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Post in Besides Beauty
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~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

 

***Sign Ups are CLOSED - Exchange is in Progress***

 

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It's back! The gift exchange celebrating "the best day of the year" is here 💖

 

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Our previous rounds have been wonderful platforms for bringing us all together though our appreciation for beauty, treats and camaraderie. Come and join in on the fun!

 

Positive Energy and Unicorn Love Always,
Mcakes & @eshoe 

 

Links to Previous Galentine's Day Exchanges:

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How to Join and, Key Dates and Housekeeping Info:

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If you are interested in joining, please see the Eligibility Requirements, Rules, and Key Dates below to see if this will be a good fit for you! 

Eligibility:
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Have you participated in a gift exchange on BT/BIC previously?

 

Yes
Previous participants in exchanges that either eshoe or I have hosted without incident on their part are pre-approved. If you participated in an exchange that eshoe or I have not hosted, please kindly provide a link to that exchange thread for us to do our due diligence. If there were no issues from the exchange on your part, we are excited to have you on board!

 

No
Meet one or more of the following requirements:

1.Must be willing to do a $50 box deposit that will be taken at sign up and returned once your Galentine has given us confirmation of delivery.
2.Must be vouched for by 2 members of the community who eshoe or I are familiar with.

*Since we are trying to be as inclusive as possible while also protecting other participants in this exchange, eshoe and I will have final discretion on participant eligibility. We realize that this is very subjective, but we must establish a certain degree of trust between users as there is sensitive information being exchanged. Thank you for your understanding.

Rules:
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By expressing interest in signing up for the exchange, you are agreeing to the following:


-The minimum spend for this exchange is $50. You do not need to go over this amount, but in the spirit of fairness you may not go under it.

-If you have not participated in an exchange previously, you must ship your gift on or before February 1st. If you miss this deadline and do not communicate with eshoe or I about the reason for your delay, you will not get your box deposit back. Instead, we will use your box deposit to create a gift on your behalf. No Galentine will be left behind!

-Provide tracking number(s) to eshoe or I once you have shipped your gift. This can be done via Elfster or messaging eshoe or I.

-Acknowledge receipt of your gift ASAP, even if you need a little more time to do a full post. This is a courtesy to your gift or to know it was received (it is stressful waiting to know if a package made the journey ok!) and for eshoe and I to keep track of the progress in the exchange. You may do this via Elfster, by posting on this thread that you have received the parcel, or by messaging either eshoe or I.

-You must post pictures of your gift. This is an integral part of the exchange experience and we want to share in the excitement with you! We know how much thought and care goes into curating a gift, and we want to acknowledge your giftor's efforts as well. You may provide pictures for either eshoe or I to post on your behalf if you are having issues posting, but please know that the pictures are a firm requirement.

Key Dates:
Spoiler

Sign Up Deadline: 12/31/22

Draw Day (This is the day you find out who you are shopping for, yay!): 1/1/23

Ship Date for First Time Participants: 2/1/23 (*If you are shipping from Canada to US or vice versa, this deadline will be earlier)

All Gifts Must be Received: On or before 2/13/23 (Galentine's Day)


To sign up, please comment on this thread! eshoe and I will be messaging approved participants with more details and will be updating the Participant List as we go. 

 

We are looking forward to celebrating with y'all! 💖



Positive Energy and Unicorn Love Always, 
Mcakes & eshoe

 

P.S. We will make every effort to accommodate all shipping restrictions, please state those restrictions at sign up via PM. Thank you!

 

Tips and Tricks: 

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♥Ask questions! Anyone can ask anyone an anonymous question, that will help you get a better idea of likes and dislikes, haves and wants, etc. 


♥When you purchase something, click "Mark As Purchased." They won't see it, but they might be using the same wishlist for other gift exchanges, so this can prevent them potentially getting the same gift from two different people.

 

♥If you got something for yourself, remove it from your wishlist! 

Shipping:

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How to ship abroad/add a customs label while still using online shipping:


1. Creating an account: First, you must create a free account on the USPS website. The paypal.com/shipnow site will not let you create customs forms.


2. Shipping Label: To create the shipping label, you want to use the "Click n Ship" function from the dropdown menu under Mail & Ship. Many of the directions from above are basically the same but the key difference is under, "Where are you sending to?" you will need to use the dropdown menu to select the country of choice.


3. Finishing the Shipping Label:Fill in all the corresponding information until the end of the form including the value of the package. The Canadians on the board may have more to speak to with this but I always kept this amount on the lower side so the recipient doesn't get hit with high customs fee. (average amount I would put would be $10-$20) A great feature is at the end of the page it will give you all your options for shipping. I can tell you on a personal note that when I ship to England I always choose first class international mail and I have never had a problem. Once again, delivery confirmation is thrown in for FREE.


3. Beginning the Customs Form: You will then get to a page that will you through step by step filling in the customs form. The first question will ask you to "Enter Package Information." This is where you can just write this is a gift box for a friend. You do not need to write anything more!


4. Customs Inventory: Next up is, "Enter Item Information." Okay, this one is a little tricky. If you want to itemize, and fill in every single thing in the box, you can. If you only want to do a couple, you can. I've done both over the years and both have been okay. I'm not going to tell you though that it will work every time so ultimately, the decision is up to you. Make sure though that you mark each item a GIFT so that the recipient does not get charged increased fees. Also, and this is IMPORTANT, the total that adds up for the all the items has to be the same total you gave on the previous page for the value of the box. So if you make something worth $1, that's fine! (Again, Canadians speak up hear if I'm wrong but my abroad friends always told me it was better to do this to reduce customs fees for the recipient.) Lastly, each weight of each individual item will need to add up to the to the total weight item, so I've honestly literally made up ratio numbers in the past. (I have never had a problem in years of sending packages)


5. Tarrif Number: Lastly, you do not have a tariff number so leave that blank. Okay, one last thing, choose your AES exemption. I would choose the second one having to do with gifts.


6. Obtaining the Label/Customs Form: The steps following this are similar to the ones from above except that I believe the payment options for USPS may also include credit card options as well as PayPal. Go ahead and print your label which will also contain your completed customs form. (Please note: you may need to sign your customs form before affixing it to your package) On a positive note, YOU STILL SAVE MONEY BY USING THE ONLINE POSTAGE SYSTEM!


7. How to actually ship it:For international packages, my personal advice is yes, bring it to the post office, and yes, actually check it in and get a receipt saying it was checked in by a postal worker. Since many international packages take quite longer than domestic and tend to get delayed at different intervals, you want to make sure that everything is okay when it first enters the system.

 

Duty Info (Thank you veronika23!)

 

The US can receive a gift up to 100$ USD. If you are sending a gift from Canada and mark it as 100$ you are actually saying it cost you 100$ CAD. Today Google converts that to 73.30$ USD so your recipient should be ok and not pay additional fees.

Canada can receive a gift up to 60$ CAD. If you are sending a gift from the US and it was 60$, you are actually saying it cost you 60$ USD. Today Google converts that to 81.86$ CAD. So your Canadian recipient in this case might pay duties/taxes/fees. But if your gift only cost you is lets say 35$ USD today Google converts that to 47.75$CAD. So the recipient shouldn't pay fees.

I believe customs will check the rate on the day the item is processed.

For the US ladies. The cheapest way to ship to Canada is via USPS First Class International mail.

Participants:

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Mcakes
eshoe
gonerogue
Snglbug
AznAngelLiz
SportyGirly125
faeriegirl
sister13
quspork
heartsmyface
Kim888
cianni
Cissy63
Mellmars1185
Anastasiya13
danielledanielle
missjeanie
ClassicallyFab
ohheyitscindyk

 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@SportyGirly125 I am so glad you received it! It looks like you received it all. I am so sorry the box and contents got damaged. To be honest, I was worried. When I was tracking it, I saw it was in customs for quite some time, and I started to fear that you wouldn't get it. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@Mellmars1185 Oh that’s good to hear nothing is missing. I held my breath when I had to open the ND face palette but was happy that it arrived in tact. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@SportyGirly125 Me too 🥲

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Just got my box Galentine. There’s a hole in the box. The card looks like it was eaten and the chocolate rose broke off. Not sure what happened in customs or if anything else is missing. Will post the unboxing soon. 


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Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@SportyGirly125 , that box.... Has seen some things 😑😶, but the goodies are (mostly) safe!  Yay that you got the Natasha Denona My Dream Lipstick - Creamy Lip Color 11NB Natasha  that complements both your ND Glam and Dream palettes.  @Mellmars1185 did a great job, if I didn't know anything better, it looks like @SportyGirly125 haul!

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@danielledanielle Thank you!  She did a great job at picking out the perfect goodies for me.

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@danielledanielle Thanks so much. I had a sixth sense feeling about this box having problems for some reason. I am going to manifest positive vibes for next time! 💞

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@Mellmars1185 Just some advice for your future box in case anything happens for claims with the shipping company, how you tape and package the box inside matters.  They are looking for how it is cushioned and packaged overall in order to win a claim.  I only know this because I ship a lot with eBay and I used to handle all the shipping claims at my job and didn't lose a single claim.

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@SportyGirly125 Thanks so much for the advice. I will do some more research before i send anything international. I am sorry you had to be the recipient of the damaged box and items. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Oh that is such a bummer, @SportyGirly125. So thankful the palette did not arrive broken - actually, that is a little miracle!! 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@eshoe @I was shocked and relieved to find it in tact after what the box went through. Sadly, some of the candy had to get thrown away because the candy/box was damaged or smushed. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Yay for the palette, but boo for the candy, @SportyGirly125. Especially those Smarties. I like those better than M&Ms. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@SportyGirly125  Wow, that’s awful!  😯

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@Cissy63 @My Mom brought the box in and the first thing she said was there’s a big hole in it.  I was shocked. I never had a box arrive like that before. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@SportyGirly125  On thé bright side it looks like it wasn’t eaten and was snagged by a machine.  Ha if something ate through that they wouldn’t have stopped right before the treasure.  So it’s likely okay to eat. But always sad when a package doesn’t arrive the way it left.  It looks like so much effort went into the presentation and those mean postal people went and mucked things up!  Wow the card too….that’s intense!  it makes me want to watch a movie of its journey to you and see what calamities it endured. @Mellmars1185   You did such a beautiful job of curating everything!  Honestly I’m shocked that the palette made it in tact!  That’s incredible!  

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@heartsmyface Thank you 💕

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@heartsmyface @I was shocked the palette didn’t arrive broken because it wasn’t bubble wrapped. Luckily nothing was missing. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

I'm so sorry to hear your package arrived damaged @SportyGirly125 , that is a shame when so much thought went into the entire gift from your Galentine‌ 🎁‌ 🩷

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@CynthieLu @I just hope nothing is missing. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@Kim888 Thanks so much for our Galentine’s gift!!💞💞💞 I always open things with my daughter, and we are having an extraordinarily unusual and hectic week, so I just want to let you know that we will be opening it this weekend! So excited!! Thank you, thank you!!

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@ClassicallyFab it's such a busy season of life! So excited to see all the goodies @Kim888 sent 😍

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