Advice re intenational couriers from Brighton UK

[Oliver]

Hi folk,

Just wondering if anyone here has had much experience with international couriers from the UK? I need to have a parcel sent to me from Brighton UK, to Australia, and am looking around for a good quote. Any pointers to cheap international couriers from the UK would be much appreciated.

I am told the package is ~50cm x 30cm x 10cm, and ~5kg.

The guy sending the package has been quoted £120 to £130 by Parcelpost, which seems a bit steep to me. I recently had a slightly smaller ~3kg parcel sent from Ireland for ~£30 via An Post. I think £30 is particularly cheap, and don't expect to match it, but I think there should be a happy medium somehow.

Thanks in advance for any pointers,

Oli

[motorollin]

Postage from the UK is ridiculously expensive. A while ago I sold some boxed Amiga apps to a guy in Aus, and I was getting quotes of about £80 for shipping. IIRC the package was about 3kg, so your quote of £120 was probably about right. In the end I split the package up in to three different packages, the combined cost of which amounted to less than the cost of the single large package.

Was the package you got sent from Ireland from Northern Ireland? If not, it won't have been from the UK so probably wouldn't be comparable to UK shipping prices.

Edit - re. couriers, unfortunately I couldn't find any which were any cheaper than Royal Mail :-(

--
moto

[Oliver]

Hi Moto, thanks for your reply.

The parcel from Ireland was from Westmeath, not Northern Ireland, but I guess they just have a cheaper postal service.

I have had parcels sent from England before, and have always thought it was a bit expensive. Good, fast service though. I'll probably end up paying pretty close to the original quote.

I've just had a quote for a similar package from Canada, for about £180.

It seems that Ireland and U.S.A. have amongst the cheapest international delivery services.

Cheers,

Oli

[motorollin]

Might be cheaper to have it shipped to Southern Ireland and then on to Aus ;-)

[Oliver]

Yeah, I think that would be cheaper, but I don't have a proxy in Ireland, unfortunately.

[motorollin]

For £130, you could probably pay me to get a ferry to Ireland, intercept the package, and send it on to you :-D

[Oliver]

Nice thought, but I'm OK with paying what's due. I will try to find the best option though.

I've been looking at eBay recently, trying to buy some musical intruments, and have seen a similar (probably slightly larger) sized parcel, for which the auction quotes £40 for postage to Australia. I think that would be a really decent price. I've sent the seller a message, asking what his shipping method is, and explained the situation. I'll also bid on his auction if the price remains reasonable.

Unfortunately, the market for these toys is quite limited in Australia, and the prices tend to stay very high, often higher than retail for the more desirable gear. It could be worse though.

-Oli

[Oliver]

I've sent the seller a message, asking what his shipping method is, and explained the situation. I'll also bid on his auction if the price remains reasonable.

Well, shortly after I asked my question, the auction was pulled due to "an error in the listing". I didn't get a reply, so I'm not sure if the error was related to the international shipping quote provided. It was certainly cheaper than other quotes I've found. Oh well, too bad.