Have you send a bass to the US

[J66Bass]

Good afternoon, I m looking at a possibility to send a bass to the USA from the uk. I have never send a bass to the US .What is your experience to do it ? What can of average price you paid ? Should i use the usual easy way to use parcel force through the post office? Any experience? Advice? Pro / con , Thanks again JM

[Dov65]

@Eldon Tyrell he’ll put you in the picture 

[Eldon Tyrell]

5 minutes ago, Dov65 said:

@Eldon Tyrell he’ll put you in the picture 

I recently (June) sold a Stingray Timmy C to a buyer in the US. Well, the local depot here in the UK wanted to know if I had a CITES license. I could convince them that there was no need for one. I also had to send them the commercial invoices again as they somehow had managed to lose them. I only found out about the "missing" commercial invoices after checking the tracking info online where it said that they were waiting for the forms and that they had contacted the seller (i.e., me). Well, they obviously did not contact me and I had to chase them up. 

Then the US counterparts asked me to fill in a toxic substance control act declaration (TSCA, I guess because of the fretboard glue!), a manufacturer's affidavit (actually this should have been filled in by EBMM but I put in the info myself and I also attached the original invoice from EBMM. Interestingly, after some googling I found out that a manufacturers affidavit is normally used for shipments over $10,000.00. Well, the Timmy C is a great bass but not not THAT expensive ; -), and a foreign shipper declaration. The buyer was also asked to fill in an import declaration and a TSCA form (importer single entry). Looks like these checks came into place as the bass returned to the US where is was made and because the value was above $2500. All in all a lot of hassle, costing me time and energy. So, in short, my advice to you - if someone from the US wants to buy one of your basses that was made in the US and that is worth more than $2500, then kindly decline it (unless you don't mind filling in several forms and spending lots of time emailing custom officials and people working in depots ; -).  

 

Cost was £234.99 (fully insured, using parcel2go as a broker).

[J66Bass]

Thanks, Wow that’s definitely loads of work for just sending a bass , hmm the bass is Made in Japan in 79 ! And a value of 6 hundred pounds max , hmm I think I m not going to bother , thanks for the reply 

[J66Bass]

Any other experience from others members ? Thanks 

[NancyJohnson]

On 26/10/2023 at 14:41, J66Bass said:

Thanks, Wow that’s definitely loads of work for just sending a bass , hmm the bass is Made in Japan in 79 ! And a value of 6 hundred pounds max , hmm I think I m not going to bother , thanks for the reply 

 

When I was reading this part, first thing I thought was - assuming it is/was a production line instrument - surely the same bass would be available somewhere in the colonies already.  And cheaper.