Shipping guitars to the USA...Couriers?

[mybass]

I may be sending two guitars back to the owner in the USA, inside a Mono dual bag.Insurance is a must as they are worth a few grand.

I've looked at a couple of places online, the DHL site didnt promise an easy way and another site only insured £2000 maximum.

Whether the owner gets hit with tax or not isn't a problem (for me) as he will have to give proof of ownership along the way.

Any ideas, sites etc would be appreciated, especially if one of you has successfully shipped to the USA.

[jrixn1]

Can you ask the instruments' owner to arrange the courier and insurance, so they can take on the work and responsibility of arranging everything and making insurance claims etc if something goes wrong.

[Dad3353]

A return flight UK-USA can be £300-500. Could that be made to work..? 

[Beedster]

The fact that he owns them doesn't protect you from the hell of US Customs. If I had to send a bass to the US again I would convert the case into a boat and row the Atlantic to avoid dealing with both US Customs and the frankly unbelievable mess that US couriers make of dealing with US Customs. As an indication, I received 64 emails from UPS requesting information about the bass last time I did it

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

As some couriers may not cover guitars, or the cost of insurance can be ridiculously high, once you have found a courier, you could have a look at insuring through secursus https://www.secursus.com/en-gb/  They cover international shipments as well as domestic.

 

I have used them several times when sending within the UK with parcelforce, however I have not had to make any claims so I can't comment on that process.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

As @Beedster said, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to sell across the Atlantic again after my most recent experience with UPS.

I was contacted just last week by a potential buyer for my Spector and after a lot of homework I concluded that it was far too much hassle.

Funny enough, I spent about an hour wading through all the terms on the DHL site and even spoke to them directly.

If you are going ahead, the advise I had was to obtain a manufacturers material data safety spec to negate much of the nonsense that US Customs will present you with.

[mybass]

3 hours ago, jrixn1 said:

Can you ask the instruments' owner to arrange the courier and insurance, so they can take on the work and responsibility of arranging everything and making insurance claims etc if something goes wrong.

I have done that thanks….I’m looking for any Basschat experience as a helping hand. If a link is given I can send it to the USA.

[mybass]

2 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

As some couriers may not cover guitars, or the cost of insurance can be ridiculously high, once you have found a courier, you could have a look at insuring through secursus https://www.secursus.com/en-gb/  They cover international shipments as well as domestic.

 

I have used them several times when sending within the UK with parcelforce, however I have not had to make any claims so I can't comment on that process.

I’ll look into them, thanks.

[Beedster]

4 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

If you are going ahead, the advise I had was to obtain a manufacturers material data safety spec to negate much of the nonsense that US Customs will present you with.

 

This is not just good advice but is essential advice.

 

However, the fact that a manufacturer can provide the documentation doesn't mean that US Customs will accept it as fact. Also, as I found, not even the best instrument builders can always provide evidence as to - for example - the mother of pearl used in neck inlays was sourced from. I would suggest that you either get the owner to sort all of the processes from the US so that they get to deal with the fun, or you work with a UK builder/dealer who regularly ships to the US and who is a) therefore trusted by US Customs and b) familiar with the madness of US Customs 

[mybass]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

This is not just good advice but is essential advice.

 

However, the fact that a manufacturer can provide the documentation doesn't mean that US Customs will accept it as fact. Also, as I found, not even the best instrument builders can always provide evidence as to - for example - the mother of pearl used in neck inlays was sourced from. I would suggest that you either get the owner to sort all of the processes from the US so that they get to deal with the fun, or you work with a UK builder/dealer who regularly ships to the US and who is a) therefore trusted by US Customs and b) familiar with the madness of US Customs 

I will be trying to direct the owner to take on the majority of work towards getting his US made guitars home. I can facilitate by being home to pass the package on or to someone flying over there.