US shipping (another query!)

I see that similar questions have been asked before really need some specific suggestions/advice.

This afternoon in a fit of impulse buying I grabbed myself the Yo off US eBay featured in 'ebay Watch' http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... IBSA:UK:31

Only afterwards did I start to think of shipping! I've contacted the guy and he's happy to help but unsure of what to do and has been quoted $450 so far (I'm assuming they cut the bike neatly into pieces, reassemble as some sort of raft, paddle across the Atlantic and then reweld seamlessly at this end with enough left over to buy me a beer). This does sound very high, anyone direct me towards more economical options?

Another possibility is that I am in the US at the end of the month and could bring it back with me but I suspect the excess baggage could be horrendous.

Would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions

Cheers

Ed

Buy a nice bike bag whilst you're over there and bring it back with you.

I bought a bike back from Switzerland once, in a box, and didn't get charged any excess baggage. Check with the airline what you can get away with.

It also means that you'll not get stung for import duty or VAT as you can claim (if you feel naughty) that you took it over with you in the first place. Thats if customs bother to stop you anyway, which they probably won't.

get him to split the bike into 2 boxes and the postage will tumble. It's mainly down to the size of the box they have to use so if you have the wheels and controls in one and the frame and forks in another it should mean substaintially smaller boxes. Bringing it back through customs yourself should be fine as it's secondhand so shouldn't raise too many eyebrows - I've got a bike bag you could borrow, I'll box it up and send it to you, postage should be about $300!

USPS air with insurance for a complete bike is around $180, i shipped one to Switzerland 2 weeks ago. USPS prices went up in May...

that however requires to take the bike apart and ship it in two boxes. USPS has a size limit of 108" length + girth (2xwidth + 2xheight) and 79" max. length. such bike boxes are available in the US but it takes a while to find them. alternatively a large bike box can be cut down and glued (hot glue works best) or taped together but it needs to be done carefully to ensure that it survives the long journey. the wheels go into the second box which can be a standard wheel box. a wheel set runs $65 to Europe so it needs to be considered if they are worth that much or if the seller just keeps them and nocks off a bit of the price. if the seller does it instruct him to not put any loose parts like cranks into the box! all parts need to be taped to the frame or put into a seperate box which goes into the large parcel. otherwise they will fly aroudn in the parcel and damage the frame.

all that including driving to the USPS office and standing in the queue there can easily take 5-7 hours if done carefully so most sellers insist on UPS or FedEx who accept the large bike boxes but charge $450...

Carsten

Ed
my advice is buy a £10 bike and take it with you. Leave it there and bring the Yo back (and sell to me at a loss when you're bored of it in 3 months).
Kev

Thanks guys, very useful info and any other tips/advice very welcome

Just to confirm on my experience with shipping internationally from the US, I just sent a bike USPS priority broken into the "2" box bike package from Roswell New Mexico to France, and the cost was $200.70 (USD).

The big trick is to make sure the bike boxes remain under the 108" length and girth limits, and then the lower the weight of the boxes the better the shipping price. The seller/shipper should have a hot glue gun and be ready to cut-down boxes to achieve the proper size..... .

Thanks again all, I have paid the guy and passed on your advice/tips so fingers crossed I'll have it in not too long

Ed,

the postage won't be as much of a problem as the import duty. can't remember if we've talked about this before, but simply put, UK customs add up bike cost, shipping charge and insurance on shipping and add a percentage (14% in the case of a bike) and then tax the new total at 17.5% on top!

License to print money.

So factor that in when you are working out the postage.

This even applies to 2nd hand bikes by the way. (same 14%!)

The gift declaration to avoid duty will only wokrk if the item is less than £36.00 in value.

Two boxes definately reduces costs.

I ended up paying something like $200 for postage in January.

Thanks Gus, yes I do remember all that discussion and will simply have to breathe deeply and deal with it at the time.

Cheers

Ed