Mailing iPod to SO in China

[Chris+XiaoXia]

Hi fellow CDFL brothers and sisters,

 

I'm thinking of mailing a new Apple iPod Nano to my SO for her birthday. You know, the one that fits in your shirt pocket and weights almost nothing but burns a hole in your wallet.

 

I have read prior postings on mailings to China. It seems the consensus is to use the USPS. My question is, since this is a high value item, do you guys anticipate any problems? Any recommendations?

 

Oh, going to China to deliver it in person is not possible at this time with work and all.

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

Edited November 5, 2005 by Chris+XiaoXia (see edit history)

[ptcrusier333rph]

Hi fellow CDFL brothers and sisters,

 

I'm thinking of mailing a new Apple iPod Nano to my SO for her birthday. You know, the ones that fit in your shirt pocket and weight almost nothing but burns a hole in your wallet. 

 

I have read prior postings on mailings to China. It seems the census is to use the USPS. My question is, since this is a high value item, do you guys anticipate any problems? Any recommendations?

 

Oh, going to China to deliver it in person is not possible at this time with work and all.

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

166015[/snapback]

i not sure on China but forme to send anything by mail to my SO in viet nam is like putting it in a bottle and hope it gets there by throwing it into the local lake here in missouri.

 

so far FedEX have reach my SO every time and not open up by local offical. where as the mail most time that did arrive got open many times.

 

robert

 

just to be safe talk to UPS,Fedex and make sure it ok to send. you will have to fill out a custom sheet.

[ckhang]

Hi fellow CDFL brothers and sisters,

 

I'm thinking of mailing a new Apple iPod Nano to my SO for her birthday. You know, the ones that fit in your shirt pocket and weight almost nothing but burns a hole in your wallet. 

 

I have read prior postings on mailings to China. It seems the census is to use the USPS. My question is, since this is a high value item, do you guys anticipate any problems? Any recommendations?

 

Oh, going to China to deliver it in person is not possible at this time with work and all.

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

166015[/snapback]

i not sure on China but forme to send anything by mail to my SO in viet nam is like putting it in a bottle and hope it gets there by throwing it into the local lake here in missouri.

 

so far FedEX have reach my SO every time and not open up by local offical. where as the mail most time that did arrive got open many times.

 

robert

 

just to be safe talk to UPS,Fedex and make sure it ok to send. you will have to fill out a custom sheet.

166018[/snapback]

It should be fine to send by USPS. I have send clothes and many other items total about $400 in a box to my wife by USPS. No problem getting to her, just takes about 9 days, that's even with global express mail. I think you need to list the nano on the custom form, unless you send it in a big box with clothes and dotn list that.....

[m-coon]

Keep in mind that insurance is not available! No guarantee she will get it and no way to get your money back!

 

And also realize that they are much cheaper to buy there!

 

Scott

[notrevorich]

Hi fellow CDFL brothers and sisters,

 

I'm thinking of mailing a new Apple iPod Nano to my SO for her birthday. You know, the ones that fit in your shirt pocket and weight almost nothing but burns a hole in your wallet. 

 

I have read prior postings on mailings to China. It seems the census is to use the USPS. My question is, since this is a high value item, do you guys anticipate any problems? Any recommendations?

 

Oh, going to China to deliver it in person is not possible at this time with work and all.

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

166015[/snapback]

Also Make sure that it has BOTH the English and Chinese Addresses on it

or You probably will never see it again !!

[Chris+XiaoXia]

I just go back from the Post Office. They told me there shouldn't be any problem mailing the iPod to China. They also said I could buy insurance to cover the iPod for about $3 dollars more.

 

It looks like I will go with USPS Global Priority Mail and pay the extra $3 insurance.

 

I'm going through with all these hassles because I want to surprise her with the birthday gift. And I also plan to preload it with a ton of music for her to enjoy right away.

 

I guess I could tell her to buy the iPod in China but it just dosen't seem right to tell her "honey, I got a great birthday gift for you...uh...but you'll have to go buy it."

 

Thanks everyone for your inputs and suggestions.

 

Chris

[obxtrainman]

Hi fellow CDFL brothers and sisters,

 

I'm thinking of mailing a new Apple iPod Nano to my SO for her birthday. You know, the ones that fit in your shirt pocket and weight almost nothing but burns a hole in your wallet. 

 

I have read prior postings on mailings to China. It seems the census is to use the USPS. My question is, since this is a high value item, do you guys anticipate any problems? Any recommendations?

 

Oh, going to China to deliver it in person is not possible at this time with work and all.

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

166015[/snapback]

Also Make sure that it has BOTH the English and Chinese Addresses on it

or You probably will never see it again !!

166053[/snapback]

I always put english address, because I don't know the Chinese version. My wife told me to put her cell phone number on it. I've had no problems with USPS.

 

It is a gift I would put it on the customs form. That way there is a record of it. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

By the way, from my personal experience, the electronics are less expensive, and newer, and better here. The same as it was 20+ years ago, when I lived in Asia. Yes, I could get Sieko watches, and Canon cameras , newer and cheaper in Japan, but not in other countries.

[jim_julian]

Chris ... check you PMs.

[mercator]

Yes I learned the cell phone thing is good practice.

[amerchin]

I gave my SO a mini-iPod last January with a portable speaker system that folds flat by Altec Lansing. She likes to play it at home with the speakers more than taking it out on the road. The iPod was full of different types of Chinese songs. Her neice liked it so much she hasn't seen it since. I'm sure your SO will enjoy the B'Day gift. If she hasn't seen one you might have to explain to her how to use it. Did you enter the Chinese or English language? Good luck on mailing it to her.

[Chris+XiaoXia]

I gave my SO a mini-iPod last January with a portable speaker system that folds flat by Altec Lansing. She likes to play it at home with the speakers more than taking it out on the road. The iPod was full of different types of Chinese songs. Her neice liked it so much she hasn't seen it since. I'm sure your SO will enjoy the B'Day gift. If she hasn't seen one you might have to explain to her how to use it. Did you enter the Chinese or English language? Good luck on mailing it to her.

166261[/snapback]

uh...I chose the English language instead because I can't read Chinese very well. Maybe I should have selected Chinese because now all the Chinese songs show up Unintelligible.

 

hmm...I don't know if there is a way to make the iPod start reading Chinese names.

 

Chris

[m-coon]

I just go back from the Post Office. They told me there shouldn't be any problem mailing the iPod to China. They also said I could buy insurance to cover the iPod for about $3 dollars more.

 

It looks like I will go with USPS Global Priority Mail and pay the extra $3 insurance.

 

I'm going through with all these hassles because I want to surprise her with the birthday gift. And I also plan to preload it with a ton of music for her to enjoy right away.

 

I guess I could tell her to buy the iPod in China but it just dosen't seem right to tell her "honey, I got a great birthday gift for you...uh...but you'll have to go buy it."

 

Thanks everyone for your inputs and suggestions.

 

Chris

166188[/snapback]

Did they tell you that the insurance only covers it until it leaves the USA? Once it has left the country - Once the tracking shows it has left the country - It is no longer insured..... At least this is what they have told me.

Scott

[amerchin]

If the insurance only covers US then that s%^&*. I would probably be more concerned about insurance in China than the US.

 

As for iTunes: Your computer must be first set to read Chinese in character encoding. If you see the Chinese on your computer there then it will be sent to the iPod as Chinese characters. When I was talking about Chinese on the iPod I was trying to say you can change the menu to the Chinese language.

[drive_75]

I didn't have problem sending expensive things to China. What I would do is have her send you her address in Chinese in word document and then print it out and tape it to the package. If you send it in English, you will have problem getting there since the postal delivery does not speak English or can't read English.

[Chris+XiaoXia]

Scott, I remember asking the USPS clerk if the insurance covers all the way to the final address and she told me "yes". However, I couldn't find any definitive answer from the USPS website. The post office customer service line is closed for the weekend. I'll call them first thing Monday morning to verify.

 

Here is the closest link I could find on the USPS website about mailings to China http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/immicl/immiclcd_009.html#NL508_9. It lists a lot of stuffs that can't be mailed to China, which makes me kind of worry. Would an iPod fall into one of the prohibited list items?

 

Down toward the bottom of the page, it does mention insurance coverage for mail gong to China. I couldn't find anything stating where the extent of the coverage ends. If it ends at the country's border, it should mention it, right? One would think this is a very important piece of information to inform the customer. Perhaps it is a given that it covers all the way to the recipient so they don’t bother mentioning it. I'll call Monday to verify.

 

Regarding the iTune, I spent until 3 o'clock in the morning working with the thing but still haven't finished it. I was able to get some songs to display in Chinese but others not. Those songs that display Chinese correctly were able to show up in iPod in Chinese. For those that are still in garbage, I couldn't get them to display Chinese. Don't know what I did wrong. I have a Windows XP Pro SP2 in English. So if I need to encode it to Chinese, how do I go about doing it?

 

I still haven't able to figure out how to change the menu on the iPod to display Chinese language. The manual wasn't clear about this feature. Amerchin, can you show me how?

 

Sorry for getting this post a little off topic.

 

Chris