Background and scope
If you're a lucha fan like me who lives nowhere near Mexico, and doesn't (or can't) plan on traveling there any time soon, the Internet is probably your sole venue of getting lucha masks. Though I don't consider myself an expert, I've had some experience buying from different vendors in Mexico over email and the Internet, and what I've learned (especially concerning logistics) may be helpful to other people, so I thought I'd write about it.
I was originally envisioning a gigantic post about this, but it kept growing and growing, and although my target audience is probably not uninitiated to long blog posts, I felt that it'd be better in the long run to talk about a few aspects separately. So instead I'm going to do a series of posts. From this point on in this post, I actually won't be discussing masks or specific sellers at all, although that's probably what most people would be eager to read. You can be patient. :)
I'm going to start off by discussing logistics of paying and shipping, since I learned quite a bit (and ran into a few things that surprised me) along the way. Some of what I write will be specific to having packages shipped from Mexico to the United States, but I'll try to note this where possible. At the same time, many of the caveats here would apply equally as well to other international transactions, so even more reason to break this out into its own post.
Payment
International payments are tricky. Basically, your viable options are, in decreasing order of preference:
- PayPal
- Direct credit card charge, if the seller can accept these
- Wire transfer service (like Western Union)
- International money order
If you're dealing with a well-established merchant, they may be able to charge a credit card directly. This is fine, but be aware that direct international transactions, at least in my experience, tend to get flagged more readily by credit card companies as suspicious (more so than transactions that go through PayPal), so you may end up calling or getting called by your credit card company to verify the transaction. This can be slightly inconvenient.
In Mexico, it seems to be more common and accepted to use wire transfer services, such as Western Union or perhaps MoneyGram, for payment. These have a stigma in the US because of the potential for fraud. If your seller doesn't have a PayPal account, you should decide whether you trust him/her enough (ideally, you'll be able to see feedback from other buyers) and whether the fees charged by these services are acceptable to you. You'll also need to exchange full legal names, agree on where to send money to, and wait for the money to become available there.
Some of these services (MoneyGram) require you to specify the payment in the originating currency (i.e., yours) -- or at least I had to. Do your seller a favor and round up a bit to make sure that they don't get short-changed by exchange rates. Tell them to keep the change (it'll be a few pesos at most if you did your math right).
I've didn't have a problem with the two sellers whom I had to pay via wire transfer, but, again, do due diligence and check references and/or feedback. Also, encourage your sellers to get a PayPal account; it'll save them from having to go somewhere to pick up payments. :)
If you can't use PayPal or a credit card, and don't trust a wire transfer service, the last recourse would be an international money order. I've never had to do this, but you'd have to pay for the money order, then pay to ship the order, and wait for it to arrive and clear. This would be expensive by any means, even more so if you actually want the payment to get there in a reasonable amount of time.
Shipping
Always confirm with your seller that they will ship internationally, what they would charge for international shipping and what shipping methods they would offer. Ideally, your seller would be able to ship via a DHL, UPS, or FedEx expedited service at a reasonable cost. Some sellers are able to ship packages under one pound, or half a kilogram, for about US$20-30 from Mexico to the United States. I personally don't know how they get those rates, because international DHL/UPS shipping is more expensive for me, as well as for many other sellers; we seem to be quoted about double that cost. Nevertheless, the cost may be worth it for larger or valuable shipments. Although expensive, these services clear customs quickly, and have accurate tracking. DHL is able to get stuff from Torreón, Mexico to me in Connecticut in less than 24 hours, door to door.
Assuming that you can't get a good rate on third-party carriers, your next best bet is Express Mail (or EMS). This should cost about US$15-20 for a small package (again, from Mexico to the United States) and goes through the postal system. Expect this to take at least a week, and probably more realistically two weeks: 2-5 days to get out of Mexico (depending on how close they are to Mexico City), 2-7 days for customs clearance inbound into the US, and 2-3 days from customs to you. Customs shouldn't pose a problem unless you have a big order; I've never had to pay any duties or had an issue. Your mileage may vary if you are buying from other countries or live outside the US.
A third option, which would be even less expensive (about US$10) would be Registered Mail (the name is similar in Spanish, if I recall: correo registrado). This is supposed to be the most secure shipping method, but, because of the security, you cannot track the package in the USPS system until/unless an inquiry is lodged, and that can't happen until the allotted 21 days permitted for delivery (after the package enters the United States) have elapsed. Suffice it to say that your package will probably get to you, but you had better be a patient person. I don't recommend using this, because the loss of tracking information is extremely annoying, and EMS has been reliable enough for me, even though I do complain about its variability in delivery time.
If you do use the postal system (either EMS or Registered Mail), be aware that the same tracking number should work in both the originating country's tracking system and in the USPS' system, once the shipment reaches the US. This may seem perhaps obvious, but it wasn't immediately clear to me the first time that I had something shipped internationally (via Registered Mail).
One last quirk: If you have goods shipped from Mexico, the Mexican tracking system uses the confusing status «Depositado en Valija» ("Deposited in Mailbag" -- i.e., more or less "out for delivery") to signify that it has handed the package over to the receiving country. At this point, you should continue to track the package in the receiving country's tracking system.
In summary: use a third-party delivery service (DHL, UPS, or FedEx) if you can afford to do so; otherwise use EMS (which translates to Express Mail International on the USPS side).
Addressing
Mexico's postal addressing system that is rather different from the one used in the US. Mexico uses postal codes, cities, and states, but within cities in Mexico, there are "colonias" (roughly, "neighborhoods") that are a vital part of the address (e.g., you may be familiar with the Colonia Doctores in which Arena México lies). Also important to the address are the intersecting streets in between which an address is located.
Some vendors unfamiliar with US addresses will try to fit your address into Mexico's postal addressing system, and thus will ask for colonia or intersecting streets (often designated in a form as simply the entre field). Neither of these components make sense in a US address, so politely insist that they write the address as you've given it. (I have my packages delivered to work, whose street-level address is simply a building name and floor. I've had to explain how this is impossible to fit into a form that asks for número exterior, número interior, calle, and colonia.)
On the other hand, postal code (or ZIP code in the US) and city are universally recognized and useful, regardless of country, and some carriers will want them noted separately to help them route (and perhaps price) the package. You may need to point these out separately to the shipper.
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