Cheapest way to ship from the US to UK?

[sunbeam alpine]

I'm helping my sister move back to the UK from the US after a messy divorce.

Flights etc. are no problem, but she would like to bring back quite a few personal possessions. The things she wants to bring would fit onto a pallet and stack about 4 ft high.

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive way to do this?

Google is throwing up prices of more than $2000.

Grateful for any suggestions.

Mods: I have posted in the lounge as I need help urgently. Please don't move this.

[SlimRick]

When I moved back from the states, I just posted several boxes via USPS.

Each one (approx 2ft cubed) cost around $60. I just worked out whether it was cheaper to replace the contents or post.

[Saleen836]

If your sister isn't in a rush for the items speak to Ron at https://www.stsimports.co.uk/
They bring a comtainer over monthly, you ship your item/s to their place in Florida and either collect this end or have it shipped to your home address, they also take care of any duty/tax and bill you accordingly

[sunbeam alpine]

Saleen836 said:

If your sister isn't in a rush for the items speak to Ron at https://www.stsimports.co.uk/
They bring a comtainer over monthly, you ship your item/s to their place in Florida and either collect this end or have it shipped to your home address, they also take care of any duty/tax and bill you accordingly

Thanks for that, but my sis is about as far away from Florida as you can get - upstate New York.

[Saleen836]

sunbeam alpine said:

Saleen836 said:

If your sister isn't in a rush for the items speak to Ron at https://www.stsimports.co.uk/
They bring a comtainer over monthly, you ship your item/s to their place in Florida and either collect this end or have it shipped to your home address, they also take care of any duty/tax and bill you accordingly

Thanks for that, but my sis is about as far away from Florida as you can get - upstate New York.

They have a very good postal service and other delivery ways in the US these days

[sunbeam alpine]

Saleen836 said:

sunbeam alpine said:

Saleen836 said:

If your sister isn't in a rush for the items speak to Ron at https://www.stsimports.co.uk/
They bring a comtainer over monthly, you ship your item/s to their place in Florida and either collect this end or have it shipped to your home address, they also take care of any duty/tax and bill you accordingly

Thanks for that, but my sis is about as far away from Florida as you can get - upstate New York.

They have a very good postal service and other delivery ways in the US these days

Sorry - didn't mean to sound ungrateful.

Sister is not in much of a state to arrange anything - she just wants to get away (with her daughter) ASAP. I was hoping to find a service which could collect a cabin trunk containing a few items of sentimental value and ship it to the UK - either to be delivered to my address or collected from a depot.

[Gareth79]

Saleen836 said:

they also take care of any duty/tax and bill you accordingly

If it's personal possessions there are reliefs available:
https://www.gov.uk/moving-to-uk

A company that deals with regular goods might not be familiar with this, but it will save £££ to apply for it.

[Vaud]

Try a luggage shipping service?

https://www.seatguru.com/articles/luggage_shipping...

The first one I clicked on showed $374 for a 34kg oversized bag, 7 day delivery.

(edit, depends if the components can be put into multiple bags)

Otherwise have them put into local storage - a years fees woudn't be too bad and re-assess when she is up to it?

Edited by Vaud on Thursday 21st February 13:28

[sunbeam alpine]

Bump: Still struggling a bit with this. The luggage transport companies all seem to have a maximum weight of 30kg per article. One item is 73kg...

[Tyre Smoke]

73kg is not going any other way than freight. You aren't going to be able to do this on the cheap.

Share a container seems the only viable option or contact a moving company?

[texaxile]

I've not done this for a good few years, but the method I would use was as follows:

Cheapest way is to speak to local freight forwarder or courier service over in the USA, or in the UK as they always have a contact abroad with whom they can deal with, the items are then collected, she will declare the goods and they will put it in part of a "groupage" load of a container. She will have to pay for the area of the container the goods take (volumetric weight / cube) and all relevent charges that follow (although I don't think personal effects are subject to import duties). They will arrange delivery to the UK and a local transport / courier will deliver them to the UK address.

You are responsible for packaging the items, but in some cases such as a removal service they could do this for you at extra charge. Even if she grabbed a load of shrink wrap, wrapped it, taped it and labelled it that would be OK.

Another option is to contact DHL or UPS, or an airfrieght company who will make all the arrangements for you. In the 00's I used Atlas Air who would do a collection / delivery / C Clearance service but not sure if they do it now, however, the larger carriers all offer this. The suggestion of using the UPS or Fed EX Jumbo box is the hassle free and easy way, albeit more expensive.


Again it's been a while, so hth.

Edited by texaxile on Sunday 3rd March 12:12

Edited by texaxile on Sunday 3rd March 12:13

[sunbeam alpine]

texaxile said:

I've not done this for a good few years, but the method I would use was as follows:

Cheapest way is to speak to local freight forwarder or courier service over in the USA, or in the UK as they always have a contact abroad with whom they can deal with, the items are then collected, she will declare the goods and they will put it in part of a "groupage" load of a container. She will have to pay for the area of the container the goods take (volumetric weight) and all relevent charges that follow (although I don't think personal effects are subject to import duties). They will arrange delivery to the UK and a local transport / courier will deliver them to the UK address.

You are responsible for packaging the items, but in some cases such as a removal service they could do this for you at extra charge. Even if she grabbed a load of shrink wrap, wrapped it, taped it and labelled it that would be OK.

Another option is to contact DHL or UPS, or an airfrieght company who will make all the arrangements for you. In the 00's I used Atlas Air who would do a collection / delivery / C Clearance service but not sure if they do it now, however, the larger carriers all offer this. The suggestion of using the UPS or Fed EX Jumbo box is the hassle free and easy way, albeit more expensive.

Again it's been a while, so hth.

Thanks - I've looked at UPS & DHL - they are all looking for $2000-2500. Was hoping to get it done a bit cheaper!

[Vaud]

sunbeam alpine said:

Bump: Still struggling a bit with this. The luggage transport companies all seem to have a maximum weight of 30kg per article. One item is 73kg...

Looks like you need an LCL service with local pickup.

https://internationalshippingusa.com/Ocean_Freight...
^^ seems to be a good guide on boxing, delivering, etc

I assume these also do the reverse journey:
https://www.dfsworldwide.com/Shipping-to-usa.html
https://unsworth.uk/container-shipping-to-new-york...