.