New Handmade Belt End Punches From Ebay

[Ferg]

We ship a lot to Canada, no other international shipping. When we began shipping to Canada we valued the product at what it would cost to manufacture plus the extra shipping. Their Customs sent the customer a bill for, sometimes over $20 because we valued the item too high. We re-evaluated the at cost, they stopped charging the customer. USA customs works a little bit like Welfare Department, "Handle and lay aside, you don't want people to think we are too good at what we do."

I have had items I ordered lay in Customs office for more than two weeks before they are actually shipped to their ultimate destination.

ferg

[Cyberthrasher]

Their Customs sent the customer a bill for, sometimes over $20 because we valued the item too high. We re-evaluated the at cost, they stopped charging the customer.

A little off topic, but do you know of any guidelines to follow there? I've shipped one order to Canada and valued it according to what the customer paid. As far as I know there weren't any difficulties and it arrived in a timely manner. I've gotten a few inquiries from other countries though, so it would be nice to know if there's any other details I should be worried about. A lot of my customers work with me on a set budget so I'd hate to have them pay extra to get their stuff.

[Ferg]

It was embarrassing to say the least, when a customer enquired as to the extra charges.

We ship via USPS when possible since it is cheaper. We found out about the extra charges from one of the clerks at our PO.

Some of our packages may weigh 6 or 8 pounds, we only give a value of $19 while the actual is more like $150 to $175. I know you will think we are taking a chance with the product package getting lost. We have been shipping to Canada for about three years I believe. Never have had a damaged product returned. Biggest problem is people moving two or three days after they give an order, not very often though.

We shipped close to 2000 pieces to Canada this last Christmas.

ferg

[Cyberthrasher]

Interesting. The one I did was $225 and didn't have any additional fees that I know of. I'll have to do some more research.

now, someone go out on a limb (OP, Billy, someone) and buy some of these punches so we can get a good judgement of them

(hows that for back on topic?)

[simontuntelder]

First of all, GoodsJapan is based in said Japan, and the Japanese have a totally different mentality when it comes to quality that most other countries. I would chose Made in Japan over a lot of other countries.

As a form of public service, I asked a guy, who purchased some punches from the Chinese seller. Here's what he said.

"The punches do work, but they are really rough. I was able to improve their effectiveness by working on their sharpness/edges.

All of that said, I bought them because the only other corner punches (right angle punches with different radii) I could find were larger presses and I didn't want to allocate that much space for this small of a job.

Given what I know now, would I buy them again . . . yes, but . . . their quality is not anywhere near the Osborne punches I have.

Hope this helps."

[Cyberthrasher]

Hope this helps."

that does help. Thanks!!

[billymac814]

That's pretty much what I'd expect from them. I'm pretty sure if anyone would go into this purchase thinking they are on par with a 50-60 dollar punch they would be disappointed for sure. You can tell from the pictures they look pretty rough. I have the means to sharpen them up though and I generally have to do that even on the more expensive ones as well.

[billymac814]

I just had a guy kinda complain about his belt when he picked it up today because he wanted it round instead of with the English point that I always use, of course he didn't tell me he wanted a round tip when he placed the order. I don't really like rounded tips on most belts. I offered to cut it and make it round and then he decided to keep the English point.

Anyway I think I'm going to order the round set of these. They are cheap, they aren't much more than the plastic templates. If I don't like them Ill just relist them as vintage punches and they'll sell for 60.00 a piece( that was a joke). I have the main sizes I use often but it would be nice to have some more options to use on occasion. Ill report back when I get them.

[stanly]

^^^ more worried about the metal being cheese than sharpness as these should be relativly easy to sharpen.

and you're not paying osborne price as someone pointed out

[billymac814]

I pointed that out. They end up being 7 dollars a piece. I've made punches out of conduit and they work fine, these can't be much worse than that and its hardly a gamble at the price. Most of that cost is probably materials and shipping, the Chinese don't need paid as much, you buy an American punch and most of the charge is from labor. I do not expect these to be as nice or as good as a 50-60 dollar punch but it doesn't take much to cut a strap every now and then and that's where something like this fits in perfect, for the occasional use, for people who don't want to spend 250-350 on a few strap punches that they don't use often. I mainly use 1.5" English point and 1" and 3/4" round punch, I have those and rarely need anything else so when I need something else I use a template and cut it by hand.

My biggest concern with those pointed ones is that they don't look like a perfect point, I'm not too concerned with the metal, if they are taken care of and used reasonably they will punch through leather with little difficulty.