Shipping USA --> Germany

[BlueHelmet]

Hi guys,

I'm located in Germany and another member of this forum, located in the US, has a small collection of hardware parts (the biggest one is pickguard-sized) he would like to send me. Do any of you have experience with international shipping and can suggest a cheap shipping method?

(I know, I know. I googled it, but didn't really come up with good results )

[electrofaro]

As it's not that big, it should be possible to send it as small package through the regular mail - couriers will mean customs, and you might end up paying duties for the items.

[BlueHelmet]

AFAIK even a normal/small package means customs and tax. Perhaps no VAT as the items are used and not new. Still, checking out USPS sounds like a good idea.

[electrofaro]

I wrote a bit about the duties here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=398811

So far I've bought dozens of times in the US over the internet - the small packages were all marked with value somewhere 9 to 30 USD.
I didn't even ask for them to do that. It was quite weird to get an expensive CD box set listed on the green customs declaration as New CD, value 9 USD!
I asked the seller, a decent small record company, and they said they do that to avoid stuff being stolen!

In the regular mail they simply don't have the manpower to check every small package - at least here in Holland.

"2nd hand metal/resin toy parts" with a value of 25 USD might be something to try.

[johnallg]

I have had great luck and speed using the US mail. I've sent to England, Norway, Portugal, Israel, with the same success.