Shipping Jewelry to Indonesia

I just received an order for an expensive gold ring to Indonesia, to
be shipped to a 3rd party as a gift. US Postal service lists
prohibitions about shipping jewelry to Indonesia. Is this true that I
cannot ship a piece to Indonesia? Anybody have any
ideas/experiences/thoughts on the proiblem?

Michael HaymanHand-crafted Celtic and Medieval Jewelry in Silver
and Goldhttp://haymancelticjewelry.com

My employer has just had three encounters with attempted or actual
sales to persons in Indonesia and has had nothing but trouble with the
credit cards, either stolen or otherwise notj paying. I unfortunately
do not have all of the details, but I do know that he has instituted a
policy to limit all sales in that area to payment by cashiers check
only! Be careful, and I will post more if I can get more info.

Jim Malone
@jmalone

Mick, I have no idea about shipping to Indonesia, but be careful with
delivering to 3rd parties whether domestic or International. One of my
customers was paid by credit card over the phone from Brazil, and was
told that a 3rd party would be picking it up here in the States to
bring back with them to Brazil. Cut a long story short, the paying
customer then declined the charge and pushed the issue in that no such
transaction occurred, therefore my customer lost about $4,000 on this
deal. My customer who’s wife is Brazilian did some shows down there,
and it was one of the individuals from one of these shows that
contacted them, so it was not unusual for them to get a call such as
this. If you do send it, then get paid with a Bankers Draft first. The
credit card route is an excellent way to safeguard individuals from a
bad purchase by an unscrupulous dealer, however in the wrong hands it
is a deadly scamming tool also. Good Luck and Best Regards. Neil George

do not ship anything overseas withour irrevocable wire
transfer…even the bank checks can be fraud…trust me we have seen
it all on the internet since 1994…do not even trust the bankers
sometimes they are in collusion with large fraud operations especially
in old soviet republics…no cash no deal up front…good luck

jeff thomson

President
Opals International Jewelers, inc.

Dear Michael,

I would be wary of shipping anything to Indonesia. From my limited
experience of a seven day holiday to Bali, there are some very
talented Indonesian Jewellers who can copy anything. In fact, an
Australian guy used to purchase contemporary work from Australian
Artists and then send it to Indonesia to be copied and then returned
and resold in Australia at a far less cost! If you want to go ahead, I
suggest a bank draft or similar before you hand over any monies.

Felicity in West Oz.

If you regularly take credit card orders, especially over the
Internet or telephone, where you don’t have the actual, physical
presence of the card, you may want to contact your credit card
processor and ask them for their “best practices” to prevent being the
victim of fraud. The security director at Mondera.com told me one time
in an interview that by applying the methods recommended by their
bank, they’d prevented thousands of dollars in fraud. He also noted
that your credit card processor is normally firmly in your corner in
battling fraud, and since they see everything, they are often on the
cutting edge with suggestions how you can spot the bad sales.

Suzanne

I don’t know the individual personally, one David Pradana, and he is
choosing to pay via credit card. To add a bit of suspicion, he
originally failed to send me his bill-to address, although I have now
queried him for it.

From the sounds of it, I probably will not be sending this piece out.
I just had enough headaches with a piece that “disappeared” between
customs and delivery in Puerto Rico. My cash flow equation is slim
enough that I can ill afford to lose the cost of materials down a
rabbit hole. The Post Office scared me enough when they said that
"illegal" shipments (ie Jewelry) can be seized by the goverment and
are NOT returned to the sender! I see insurance problems there for
sure.

As a adjunct to the shipping issue in general, I have had 100%
results in having problems on each occasion (4 tries) that a shipment
is labeled “jewelry” by UPS, Fedex, and USPS, usually on a customs
label or form. But if I call my work “artwork” it gets through
without loss. My big worry is that the less specific label will get
me into insurance difficulties or customs irritations when a shipment
does go awry even though my “camoflage” efforts are not to thwart
legitimate organizations or departments. It is not even a
quibble…they are works of art,if I do say so myself!