Shipping....Part I

out of the United States............since I opened my Etsy Shop I have always shipped to other states in the US....most of my customers come from my hometown, so alot of times I do not ship...just deliver to them....For the holidays I have entered FREE SHIPPING on my site for many items and for those who use a code.......I recently got an order from Canada and proceeded to print out a label to ship the earring out to her....I love doing things the easy way and using USPS online affords me that luxury...then I just drop the package off at the post office...

So today I was catching up on shipments and hit a whole new wall....I didnt realize how difficult it is to ship out of the US.  I know things have changed since 9/11 and understand the reason for it....I am all for safety and cautiousness......but filling out a label to ship to Canada took me all day....there was customs and declaring what I was sending (a pair of earrings) and things I could and could not do......plus the prices for shipping were off the wall.....$32 to mail earrings that cost the buyer $9.95......There were also special envelopes I might need..\

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Anyway, after all was said and done....I managed to make my way through the paperwork....print out a label which I could not pay for online....so now I will have to go to the post office and stand online and hope I dont run into any problem there.......will let you know in Part II of this blog....