Shipping a guitar to Isreal?

[teleplucker]

Does anyone have any experience shipping a guitar to Isreal, I have a potential buyer for a guitar that lives there, but the rates I have been quoted by USPS, UPS and FedEX are astronomical. Any ideas appreciated

[dannopelli]

Does anyone have any experience shipping a guitar to Isreal, I have a potential buyer for a guitar that lives there, but the rates I have been quoted by USPS, UPS and FedEX are astronomical. Any ideas appreciated

Fact is international rates are high. No way around it. And you need the tracking end to end on an international shipment.

I did a check, assuming a 27lb package at 45"x16"x6", $2000 customs and insured value, (DO NOT EVER SHIP WITH DIFFERING CUSTOMS AND DECLARED INSURANCE VALUES!). Since I do not know where you are shipping from and to, I rated a Philadelphia to Tel Aviv shipment.

USPS will be $165 insurred for Global Express Mail. However GEMS to Israel is 3-5 days plus customs time, and there is no delivery scan for this service. You can't ship to Israel with USPS top service product as you can only insure for $49. And since you can't track to delivery I would recommend avoiding USPS for Middle East shipments. FEDEX was $568, DHL was $322, UPS $319, but each only offer a higher and faster class of service.

Now that said, in Israel, most USPS deliveries are handled from US to Israel and in country by FEDEX. Reliability is high, but again there is no deliver scan. DHL however will be DHL all the way, and so will UPS. Only UPS, FEDEX and DHL will provide end to end tracking. Reliability in Israel is high for all, but DHL is most penetrated.

All that said, only USPS will not hit your reciever with a brokerage fee. But again there is no delivery scan.

So it is a tough choice, I know, but that is the going rate for going there.

Oh yeah, did I mention that for all but USPS the paperwork is a friggin NIGHTMARE! Do it online and have a telephone rep walk you through it.

I imagine your reciever is paying, so he knows that freight to the Middle East is VERY expensive.

For my money I go DHL to the Middle East, USPS to Europe, and UPS to Asia and Australia.

Hope this helps

[teleplucker]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, that matches what I found except the lady at my local PO told me the max length for a package to this destination was 42", I am going to check with another PO to see if they say the same. I'll post what they say.

[dannopelli]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, that matches what I found except the lady at my local PO told me the max length for a package to this destination was 42", I am going to check with another PO to see if they say the same. I'll post what they say.

Some folks at the PO are not as well trained as they should be. I have found in larger PO's that I'll get different results from a clerk standing right next to one who did an international the day previous. They often look at the wrong service class when rating. So do your homework. Go to www.USPS.com and you can see the dimensional restrictions.

Remember if you use USPS to the Middle East the insurance restriction is $49 for GEMS GUARANTEED, a product tracked all the way to delivery. So you must go down to a non guaranteed service class to get the insurance, but then you loose the tracking. Regardless of what the "lady at the PO" told you, you do not get a delivery scan. If you are OK with that then go for it. You can slap all the "delivery confirmation or return receipt" labels you want on the carton. Those are US products not recognized overseas.

Also remember that all but the PO will charge your receiver a "brokerage fee". Customers will normally expect that. But it shows up nowhere on the online rate calculators. Only UPS has a landed cost calculator, but it is confusing.

One last thing: Remember you are shipping to the MIDDLE EAST. Expect significant customs inspection time. Transit estimates for the PO are form PO to PO minus customs. For all the others it is door to door minus customs. Nearly 100% of C2C parcel shipments are inspected. Pack you product well, but do so in a way that it can be easily repacked. And remember to detune the guitar a step for shipping. Don't bother to mark it fragile. The package handlers never pay attention to that. They do not have the time. It is the shippers responsibility to pack itto withstand nominal shock.