Items shipped overseas from USA?

I could use a bit of guidance from my dpreview buddies, particularly those of you who do not live in the USA. If you've received packages (photo gear, for example) shipped to you from the USA, how well did those shipments go? Did you have customs delays? Duties to pay (excessive, reasonable)? Which shippers (e.g. FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS) are particularly bad or good?

I'm shortly about to release a photo accessory for sale, with both domestic and international shipment. It will need to be shipped insured, with delivery confirmation, but shipping time (in most cases) is not critical. Nonetheless, all of the major shippers (UPS, FedEx, DHL) quote shipping charges of around $100 US from Oregon to London (that sounds like a high price, to me). In short, they all charge about the same. So what should be the other considerations, besides cost?

While I have a business interest in this discussion, I would think this question to be of somewhat general interest to others who are purchasing from overseas (which shipper should I prefer or avoid) as well as those who are shipping abroad from the USA.

Thanks, much!

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic

Hi Bob,

I currently live in the middle east and I use a regional service called Aramex. When I buy from the US I use Aramex's address in New York as my ship to address. In 3 years I have not paid any import duties at all. A friend recenlty ordered a MacBook Pro from the US and paid no duties.
Where are you shipping to?
--
Scott

bob elkind said:

I could use a bit of guidance from my dpreview buddies, particularly those of you who do not live in the USA. If you've received packages (photo gear, for example) shipped to you from the USA, how well did those shipments go? Did you have customs delays? Duties to pay (excessive, reasonable)? Which shippers (e.g. FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS) are particularly bad or good?

Click to expand...

My son lives in Europe and has ordered electronics (HI-FI) equipment components from the US sent by mail. No delays just pick up the item at the main local post office and pay the duty according to the import tariffs in the particular country. They vary for different countries. The value for customs purposes has to be declared by the sender.

I have no advice regarding different shippers. Have used UPS and FedEx for international document deliveries in "our' business with no problems. Once had a DHL shipment sent to "my" company. The package had fallen apart during shipping and addressee and sender labels had fallen off. It was sent to us because there were some documents with our company logo/letterhead in the package. Turned out that we had been subject of industrial espionage and took appropriate action.

--
Kind regards
Kaj
http://www.pbase.com/kaj_e
WSSA member

It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.- Elliott Erwitt

I've lived around Europe and have successfully used DHL and Fedex for shipping from States. There is no delay, it's typically delivered within 5 days (including customs inspection). Local duties and other taxes may apply.
Cheers

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/branis/
“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.”
Yousuf Karsh
'There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.'
Ansel Adams

DuraAce1 said:

Hi Bob,

I currently live in the middle east and I use a regional service called Aramex. When I buy from the US I use Aramex's address in New York as my ship to address. In 3 years I have not paid any import duties at all. A friend recently ordered a MacBook Pro from the US and paid no duties.
Where are you shipping to?

Click to expand...

Scott, thanks for the heads up on Aramex. I will check them out, as an alternative to Fedex/UPS/DHL.

I'll be shipping to anywhere a paying customer wants it shipped. Setting up shop on the world wide web opens up all sorts of possibilities. DPREVIEW.com is certainly proof of that.

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic

boy6foot said:

I've lived around Europe and have successfully used DHL and Fedex for shipping from States. There is no delay, it's typically delivered within 5 days (including customs inspection). Local duties and other taxes may apply.
Cheers

Click to expand...

I take that to mean you have no particular preference for (or aversion to) any particular shipper. Thanks for the response.

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic

Europe is a big place, with many different countries, each operating its own method of collecting!

I live in the UK.

If something comes in by post, it is usually picked up by customs, who can charge either import duty and/or Value Added Tax. Either way the Post Office adds on it's own "service charge", and the door bell rings without warning, and the post man demands cash on the door-step!

If things come by courier, then some tax is certain, always VAT, and sometimes customs as well, and then the courier adds on a fee for paying the tax for you - minimum £11, ($15 or so) and increasing ad val!

I much doubt it is of any advantage for a small shipper from the US, but I have dealt with one Hong Kong (might be relevant that it was a British colony until 1997) dealer, who was able to pay the UK VAT up-front, so that the parcel came straight through without any delay.

HTH

Richard

--
Richard

reps2 wrote:
...

reps2 said:

I much doubt it is of any advantage for a small shipper from the US, but I have dealt with one Hong Kong (might be relevant that it was a British colony until 1997) dealer, who was able to pay the UK VAT up-front, so that the parcel came straight through without any delay.

Click to expand...

Maybe we can work the same deal, paying the UK VAT up front, putting it on the credit card straight up. After all, the USA used to be a British colony, too.

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic

bob elkind said:

bob elkind said:

I much doubt it is of any advantage for a small shipper from the US, but I have dealt with one Hong Kong (might be relevant that it was a British colony until 1997) dealer, who was able to pay the UK VAT up-front, so that the parcel came straight through without any delay.

Click to expand...

Maybe we can work the same deal, paying the UK VAT up front, putting it on the credit card straight up. After all, the USA used to be a British colony, too.

Click to expand...

Bob, I don't think it's smart for you as a sender to try to pay local taxes. They vary so much by country. It's the receivers duty to pay any duty and/or local taxes when applicable. Just follow US rules and regulations.

Also, I would recommend checking with the shipper that they have established service at minor remote locations.

For mail in different European countries you don't typically have to pay anything if they show up at your door, you can choose to pick it up at the post office and pay there. If you are not home, they will leave a slip letting you know that the item can be picked up.
--
Kind regards
Kaj
http://www.pbase.com/kaj_e
WSSA member

It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.- Elliott Erwitt

None whatsoever. It boils down to their last mile delivery system. For example, I've noticed that (in the south of Italy where I currently reside) Fedex seems to be faster and better organized than DHL. While tracking the shipments I can see that difference is mainly between their last warehouse and people who actually deliver the goods.

I've also noticed a lot of large shippers tend to subcontract the last mile delivery to other companies (for example Bartolini and SDA in Italy) so final quality of the service might depend on those companies too.

Bottom line, I'm largely happy and I speak from experience in Italy, Germany and Austria.
Cheers

bob elkind said:

boy6foot said:

I've lived around Europe and have successfully used DHL and Fedex for shipping from States. There is no delay, it's typically delivered within 5 days (including customs inspection). Local duties and other taxes may apply.
Cheers

Click to expand...

I take that to mean you have no particular preference for (or aversion to) any particular shipper. Thanks for the response.

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic

Click to expand...

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/branis/
“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.”
Yousuf Karsh
'There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.'
Ansel Adams

Thanks for the followup -- Bob

If its to Australia then all the services are good and even USPS is a great service, if you get an Aussie buyer then give him this as an option. Id use something like the USPS Global Express service. I get a ton of US parcel mail, never a problem.

What kind of photo accessory is this, the size of a bike? Private courier companies are a rip-off. I would choose the post, but you can always offer different options to your customers at different rates. Anyway, if the item is small and the declared value is low (usually no more than 30$) or marked as a 'gift' or 'free sample' chances are there will be no customs/VAT etc. If there is, the charge is usually at least 20% on top of the declared value of the item and your customers are most likely going to get disappointed.

Cheers

Hi Bob - allow me to share with you the benefit of my experiences while living abroad - most recently in Japan for the past 10 years...

I order a boat load of gear from overseas every year for shipment into Japan ( not just photo gear but also clothes, groceries & toiletries that I can't buy here etc., ) & the ONLY time I have ever had a delay in customs or consistently had to pay ANY DUTIES or TAXES on a shipment from overseas has been when the shipper uses FedEx ...

FedEx seems to have gotten it into their heads recently that they should be the unofficial tax collector for the Japanese government - I guess this is just a profit center for them because they automatically charge me duties and taxes as well as a brokerage fee ....

NO other shipper does this and as a result I will not purchase from a vendor if FedEx is the only option unless I have ABSOLUTELY no alternative...

To exacerbate the problem - most of the time the delivery person does not even collect the fees or ask about them - there is simply an additional invoice with the shipping documents that places the onus on me to forward payment to them ( FedEx )... This entails me having to incur yet another fee for forwarding payment to them... Again - NO OTHER SHIPPER does this here...

On the rare occasion that a non FedEx delivery is assessed duties it is done by the actual customs and excise people which places the onus on the delivery agent to collect the fees at the time of delivery - which is all fine and dandy...

UPS is decent & quick... UPS Worldwide Saver is my preferred shipping method from B&H in NYC - - - 3-5 days door to door delivery to Japan and cheaper than most other services

USPS is also great and is the usual alternative from smaller shippers - good price - on-time delivery - 1 or 2 days longer than the dedicated shippers but VERY reliable...

DHL is also good but for some reason DHL parcels seem to routinely get torn apart and inspected by customs - which is their prerogative and no problem with me - but it rarely happens with a UPS or USPS shipment..

In the end, I would recommend - for parcels into Asia at least - you look into the good old USPS for anything smaller than a breadbox and UPS Worldwide Saver for anything bigger or needing a 3-5 day guaranteed delivery...
--
Cheers...

Thank you for the detailed comments and suggestions. Very helpful.

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic

Hi Bob, my company sends parcels overseas using USPS and have never had a problem with breakage or lost packages. Also, if your product would fit in any of the bulk rate priority boxes it's quite reasonable in price. Curious, what is it you are selling?
--
Owen Dearing
Bend, Oregon

Bob,
you´ve tickled my curiosity!

When and how may we find out what it is you plan to sell?

(I hope it´s an 8" HDMI capable, battery operated, high resolution screen at a decent price for use as a LiveView and review monitor)

Hi Bob,

I have very good experiences with B&H.
Packaging and delivery was very good and never had complains about that.
B&H service is so and so good (in my opinion.)

It's the dirty UPS which I do not like. They do the 'import tax service' here in Holland since a couple of years, so they can count you a nice administration fee of 10 Euros for that as well. Probable they do that in other nations also. Several

I avoided this a couple of times already by sending the products by friends, so they sent the products to me by DHL and I never had import or other problems.
However, if you look at the delivery itself, UPS it's good and quick.

Nowadays I buy most of the stuff in Japan, greatest service and price wise very well.
Michel

--

Disclaimer: Posts written by me are my views, ideas and opinions only, and should not be taken as facts, unless stated otherwise.

Light is eveything

http://www.fotopropaganda.com
http://www.fotopropaganda.com/fotopropaganda-blog/
http://www.pbase.com/photopropaganda

M Lammerse wrote:
...

M Lammerse said:

It's the dirty UPS which I do not like. They do the 'import tax service' here in Holland since a couple of years, so they can count you a nice administration fee of 10 Euros for that as well. Probable they do that in other nations also.

I avoided this a couple of times already by sending the products by friends, so they sent the products to me by DHL and I never had import or other problems.
However, if you look at the delivery itself, UPS it's good and quick.

Click to expand...

So far I count a vote against Fedex (Japan), and a vote against UPS (Holland, for import tax fee), and a partial vote against DHL (Japan).

USPS seems to be unscathed, so far. Plus a nomination for Aramex.

Thank you all for your help.

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic

Ralf Ronander said:

Bob,
you´ve tickled my curiosity!

When and how may we find out what it is you plan to sell?

(I hope it´s an 8" HDMI capable, battery operated, high resolution screen at a decent price for use as a LiveView and review monitor)

Click to expand...

You're very close. It's 7" diag. And very much SLR-centric. I'm close enough to production that I can say what it is. Any more than that, and I will be showing great disrespect to dpreview.com and its rules against commercial promotion, which I very much do not want to do.

-- Bob Elkind

Family, mostly sports. Seriously, folks, I'm not that good. If I can do it, you can do it!
photo galleries at http://eteam.zenfolio.com
my relationship with my camera is strictly photonic