Sending a book overseas

I didn’t give it a thought when my friend’s sister, Noeline, asked if I could send her a copy of my first book. Susan had gifted both of her sisters The Collective Us and now Noeline was asking for a copy of Who Is Me? and paying for it of course.

I already knew that postage would be expensive and slow, as the last book took weeks to reach its destination, all the way to Portugal. I bagged the book up on April 3rd, filled out the custom’s form as I always do and popped it in the mail, expecting it would be at least a month before I heard from her.

I received an email from Noeline this morning, telling me that the book was sitting in customs. They would not release it until she supplied an invoice. I hadn’t even thought of that when I posted the book. As it was Susan’s sister, and someone I had corresponded to, I performed the process quite casually. I had meant to enclose a card but had forgotten to add one before sealing the parcel. I had also marked gift on the custom form. I hadn’t even thought about that when I posted the book. This is the first one I had sent overseas that wasn’t actually a gift. I send parcels to my grandchildren all the time and always mark gift, as they are. I am not sure what the ramifications of this will be but I will be very careful in the future.

As it was, paying for it turned out to be a bit of a mission. I phoned the bank to get all the details Noeline would need to transfer money to my account. She struck difficulties and ended up doing it through someone she had used to transfer money in the past. I don’t know how much extra that cost her. She had already paid me the $30 postage on top of the book price.

With any book sold through my website, which can only be sold to New Zealand buyers, an invoice is automatically generated. If I have any future overseas customers, I will have to make sure I include an invoice when I send their book. I think I might even try and add overseas buyers to my site. That might help, I think.

I am very careful at this end with my tax obligations. I record all sales, postage and packing costs, expenses - everything. And it is to this, that I will refer when filing my 2022-23 tax return. I have never actually looked past gift on the custom’s card to see what other options are available. I hope I don’t have to pay a huge fine or anything and I hope Noeline is not lumbered with any extra expenses to get her book from customs. I have told her I will reimburse any further costs.

I realise this book has turned into a very expensive read for Noeline. I just hope she enjoys it. In hindsight, I should have just told her to buy it off Amazon. I published Who Is Me? through Balboa Press and I notice they do sell it on Amazon. Only problem for me is I don’t get paid. They send a cheque every year or so, for a miniscule amount that can’t be cashed without me paying more than the amount written on the cheque. As I have my own copies which I bought at the time, I thought that would be a better option for me, to send one of those.

Obviously not.