Shipping overseas

[4313B]

Does anyone else on this forum ship items overseas?

If so, what carrier?

Any bad experiences?

What are the issues surrounding people buying items from the JBL Tent Sale and then getting them shipped out of the U.S.?

Where do overseas Service Centers get their cone kits from?

[Mr. Widget]

Through my auctions on eBay I have sold and subsequently shipped drivers and electronics to Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and The Netherlands. In every case the US Postal Service was the least expensive. So far no real problems. The shipment to The Netherlands took a month longer than expected though.

[Dave G]

Hello Rob G

I live in England and export and import on a private level.

I use the 'Parcel Force' service which is related to the nationalized U.K. postal service. When I receive goods here I pay a customs clearance fee of about £15 and V.A.T. on the value of goods. V.A.T. here is 17.5%

Tax charged is based on Insured value of goods. Wouldn't like to try to evade TAX by undervalueing a big box of drivers. I suspose you be OK unless they open the box and consider they are worth more than quoted.

Not sure if Tent Sale goes overseas, more hastle for them perhaps but I think the tent sale would seriously hurt UK distributer feelings. I remember a batch of 2242 going through for around $150 each these are listed at about £800 each here.

If you want a kit here they tell a you a story about kits coming via Norway to USA and then back to UK. There is no direct dealings and you have to go through a dealer for any spare part. Pounds for dollars prices too or worse! JBL UK PRO is practicaly none exsistant especially on tour type sound sales. I have never seen a JBL domestic speaker for sale in a hi fi store. In fact the distributor used to be local to me, they got bored with it and gave up, along with Infinity and Rotel imports!!

Dave

[JBL Dog]

Giskard.

I've shipped small packages via USPS to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, France and South Korea. The only problems I've had has been with a France shipment. The buyer didn't want to pay the insurance and he claimed he never received it. :(

Nothing goes overseas anymore without being insured and return receipt. I alway add about $10.00 handling fee to the total shipping fee.

This message comes from JBL Dog :cool:

[Robh3606]

I have shipped to Australia and France. I used the USPS and had no problems at all. Only done it 3 times so far but it was painless. Just go to the PO and your done. I would definitely insure with return reciept just to play it safe.

Rob:)

[JBL Dog]

I do recall the clerk at the post office rolling his eyes when I mentioned sending a parcel to France. Even though the buyer paid for 4 - 10 day Airmail service, he told me it will "get there when it gets there." Customs in France is notoriously slow is what he told me. Because of that experience, I will not ship to France anymore.

The items sent were a pair of the 2402H-05's that I resold from the "tent sale."

This message comes from JBL Dog :cool:

[4313B]

Well what's the deal? Are these Customs people opening stuff up to see what's inside?

[Dave G]

Iraq can be a tricky one.:)

Had to get that in.

I would expect goods to be checked occasionaly but I have not had it done to me as yet. The courier company pays a 'clearance fee' to process customs, more of a paperwork thing. Europe custom form is SIX carbon copies!

I would have no worries really shipping parts, as far as E-bay in the UK is concerned most decent audio will never sell for a decent sum unless you have a world market.

Incidentaly my Le 15a recone/regauss are in USA now and will be shipped back next week, now that is some shipping bill!

Incidentaly UPS seem to be more dollars than US postal, I think UPS has the better reputation. Depends if you have a account I suspose.

[Don McRitchie]

Canadian customs open and inspect the vast majority of packages I have imported and I would expect this is the norm in most other countries.

[JBL Dog]

Well what's the deal? Are these Customs people opening stuff up to see what's inside?

Maybe. I have had one package containing some audio gear sent to me from Denmark and it did not appear to be inspected by customs. :o

I had an unusual shipping problem when a buyer from Toyko bought a set of vintage C-56 Dorians from me. The company he hired to handle the shipping actually came over to my house to interview me to make sure I wasn't a terrorist. Yup, you guessed it.... down came the lifesize portraits of Osama and Saddam! ;)

This message comes from JBL Dog :cool:

[Mike C]

Hi guys, I live in Australia. My experience in receiving freight from the US is mixed. The USPS is very slow to Australia and their tracking is a little ordinary for my liking. UPS and similar seem to be the way to go. My biggest problem is getting people to ship outside the US! On Ebay espesially is hard for me. I can only bid on some items with folk who are willing to ship outside the US. Also with things like the JBL tent sale you have to be a resident to have them ship anything to you.
P.S Giskard is it possible to send you a private email?

[Ezel]

I am located in Istanbul - Turkey.. So far I had more than 60 susccessful shipments from different locations.. On my experience if you are located out of US you should communicate very well and disscuss every possible details with the seller.. So far I had only two problems..

USPS is relatively fast.. (7-10 days). If you want faster you have to go forwarding companies (UPS, FedEX). They are very expensive... even more expensive that the shipped item value in most of cases. I can recommend BAX (Check www.baxworld.com) they do house to house delivery in many countries, and house to airport delivery in some countries (including Turkey). Fast and cheaper. They deliver in 2 days. You can track the delivery from the internet and insure the item if you want. Customs procedures are similar to regular post.. From item to be shipped from UK I guess the best choice is Parcel Force. Deutsche Post (Now a subsidary of DHL) is recommended for shipment from Germany. Other countries I would prefer regular post with insurance..

As a regular Customs procedure every shipment should be opened and inspected to value and to define a tax amount.. An invoice with at least 3 copies is needed for this.. Here (Turkey) there is a US$ 200.- limit.. If the invoiced value is less than that you don't have to pay tax..

By the way.. What is "JBL Tent Sale"????? Never heard anything about it..

[Mr. Widget]

The JBL tent sale is an online clearance center for JBL to unload "B" stock and other items. There have been some incredible deals available on it. It is located at the JBL Pro web site.

http://www.jblpro.com/Tent_Sale/sale_items.htm

[locanti]

Hello guys!
I leave in France and receive a lot of parcel from the outside(Mostly from USA) and still waiting for 3 from US.Most of the time these parcel came through USPS parcel post and I had no problem with it.Once or twice, parcels were openned by Post servicies but I don't know if it was USPS or LAPOSTE(French postal service).Regarding what Dave G wrote , Ididn't pay taxes from this foreign parcel,do they come from Canada or US or else(No taxes in internal Europe , but because of the EEC) even when they were insured(Bad luck for you Dave!!!!)I send once to Australia via LAPOSTE (French postal service) a 12Kg parcel and it arrived in 4 weeks(Ebay sale) and once to Brazil (15 Kg parcel)and it take only 2 weeks.My Brazilian custumer had to pay taxes on it calculated on the shipping insurance.

For me , the cheapest , the best.When I win an item an Ebay , I always ask for USPS surface shipping if it's heavy.:cool:

[boputnam]

Giskard...

If you're still following this thread, I can only pile-on the USPS recommendations you've gotten. USPS require two forms that are trivial to complete, and then you stand in a line tended by ex United Airlines staff - as the line lengthens, more of them take breaks. You know the drill.

Otherwise, everything has arrived in good order, and without much hassle.