Clutch-Me.Com

I believe in Gutermann glue!

I believe in this miracle glue so much in the making of my own line of clutches that I include it as a critical component my complete kits.  But there a lot of things involved to make this happen that I thought you’d might be interested in.

Just Add Fabric(TM)! kit for convenience!

*I am a certified importer with U.S. Customs.

*I have to pay import duties on every shipment of Gutermann glue.

*It has to be packaged by a facility that is certified in Hazardous Materials since all adhesives (even your piddly fabric glue) falls into the ‘hazardous’ category of shipments since it is flammable.  The boxes are duly noted, with special stickers and all the paperwork needed for it to ship as a hazardous cargo.

*It has to be shipped to me by sea vessel.  Under all the rules and regulations, it cannot be shipped by air.  So, to get it to me from Germany has to go by land and by ship.  This takes lots of time and $cha-ching!

*It gets to a port where a ground carrier who is approved to handle Hazardous Materials gets it and sends via land (truck).  This company gets charged so that means I have to pay import fees to this company as well.

-So with all those shipping fees and import duties, I really try to be competitive in price with other sellers out there who sell it on Etsy.  Due to the same Customs Rules and Regulations, I cannot ship small sales to non-US buyers.  I would have to export a large quantity using the same method which I import it.

So how is it that other sellers from abroad able to sell to US customers?  Well, they take a risk knowing that the percentage of shipped goods in small packages that get X-ray’ed and checked by their country’s Customs and US’s Customs are small.  But I feel that those small sales are not worth the risk of getting the package rejected and the customer losing the shipping charge.  In addition, it would then cost me a fee to retrieve the package, and I may face a fine for violating Custom’s Rules and Regulations.

But all is worth it to import and carry it because I love this glue.  It glues fabric to metal like no other.  I sell quite a bit of it to accessories designers as well (think barrettes, belts …).   It’s a staple in my line of products.

October 6, 2010 - Posted by Thy K | Helpful Tips