Posting overseas

[highwayone]

Probably been covered before but.... looking to send a bass to France and wondered if any if you good people can recommend the best service to use and if you have had any horror stories to make me have a rethink! Thanks.

[ambient]

I wouldn’t. Which I know is no use to you.

Just make sure it’s well packed and properly and fully insured to the full value.

[Skol303]

1. Slacken the strings to reduce tension on the neck.
2. Package it sufficient to withstand someone standing on it.
3. Send fully insured via UPS (as used by all of our overseas shipping companies at work). Interparcel offer good deals.

There are horror stories associated with every courier company, but lots more success stories that you never get to hear about (Royal Mail's own failure/horror rate is quoted as being 0.01%).

Life's too short for much fretting beyond that

[Hellzero]

I've sent hundreds of basses all over the world with only 2 problems that were solved as I had an insurance. One is related here :

The other was a theft by the delivery man himself, a very clever guy... 

Beware that the English post only covers music instruments up to £100 GBP...

I'm using for a while EuroSender when I have something to ship within Europe (UK is in Europe, by the way  ), because they are a logistic company that will offer you the lowest fare, will pick up your parcel wherever you want, can send up to 30 kilos within UK and up to 40 kilos to Europe or even more on a pallet and will offer you up to 2.000 Euros of insurance. The slight issue being the two days of latency for your parcel to be picked up because they make the whole logistic part.

It's fast and efficient.

A link : https://www.eurosender.com/

That said slackening the strings could be more dangerous than it seems as the truss rod will induce even more tension to the neck. If you do this, then also release the truss rod tension and there will be no problem at all.

[ped]

Agree with Skol (apart from slackening strings, which I never do), INSIST on the buyer paying for insured shipping and you will be taking no more risk than shipping within the UK

[Dad3353]

I live in France, and have received instruments and other items from most continents, and the UK, with never a problem, despite some of the packaging being somewhat skimpy on occasion. I'd recommend a rigid or semi-rigid case, inside a stout card box. It's no more risky nor stressful than posting locally, in my experience. 

[ricksterphil]

We use these guys for courier stuff for work https://www.transglobalexpress.co.uk/ Never sent a guitar tho. UPS are very good in my experience but not cheap

If you have a cycle shop nearby (and who doesn't these days), ask them for a box - very good for wrapping a case in to protect the case (having put guitar in said case obvs.) They will also let you have the foam packing which is on the bike frame - they're very much like pipe lagging but in a sort of plascticky polystyrene - really excellent for sticking on the headstock end and the jack plug end of a bass for extra protection.

[Skol303]

24 minutes ago, ped said:

Agree with Skol (apart from slackening strings, which I never do)

The slackened strings thing comes from advice I picked up at Jack's Instrument Services in Manchester:

"Put the guitar in neutral — slacken the strings. When tuned up your guitar holds a hell of a lot of pressure — think of it as being charged. If someone dropped your guitar strung up to pitch there's much higher risk of a headstock break!"

[Bigwan]

I went one further than loosening strings when I recently shipped a bass to Denmark - neck off! Keeps size of the parcel down too. Not always possible, but I do it when I can. Fully insured UPS. Not cheap, but no issues that I've experienced.

[highwayone]

Cheers all. It's a semi hollow with no case only a gig bag so unless I can find a rigid box I might not take the risk with just a box.

[ambient]

1 hour ago, Bigwan said:

I went one further than loosening strings when I recently shipped a bass to Denmark - neck off! Keeps size of the parcel down too. Not always possible, but I do it when I can. Fully insured UPS. Not cheap, but no issues that I've experienced.

Slightly off topic but I did that a few years ago when I flew back from a cruise ship gig. It meant my bass could travel in my luggage rather than separately.

[Skol303]

15 minutes ago, highwayone said:

Cheers all. It's a semi hollow with no case only a gig bag so unless I can find a rigid box I might not take the risk with just a box.

I think some couriers won't accept liability unless the instrument is in a hard case.

If so your options are either:

• Buy cheap and/or secondhand hard case and include it in the sale cost.
• Find a courier that will offer insurance without a hard case and ask your local guitar shop to kindly supply you with a cardboard shipping box and any included packaging material (I've done this myself at Dawsons in central Manchester and they were very obliging - got a sturdy Fender bass box with all the trimmings, including a free cable).

You definitely don't want to be sending it in a gig bag within a standard cardboard box. Unless you're a masochist.

[Mastodon2]

I've sent and received lots of guitars and now basses internationally over the years without issues. I've shipped in gig bags that have been stuffed with bubble wrap inside and then really heavily wrapped outside to secure the instrument, we're talking a lot of layers and a lot of tape. I wouldn't send a hollow body in a gig bag though, as the package needs to be able to withstand not only sudden impact but also heavy weight on top of it, which I wouldn't want for a hollow bass. The ideal for me is to ship in a hardcase with bubble wrap on the outside for impact absorption.

It goes without saying, ship insured. When I buy a bass I'm happy to pay extra for insured shipping. I can't recall ever sending an instrument internationally where the buyer didn't go for the full insurance option. 

 

Remember that if you're worried about the bass getting rough treatment during international shipping it's worth considering that mishandling is just as likely to happen in the UK by the parcel carrier. Also, it's worth bearing in mind that the horror stories you do hear about are a biased way of assessing the risk of shipping. For ever horror story someone goes online to post, there will have been hundreds of instruments delivered successfully without issue and in the event it does go badly, if you've paid for the insured shipping then no one is left out of pocket at the end.

[gs_triumph]

Guys, 

I've got a guitar listed on the sister site that someone in France would like to buy. 

They have agreed to the full price, no haggling plus £60 insured postage.  Magic.  Too easy? 

The buyer has litterally just signed up to the site then sent me the message about the guitar.  Seems odd but it's an unusual guitar so perhaps not so odd.  Ped has confirmed that they haven't spammed anyone else and that their IP locates them in France.  All good. 

They want to pay via PayPal, fair play.  I would too but that concerns me a bit knowing how PayPal conducts itself with favouring buyers in any conflict. 

Am I missing something here?  Am I exposing myself to getting diddled? 

My first instinct is to say no as I don't want the hassle of sending abroad,  I'm not desperate to sell - only listed it as there was something local I wanted to buy but that as months ago and long gone.  A change might be nice tho. 

Edited February 8, 2019 by gs_triumph

[mcnach]

On 09/04/2018 at 12:47, Skol303 said:

1. Slacken the strings to reduce tension on the neck.
2. Package it sufficient to withstand someone standing on it.
3. Send fully insured via UPS (as used by all of our overseas shipping companies at work). Interparcel offer good deals.

There are horror stories associated with every courier company, but lots more success stories that you never get to hear about (Royal Mail's own failure/horror rate is quoted as being 0.01%).

Life's too short for much fretting beyond that

 

about slacking the strings... I hear that from time to time but wouldn't that be worse?

I mean, the neck is held at an equilibrium between the truss rod and the strings pulling in opposite directions. I wouldn't imagine that removing one would be any good.

It clearly doesn't do any harm, as you can keep instruments like that for ages and they respond well once under tension again... but, I don't see what's being gained. Unless you loosen the truss rod as well.

[Hellzero]

58 minutes ago, gs_triumph said:

Guys, 

I've got a guitar listed on the sister site that someone in France would like to buy. 

They have agreed to the full price, no haggling plus £60 insured postage.  Magic.  Too easy? 

The buyer has litterally just signed up to the site then sent me the message about the guitar.  Seems odd but it's an unusual guitar so perhaps not so odd.  Ped has confirmed that they haven't spammed anyone else and that their IP locates them in France.  All good. 

They want to pay via PayPal, fair play.  I would too but that concerns me a bit knowing how PayPal conducts itself with favouring buyers in any conflict. 

Am I missing something here?  Am I exposing myself to getting diddled? 

My first instinct is to say no as I don't want the hassle of sending abroad,  I'm not desperate to sell - only listed it as there was something local I wanted to buy but that as months ago and long gone.  A change might be nice tho. 

What is wrong, I can't see. I've done hundreds of sales from Belgium to almost everywhere in the world and always preferred to be paid through PayPal as it's instantaneous and sure.

Check Zikinf.com and Audiofanzine.fr as the buyer is certainly active there as these are French web sites.

That said, just wait until May day, the 29th of March, if you want to be sure to keep your guitar. Sorry to be a bit harsh, but it's now or never.

And don't slacken the strings, except if you want the buyer to get a broken neck guitar.

[thebassist]

1 hour ago, gs_triumph said:

Guys, 

I've got a guitar listed on the sister site that someone in France would like to buy. 

They have agreed to the full price, no haggling plus £60 insured postage.  Magic.  Too easy? 

The buyer has litterally just signed up to the site then sent me the message about the guitar.  Seems odd but it's an unusual guitar so perhaps not so odd.  Ped has confirmed that they haven't spammed anyone else and that their IP locates them in France.  All good. 

They want to pay via PayPal, fair play.  I would too but that concerns me a bit knowing how PayPal conducts itself with favouring buyers in any conflict. 

Am I missing something here?  Am I exposing myself to getting diddled? 

My first instinct is to say no as I don't want the hassle of sending abroad,  I'm not desperate to sell - only listed it as there was something local I wanted to buy but that as months ago and long gone.  A change might be nice tho. 

I'd advise asking for a bank transfer or, if they insist on PayPal, ask them to do it as a Friends and Family payment.

[gs_triumph]

I asked about PayPal gift but they want full fat PayPal.  Fair play.  I would too. 

My main concern is that they get the guitar and simply change their mind.  File a not as described return request and I'm liable for the £60 return costs. I guess that's just the risk you run as a seller with PayPal. 

Edited February 8, 2019 by gs_triumph

[thebassist]

10 minutes ago, gs_triumph said:

I asked about PayPal gift but they want full fat PayPal.  Fair play.  I would too. 

My main concern is that they get the guitar and simply change their mind.  File a not as described return request and I'm liable for the £60 return costs. I guess that's just the risk you run as a seller with PayPal. 

I hear you. I wouldn’t do it myself unless they have feedback.