In dealing with bitcoin related stuff (miners, casascius coins, etc) what is the preferred way to ship these internationally (US as source location)?
Are there custom fees that the seller needs to pay? Do these fees vary depending on the declared value of the item? For example would shipping a 0.1BTC casascius coin oversees differ in price than a 10BTC coin?
Do people tend to fully insure these items at full value, or does that raise suspicion? For example shipping a very expensive miner and declaring it for $30,000.
Certain items do require customs fees as well as a declaration of export from the seller. Also, you typically DO want to insure your goods at full value (especially with physical coins and/or computer equipment).
Alternately (I figure I'd plug myself here), I'm trying to get a reshipping service started. If you are receiving goods (typically multiple packages) from around the US and want to pay one international shipping fee, I charge shipping cost + 5% in BTC/LTC.
So how it works is this - the items are shipped to me (I don't need to know what I'm receiving). I repackage them (optional, but pretty much a must for multiple items received from multiple sources, or for stealth purposes (use your imagination)) and ship them to you/elsewhere at the lowest rate possible.
This service isn't really for a person-to-person delivery, it's more intended for someone (for instance) in Canada ordering 5 things from different US vendors to avoid 5 international shipping fees.
Anyway, just don't skimp out on the insurance. You don't want to be "that guy" who has a miner damaged and end up losing out.