ebay and shipping??

Hello all,
I am new to this forum. My husband and I are thinking about moving to the DR in @ a year to las terrenas or cabarette area. We just came back and loved the DR and the people. Problem is my Husband make guitars and sells them on ebay, so how does shipping work in the DR? Any and all help would be appreciated. Oh I am planning on selling real estae while we live there and any insight would be awesome. thanks,
Amanda
 
Jan 17, 2009
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Shipping outside the DR or within the DR? I once bought a guitar in Mexico and brought it to the States. Didn't last long, although I can't remember now what went wrong, but recall that someone told me at the time you can't buy a guitar made in a warm/humid climate and expect it to last in cold weather. Don't know how true it is.

Lots of people expats doing real estate here. Some seem do be doing really well.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Hello all,
I am new to this forum. My husband and I are thinking about moving to the DR in @ a year to las terrenas or cabarette area. We just came back and loved the DR and the people. Problem is my Husband make guitars and sells them on ebay, so how does shipping work in the DR? Any and all help would be appreciated. Oh I am planning on selling real estae while we live there and any insight would be awesome. thanks,
Amanda

It is a lot cheaper to have stuff shipped to you than it is to ship stuff out.

I have an EPS account, one of several such shipping services from the US that give you a PO box address and package address to have things sent to. EPS then brings them to the DR and, in my case, delivers them to the Sosua office where I have my account. I get a notice the package is there and go to the office to pick it up, either paying then or when I get a monthly bill. It is not dirt cheap, but reasonable, all things considered.

However, if I want to ship a parcel from here, EPS, and probably the other such services, do not accept packages for shipment. Those have to be sent by FedEX, UPS, DHL, or similar. That is very expensive.

Recently, for example, I ordered a camera lens from Amazon that was shipped to me from my Miami address by EPS for a few dollars. However, because the lens was defective, I wanted to send it back for a refund or credit. EPS would not ship it, said I had to use FedEx or UPS. I priced that, and shipping would have been about US$100, the same as the value of that particular lens.

Fortunately I found somebody going back to the US who carried it and mailed it from there. Otherwise I would have been stuck with the defective lens because the return shipping cost was prohibitive.

I am sure this is not what you want to hear, but if your husband wants to sell on eBay his shipping costs are going to be very, very high unless there is some cheap way to send parcels on a regular basis to the US that I don't know about.
 

Anastacio

Banned
Feb 22, 2010
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Used to know someone who paid 500 pesos a month or somethig like that and he held smoker box here, at unless the parcels were big, no e tar cost. Anyone hit this, I'm not clued up.
But anyway what do you pay for a postbox?
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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I have never run across a reasonably priced way of sending something from the DR, sorry to say. I hope someone here has found a way and can give you a good solution.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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I have never run across a reasonably priced way of sending something from the DR, sorry to say. I hope someone here has found a way and can give you a good solution.

If somebody has found a reasonably priced way of sending small packages from the DR, there are a lot of us on this board that will be happy to learn about it. The fact that many of us who have been living here for some time are still hoping to find a way makes me doubtful one exists.

On the other hand, if he made up a whole bunch of guitars he might be able get a commercial rate and ship the large crate back to some point in the US where they could be distributed as orders come in. But I doubt very much that is something that you'd be interested in.
 
Thanks everyone for the help, wow!! I looked up UPS shipping from DR to OH, USA and it was 150. USD while from here in SC it is only 40 usd to ship to Japan. Well, maybe a small store/workshop where people could buy directly would be good But it would depend somewhat on tourism I suppose. Unfortunately his online business is good and international...wish we could figure something out. Still hope to move in a year or so but will have to take a different approach I suppose. My husband has to bring in income or we won't survive down there. Maybe someone should start a shipping company!!
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Thanks everyone for the help, wow!! I looked up UPS shipping from DR to OH, USA and it was 150. USD while from here in SC it is only 40 usd to ship to Japan. Well, maybe a small store/workshop where people could buy directly would be good But it would depend somewhat on tourism I suppose. Unfortunately his online business is good and international...wish we could figure something out. Still hope to move in a year or so but will have to take a different approach I suppose. My husband has to bring in income or we won't survive down there. Maybe someone should start a shipping company!!

As long as your income depends on international shipping, the DR is not likely be a good place for you to live. A store here to sell for tourists is very iffy, buying a guitar is not on the mind of most who come here.

You may want to look into Puerto Rico instead. Check out shipping rates from there. That is US for most things so shipping from there should be a lot cheaper.
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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You might check out Air Freight rates since that would be the only way and I am affraid that just the insurance would kill the business.

Better re-think this plan.

Besides, unless you are really slick, the RE business in not for you...believe me...you need a Ph.D in "Things Dominican" to even think about this. Or you end up nuts...

HB
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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If you need to work here, I agree with HB

You might check out Air Freight rates since that would be the only way and I am affraid that just the insurance would kill the business.

Better re-think this plan.

Besides, unless you are really slick, the RE business in not for you...believe me...you need a Ph.D in "Things Dominican" to even think about this. Or you end up nuts...

HB

I completely agree with HB on this. If you need the income from making guitars, this is not a friendly place to do that. There is little local demand and shipping costs are very high.

Also keep in mind that everyone here sells real estate. Some even make a few dollars at it.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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As I mentioned in an earlier post, Puerto Rico would be a good option for you. Personally, I would not be interested in living in San Juan, but there are small cities/towns on the South Coast that I have spent a lot of time at and think would be good locations. Shipping should be a lot cheaper there. The post offices are part of the US postal system so shipping from one of them is just like shipping from a post office in your present location. Also, UPS, FedEx and all the others also do business there. Undoubtedly there rates are much lower than here because the post office is an option. For many years my wife and I lived on a cruising sailboat and we would go to Puerto Rico for boat maintenance and to stock up on stuff we wanted. We ordered a lot from BoatUS and other suppliers, and most of the stuff was shipped by UPS or one of the other companies. Rates were just like getting stuff from the same source in the US.

I don't know what kind of location you are looking for, but Salinas on the South Coast of Puerto Rico is one of the places of interest. If you want as larger city, Ponce would be a good place.

Next vacation trip, go to Puerto Rico and check it out, the South Coast, that is. Unless you prefer a big city, then San Juan.
 
So real estae is not a good line of work either? It seems there was so much in Cabarette and Las Terrenas. Yep The guitar sale would not work in the DR. Would have to still have a part time place in the states. We own land and a property that we'd be renting but I was counting on the real estate asspect working out, now we must re think. Thanks to all