Shipping a Guitar. UK to Aus.

[Rossc0]

Afternoon folks, anyone had any experience shipping a guitar across the world. UK to Australia. Any recommendations that aren't going to bankrupt me?

Cheers

[Simon Barden]

Afraid not.

Are you looking for courier advice or packing advice?

DPD are probably the best couriers within the UK. Very rare to have a problem and they are good at resolving issues.

https://www.dpd.co.uk/content/produc...ices/index.jsp

They do a 9-day economy service to Australia but I have no idea about cost.

[Rossc0]

Cheers Simon, mainly cost. I'll check them out.

[dozymuppet]

I’d advise against using DPD to Australia, based on my one experience with Axetech. Took ages, and almost impossible to track. Worth noting that Axetech did not offer it as an option next time I ordered with them (DHL only).

[McCreed]

Just curious, are you buying a guitar through a private sale from the UK?

A few years ago I bought a tele from Anderton's in the UK, and even with shipping it was less than what I could get it in AUS. I believe they used DHL.
Of course those were different times (pre-pandemic; as well as exchange rate) but I thought it worth mentioning.

[Rossc0]

Just curious, are you buying a guitar through a private sale from the UK?

A few years ago I bought a tele from Anderton's in the UK, and even with shipping it was less than what I could get it in AUS. I believe they used DHL.
Of course those were different times (pre-pandemic; as well as exchange rate) but I thought it worth mentioning.

Yes, rebought my first decent guitar from high school. A 40ish year old Westbury Standard. Just impossible to get over here. Its with my daughter at the moment, till I figure out shipping.

[Dikkybee007]

I bought in a guitar from the UK, guitar cost about $1100, shipping was around the $120 and then I got a phone call and was told I owed $275 in taxes before they would release the guitar from Customs.

That was around 5 years ago so not sure how much it has gone up since then.

[Simon Barden]

Andertons use DPD in the UK. But DPD may use other couriers themselves for some international work, which is probably where the delivery and tracking problems arise.

It’s a tricky topic as you need good performance from the couriers at both ends, which means you often need more knowledge than is available.

I had a friend who used to work for DHL some time ago and he said he’d never use them himself, though I think they’ve improved since then. They have a reasonable reputation here.

[Simon Barden]

The cost of the shipping itself is often added to the product value to determine whether any duties and taxes have to be paid.

[dozymuppet]

Yep, the DHL service I got was great, but it was a bit dearer.

Regarding extra taxes, anything over $AUD1000 can attract attention on import.