Tman Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I know this has been covered but apparently, things have changed. I want to send a guitar to a friend in Europe. I've read about this on forums and googled doing some research. To send a $750 guitar, I was going to be charged $542.00 (yes you heard me, five hundred and forty freakin two dollars). That's insane and I went to the most used company that I read about on forums (don't want to name them for fear of being banned) It's a fed....eral crime. There. I even have an account with them that's supposed to give me a discount. What other way is there to do it? I'm not exaggerating. Any suggestions appreciated. From California to Europe. Also tried to ship a $16 book to Australia - $118. Man, I'm in the wrong field I guess. I didn't ship anything tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayer_shabetay Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hi Tman, I live in Panama (Central America), so anything I buy in the US, I ship to a freight forwarder in FL, and they ship it to me by ocean. For me it takes about 5-7 days to receive it. This way is a lot cheaper than by air. But for Europe might take about 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilpanda Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I say take a vacation to europe. deliver the guitar personally, see if they like it and get the money right away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Mayer and beast, great suggestions.I've calmed down a bit now. I was so shocked at the over $500 price. There are other ways for much cheaper. I'll have to do some more investigating. I'm actually going in april, I just didn't want to wait that long. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 .......................................................................................................................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Yep it's getting expensive and risky I used to ship them all over not anymore I normally refuse most foreign bids on anything. I especially won't send anything To Italy, or Brazil and sadly most of mexico is not any beter now. Those places have zero protection for the shipper if and when you get the product the person can legally stop payment by there rules and your out of luck. I stick to the continental United states Alaska, Hawaii, and England thats it. In the us I won't send anything to Boston they have way to many weird rules they try to enforce. and none of my knifes no matter how small get sent to Lost Angeles or Peoples Republic of Chicago two places that give residents no freedom to purchase or carry even small pocket knives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiska666 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Mayer and beast, great suggestions.I've calmed down a bit now. I was so shocked at the over $500 price. There are other ways for much cheaper. I'll have to do some more investigating. I'm actually going in april, I just didn't want to wait that long. Oh well. I got my dobro I bought from USA via USPS Priority mail international, weight of the parcel was about 23 lb, freight $98,15. Insurance up to $650 adds $9,40 so the total was $107,55.Delivery time was about 5 days. You can calculate the total prices by USPS online pages in advance if you know the parcel dimensions and weight, see link below: usps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raine Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I know this has been covered but apparently, things have changed. I want to send a guitar to a friend in Europe. I've read about this on forums and googled doing some research. To send a $750 guitar, I was going to be charged $542.00 (yes you heard me, five hundred and forty freakin two dollars). That's insane and I went to the most used company that I read about on forums (don't want to name them for fear of being banned) It's a fed....eral crime. There. I even have an account with them that's supposed to give me a discount. What other way is there to do it? I'm not exaggerating. Any suggestions appreciated. From California to Europe. Also tried to ship a $16 book to Australia - $118. Man, I'm in the wrong field I guess. I didn't ship anything tonight. $ 542 is weird .... When I went to the Gibson factory in Memphis I bought a guitar, I could not take it with me, I asked at Gisbon to shipped via UPS it was costing for France 100Dollars on priority air mail. it arrived on 4 days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiska666 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I got my dobro I bought from USA via USPS Priority mail international, weight of the parcel was about 23 lb, freight $98,15. Insurance up to $650 adds $9,40 so the total was $107,55.Delivery time was about 5 days. You can calculate the total prices by USPS online pages in advance if you know the parcel dimensions and weight, see link below: usps -Anyhow, if you are going to your friend I do recommend to bring the guitar with you.If you send it, your friend have to pay EU duty & taxes to get it out from customs,and it adds about 26% cost.In my case duty was 3,20% and tax 23%. When calculating customs values EU includes the the freight into the value to be declared.So in your case your friend will then pay duty&taxes about $850 value, roughly estimated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raine Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 -Anyhow, if you are going to your friend I do recommend to bring the guitar with you.If you send it, your friend have to pay EU duty & taxes to get it out from customs,and it adds about 26% cost.In my case duty was 3,20% and tax 23%. When calculating customs values EU includes the the freight into the value to be declared.So in your case your friend will then pay duty&taxes about $850 value, roughly estimated. This is true for tax supplement must be very careful because for the instrument is actually 26% in France of the original price. it's really very expensive. If you go take it in the plane and says it yours at customs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hi Tman, I live in Panama (Central America), so anything I buy in the US, I ship to a freight forwarder in FL, and they ship it to me by ocean. For me it takes about 5-7 days to receive it. This way is a lot cheaper than by air. But for Europe might take about 2 weeks. I'm in the southern Caribbean, so anything I order goes to a shipping company in FL, but they ship it to me by air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Thanks very much for all of the responses. Extremely informative. I'm surprised by the taxes. I will probably take it with me. Man. I got my dobro I bought from USA via USPS Priority mail international, weight of the parcel was about 23 lb, freight $98,15. Insurance up to $650 adds $9,40 so the total was $107,55.Delivery time was about 5 days. You can calculate the total prices by USPS online pages in advance if you know the parcel dimensions and weight, see link below: usps Checked it out. A little over $100. I can't believe the descrepency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldenone Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I used the post office to ship an antique German army helmet to France. It worked but I still have no idea why it took almost a month for the buyer to receive it. My $2,000 helmet was lost as far as I knew and the post office never gave me an answer nor the delivery receipt. It must have been in customs. However in the end it all worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reiska666 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I used the post office to ship an antique German army helmet to France. It worked but I still have no idea why it took almost a month for the buyer to receive it. My $2,000 helmet was lost as far as I knew and the post office never gave me an answer nor the delivery receipt. It must have been in customs. However in the end it all worked out. Hmm...sounds like your post office did not offer any online tracking for you? USPS priority mail has got it and you get the tracking code when send the parcel.Parcel is then registered in every transit hub via it`s way.I saw by tracking my parcel came from USA into Finland in a four days.Also USPS tracking code is nowadays compatible with any European transit, so you can use the same code all the time when tracking online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I have shipped many guitars from Boston to Spain... I've always used USPS, I have never had a problem and the are the cheapest. It shouldn't cost you more than $110 or $150 bucks... Any questions PM me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 I have shipped many guitars from Boston to Spain... I've always used USPS, I have never had a problem and the are the cheapest. It shouldn't cost you more than $110 or $150 bucks... Any questions PM me... Thanks Dave, I think I am going that route. I also think I know what happened. I didn't have a guitar box so the people at the shipping place made one with much bigger dimensions than a standard electric guitar box. That was measured and weighed and the $542 price was arrived at. I think a smaller box would have resulted in lessor charges but still not as little as USPS seems to be. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanbeastie Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hi there.. I shipped two guitars from Scotland to Canada when i emigrated.. and yes its expensive. I used an actual shipping company thinking it would be cheaper (the guitars spent 4 months travelling in a crate, but at least i knew they were as secure as possible) My suggestion is put the guitars in a hard or flightcase, wrap in a layer or two of bubble wrap then paper. weigh the package and measure all the dimensions and phone or email as many Shipping or postal companies as possible. You could even try contacting airlines, (admitidly i didnt want my guitars in an airlines hands!!) best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAS44 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 A book for a hundred bucks? I shipped a computer sized and weighted package to Norway for only 27 bucks! Best pay a bit (a lot?) more to make sure they get there in one piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S t e v e Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 i paid $1900 for a guitar plus £70 shipping from florida, when it arrived on these shores customs held it till i paid £226 import charges... thieving mofos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [cursing] [cursing] below is said guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I know this has been covered but apparently, things have changed. I want to send a guitar to a friend in Europe. I've read about this on forums and googled doing some research. To send a $750 guitar, I was going to be charged $542.00 (yes you heard me, five hundred and forty freakin two dollars). That's insane and I went to the most used company that I read about on forums (don't want to name them for fear of being banned) It's a fed....eral crime. There. I even have an account with them that's supposed to give me a discount. What other way is there to do it? I'm not exaggerating. Any suggestions appreciated. From California to Europe. Also tried to ship a $16 book to Australia - $118. Man, I'm in the wrong field I guess. I didn't ship anything tonight. Wait for super, super cheap air fare, then take it there yourself. About 3 weeks after Europe had it's big snow storm, they were advertising below bargain basement prices to fly to Europe. Sub $100 bucks my wife told me. My guess is that due to the air traffic disruption they had not enough planes in Europe and too many in the states, so, rather than fly dead head, they figured they bargain list a one way fare and make some of it up selling duty free smokes on the plane. Not sure what the return flight would cost, but you might get by for less than $745, AND you don't have to worry about the gorillas in baggage handling. Just carry it on. With the disruption in air traffic through Chicargo and New York, I suspect we may see some bargain fairs in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Agreed. Already got an email from Lufthansa for $100 off. I know it sounds unbelievable but those were the prices quoted to me last PM. It's looking like I'll use the good ole US post office from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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