Taking furniture or Personal Possessions to the USA?

[Emily and Gareth 0]

Hi guys,

Is anyone else wondering about taking furniture or personal possessions with them when they move?

Can anyone else who has already completed the move share any of their experiences on how much it will cost and whether it was worth it?

Personally, I dont have that much large furniture so im probably going to cut my losses and give it to family/oxfam....

Im only looking to send some large boxes of personal stuff that will make me feel at home! I have heard about joining up with someone else who is moving and taking some of their container space. Has anyone done this?

Any information or links would be much appreciated.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

parcelmonkey.co.uk is by far your best option for boxes. Probably half the price of all the competitors. We moved 200kg of stuff for about 270 pounds

Edited July 31, 2009 by lancer1655

[rebeccajo 14]

parcelmonkey.co.uk is by far your best option for boxes. Probably half the price of all the competitors. We moved 200kg of stuff for about 270 pounds

Did you ship furniture or large items with them?

I notice they don't accept glass.

[AbbynSheryl 0]

some time u have to look at the factor that it might be cheaper to buy the new one instead of paying shipping.

unless u have some item which u can not replace then it worth spending that much money on shipping,

otherwise sell it and buy the new one here, just my thaught. good luck

abby n sheryl

[Emily and Gareth 0]

some time u have to look at the factor that it might be cheaper to buy the new one instead of paying shipping.

unless u have some item which u can not replace then it worth spending that much money on shipping,

otherwise sell it and buy the new one here, just my thaught. good luck

abby n sheryl

Agreed, Im already writing a lot of that stuff off. Its only the personal things that I wont be able to get in America

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

This is a UK Wiki page with lots of good informational links including a long shipping thread near the bottom of the page.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/UK_FAQ

[Emily and Gareth 0]

This is a UK Wiki page with lots of good informational links including a long shipping thread near the bottom of the page.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/UK_FAQ

Thanks. That link should come in very handy!

[Alex & Rachel 78]

I didn't have any furniture worth taking with me, but I certainly don't regret bringing over 12 boxes of personal items, books, DVDs, etc. I consider it inexpensive (less than a plane ticket) and it saved me the hassle of having to sell everything and then buy new copies.

The boxes took twelve weeks to arrive, and only one thing was damaged/broken (a glass, which is always risky anyway, but I liked my glasses).

I thought all the forms and everything would be super-complicated, but in the end I packed everything up and had it shipped out in less than a week, and I encountered no extra fees/problems with customs other than a $50 x-ray. It was fun to unpack it all at the other end! (I gave exact cost and other details in the thread linked on the wiki page).

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

parcelmonkey.co.uk is by far your best option for boxes. Probably half the price of all the competitors. We moved 200kg of stuff for about 270 pounds

Did you ship furniture or large items with them?

I notice they don't accept glass.

Large items - yes though not furniture. We did ship large paintings with glass over them but that's probably alot different then fine crystal etc. Its basically DHL but the insurance etc is with parcel monkey.

Edited August 2, 2009 by lancer1655

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Hey Guys - I'm the one that originally made up that FAQ page. As you can see I didn't get all that far. But you should all know that anyone can edit the wiki, so I'd be really great if someone might help finish it off. I'm pretty much done with the UK side of things, so I don't really keep up with what's going on here.

Any takers?

[imaisha 1]

I know it sounds crazy but we're considering sending everything via Parcel Monkey. That's like 3 or 4 odd sized synthesizers and maybe 15 boxes of records. For some reason their quote came out at way less than half what the shipping company wanted.

I emailed and asked about the customs forms necessary to make sure we don't end up with a huge charge for what looks like the importation of an entire record store... but they have no idea what it requires. I found this form on the CBP website but then I contacted DHL and they say we need to provide pro-forma invoices (which doesn't seem terribly official) and even then customs can charge whatever they want.

Can anyone remember what they filled out, particularly when using Parcel Monkey or a similar mail/courier service?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

We always labeled everything personal belongings then listed the actual content. Personal belongings do not have a duty (with the exception of a few random items that your unlikely to own)

[JeremySusan 0]

Hi,

Our timelines are not to far apart. I havemy interview on Tuesday in Dublin. As for shipping personla items, i found a website called www.shippingpersonaleffects.com. It is an Irish company with an office in Navan, Co. Meath. I got a quote for approx 250Kg of items and it came out to be €480 by Sea or apporx €900 by Air. Differnece is with Air you will have your items in 5-6 days, whereas with Sea it wil take up to 12 weeks. The company comes to your delivers their boxes and bobble wrap to you, comes back when you have everythign packed up and will put it all on a pallet for you and weight it at your door so you know exactly how much weight you have. they thye bring it to their warehouse in Dublin and store it until the date you want it delivered. I will be contacting them soon and if i get anymore info I will post it up for you.

[Gemma12nel 1]

Just a word of warning if you do ship any furniture worth anything, make sure you insure, I shipped back in 2004 and one of my antiques got damaged, although I got paid out straight away from the insurance, it devalued the antique, Im still in talks with them regarding a settlement!