Selling outside the US??

[heady dude]

Anyone ever sold anything outside of the US? Did you run into any problems, like taxes and such? There is someone in Germany interested in a guitar of mine and Im wondering if there is anything I should watch out for If I decide to sell to him.
Thanks

[gvonpaul]

I sold a Mesa Boogie amp to a guy in Germany (against my better judgment) and somehow ended up stuck paying the duties on it, about $300 IIRC. WTF? Don't they have to pay the duties before they can pick them up? What kind of jacked up arrangement is that?
CONUS only anymore.

[heady dude]

See thats what Im worried about. Sucks I really need to sell this guitar, but I dont want to get juked at the same time. Theres got to be a way around the 'stuck paying the import tax' thing.

[whitehall]

I didn't have to pay a duty shipping a guitar, but PP charges and extra 1% "cross border" fee. And it's just a hassle. Standing in line at the PO and then you have to explain their jobs to them and bring a printout showing them that , um yes , you can ship a guitar to Germany. Right , now fill out these forms-- and foreign addresses never correspond to the US based forms. You address you have is Swazgtns 127a74hj strnzel 445t Gundenzitz Glum EN Globan, E I E I o Germany. Where the f*** does this go on the form. Right, now write your name and the buyers name and address on the box itself......Right, now did you want insurance ? great fill out this form too.
And this is all after the guy has emailed you a few times asking you to declare the value as a dollar so you can ..help him out. I used to do it. Not anymore. You want me to do you a favor ? fine , send me an extra $100.

[fuzz_factor]

I don't have personal experience with this, but there was a thread here a while back about people getting stuck paying customs duties.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I learned from the thread:

1. Ship with USPS and you'll never hear back from them about customs. It's a done deal. But you don't get accurate tracking info.

2. Ship with UPS or FedEx and they'll try to collect from you if the person on the other end doesn't pay. Thing is, you're under no legal obligation to pay. These are foreign taxes, after all. You can tell UPS and FedEx to suck it, but if you have some kind of corporate account with them, you're screwed because they'll just get the money out of you that way.

Oh yeah, a couple people mentioned that either FedEx or UPS (or both) tried to charge them the duties even though the person on the other end paid! That's how screwed up their systems are.

Good luck selling your guitar.

[heady dude]

Thanks man that was helpful info.

[waylay00]

I've shipped stuff to France without a problem. The only difference for me was a little paperwork and a little extra for the shipping.

[teleman65]

I've shipped from Canada to Europe a few times. There were no problems but I still feel a little nervous about it.
You'll have to decide for yourself whether the extra considerations involved are worth the sale.
Seems a lot of sellers will only ship ConUSA and it makes sense for them.

[nuthinew]

Shipped a couple things to Europe last year with no troubles. You can download the forms before you go to the Post office or get em there. USPS Air mail is the cheapest if I remember correctly and you can have it insured and accounted for on delivery to cover your behind. I would tell them sorry though about declaring a lower value for import just in case. It seems like you can insure it for a greater value than what you claim for tax but I wouldn't bet on it if it is a high price item. Might be a bit sticky if you had to make a claim.

[JimmyR]

Shipping to Australia is both fulfilling and fun. I can heartily recommend it. I know many people who have shipped nice guitars to Australia and they have felt a better person afterwards. Some say it has increased their sex drive and staying power. Apparently the inner warmth of having shipped to someone in a less fortunate part of the world, like , say, Australia is worth the experience and form filling. Because of this their personal wealth has increased along with their attractiveness to the opposite sex. Damage from natural disasters is also averted if you ship to, say, Australia a lot.

Apparently the benefits in health, well-being and prosperity are increased if you offer the (for example) Australian a good discount. I can only offer good experiences of shipping to countries like, say, Australia.

[Jazzydave]

I've sent quite a few items overseas recently and I think its really about communications on the other end. If the guy/gal seems to know how the process works and seems to be pretty legit, I say go for it.

I always ship with USPS - its by far the cheapest and the tracking info seems to be pretty accurate. I've never had to deal with duites/taxes but then again, I've always used vague terms (music gear, guitar accessories, etc) when describing the item on the forms and put the value pretty low. I'm sure that when customs sees that its a $2k Gibson from the USA they start paying more attention.

[stephax]

Shipping to Australia is both fulfilling and fun. I can heartily recommend it. I know many people who have shipped nice guitars to Australia and they have felt a better person afterwards. Some say it has increased their sex drive and staying power. Apparently the inner warmth of having shipped to someone in a less fortunate part of the world, like , say, Australia is worth the experience and form filling. Because of this their personal wealth has increased along with their attractiveness to the opposite sex. Damage from natural disasters is also averted if you ship to, say, Australia a lot.

Apparently the benefits in health, well-being and prosperity are increased if you offer the (for example) Australian a good discount. I can only offer good experiences of shipping to countries like, say, Australia.

Post of the Year !:dude

[Rocket Brother]

Well I´ve lived in both the US and in Europe, and have made 50+ transatlantic deals from both ends - NEVER had a problem, neither as a seller or as a buyer. Items were combos, heads, guitars and some smaller stuff like pedals and pick-ups.
Others have said it shipping to Europe - Taxes is ALLWAYS the buyers problem, don´t worry about it.
I´ve shiped with USPS, UPS, Fedex, DHL and and a few other companies, and USPS is the cheapest, and just as safe as the others.
Only thing get insurance and a tracking # for both seller and buyers sake, let the funds clear and send it off.
And be a good guy - do the buyer a favor - I bet you like it when people are good to you.
So when shipping to Europe arrange with the buyer to declare the item a bit cheaper than actual value so he doesn´t get hammered by the import taxes, while keeping the value high enough to appear to be reasonable value for the item and so the shippers take care with it.
For instance: a 2500 $ amp can ship as a 600 $ amp - You bet they will look after/protect a 600$ item.

I didn't have to pay a duty shipping a guitar, but PP charges and extra 1% "cross border" fee. And it's just a hassle. Standing in line at the PO and then you have to explain their jobs to them and bring a printout showing them that , um yes , you can ship a guitar to Germany. Right , now fill out these forms-- and foreign addresses never correspond to the US based forms. You address you have is Swazgtns 127a74hj strnzel 445t Gundenzitz Glum EN Globan, E I E I o Germany. Where the f*** does this go on the form. Right, now write your name and the buyers name and address on the box itself......Right, now did you want insurance ? great fill out this form too.
And this is all after the guy has emailed you a few times asking you to declare the value as a dollar so you can ..help him out. I used to do it. Not anymore. You want me to do you a favor ? fine , send me an extra $100.

Good God is that Christmas spirit or even the way you would want to treat another member of this forum ???
So if you post a question, and I help you out with the answers - should I ask you for a 100 $ for the favor, since I´m located in Europe right now ???
You commited to sell transatlantic - deal with it, alternativly, you might not have made the sale. I´ve found it to be such a hazzel to ship internationally - takes about 10 minutes.

[Rocket Brother]

Shipping to Australia is both fulfilling and fun. I can heartily recommend it. I know many people who have shipped nice guitars to Australia and they have felt a better person afterwards. Some say it has increased their sex drive and staying power. Apparently the inner warmth of having shipped to someone in a less fortunate part of the world, like , say, Australia is worth the experience and form filling. Because of this their personal wealth has increased along with their attractiveness to the opposite sex. Damage from natural disasters is also averted if you ship to, say, Australia a lot.

Apparently the benefits in health, well-being and prosperity are increased if you offer the (for example) Australian a good discount. I can only offer good experiences of shipping to countries like, say, Australia.

+1 , except it applyes 1000-fold more to Europe :)

[philiprst]

Generally speaking, there is no problem sending a guitar from the US to Europe provided you understand shipping costs, insurance/value and taxes.

1) Shipping costs. As other have said USPS is much cheaper than UPS/DHL/FedEx. I use USPS Express Mail which has tracking and is quite quick (4-5 days for most places). Typical cost is $100-150. Priority mail is slightly less ($10-20) but doesn't have tracking. Be aware that some places in Europe have size restrictions which will not allow you to ship a guitar by these services, but most western European destinations (including Germany) are fine.

2) Insurance. There is a balancing act between insurance and the declared value that you should be aware of. If you insure an item for significantly more than it's declared value for customs then you are asking for trouble since this is a red flag at the border. If you do choose to under declare the customs value then make sure the buyer understands that insurance will not cover the full value of the item and it is done at the buyers risk. Nevertheless, if you do declare the full value then you should know that you will probably only get that amount in a claim where the item is lost or completely destroyed. If it is damaged then they only pay the repair costs.

3) Taxes. All taxes are collected from the buyer upon delivery. Make sure that the buyer understands this and has checked how much they will be.

I should also mention that on the rare occasions that I have encountered a problem it always had to do with the postal service in the destination country. There is nothing much you can do about that and you have to rely on the buyer to sort it out.

[windfeld]

I am from Denmark, and I have bought many items from the us, without any problems at all. Of course I will pay customs when it arrives here. I don't really understand why the seller should pay customs? I have never experienced anything like that... And I have received items with usps, ups, fedex and ems..

As Dave mentioned earlier, good communication is the keyword. If anything is unclear in the address, make sure that you know what it is. Out postal numbers etc looks different, but I don't think that we have additional address info that you don't have in the us? So it should be pretty straight forward filling out the customs form..

[rivaeast]

I have sold various items to many overseas buyers.... I've been lucky in that no problems at all....
Ditto on understanding shipping/taxes/insurance.
I have found that I get better prices by offering overseas shipping.

[JimmyR]

All I can say is that I really appreciate it when I can buy something cool from the US that I either just can't source here, or if I can it is twice the price. There are a few people who are happy to sell to me here in my country and they never have any hassle at all. I too have never heard of the sender having to pay customs etc - how does that work??

Where I live customs, duty and GST are payable if the value of the item is over approx US$690. Obviously this varies depending on the exchange rate at the time. Below that the item is delivered to my door within days of it leaving the US. The whole customs exercise takes days. During this time the item is left standing in some hot warehouse while someone gets around to working out what taxes they want to charge this time. It's a lottery! Depending on the exchange rate that day, what mood the tax collector is in and whether the weather is nice you could pay no duty or a $1000 guitar could cost you an extra $3-400. Most of the time I don't mind so much because it's still cheaper than buying one here. But sometimes I think guys in the US don't realise how good they have it! Gear is so cheap in the US!

[BigPapiFan]

Interesting thread. I just, this week, sold three guitars on Ebay and was fairly deluged by requests to ship internationally. I don't. I am a private person and I can't afford to loose money on a guitar sale. I don't want to arrange international shipping, insurance, and customs. I will sometimes ship to Canada but, even there, Customs are a PITA.
I generally try to provide good service to my buyers and I will accept a return on my instruments if the buyer pays the shipping. I can't imagine what the turn around time would be on a return from Europe. As for Asia... Mrs. PapiFan didn't raise a complete fool. I am not dealing with that continent.

[AnthonyL]

Don't dealers do this quite a bit?

Anyway, I've shipped to Canada several times as well as Sweden. Never had an issue...

[whitehall]

Well I´ve lived in both the US and in Europe, and have made 50+ transatlantic deals from both ends - NEVER had a problem, neither as a seller or as a buyer. Items were combos, heads, guitars and some smaller stuff like pedals and pick-ups.
Others have said it shipping to Europe - Taxes is ALLWAYS the buyers problem, don´t worry about it.
I´ve shiped with USPS, UPS, Fedex, DHL and and a few other companies, and USPS is the cheapest, and just as safe as the others.
Only thing get insurance and a tracking # for both seller and buyers sake, let the funds clear and send it off.
And be a good guy - do the buyer a favor - I bet you like it when people are good to you.
So when shipping to Europe arrange with the buyer to declare the item a bit cheaper than actual value so he doesn´t get hammered by the import taxes, while keeping the value high enough to appear to be reasonable value for the item and so the shippers take care with it.
For instance: a 2500 $ amp can ship as a 600 $ amp - You bet they will look after/protect a 600$ item.



Good God is that Christmas spirit or even the way you would want to treat another member of this forum ???
So if you post a question, and I help you out with the answers - should I ask you for a 100 $ for the favor, since I´m located in Europe right now ???
You commited to sell transatlantic - deal with it, alternativly, you might not have made the sale. I´ve found it to be such a hazzel to ship internationally - takes about 10 minutes.
Yeah kid that's my deal. Give me a call when you ship that LP to Germany and decare the value as 1/2 and it doesn't arrive.