# Anyone w/experience shipping stuff to Europe from US **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132 "2005-05-23T18:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/1 "2005-05-23T18:46:52Z")
I’ve decided to sell my bass. I put it on eBay and got a lot of questions from potential buyers in Europe (England, Italy, Ireland, and Germany). I understand there’s a hefty customs charge in England (23.5% according to the buyer). I’ve cancelled the auction until I can find out more. I am curious about insurance and customs declaration. If I state a lower amount for the customs charge, but insure the item for a higher amount, wouldn’t this raise a red flag somewhere? I don’t want to ship the bass and have it get destroyed in the shipping process and then not be able to get the value back. Anybody with experience in this area? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/2 "2005-05-23T19:01:42Z")
I wouldn’t worry about having a discrepancy between the insurance & customs values - insurance necessarily represents the _replacement_ cost, not the value it would attract on the open market. That’s providing there’s not a **big** difference. I’m sure other people will disagree with me, but I despise Ebayers who ask sellers to lie on customs declarations (which is what I’m guessing is happening to you). I’ll never do it if they ask (although I’ll sometimes tick ‘gift’ when it’s a couple of CDs or so - provided they didn’t ask!). If they buy something from me, and they know there’s duty, then they should be prepared to pay it. And IMO it’s completely up to them to find out what the charges will be, not the seller (they’re the importer, after all). Having said all that, I’ll leave it up to others to give an idea of how often large items such as this actually get checked by customs (small packages hardly ever are). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/3 "2005-05-23T19:08:09Z")
Only the person from England mentioned the customs declaration. I don’t what the situation is in Italy or Germany. I would be using parcel post which means the bass would take 4-6 WEEKS to get there, but that’s the cheapest way to go. I may end up relisting the bass with a “shipping to US & Canada” only, but I’d like to get more info first. ---
**Author:** ![pace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/4 "2005-05-23T23:44:58Z")
you will have to fill out a custom’s form, in detail, and upon arrival in UK, the owner will have to pay an import tax… this amount is from a type of “blue book value” customs keeps on hand to arrive at an approximate $. Post 9/11, ALL packages are considered (small-to-large). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/5 "2005-05-23T23:51:38Z")
> [@pace](#): > > Post 9/11, ALL packages are considered (small-to-large). Huh? Not in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/6 "2005-05-23T23:53:28Z")
If I decide to relist w/worldwide shipping and I sell it to someone in Europe, should I ship the case unlocked in the event the customs agent want to search it? ---
**Author:** ![pace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/7 "2005-05-23T23:55:48Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > should I ship the case unlocked in the event the customs agent want to search it? i would ship it unlocked–you don’t want them to cause damage by forcing it open. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/8 "2005-05-24T00:01:00Z")
Unlocked. If it’s insured for such carriage, then the lock should be irrelevant (although check with the shipping company). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-w-experience-shipping-stuff-to-europe-from-us/305132/9 "2005-05-24T00:07:27Z")
If I ship it, it’ll go USPS parcel post. That’s what all the people inquiring have requested. It’s slow (4-6 weeks to most places), but it’s substantially cheaper (UPS would be about $240 vs $50-90).