Shipping Internationally

[chazmo]

Oh my god, I am losing it here. I fired up the UPS web page prepared to print a label and get on with the process of shipping Cap to Europe.

First, the price of well north of $300 blew me away. Then I started going through the forms...

I'm completely lost and rather irritated. In particular, these forms are designed for companies that ship exports. I'm just shipping some guy a guitar! I don't have a taxID or whatever the hell the forms need. I don't see any way to complete the forms UPS is telling me are needed.

I"m about to give up. Anyone want to chime in if there's a better way? Should I just take this thing to the post office and if I do that will they be able to get this to someone in Europe for me?

 

[twocorgis]

I'd go with USPS for Euro delivery Chaz, and I would never say that for domestic shipping. By far the most reasonable (UPS and Fedex are godawful expensive internationally), and they should be able to help you with the customs forms too, at least over the phone. Where's Cap going?

 

[Frosty]

Deep breath....

All I can share is my experience. Shipping internationally, I brought the carton w/ guitar to the local UPS Store. They did the weigh/measure thing, asked about insurance and handed me a short form to fill out and rang me up. Expensive, yes. Guitar arrived as planned.

I think we've talked about this before, and I may have been corrected, but I think USPS will only insure to $600 value, twocorgis. That would only cover the shipping and insurance cost from US to EU. :roll:

 

[twocorgis]

I think we've talked about this before, and I may have been corrected, but I think USPS will only insure to $600 value, twocorgis. That would only cover the shipping and insurance cost from US to EU. :roll:

I could be wrong, but I think the limit is $800, and that's for Italy only. the only place I've shipped a guitar internationally is to Oz (a story unto itself), so I might be talking out of my you-know-what here...

 

[Brad Little]

Deep breath....
I think we've talked about this before, and I may have been corrected, but I think USPS will only insure to $600 value, twocorgis. That would only cover the shipping and insurance cost from US to EU. :roll:

USPS insurance used to end when the item left USPS handling, although that was years ago. You might give Clarion Associates (Instrument Insurance) a call and see what they would charge for a single use guitar policy. I know that people who use it for all instrument insurance can call them and have a new purchase insured during shipping process.
Brad

 

[GuildFS4612CE]

Chaz,

In the past I've sent a number of guitars overseas, including France, and an extremely rare serial# 001 Mosrite to Norway, via USPS Priority Mail International, and all arrived in good shape in about a week or so. Some of it is dependent on the receiving country's postal system, of course, but so far no problems.

And the customs form is simple: sender address, recipient address, content, value. I.E. one used acoustic Guild guitar year (19--)Model name, serial #.

As long as the length of the box is under the maximum...and you can do it, even if you have to cut it down a bit...and the total of girth plus length isn't over the current inch max...no problems...unless it's australia with it's own length max limits.

Regarding insurance...haven't looked up the current maximum, but, realistically, no matter what you insure it for, if something happens, the insurance company here is not likely to take responsibility for anything once it is handed over to the receiving country's delivery system. Perhaps your guitar is covered under your homeowner's policy until it is delivered? Or the recipient can take out their own insurance policy.

Sometimes you just have to take a chance. Pack it well. (I always seal the guitar case in plastic with the recipients address inside, on the off chance the box is exposed to water, and put clear tape over the address on the box, and use indelible ink for that...PRINT CLEARLY...along with your return address) And off it goes.

 

[chazmo]

Thanks for the advice, folks.

I will bring the box over to the post office and see if I can get this done there.

 

[bluesypicky]

Same experience as Jane here with USPS.
Shipped to France MANY times, and never a problem. Just one Custom form to fill and you're done.
Outside of the Holiday season, item gets there within 1 to 2 weeks.

 

[Brad Little]

Or the recipient can take out their own insurance policy.

This is almost definitely available from Clarion, although maybe not as a single use.
Brad

 

[john_kidder]

Chaz,

In the past I've sent a number of guitars overseas . . via USPS Priority Mail International, and all arrived in good shape in about a week or so. Some of it is dependent on the receiving country's postal system, of course, but so far no problems.

And the customs form is simple: sender address, recipient address, content, value. I.E. one used acoustic Guild guitar year (19--)Model name, serial #.

As long as the length of the box is under the maximum...and you can do it, even if you have to cut it down a bit...and the total of girth plus length isn't over the current inch max...no problems...unless it's australia with it's own length max limits.

Second to all of the above. USPS International all the way - I drive down from Canada for the service. Relatively inexpensive, and, so far, completey reliable.

 

[dapmdave]

I just sold a pickup via eBay to a fellow in Sweden. I shipped it USPS, and he got it in about 10 days, no problem. I had to fill out one small form. I'm sure that a guitar will be more of a problem than a pickup, but USPS was recommended and turned out to be easy.

Cost was about 1/3 of UPS.

Dave

 

[fearless]

As an Australian who received guitars from the U.S. +1 for USPS.
If anyone needs to ship anything to Aus, give me a shout - there are some work-arounds for the size restrictions.

 

[chazmo]

Well, this size restriction you guys are talking about... I hope it doesn't put the kybosh on this. I guess we'll see.

 

[dapmdave]

Well, this size restriction you guys are talking about... I hope it doesn't put the kybosh on this. I guess we'll see.

I hear there's a workaround...

Dave :lol:

 

[West R Lee]

Oh my god, I am losing it here. I fired up the UPS web page prepared to print a label and get on with the process of shipping Cap to Europe.

First, the price of well north of $300 blew me away. Then I started going through the forms...

I'm completely lost and rather irritated. In particular, these forms are designed for companies that ship exports. I'm just shipping some guy a guitar! I don't have a taxID or whatever the hell the forms need. I don't see any way to complete the forms UPS is telling me are needed.

I'm about to give up. Anyone want to chime in if there's a better way? Should I just take this thing to the post office and if I do that will they be able to get this to someone in Europe for me?

Yes and yes. I thought we'd discussed this one, but USPS is the only way to go for about 1/4 the cost. There are positives and a couple of negatives in shipping with uSPS.

As mentioned, to ship a guitar to new Zealand via UPS or Fedex, for me anyway, was in the $600 range. I've now shipped 2 guitars to New Zealand for $127 and $147 respectively......and both insured.

The only drawback to shipping via USPS is that it takes them forever, and though it may be available now, I've never gotten tracking information from USPS, so once it's gone, I've had to keep my fingers crossed fro well over a week. In both cases, the buyer was ecstatic with what they received.

And you can do it all right there in your neighborhood post office.

West

 

[fearless]

Well, this size restriction you guys are talking about... I hope it doesn't put the kybosh on this. I guess we'll see.

The size restriction issue is only with USPS Priority International to Australia. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Well, this size restriction you guys are talking about... I hope it doesn't put the kybosh on this. I guess we'll see.

I hear there's a workaround...

Dave :lol:

Shudders...

 

[West R Lee]

Actually, as I recall, there is a size restriction with USPS.....you can go to their websire and it'll give you box length, width and girth, along with weights and shipping costs, but I can tell you that a standard Taylor shippinmg box worked just fine. I used the USPS site to estimate costs to Ian in New Zealand, then went to the P.O., and the online estimate was within just a few bucks of what I'd estimated.

http://ircalc.usps.gov/

West

 

[Frosty]

I'd like to hear more about insurance options via USPS. My local office, aside from refusing the Guild box due to size, told me they would only cover $600 liability to EU. Was I misinformed?

 

[West R Lee]

I'd like to hear more about insurance options via USPS. My local office, aside from refusing the Guild box due to size, told me they would only cover $600 liability to EU. Was I misinformed?

I shipped Gary's guitar to him insured for well over $1000 as I recall Frosty, but that's been a couple of years. Ian didn't want his insured for the sale amount, I bought $400/insurance on Ian's per his request.

West

 

[fearless]

Actually, as I recall, there is a size restriction with USPS.....you can go to their websire and it'll give you box length, width and girth, along with weights and shipping costs, but I can tell you that a standard Taylor shippinmg box worked just fine. I used the USPS site to estimate costs to Ian in New Zealand, then went to the P.O., and the online estimate was within just a few bucks of what I'd estimated.

http://ircalc.usps.gov/

West

You're right, there are size restrictions which differ for each service depending on which country. When I said it was only as issue for Australia, what I meant was that a typical guitar box must go by GXG to Australia, instead of the cheaper Priority Mail option. Technically, at least. There are work-arounds. Ones that don't involve a chainsaw! (clenches)