How to Ship to Europe...

[KentH]

Good afternoon..

Okay so this may be a silly post, but... I was going to ship my last Aero A2 back to Aero so they could sell it on their website instead of me having to sell it privately.. They were going to buy it back.. I had owned it for almost a year before I made this decision, so them paying for a return did not come into play..

But when I packed it up and brought it to DHL it was going to cost over $250 US dollars.. I was stunned to say the least.. I will need to sell it privately now, so how do you guys ship packages overseas at these exorbitant rates, what am I missing here..??

Kent

 

[Monitor]

Good afternoon..

Okay so this may be a silly post, but... I was going to ship my last Aero A2 back to Aero so they could sell it on their website instead of me having to sell it privately.. They were going to buy it back.. I had owned it for almost a year before I made this decision, so them paying for a return did not come into play..

But when I packed it up and brought it to DHL it was going to cost over $250 US dollars.. I was stunned to say the least.. I will need to sell it privately now, so how do you guys ship packages overseas at these exorbitant rates, what am I missing here..??

Kent

DHL is notoriously pricey. Never had to pay more than $70 for a shipping from the US. Why don't you just send the package through USPS?

 

[seres]

Yes, USPS is the cheapest, and best!

 

[KentH]

DHL is notoriously pricey. Never had to pay more than $70 for a shipping from the US. Why don't you just send the package through USPS?

Primarily due to the fact that we are dealing with a $700 or so jacket I would like tracking & security all the way with an International shipper... Plus I did not mention this in the initial post the USPS line on his screen showed something like $110... Maybe it was the size of the box...??

Kent

 

[ton312]

Primarily due to the fact that we are dealing with a $700 or so jacket I would like tracking & security all the way with an International shipper... Plus I did not mention this in the initial post the USPS line on his screen showed something like $110... Maybe it was the size of the box...??

Kent

Depending on the service you select and the ad-ons USPS will still be your best bet. Priority mail Int'l includes tracking and $100 of insurance.... depending on the weight/box will likely cost around $70. If you insure it for $700 you will certainly pay more.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

The size of the box will definitely come into play. They have free international Priority boxes. I'd go to a post office and do some experimenting. There might even be a flat rate box for international that would work. You should be able to easily google that. Even with insurance, and possibly registered mail, I can't imagine a jacket would cost anywhere near $250.

 

[KentH]

Depending on the service you select and the ad-ons USPS will still be your best bet. Priority mail Int'l includes tracking and $100 of insurance.... depending on the weight/box will likely cost around $70. If you insure it for $700 you will certainly pay more.

I must plead ignorance here.. I did not know the USPS had Int. shipping now.. Years ago when I sold a few things on ebay I was told by the people behind the counter that once it leaves the US they can't track it..

Thanks for the updated info.. Kent

 

[Monitor]

Primarily due to the fact that we are dealing with a $700 or so jacket I would like tracking & security all the way with an International shipper... Plus I did not mention this in the initial post the USPS line on his screen showed something like $110... Maybe it was the size of the box...??

Kent

Hm, $110 does seem a bit excessive but the shipping price depends primarily on what the destination country's postal service charges for handling mail as they're the ones who are going to have to take over the shipping once the parcel lands and clears the customs.

Either way, DHL charges as much as they do because they handle an entire shipping process themselves but their standard shipping is neither considerably more reliable nor faster than your local postal service.

I wouldn't worry about shipping the jacket thru USPS. I had number of jackets shipped from and to USA, all tracked and insured by default and they all made it across the pond and in a relatively good time, too.

 

[KentH]

Hm, $110 does seem a bit excessive but the shipping price depends primarily on what the destination country's postal service charges for handling mail as they're the ones who are going to have to take over the shipping once the parcel lands and clears the customs.

Either way, DHL charges as much as they do because they handle an entire shipping process themselves but their standard shipping is neither considerably more reliable nor faster than your local postal service.

I wouldn't worry about shipping the jacket thru USPS. I had number of jackets shipped from and to USA, all tracked and insured by default and they all made it across the pond and in a relatively good time, too.

Thanks for for reply.. Kent

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I must plead ignorance here.. I did not know the USPS had Int. shipping now.. Years ago when I sold a few things on ebay I was told by the people behind the counter that once it leaves the US they can't track it..

Thanks for the updated info.. Kent

That's never been true. You either ran into some nincompoops or someone very lazy. There's always been Registered Mail. It's very pricey, but it has been available for decades. I used to operate a small business that mostly involved international trade. I lived at the post office.

I will say that I'm no longer knowledgeable whether Registered Mail continues to be tracked on a physical ledger where every time a package changes hands, it is signed for and logged. It used to be intensive, thus the high price. If it is now done in batch scans where they scan mail bags or pallets of boxes, that wouldn't surprise me. Registered Mail is the highest level of security for mail or a package. If they lose or damge it as Registered, there's nothing more anyone could do about it.

 

[belfastboy]

I have not shipped a jacket to Europe via USPS but I have shipped many bike parts including entire bike frames. I have found USPS to be reliable and by far the cheapest method. In the case of postage, size really does matter so do your best to get the jacket in the smallest box you can without damaging the jacket. Inches matter.

 

[KentH]

That's never been true. You either ran into some nincompoops or someone very lazy. There's always been Registered Mail. It's very pricey, but it has been available for decades. I used to operate a small business that mostly involved international trade. I lived at the post office.

I will say that I'm no longer knowledgeable whether Registered Mail continues to be tracked on a physical ledger where every time a package changes hands, it is signed for and logged. It used to be intensive, thus the high price. If it is now done in batch scans where they scan mail bags or pallets of boxes, that wouldn't surprise me. Registered Mail is the highest level of security for mail or a package. If they lose or damge it as Registered, there's nothing more anyone could do about it.

Thanks for the info.. I did know about registered mail, I probably did see it as too expensive for a package...

 

[Bfd70]

Why not give it a few days here and ebay domestic only. Couldn’t hurt. Whacha got?

 

[Lebowski]

USPS First Class Mail International is about 50-60 $. Registered, signed, 250 $ insurance incl. It's the best way. Absolutely.
The second best is USPS Priority Mail - it's for heavy parcels mostly. A bit more expensive though (about 75-80 $).
DHL and UPS are both absurd considering their crazy prices.

 

[fulcanelli]

I just bought a leather jacket from the states shipped to the uk and it was around $90 due to weight etc. Just hope it wont get caught by uk customs

 

[Mich486]

I just bought a leather jacket from the states shipped to the uk and it was around $90 due to weight etc. Just hope it wont get caught by uk customs

I wish you luck my friend. Over the past year it only happened once out of i don’t know how many parcels to get through customs without having to pay. Custom charges suck... especially when you can’t get what you want in your country.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KentH]

Why not give it a few days here and ebay domestic only. Couldn’t hurt. Whacha got?

I am looking to sell an AERO 42-15142-P A2 size 48 in seal jerky w/rust knits... I'll get it out, measure it out and post it soon...

Kent

 

[GHT]

I just bought a leather jacket from the states shipped to the uk and it was around $90 due to weight etc. Just hope it wont get caught by uk customs

I've got some bad news for you. A few years back I bought a hat that I had been after from San Diego, shipping was $55, but when it reached the UK, USPS partner, Parcel Force, left me a card saying that they couldn't deliver until I had paid the import duty. I learned a lesson from that, if you are prepared to take the risk you can always ask the vendor to label the package: "SAMPLES, OF NO INTRINSIC VALUE." But if it goes missing........................

 

[fulcanelli]

I’ve ordered stuff from the states before , some gets through some gets hit with a fee it’s luck of the draw.

Here’s a tip though, get it delivered to a business address if possible for some reason it is much less likely to attract a charge. Unfortunately I can’t do that in this case.