Guitar Collector Forum

Can anyone give any tips on the best way to ship vintage guitars internationally - specifically US - UK?

Any experience on which is the best carrier? UPS? Fedex? USPS?
Any do's/don'ts on packing?
Any tips on customs issues?

Thanks,
Paul

G'day Paul
I could probably write a book on this one mate
Fedex are useless, UPS are ok USPS are fine if they will actually ship a carton of the size of a guitar.
Make sure that you simply state guitar, on the packaging, if it says wood, then it will be inspected and may get quarantined [don't know if this happens in the UK, but it certainly does in Ozz].
If the sender will do so, declare as low a value, as will avoid, incoming tax.If it can be marked as a gift, even better.
Expect to pay import duty, customs handling and VAT on top of the purchase and transport cost.
Here in Ozz, the incoming tax starts at $1000, your local customs office will tell you what the harmonised customs tarrif is.
As to packaging, I always buy a Hicox hard case in the country the guitar is coming from [ easy to do over the web, just get it delivered to the seller. Then pack the guitar with bubble wrap, and pop it back into the cardboard container that the hard case arrived in. With any luck you should be fine. For your info, to get a guitar from the UK to Ozz costs about £120
If that lot helps.....good....if you have any more questions, just post away
ATB
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Thanks Geoff, I had a feeling you'd be able to answer this one!

Inderesting that you say Fedex are useless, as they probably would have been my first choice

I never heard the thing about wood getting quarantined - maybe just an Oz thing?

The problem with low value declaration is that you reduce what you could claim if it got lost/damaged... ever had to claim?

I've imported quite a lot of stuff from US previously, mostly using USPS (I used to run an on-line guitar accessories retail store), but never imported a guitar (yet!). Your packing tips seem like a good idea.

Thanks for all the info - very useful.

Paul

PS: Geoff, if you ever need help in future acquiring/shipping guitars from UK I'd be happy to help. I know sometimes sellers can say "no international shipping" - if you ever need a UK address, let me know.

The Fedex comment was as a result of two guitars which were shipped from USA to Australia. The first one sat in the Fedex facility at Brisbane airport for 10 days, before they could be bothered to contact me, there was then an unholy argument about getting the guitar delivered to my home address, despite the fact that I had a copy of the Fedex shipping note. The second one was even worse, they lost a guitar between Sydney and Brisbane!!! Eventually turned up ok, after a couple of weeks sweating. That one was one of only 2 known Verithin 65-3s. I guess that the wood thing is probably an Australian quarantine reg. The Aussies are very protectionist and slightly paranoid about bringing anything into the country that might be contaminated.
I have always paid the full duty, as you say in the event of any damage loss, under declaring the value will cause problems. I know a lot of guys on my MX5 forum bring stuff in from US like this though and have never had a problem. I wouldn't risk it.
Paul, thanks for the offer of a UK address and help with shipping, I have missed a couple of nice instrumenta because of a UK only policy
Cheers

I always use USPS (USA->UK). Must have imported 50 guitars, and had two breaks, both due to totally inadequate packaging. The international parcel post takes 4-10 days, is cheap and reliable. I have imported long basses like Thunderbirds no probs this way.

If you are not buying from someone that knows the fragility of what they are sending, pay them $20 extra to buy packaging materials, and give them FULL instructions on how you want it packed, labelled etc. Getting money back from insurance is next to impossible. I got nothing from the breaks mentioned above.

Just to add, the cheapest and best way to get a guitar from UK to Australia is by Parcelforce. ---

I never thought that Fedex have this kind of problem, well, maybe due to popularity of their name, anyone will be surprised that they maybe not that credible enough, hmmm...if that's the case, USPS is better