What Do We Do, Now That Club Correos Is a Goner....

It is a moot point for me now, since I can't justify $42 extra.  However, I did talk to someone from Canada who received a 2 pound package recently from a relative in Canada who used the regular mail service to ship it and was not subject to the $42. I am still hoping to buy something from EBAY in China and have it mailed here using their normal mail system with a tracking number. This test should already have been completed but I screwed up the shipping address part and it was sent to Econcargo in Miami where it now sits.

P.S. I should mention that is a cable for a 7 inch NOOK HD tablet.  That is a propietary cable, and it is highly unlikely I can find it here in Cuenca.

live simply, live without and do with less...   paz, sue

A rich way to live one's life  --  do without, live la vida sencilla (the simple life) in our lovely country, Ecuador, buy less and have more experiences -- Most of all - ENJOY!   In French, we say , fetez la vie!

Okay, I just bought a $3 usb cable with free shipping from Ebay which will be shipped from China to Cuenca. I have done this a few times before the law changed and it took about two months to get here.  Now, let us all do a group prayer.............

sueb4bs wrote:

A rich way to live one's life  --  do without, live la vida sencilla (the simple life) in our lovely country, Ecuador, buy less and have more experiences -- Most of all - ENJOY!   In French, we say , fetez la vie!

Yes, the world would be so different and so much better without USB cables so we can access the internet! 

Nards Barley wrote:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODAwWDgwMA==/ … i/$_12.JPG

Okay, I just bought a $3 usb cable with free shipping from Ebay which will be shipped from China to Cuenca. I have done this a few times before the law changed and it took about two months to get here.  Now, let us all do a group prayer.............

My cable for my Nook tablet arrived from China. There was a slip of paper in my p.o. box at the post office informing me of its arrival  I did not have to pay anything at the window, although if it had been a little heavier I am sure there would be a small fee based on weight of the package. 

I am encouraged by the avoidance of the $42 tax and will order cables and small inexpensive electronic things in the future from China via China Post.

P.S.
Bloggers, facebookers, web masters, ebook authors and landing guide creators will be harvesting this information for use in their publications.  Remember, they are FOC. I am not.

good news. I cant find any small thing to buy from ebay. I need something a little heavier, and dozens dollars, can't try this way.

Nards Barley wrote:

My cable for my Nook tablet arrived from China. There was a slip of paper in my p.o. box at the post office informing me of its arrival  I did not have to pay anything at the window, although if it had been a little heavier I am sure there would be a small fee based on weight of the package. 

I am encouraged by the avoidance of the $42 tax and will order cables and small inexpensive electronic things in the future from China via China Post.

Thank you, Nards, for updating us on the shipping-fee situation as reported by you (Report #7) and your Canadian acquaintance (Report #2)

It has now been almost two months since Club Correos crashed, so...

Please, folks, let's follow Nards' example and post about your recent experiences in bringing things into Ecuador through couriers and the mails.

cccmedia in Quito

I was talking to some expats at Goza recently who told me that friends of theirs had been ordering stuff from iHerb.com and having it shipped to Ecuador using "Airmail".  However, no tracking or confirmation was available.  This avoided the $42 tariff. I think it needs to be under 4 pounds and under $400 in value.

http://www.iherb.com/info/international

Another cable I just received via China Post from a seller off of EBAY, avoiding the $42 tarriff that would be imposed if I used a courier service.

P.S.
What pisses me off about the post office in Cuenca is they never put a damn note in my box informing me about packages that have arrived. I have to go to the window to ask about packages.  I need a research to see if there is a complaint department.

Received an email from a company called econexpressbox claiming that that they have a shipping option which avoids the $42 tarriff.   Apparently they use the U.S. postal service for the shipment which is not subject to the  tariff.

I may look into it further and do a test shipment of something not too expensive.

http://www.econexpressbox.com/

If Correos del Ecuador is the delivery agent, don't send anything of significant value.

cccmedia in Quito

Now that I have looked into it further, it appears to be the same outfit that went by the name Econcargo when Club Correos still existed.   There doesn´t appear to be an annual $12 fee for the p.o. box although the shipping/handling costs is much higher.  I recall $10-15 shipping for an item less than 1 pound and now it is $40.25.  This pricing schedule motivates the sender to use the consolidation feature in order to get close as possible to the 8.8 pound limit.

My biggest concern is whether there is tracking all the way to my Cuenca address.  In the email I received there was this blurb:

Horas estaras recibiendo el tracking number de USPS con el cual arribara tu paquete a Ecuador y los podras rastrear desde Pagina web de USPS http://www.usps.com Pagina web de Correos del Ecuador http://www.correosdelecuador.gob.ec/?p=2294

Based on that it seems there is tracking to Ecuador with USPS.  The question is whether the tracking continues to my p.o. box in Cuenca.  I will send an email with that question.

Peso    Tarifa
1 lb    $40.25
2 lb    $44.50
3 lb    $48.75
4 lb    $53.00
5 lb    $57.25
6 lb    $60.40
7 lb    $63.55
8 lb    $66.70
9 lb    $69.85

Nards Barley wrote:

Now that I have looked into it further, it appears to be the same outfit that went by the name Econcargo when Club Correos still existed....

My biggest concern is whether there is tracking all the way to my Cuenca address.

Anyone who likes doing business with a Spanish-speaking circus would be just right as a customer of Econcargo or whatever it may have changed its name to.

I recommend choosing one of the English-speaking U.S.-based delivery services that have been recommended online by posters.  Anything extra that one pays is worth it if you can avoid the Econcargo-style experience.

cccmedia in Quito

CC,

When Club Correos was still in existence, which was a service within the Ecuadorian postal system I had made over 100 shipments to the Cuenca, the majority of which were handled by Econcargo.  Not one shipment failed to arrive, although at times there were delays. So I do not agree with your dismisal of them as an option for getting items here.   

That said, I am not convinced this service is necessarily the best service for getting products to Cuenca  in terms of cost or dependibility, but I know for certain, you do do not know either.

Nards Barley wrote:

CC,

When Club Correos was still in existence, which was a service within the Ecuadorian postal system I had made over 100 shipments to the Cuenca, the majority of which were handled by Econcargo.  Not one shipment failed to arrive, although at times there were delays. So I do not agree with your dismisal of them as an option for getting items here.   

That said, I am not convinced this service is necessarily the best service for getting products to Cuenca  in terms of cost or dependibility, but I know for certain, you do do not know either.

I don't know the best one, that's true.

It has been one year to the week since Correos went out of business and I haven't ordered any shipments from the U.S. since then.  The $42 extra tariff -- which I repeatedly paid -- and poor customer service left a bad taste, and the year has been more pleasant for not having had  to deal with Correos and Econcargo.

Other than your posts, Nards, we have had few comments or reviews, positive or negative, about the quality of service from currently-available shippers in the past 12 months.

Even though I ordered far fewer shipments than you did via Correos/Econcargo, the percentage of problem orders was high, largely due to my not understanding all the rules.  So I needed strong customer service.  With the exception of one Econcargo employee, I found that company's service poor.  They refused even to co-operate with Amazon on a product return, with no reasonable explanation given.  The last shipments I ordered were initiated in September 2014 and not received until January 2015, just weeks before the Correos crash.

When I next order product from overseas, it will be with an English-as-first-language company recommended by you or others on the Internet.

cccmedia in Quito

I was reading through the econexpressbox.com  website and on the page addressing prohibited items,  there was an interesting question posed by them:

¿Cuáles son los productos más comunes que son RESTRINGIDOS de importar?
Teléfonos celulares nuevos, solo se puede importar una (1) pieza por cada ano calendario.
Ropa y Calzados, máximo 12 piezas por envio ( piezas no repetidas ) ( ENVIOS 4X4).
Cremas y maquillajes, máximo 6 piezas por envio ( ENVIOS 4X4

That says,

What are the products most common that are restricted for importation?

New celular phones, you can only import 1 piece each year.
Clothing and shoes, a maximum of 12 pieces per shipments (non-duplicated items)
Creams and makeup, maximum of 6 pieces per shipment.

The "(Envios 4x4)"  indicates that the shipment must be under $400 and 4 kilograms.  If you don't already know this,  generally you don't want to mail anything with a value over $400 or 4 kilograms or you will be subject to special importation rules.

What I found most interesting is that blurb about cell phones.  I thought you weren't able to import any new celular phones, not even one.  I would want to confirm that statement before shipping one over to Ecuador.

I was reading through the terms and conditions on that website and found this statement interesting.   One of the good things about Club Correos was there was insurance on your shipment up to $200.

Seguro extendido: la consolidadora provee al Afiliado, una extensión de seguro que cubre el paquete (máximo $400) desde que es recibido en USPS Miami, hasta que es entregado al cliente en su domicilio de Ecuador. Este seguro extendido aplica para perdida, avería o daño por mal manejo de la paquetería, tiene un costo del $ 3.00 por cada $ 100.00 del valor FOB y debe ser pagado por el cliente al momento de cancelar la factura del servicio. El valor de la indemnización será transferido a la cuenta PayPal del cliente con un máximo de 30 dias a partir de la declaración de perdida o daño del paquete.

That says they offer insurance that costs the clienet $3 for each $100 of value of your shipment. And if you have to make a claim, they will pay within 30 days to your Paypal account.

Looked through gringo post to see what shipping services people are using.  There isn't too much discussion, but people have used these services successfully


https://www.ultrabox.com.co/ultralim/jsp/country.jsf

The following one has both an English and Spanish site.  According to a source,  they supposedly opened an office in Cuenca in sector Santa Rosa. if i can find it, I may stop by to talk with them.

https://aeropost.com/ECU/en/GetIt

I signed up for an account at Aeropost and they assigned me a box in Miami Florida. They do not charge an annual fee for the box.     

Since i am interested in purchasing a 7 pound item worth $126 from Amazon.com, the cost to me would be $39 according to their fee schedule plus the $42 tarriff for a total of $82.

If I were to ship it with Econexpresscargo it would cost me $63.55 according to their fee schedule.

So there would be an $18 savings with EconexpressCargo.

However, to CC's point, there are other considerations than cost, such as quality of service.

I still haven't decided how I am going to ship my product, but I am pretty confident it will be one of these two companies.

One glaring disadvantage of the Aeropost service is they require a USPS form 1583, Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent, which needs to Notarized by a U.S. Notary.   

It is looking more and more like I will be using EconexpressBox....................

Speaking of U.S. notary, there is only online service that I know of

https://www.notarycam.com/pricing/

For some reason they charge $25 if you are in the U.S. and 79 dollars if you are overseas.   Why charge differently except for the fact we have few choices to get it done if you are overseas.

If I were to use this service, I would try and game the system by connecting with a VPN to give the appearance I am in the U.S.  Don't tell anyone.................

message deleted

I have a p.o. box in the United States through a company U.S. Global Mail.   If I wanted, I could order the item from Amazon.com and have it mailed to that p.o. box and then have them mail it me using U.S. Priority International mail and avoid the $42 tarriff.

Here is why I won't do it that way.

message deleted

Nards Barley wrote:

One glaring disadvantage of the Aeropost service is they require a form 1583.... Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent, which needs to Notarized by a U.S. Notary.   

It is looking more and more like I will be using EconexpressBox.

That's a real deal breaker, Nards. 

Here in Quito, the only U.S. notary is on the staff of the U.S. Embassy, and the charge is $50 per page.

cccmedia in Quito

i've read a lot about incoming mail to Ecuador, (sounds dismal!) but what is the best way to mail a letter-sized item out of Ecuador to the USA?

Another option for me would be to order my 7 pound item from amazon.com and have a friend or family member take it to the post office and ship it using International Priority Mail.

Using the USPS price calculator,  I selected the  Large Flat rate box which allows up to 20 pounds.   The cost of the shipment would be $86.95. So I can save myself $22 by using Econexpresscargo and they are going to use  the same shipping method.

DorothyPeck wrote:

i've read a lot about incoming mail to Ecuador, (sounds dismal!) but what is the best way to mail a letter-sized item out of Ecuador to the USA?

Shipping a standard letter with confirmation is going to be around $7 I think with 2 weeks to get there. I have only done it a handful of times and always with confirmation. And I did the mailing from the Post office on Borrero and Gran Columbia.

DorothyPeck wrote:

i've read a lot about incoming mail to Ecuador, (sounds dismal!) but what is the best way to mail a letter-sized item out of Ecuador to the USA?

1.  If the item is a personal letter, post card or something not considered financially valuable sent in a #10 size envelope or similar, the most common way I know is to take it to a Correos post office and buy proper postage, typically $2.50.  If you already have the EC postal stamps and know the postal rate for your mailing, you can alternatively drop it into one of the few outgoing Correos del Ecuador mailboxes around.  For instance, here in Quito, there are some boxes in Gringo-friendly Mariscal Sector and in some upscale hotels.

2.  If the mailing is valuable, hard to replace or extremely timely, don't trust Correos del Ecuador.  Find your local DHL office.  Last year, DHL was charging about $60 for a one-time service, Ecuador to USA .. but lately they have been promoting an "express" service with a discount.

Some Correos reps have said not to send money or checks through the mail.  When I once needed to send an $8 check to the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. for an apostille, I ignored this caveat and mailed the check.  The mailing got to its U.S. destination in the usual time frame -- about two weeks.

cccmedia in Quito

I find the USPS website is a little vague about tracking packages when shipping to foreign countries. For the moment, this is the best explanation I have found.   The post is dated 07.29.2015

http://online-shipping-blog.endicia.com … firmation/

I posted something on tracking with ChinaPost on the wrong thread. Here it is:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 44#3122822

I ordered 2 small kitchen appliances from Amazon.com that cost me with free shipping about $50. They arrived in Miami at my box with Econexpressbox.  Attached is the invoice for shipment and handling for a 8.3 pound shipment.  I wasn't expecting that 10 dollar consolidation fee since there weren't multiple packages to consolidate, but rather just one package with 2 items.

I opted for the insurance which was $3 dollars for my order which was probably what the USPS charges for something with a $50 value.

With the same enthusiam that I track deliveries of Santa Claus,  I am tracking my shipment made with Econexpressbox (via USPS international priority mail).  I am pleased that my package has been placed in a sack in Quito for domestic shipment. 

The tracking data below is from a tool of the Ecuadorian post office:

Hey gurus, I want to order a couple of boot-cut jeans from Amazon. I went to Levis and Lees here and they didn't have.

Will the jeans incur duty if they are only 2 and different colors, or different shades of the same color?

If so how much? They cost about $45 each on Amazon.

vsimple wrote:

Hey gurus, I want to order a couple of boot-cut jeans from Amazon. I went to Levis and Lees here and they didn't have.

Will the jeans incur duty if they are only 2 and different colors, or different shades of the same color?

If so how much? They cost about $45 each on Amazon.

Yes, the shipment will incur a $42 duty unless they are mailed to Ecuador using a regular postal service, such as the United States Postal Service, China Post etc.

Nards Barley wrote:

vsimple wrote:

Hey gurus, I want to order a couple of boot-cut jeans from Amazon. I went to Levis and Lees here and they didn't have.

Will the jeans incur duty if they are only 2 and different colors, or different shades of the same color?

If so how much? They cost about $45 each on Amazon.

Yes, the shipment will incur a $42 duty unless they are mailed to Ecuador using a regular postal service, such as the United States Postal Service, China Post etc.

Thanks for the info.

Picked up my package today  from the post office. I like the fact they sealed the box with tape labeled with the defunct "Club Correos" service.  I think from the time Amazon.com shipped it, it was about 16 days.  The post office charged me a fee of $5 dollars.