Buying a big item from the US

cormie

Hi,
I have to buy a pretty big item from the US, it will be 11" high, 20" wide and 43" long with a shipping weight of 50lbs. 50lbs shipped to Ireland on the USPS website is coming to $180, the item itself costs $219 so this is quite a big chunk to pay for shipping considering the cost of the item.

Will I just have to bite the bullet and have no other choice? I can't find it in Europe, let alone Ireland. Is there any cheaper way to get it here?

Any feedback appreciated:)

Ruu_Old

You could try one of the couriers like Fed Ex or UPS, might get it there quicker to you and worth checking on the price anyway.

Pegasus15

Could you try something like eBay? Maybe a seller in Europe would have one?

cormie

None on Ebay I'm afraid, this is what I'm after:
http://www.moversupply.com/index.cfm?pageID=396&catID=1&pic1=p04.jpg&pagenumber=4

I've tried UPS and FEDEX, both a lot more than USPS

A Dub in Glasgo

Don't forget VAT & customs fee

cormie

Oh no, forgot about that

Anyone have any idea how much something like this would cost to bring back on a plane, just if I knew anyone coming over could be handy!

witnessmenow

EDIT: never mind i'm an idiot

cormie

lol, what did you say? I missed it!

whyulittle

Just a word of warning Cormie, shipping companies normally charge the more expensive of actual weight and volumetric weight (size). $180 sounds very cheap for such a big item from the States. Converts to about E120, while it can cost about E75 to send a single sheet of Dox to the US.

EDIT: Sorry, I just read your message again and see you got the price from USPS, not UPS.

Wertz

Are you in a hurry for it? Any of the prices you're getting now are all airmail I'd imagine. How about a dedicated shipping company that puts your item in a container with lots of other people's stuff and puts it on a container ship? There's more to it than the post office and couriers, but you wait a couple of months. Definitely cheaper and as a business you can probably claim the VAT back if/wehn you get charged...

cormie

I'll probably just end up getting it shipped with USPS, can't really wait a few months. I'd actually probably miss out on money that could be earned if I was to wait a few months. I should really just order it today, I think I will, would have been nice to get the shipping a bit cheaper though;)

rubadub

I would have thought you could get that item here. Have you tried proper industy companies. even rip off merchants like radionics. Or email the manufacturers for EU agents.

The vat & duty is calculated on the combined price of the invoice value (or estimated value by customs) AND the shipping cost. So make sure the shipping is as low as you can manage.

Wertz

As a business , can't he pass on the VAT costs or write it up as a tax deductible expense though?

rubadub

Might not be good enough, but check out this

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20080124.p.FurnitureTransportKit

rgfuller

Have you tried Metro: http://www.metro.ie/ not that i've ever used them but they came up in a search...

Wertz

rubadub wrote: »

Might not be good enough, but check out this

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20080124.p.FurnitureTransportKit

I assume this is the type of thing Cormie wants to avoid happening.
Better to just pay for the proper equipment...

cormie

Funk this. Fed Ex Economy is $255, USPS wont ship it because the dimensions (44 x 10 x 20) are too big :mad:

So that's $219+$255 = $474 +21% VAT = $574 = €388 when the item itself is only costing about €150 plus if I remember right, fed ex charge something else too.

If anyone is planning on flying back from the US anytime soon, let me know, might have a proposition for you