Shipping stuff and clearing customs

[jj_154 0]

We are moving to the U.S. next month and have too much to take with us on the plane. So, we are going to ship some stuff by sea. The shipping company said I need to clear customs myself. How does one 'clear customs'? I searched a lot on the web, but couldn't find much. The most I could find is that you fill out a form 3299 "Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles Free entry of unaccompanied articles" and present it to the customs agent at your point-of-entry air port to get it stamped. Is this all I need to do (is this clearing customs)? Or are there other steps involved?

Does anyone who has shipped stuff and "cleared customs" yourself have any experiences to share?

Thanks,

John

[u2rsobad 0]

We are moving to the U.S. next month and have too much to take with us on the plane. So, we are going to ship some stuff by sea. The shipping company said I need to clear customs myself. How does one 'clear customs'? I searched a lot on the web, but couldn't find much. The most I could find is that you fill out a form 3299 "Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles Free entry of unaccompanied articles" and present it to the customs agent at your point-of-entry air port to get it stamped. Is this all I need to do (is this clearing customs)? Or are there other steps involved?

Does anyone who has shipped stuff and "cleared customs" yourself have any experiences to share?

Thanks,

John

When I moved back to the states 5 years ago from Japan (after 15 years there, I had lots of things) many shipping companies told me the same thing, but the shipping company I ended up using Yokohama Systems Movers, did everything for me and I didn't have to do anything. Just filled out the forms they gave me and it was all taken care of. My stuff got here and I didn't have to wait for any additional customs checks. Within a few days of my things arriving, they delivered them. If you want, I'll get you their web address.

[u2rsobad 0]

Here you are...thought I may have had it here at work

http://www.ysmyokohama.com/index.html

[jj_154 0]

We are moving to the U.S. next month and have too much to take with us on the plane. So, we are going to ship some stuff by sea. The shipping company said I need to clear customs myself. How does one 'clear customs'? I searched a lot on the web, but couldn't find much. The most I could find is that you fill out a form 3299 "Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles Free entry of unaccompanied articles" and present it to the customs agent at your point-of-entry air port to get it stamped. Is this all I need to do (is this clearing customs)? Or are there other steps involved?

Does anyone who has shipped stuff and "cleared customs" yourself have any experiences to share?

Thanks,

John

When I moved back to the states 5 years ago from Japan (after 15 years there, I had lots of things) many shipping companies told me the same thing, but the shipping company I ended up using Yokohama Systems Movers, did everything for me and I didn't have to do anything. Just filled out the forms they gave me and it was all taken care of. My stuff got here and I didn't have to wait for any additional customs checks. Within a few days of my things arriving, they delivered them. If you want, I'll get you their web address.

Thanks for the link. I will check it out.

John

[StillThePrettiest 3]

all the companies I investigated took care of that sort of thing too

I was warned that there may be an additional customs charge once the stuff had arrived - possibly into the thousands of dollars - and was a little apprehensive; however when my stuff was delivered they collected the massive fee of $10

good luck in your search

[Norman and Dijani 0]

Are you shipping furniture or just cloths books and stuff that can fit in suit cases? My fiancee used a company called u-bag to ship her two extra bag as unaccompanied baggage. It worked out pretty well. All we had to do was go to the cargo area at the airport for the airline that flew the bags, sign a couple of forms and that was it.

[jj_154 0]

Are you shipping furniture or just cloths books and stuff that can fit in suit cases? My fiancee used a company called u-bag to ship her two extra bag as unaccompanied baggage. It worked out pretty well. All we had to do was go to the cargo area at the airport for the airline that flew the bags, sign a couple of forms and that was it.

I wish we could fit it on the plane, but it's too much even for cargo. I suspect it will be at least 2 cubic meters, maybe even 3-4.

John

[Justin and Masako 0]

I would like to find more info on this as well along with what need to be done to get items that are shipped by sea to a place near us to pick them up. I have read that we have to sign for them at customs and that we would need to have the shipping company ship them bonded to a closer customs point if that's what we needed. Does anyone have experience with the bonded shipping? Driving to the coast is not really an option for us.

Thanks,