Shipping heavy equipment abroad

[motorollin]

I've just been quoted about £55 to send a D-Box case from England to Germany. This seems ridiculously high. I was also quoted nearly £80 to send it to Australia. These quotes were from Parcel Force. UPS were even more expensive. Is there a cheaper way?

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moto

[Doobrey]

Tried Parcel2Go ?
25kg to Europe £27+VAT

Edit:
 Or maybe build this and start your own export business :-)

[CLS2086]

Maybe !
If you can took the ferry for 1 euro or £5 (it happens some weekend...), you can post it from France, for less than half price and faster ;-)

[motorollin]

@Doobrey
Thanks for the link but this worries me:

"Collection and Delivery are not guaranteed but currently enjoy a 90% success rate"

I don't think I'll entrust my package to that service!

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moto

[Ral-Clan]

I know little about U.K./European shipping, but I've observed that here in Canada, using the regular postal services is MUCH, MUCH cheaper than using a courier service when shipping items internationally.  It is much slower too, but usually very reliable.  Why not use Royal Mail?

[motorollin]

Parcel Force is Royal Mail's parcel service, so taking it to a Royal Mail Post Office would cost pretty much the same.

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moto

[Tahoe]

My personal experience is that indeed the UK based services are very expensive; specially compared to mainland europe (even within the UK itself!, try shipping to the Highlands).

So much for a united Europe eh?

[cpfuture]

motorollin wrote:
@Doobrey
Thanks for the link but this worries me:

"Collection and Delivery are not guaranteed but currently enjoy a 90% success rate"

I don't think I'll entrust my package to that service!

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moto

I think what they mean is that it's not guaranteed to be delivered "within 3-4 days" or whatever the time span quoted. I think it's unlikely DHL fail to deliver 1 out of every 10 packages. Maybe you could contact them to have it cleared up. Anyway, I see they use DHL which has always worked for me, but then again I tend to receive packages and not send them myself.  :-)

Thanks for the link though Doobrey. Shipping from the UK to the mainland is close to extortion. Nice to know there are alternatives.

[motorollin]

cpfuture wrote:

motorollin wrote:
"Collection and Delivery are not guaranteed but currently enjoy a 90% success rate"

I think what they mean is that it's not guaranteed to be delivered "within 3-4 days" or whatever the time span quoted.

Oh I see. I found it amazing that they were suggesting that there's a 1 in 10 probability that they won't even come to collect your parcel once you've paid to have it sent, and then another 1 in 10 probability that once they've picked it up it won't make it to its destination. I really think they should re-word that disclaimer as it makes their service sound very poor!

Anyway, I was quoted £30 to send the item to Germany which is much more reasonable. Thanks Doobrey! :-)

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moto

[Piru]

I think it's unlikely DHL fail to deliver 1 out of every 10 packages.

Nah, they deliver you some body parts, too.

[motorollin]

Is it legal to send human body parts using a commercial postage service?

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moto

[Tahoe]

motorollin wrote:
Is it legal to send human body parts using a commercial postage service?

Only if the VAT label says GIFT.

[spirantho]

Just want to say that I've used Parcel2Go a few times without any troubles at all.... and would do so again. They've been going a few years now I think so they're no fly-by-night company.