Using Discogs during Covid !

[Stump]

Buying LPs from Europe I noticed many sellers not sending to Australia. I found a seller from Spain and bought 2X LPs from last RSD. Lps were $100 and postage was $60.Now sitting in Sydney UPS want me to fill in a number of forms including a photo copy of my passport or they will return the LPs to Spain. Seller has since told me  UPS were the only carrier willing to post to Australia and many countries will not accept products from Spain.Seller also told me he paid $107 for postage. I told UPS to F***K Off regarding supplying my passport info so I dont think I will get my LPs but seller which is a shop will give full refund if not delivered.....

Stump

 

Hello, you are not being scammed, there are certain countries that have placed many restrictions on products from Spain.
Few companies are shipping to Australia and we have paid € 65 to UPS to ship it.

 

Good morning, we are waiting for the order to be delivered. They have told us that they do this because of the coronavirus and in the event that the package is returned to us, we will refund everything you have paid.
We hope that everything will be resolved soon.

Kind regards

[crtexcnndrm99]

Yikes! That’s worse than my Discogs situation - no demands for passports or payments here. 
 

Currently have four items from various locations ‘waiting to be shipped’. One of these, a rare one, has purportedly been sitting there awaiting shipment since the beginning of April... 

 

Doesn’t stop some stores though.. have received several items via Sea post (and only a 2-3 month wait  ). Wouldn’t recommend for valuable items obviously! 
 

Thanks for sharing that horror story, it might cause me think twice before ordering on Discogs again

[cassmobian]

That's rough man! Did you pay with PayPal? You maybe be able to raise a dispute with them if it's been <6 months since you placed the order.

 

I've ordered a few items directly from labels in Germany who've been unable to post and have happily held on to my items. In this case Deutsche Post are restricting the post of parcels to certain nations which fortunately prevents the situation you've described.

 

 

[Stump]

This is not a negative story regarding Discogs or Seller from Spain but rather complications with postage during Covid times. Another example this month was a hifi  purchase through Audiogon from seller in Turkey.After payment went through I was told DHL or Fedex will not send the shipment to Australia . Reason given was  transit through the UK was not allowed. I was offered a refund but instead had the shipment sent to Singapore via Munich  avoiding the UK transit. All worked out well.

Stump

 

[2Brix]

@Stump and others thanks for sharing.

 

Possibly against better judgement but earlier this week i ordered a LP from Germany and CD from UK.  Both from Discogs sellers with a good number of sales and 100% positive feedback so fingers crossed just a patient wait required.  Both purchased via PayPal at very modest cost (under $30 ea).

 

Until i see how that goes i think i will limit any further purchases to sellers within Oz.  Cautious i am 

 

Cheers

Ticc

[scuzzii]

1 hour ago, Stump said:

Buying LPs from Europe I noticed many sellers not sending to Australia. I found a seller from Spain and bought 2X LPs from last RSD. Lps were $100 and postage was $60.Now sitting in Sydney UPS want me to fill in a number of forms including a photo copy of my passport or they will return the LPs to Spain. Seller has since told me  UPS were the only carrier willing to post to Australia and many countries will not accept products from Spain.Seller also told me he paid $107 for postage. I told UPS to F***K Off regarding supplying my passport info so I dont think I will get my LPs but seller which is a shop will give full refund if not delivered.....

Stump

 

Hello, you are not being scammed, there are certain countries that have placed many restrictions on products from Spain.
Few companies are shipping to Australia and we have paid € 65 to UPS to ship it.

 

Good morning, we are waiting for the order to be delivered. They have told us that they do this because of the coronavirus and in the event that the package is returned to us, we will refund everything you have paid.
We hope that everything will be resolved soon.

Kind regards

 

 

that would be so frustrating.  I've been lucky, and have been buying 10+ on discogs a week.  I've avoided Spain and a few other countries.

 

US, Japan, Germany**, UK have all been without issue except a recent Germany purchase (x2) where they cant send at present.  Some sellers in Germany use Dutch Post rather than German.

 

for the most part DHL has been used from Japan.  Fed Ex from US.

 

extract:

-------------------------------

Sadly we are affected by a restriction in shipping through our connected shipping provider Deutsche Post / DHL.
We’re unable to use our regular shipping classes.

This leave us with the following 3 options:
1) Leave everything as is and ship through Deutsche Post once this class becomes available again in late September (according to Deutsche Post). Due to the lack of scheduled flights, the parcel will be transported by sea and delivered by USPS. The shipping time will be up to 25 – 30 days. As described in our shipping terms, tracking is not available in this shipping class, according to Deutsche Post the shipping will be as reliable as ever though. In case this is the desired option, you don’t have to do anything. The order will automatically ship once Deutsche Post gives us the green light.
2) A shipping upgrade to DHL Express for an additional 25, - € in shipping expenses. Shipping will happen within 48 hours and the shipping will be about 7 days in total.
In case this is alright with you, please transfer 25, - € via Paypal to payment@vinyl-digital.de and mention the following reference: 350804 DHL Express
3) A cancellation of your order is possible as well. If you decide to cancel, please kindly let us know and we’ll care about a full refund.

------------------------------------

 

 

 

hope sanity prevails Eamonn...

 

 

 

[eman]

As already noted it's not a Discogs only situation, it's a Covid one.

 

Shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone by now that standard international mail is disrupted.

 

Sometimes it's possible to pay for priority or courier shipping.

[dart to the heart]

@scuzzii  I have 2 bundles of lp's on hold in Germany since April/May. How do they know it will be eased in late September? The DHL.de website has no indication of this relaxation.

[rx79ez08]

Japan postal service is also not sending anything via airmail to Australia, including EMS. DHL is still fine.

 

I had a book purchased through eBay which had to be cancelled.

 

I had a package sent via FedEx from Taiwan that got stuck in Singapore for a few days, but I did eventually arrived. DHL was again fine.

 

DHL also seem to be better organised with local pickup points and able to set leave at door via automatic service. FedEx seem to be a bit of a mess.

 

Don't even get me started with Auspost.....

[scuzzii]

8 hours ago, dart to the heart said:

@scuzzii  I have 2 bundles of lp's on hold in Germany since April/May. How do they know it will be eased in late September? The DHL.de website has no indication of this relaxation.

I send the seller a message every few weeks. I imagine they are in contact somehow with the postal service.  A message I got last night is Germany have started sending to the US again, they expect Aust to be any week now.

Edited September 24, 2020 by scuzzii

[dart to the heart]

Great news thank you

[The Blues]

On 24/09/2020 at 3:57 PM, 2Brix said:

@Stump and others thanks for sharing.

 

Possibly against better judgement but earlier this week i ordered a LP from Germany and CD from UK.  Both from Discogs sellers with a good number of sales and 100% positive feedback so fingers crossed just a patient wait required.  Both purchased via PayPal at very modest cost (under $30 ea).

 

Until i see how that goes i think i will limit any further purchases to sellers within Oz.  Cautious i am 

 

Cheers

Ticc

I sold a record to a buyer in Germany a fortnight ago. 

Arrived in 13 days

[2Brix]

That's pretty quick! Would be nice if mine get here within 2 to 3 weeks, but i'm expecting a bit longer 

[MoveD]

I bought 4 LPs from a German seller back in. When I realised Deutsche Post is not delivering parcel to Australia a few days later I tried cancel the order. However the seller told me that if he tried to send on weekdays Deutsche Post won’t accept the parcel but if he tried to post during weekends Deutsche Post will sometimes accept it.

 

I thought that was weird but he tried, first time was rejected but a second try it got accepted. I received them 2 months later in July and felt very lucky!

 

Perhaps if you have bought from Germany you can ask your seller to do the same but it could have been just a single case and the situation might’ve changed now. But no harms giving it a try?

Edited September 25, 2020 by MoveD

[eman]

I've got one stuck in Germany and one stuck in Japan. Bought them way back early in the year. Just got caught in the shutdown.

[Rocketfrogs]

I bought an album from the U.S. Following the tracking advice it's journey began in Seattle, then to Austin Texas, then Chicago.  It has now been sitting in Hong Kong for nearly 3 weeks.

 

Once bitten twice shy.  Only local purchases from now on.

[Stump]

12 hours ago, The Blues said:

I sold a record to a buyer in Germany a fortnight ago. 

Arrived in 13 days

Can I ask how much was your postage? My seller paid $107 to send from Spain to Australia..

[Phenomenal Cat]

I have mostly restricted my buying to local and a few Japanese stores who use DHL.  The Japanese orders have come through like clockwork. Usually leave Japan on Friday and are delivered to my door the following Wednesday. Local ones with Auspost are totally erratic. Anything from a couple of days to 4 weeks. I did get one order from the States from a mob who use surface mail. Was expecting it to take a few months but arrived in 4 weeks. Pretty much the same as usual time from this place.

 

I have been thinking about ordering from Germany but based on feedback here will sit tight for a while.

 

 

[The Blues]

11 hours ago, Stump said:

Can I ask how much was your postage? My seller paid $107 to send from Spain to Australia..

$30 to Germany

[silencer13]

I buy lots of stuff from Discogs and other overseas sellers. So far the recent ones had no problems.

Most of my purchases are from UK or US sellers though.

 

If anything, the problem seems to be at Aussie customs. Most of my tracking reaches Australia, then stays in Australia for weeks. I have 1 package from US that has been sitting in Australia for 4 weeks already.

 

Discogs orders seem to be coming under additional scrutiny even though we already pay the 10% GST when we checkout. One recent package from UK was delayed for 3 weeks and when it arrived, it had the words "Tax Invoice number XXXX"  written in front.

 

I am guessing the customs people are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of packages coming in due to more people shopping online during COVID.

[stevoz]

Above are some inexcusable examples of gouging from postal services. Absolutely disgusting but who is surprised in a capitalist society where 'the markets' are king? The well off should understand this and accept it.....having gained more than any other under such a skewed system. It's us plebs who pay the price.....or just plain miss out.

 

•  

Edited September 27, 2020 by stevoz

[Stump]

Update!

Good news is my LPs were not on Sydney after all. They have commenced there World Tour

 

 Mallorca, Spain - Barcelona, Spain de Llobreg, Spain - Koeln, Germany - Louisville, KY, United States - Honolulu, HI, United States - Botany, Australia - Melbourne, Australia  next stop Adelaide

Given it probably has been touched by a dozen people with Covid 19 I will get the rubber gloves out and straight into the Ultrasonic cleaner..

Stump

[glenm64]

I have bought a few from Europe during Covid on both Discogs and Fleabay. Only had one that ended up lost in space(from a Discogs seller). After 3 months I got a Paypal refund.

It turned up about 2 weeks ago, so I contacted seller and repaid.

 

[stevoz]

The AC/DC LP I bought yesterday via Discogs was from Spain and was advertised with 'free postage'. While this did seem very odd, I snapped it up.

Just got a message from the seller saying the 'free postage' was a Discogs error and he is refunding me. Bummer!

What is it they say about "if it sounds too good to be true......." 

Edited September 28, 2020 by stevoz

[bob_m_54]

28 minutes ago, stevoz said:

The AC/DC LP I bought yesterday via Discogs was from Spain and was advertised with 'free postage'. While this did seem very odd, I snapped it up.

Just got a message from the seller saying the 'free postage' was a Discogs error and he is refunding me. Bummer!

What is it they say about "if it sounds too good to be true......." 

Shoosh.. I recently ordered a box set at roughly half the price it was listed at here in Aus, that wasn't even in stock here anyway. I won't mention what it was for two reasons..  1.) It's a digital box set .. and 2.) It wasn't Discogs...