Burned on shipping from US

[spinynorman]

Just posting this a bit of a warning, also wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Bought a bass on eBay from the US. Seller quoted $80 shipping using "Bax Global", neck-detached in two boxes. So then I got an email saying boxes had been shipped, but the friend he got to do the drop-off shipped them door-to-airport, not door-door. And he offered a refund of $25 for the "inconvenience".

Then I get a call from Schenker at Birmingham Airport. Their charges, excluding the VAT on the bass, came to £118. Airline handling £31. UK delivery £32. Charge for paying the VAT £15. Charge for clearing customs £40. So, bearing in mind I've had a bass shipped whole from the US via USPS, in a large heavy case, for about £80, including customs clearance, I feel like I've been well and truly rogered. Well, at the least I'm out by about £50.

If I did this again, I think I'd insist the seller uses USPS, or not bid. At least, the Bax/Schenker option seems expensive.

Edited January 3, 2008 by spinynorman

[WalMan]

It does seem these things can go from OK to ridiculous if you are not careful. I have already mentioned a problem I had with shipping for 2 pups from different dealers at about the same cost elsewhere. One came in a couple of days, the other took nearly two months.

I was also looking to upgrade the version of the drum software that came with the multitrack software. £50 ($100) upgrade & shipping if I was in the US was MAX $15, but to the UK? $75!!!! Almost as much as the upgrade. I emailed the manufacturer a couple of times to see if they could find a cheaper method - it can at best be a box with perhaps 2 DVD's max & a manual and surely it should be possible - but got no reply, so at present they have lost the upgrade sale. I may use the US office of a friend who is back & forth to the US fairly regularly as a mailing address, but we shall see

[wateroftyne]

I had a similar problem when I bought a bass a couple of years back. The seller (a fairly respected dealer in Seattle) ticked the wrong box, and the bass was only shipped as far as the international hub, somewhere down south.

It took me ages to track it down, and it cost me a fortune to get it back. The seller coughed up, though. I was lucky.

[Muppet]

I agree you have to be careful with shipping but IF you ask all the right questions and discuss with the seller then MOST of the problems can be avoided (notwithstanding genuine mistakes as per WOT).

I recently imported a brand new Fender Jazz, and customs, VAT and handling charges came to £101, which I thought quite reasonable. This was by USPS which I find is the most reliable of the shippers from the States, in my experience.

[Sugden]

Sad to hear that I do hate importing things but it can work out so so much cheaper. But USPS is hands down the best.

The only time I've had a problem is when UK customs lost something and they had the cheek to charge me a £30 handling fee which I refused to pay. After my polite letter saying I wasn't paying due to the item being lost for 4 weeks and I wasn't too happy paying for them leaving it in a corner and not handling it too well for awhile, I haven't heard anything else about it.

[Hamster]

That's a good heads up - thanks. BTW, I've also never has any problems with the USPS.

Hamster

[Hit&Run]

I paid for a bass from the US on 16-12-07, and was quoted 6-10 days delivery time. Obviously being around Xmas will slow things down, but this thread isn't doing me any favours with horror stories!
I paid $120 shipping, and don't know how or who they're shipping it with.
Maybe I am a born pessimist, but this could get messy at my expense...

It was off ebay so hopefully I've got some form of 'buyer protection' (I used paypal).

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='113344' date='Jan 4 2008, 07:42 AM']It was off ebay so hopefully I've got some form of 'buyer protection' (I used paypal).[/quote]
Protection don't mean squat if the seller operates without a credit card and has shifted the money out of their paypal account before you lodge your claim and 'does a runner'. I'm still waiting for £70 still owed by a PC seller who couldn't tell the difference between an AMD CPU model number and its actual rated speed. Don't think I'll be seeing that money again.

There are some horror stories about pretty much every courier from what I've seen of people's experiences. I think it boils down to the bloke who is on your round basically. When I get things express shipped by Fedex on my account, often items come through having been passed by HM Customs and Extortion without duty or VAT charged. The express shipping is extra but it has saved me a tidy sum on the big ticket items like my Smith fretless.

I can also ask the seller to ship Fedex on my account number and that way I can avoid any 'extras'.

[skywalker]

[quote name='spinynorman' post='112979' date='Jan 3 2008, 03:43 PM']Just posting this a bit of a warning, also wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Bought a bass on eBay from the US. Seller quoted $80 shipping using "Bax Global", neck-detached in two boxes. So then I got an email saying boxes had been shipped, but the friend he got to do the drop-off shipped them door-to-airport, not door-door. And he offered a refund of $25 for the "inconvenience".

Then I get a call from Schenker at Birmingham Airport. Their charges, excluding the VAT on the bass, came to £118. Airline handling £31. UK delivery £32. Charge for paying the VAT £15. Charge for clearing customs £40. So, bearing in mind I've had a bass shipped whole from the US via USPS, in a large heavy case, for about £80, including customs clearance, I feel like I've been well and truly rogered. Well, at the least I'm out by about £50.

If I did this again, I think I'd insist the seller uses USPS, or not bid. At least, the Bax/Schenker option seems expensive.[/quote]

Hi Spiny

The Schenker UK charges are about what I would expect, at least they are not stiffing you. The moral to the story is that shipping must be door to door, and anything else will cost far more than expected. If it is door-door you may have to pay the Duty and VAT, but at least you don't get stung for all kinds of handling and final delivery charges.

Steve

[stingrayfan]

[quote name='Hamster' post='113337' date='Jan 4 2008, 02:48 AM']I've also never has any problems with the USPS.[/quote]
+1

[Mokl]

I bought a Jazz neck on ebay from a US seller on 10.12.07. It still hasn't turned up.... I have the USPS tracking number and it tells me that the item left the US on the 14.12.07. Anybody any idea where my neck might be? I trust the seller, who appears to be a reputable shop with a perfect feedback rating, I'm just starting to worry my item has been lost somewhere. I could be £140 out of pocket if this doesn't turn up

[cetera]

I purchased a Precision neck from a reputable eBay seller in the States on 24th December. It was shipped to me USPS on the 27th and turned up here yesterday with no charges! Result

[Mokl]

[quote name='cetera' post='113426' date='Jan 4 2008, 11:14 AM']I purchased a Precision neck from a reputable eBay seller in the States on 24th December. It was shipped to me USPS on the 27th and turned up here yesterday with no charges! Result [/quote]

Any chance you could PM me who the seller was? I wonder if it was the same one I used?

[Sean]

I bought two sets of strings from a seller on ebay in the US and they were sent USPS and they disappeared without trace! When I notified the seller he sent some more and they arrived in about two weeks with the usual customs and handling charges. Still cheaper than UK purchase though.

[warwickhunt]

I purchased a bass from the States, sent via USPS Express Mail on the 27-12 and it arrived today safe and sound. The seller charged me $49 shipping (neck and body separated but in same package) but the Dispatch note says it cost the sender $81. Declared contents were $460 and I had to pay ParcelForce £69 taxes/duty/handling.

I tracked the package using the USPS site and as soon as the package had cleared Customs (tracked on-line) I put the US tracking code into PF tracking system, it translated that to the UK code and I phoned my local depot to pay. Package arrived before the letter from PF asking me to pay fees

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='cetera' post='113426' date='Jan 4 2008, 11:14 AM']I purchased a Precision neck from a reputable eBay seller in the States on 24th December. It was shipped to me USPS on the 27th and turned up here yesterday with no charges! Result [/quote]

You might still get an invoice through the post..!

[warwickhunt]

To further explode an urban myth...

I've just noted that the guy sent the package as 'Bass Guitar Spare Parts' and marked it as a gift (not at my request). Still had to pay fees even as a gift but I was well aware of this.

[Hit&Run]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='113352' date='Jan 4 2008, 08:24 AM']Protection don't mean squat if the seller operates without a credit card and has shifted the money out of their paypal account before you lodge your claim and 'does a runner'.[/quote]
I've been stung on ebay before by tw@ts who do runners.
However, I got this bass from a US dealer with 3565 transactions (99.6% positive). So, hopefully I'll see some form of closure. Although I'm still waiting to hear from them in response to an email I sent re insurance and tracking numbers.

[quote name='cetera' post='113426' date='Jan 4 2008, 11:14 AM']I purchased a Precision neck from a reputable eBay seller in the States on 24th December. It was shipped to me USPS on the 27th and turned up here yesterday with no charges! Result [/quote]
No need to gloat.

[spinynorman]

[quote name='skywalker' post='113357' date='Jan 4 2008, 08:44 AM']Hi Spiny

The Schenker UK charges are about what I would expect, at least they are not stiffing you. The moral to the story is that shipping must be door to door, and anything else will cost far more than expected. If it is door-door you may have to pay the Duty and VAT, but at least you don't get stung for all kinds of handling and final delivery charges.

Steve[/quote]

OK, thanks. I guessed it was probably the door-to-airport thing that cost the money. Does that affect duty though? I was charged VAT, but not duty. However, I calculated the duty should only have been about £8 anyway, it was the VAT that was the bigger money.

To be honest I was a bit worried about the $80 shipping quote, although a couple of years ago I payed $75 to have an Epi Elitist EB3 shipped and that got here ok, just took about 5 weeks.

Regarding some of the items that seem to have disappeared, if Parcelforce is delivering here they write you a letter telling you how much duty to pay, and they're not quick about writing it. And it may not show up in tracking. I had one bass that left the US and disappeared for about 3 weeks, and then a letter arrived. It had been in their warehouse for most of that time.

[skywalker]

[quote name='spinynorman' post='114480' date='Jan 6 2008, 12:48 AM']OK, thanks. I guessed it was probably the door-to-airport thing that cost the money. Does that affect duty though? I was charged VAT, but not duty. However, I calculated the duty should only have been about £8 anyway, it was the VAT that was the bigger money.

To be honest I was a bit worried about the $80 shipping quote, although a couple of years ago I payed $75 to have an Epi Elitist EB3 shipped and that got here ok, just took about 5 weeks.

Regarding some of the items that seem to have disappeared, if Parcelforce is delivering here they write you a letter telling you how much duty to pay, and they're not quick about writing it. And it may not show up in tracking. I had one bass that left the US and disappeared for about 3 weeks, and then a letter arrived. It had been in their warehouse for most of that time.[/quote]

The amount quoted as VAT might include the Duty, they might just show one figure for the sake of convenience. Sadly in our industry with personal shipments you get conditioned to every charge being queried, so the less charge items you invoice the less there is to query. Sad but true.