Overseas Shipping Question

**MrShoe** · 17th February 11, 07:55 PM

I have thought about bidding on Ebay for a kilt or two..or three..or...
Most of the one I have found to be my size have been located in UK.
They don't list a shipping cost to the USA, but are willing to ship here.

My question is what method of shipping would be best?
What should I reasonably expect the cost to be for an 8yard 13/16oz kilt?

Thanks in advance.

**ForresterModern** · 18th February 11, 03:42 AM

First off I would write the vendor for a shipping wuote and include our specific shipping address, before committing to the purchase. Unfortunately inflated shipping charges for many ebay vendors are the way to pad their profit, especially if the sale price seems too good (they only get charged ebay fees on the sale price, not the shipping charges so a shift of cost to you nets them more cash).

Second, your shipping method, and the declared item class and value, will determine whether or not you are likely to get dinged with additional customs charges, typically around 12-15% on a wool kit from the UK (plus a potential courier customs service fee if UPS or FEDEX are used). Royal Mails or ParcelForce are your best bets for low shipping costs and likelihood of getting through customs without any additional duty needed to be paid, but those methods do not offer any/quality tracking service, are slow surface methods, and may get stuck in customs for sometimes weeks at a time as they are low priority for those folks to get around to. I have a kilt currently sitting in customs for nearly two weeks now with no solid expectation of when it will complete its journey from Scotland to me. FEDEX and UPS will expedite shipping so it should only take a few days, but are more expensive, and also have an arrangement with customs where they act as their own customs agent for incoming shipments to the US. They get through faster but are sticklers for assigning customs duty classifications and charging the appropriate legal duty owed for the imported item, then adding thier own additional $25 or so "handling" fee, such that a typical $300-400 wool kilt from Scotland comes through FEDEX with an additional $60-75 duty and fees added that FEDEX aggressively pursues.

Good luck navigating the morass of importing a kilt. It is not that bad once you figure all the angles out.

**MrShoe** · 18th February 11, 07:18 AM

Thanks for the info Jeff. I have read that Royal Mail and ParcelForce were slllllooooowww and had the possibility of the additional customs benefit. But I was unsure of their cost vs other common shipping methods.

The big reason for my question is that I have had two different individual sellers, not businesses, quote me over 100 USD to ship via Royal Mail. The seller in Glasgow will ship within the UK for 4 GBP but quoted me over 65 GBP to ship to the USA. Another shipping from Northumberland quoted over 60 GBP but stated 4 GBP to ship within the UK.

Am I just asking for a shipping quote the wrong way or is this the amount I should expect?

**Chas** · 18th February 11, 08:05 AM

Hi,

Any parcel in the weight range of a kilt (say, up to 10lb), should not cost more than £20 to post via Royal Mail. Royal Mail is no slower than any other carrier.
If the sender states a value of over £30 then there will be additional charges by the Post Office.
There will be a 'Customs Declaration' to fill out which is affixed prominently to the package. US customs will look for it. When I ship overseas, I give the goods a nominal value of ~£1.50 and a title of 'commercial samples of no monetary value'. That way, if US customs want to charge, the value is only £1.50.
eBay, being what it is, vendors are advised to only ship overseas by one of the major carriers. (Easy compensation for lost goods.) Many vendors will only use this method. Email and ask first.

Regards

Chas

**Downunder Kilt** · 18th February 11, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by MrShoe

Thanks for the info Jeff. I have read that Royal Mail and ParcelForce were slllllooooowww and had the possibility of the additional customs benefit. But I was unsure of their cost vs other common shipping methods.

The big reason for my question is that I have had two different individual sellers, not businesses, quote me over 100 USD to ship via Royal Mail. The seller in Glasgow will ship within the UK for 4 GBP but quoted me over 65 GBP to ship to the USA. Another shipping from Northumberland quoted over 60 GBP but stated 4 GBP to ship within the UK.

Am I just asking for a shipping quote the wrong way or is this the amount I should expect?

I have had similiar quotes from Ebay vendors, an example - I asked for a postage quote for a sporran and was told 60 GBP, I asked another vendor and postage was 15GBP. Sporran from second vendor was a new product in original box, whereas first vendors product was used. Both sporrans were for sale for the same price. Go figure

**O'Callaghan** · 18th February 11, 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by MrShoe

Thanks for the info Jeff. I have read that Royal Mail and ParcelForce were slllllooooowww and had the possibility of the additional customs benefit. But I was unsure of their cost vs other common shipping methods.

The big reason for my question is that I have had two different individual sellers, not businesses, quote me over 100 USD to ship via Royal Mail. The seller in Glasgow will ship within the UK for 4 GBP but quoted me over 65 GBP to ship to the USA. Another shipping from Northumberland quoted over 60 GBP but stated 4 GBP to ship within the UK.

Am I just asking for a shipping quote the wrong way or is this the amount I should expect?

It sounds way too high. The shipping should be much less than that. Not sure what to suggest, but it sounds like they are trying to turn a profit on the shipping.

**tpa** · 18th February 11, 05:16 PM

This is the link I use for working out postage prices abroad from the UK:

http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/Pr.../rm/search.jsp

It is not cheap, but I have not found a courier service which beats Royal Mail/Parcel Force on overseas prices. For a 2kg parcel to the USA, prices start at £13.22 for a 56+ day delivery ( I think they sent it via the Antartic) and £39.99 for a 3kg parcel taking 28+ days!) These delivery times are not really suitable for eBay, since there is a limit on the time allowed to raise a query over non-delivery or other problem, so expect to pay significantly more.

The price calculation is done on weight alone, so if you can establish that then you should be able to work out whether the charge is reasonable.

**tpa** · 18th February 11, 05:30 PM

The link has got abbreviated, but as this is not a commercial post, I'm sure no one will object if I attempt to give it again . I would certainly not recommend using Royal Mail if you can avoid it, their compensation is not worth the paper it is written on.

http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/Pr.../rm/search.jsp

**Sammac** · 18th February 11, 05:39 PM

I've had a couple of items go through Royal Post/USPS and have always gotten them in 10 to 12 days.

**Pleater** · 18th February 11, 05:29 PM

By the way - I regularly send items to the US using the Post Office 'small packet' rate and the normal transit time is under a week.

We have recently lost an item, but it is the first one, and suspect that the recent dreadful weather is to blame.

In the past several years we must have sent a couple of hundred packets and parcels using Post Office services.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: