How I shipped my personal belongings from UK to US

[Wuozopo 4,293]

10 hours ago, Pat2021 said:

did not mean to insinuate not filling out a customs form - of course we would. I am just wondering how much easier it is to get items through customs as US citizen - I imagine easier, and less paperwork to fill out?

I am also wondering, as BBGG wrote:

I don’t think it is any easier for a citizen vs you an immigrant. If she was just on a two-week holiday to UK and brought things back that she purchased, she could bring more dollar value in as a citizen than say a British tourist bringing in gifts. But both a returning resident and an immigrant get unlimited entry on most things from their household and personal belongings. That link I gave you breaks it down. She does have to meet the returning resident criteria. You with an immigrant visa for sure get unlimited duty free status on most of your “stuff” owned more than one year.

 

10 hours ago, Pat2021 said:

If this applies to US citizens, or even more to my wife sending her / our personal belongings to her parents? As mentioned, I'd like to pre-ship some boxes to make moving easier later on.

Yes, I think this applies to your wife to get unlimited entry.  Otherwise, how would sending boxes of stuff ahead be any different that mailing mom and dad Christmas gifts which have a dollar limit for customs. Gifts worth up to $100 may be sent, free of duty and tax, to friends and relatives in the United States, as long as the same person does not receive more than $100 worth of gifts in a single day. You could send or she could, so not easier because she is a USC. Keep under the limit. 

 

 

10 hours ago, Pat2021 said:

Regarding this - is it per person or for the entire group?

Don’t know. Fill out separate landing  forms when they hand them out on the plane. That document further describes liquor and how state laws may not allow any or smaller amounts.

[Pat2021 43]

5 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

I don’t think it is any easier for a citizen vs you an immigrant. If she was just on a two-week holiday to UK and brought things back that she purchased, she could bring more dollar value in as a citizen than say a British tourist bringing in gifts. But both a returning resident and an immigrant get unlimited entry on most things from their household and personal belongings. That link I gave you breaks it down. She does have to meet the returning resident criteria. You with an immigrant visa for sure get unlimited duty free status on most of your “stuff” owned more than one year.

 

Yes, I think this applies to your wife to get unlimited entry.  Otherwise, how would sending boxes of stuff ahead be any different that mailing mom and dad Christmas gifts which have a dollar limit for customs. Gifts worth up to $100 may be sent, free of duty and tax, to friends and relatives in the United States, as long as the same person does not receive more than $100 worth of gifts in a single day. You could send or she could, so not easier because she is a USC. Keep under the limit. 

 

 

Don’t know. Fill out separate landing  forms when they hand them out on the plane. That document further describes liquor and how state laws may not allow any or smaller amounts.

Ah thank you.

 

This to me sounds like it'll be difficult to pre-ship personal belongings worth over $100? That just adds to the stress of moving...

[Pat2021 43]

Hi again, I'm in the midst of packing and going to go with TransGlobalExpress.

 

In your post you mentioned max weight of 30kgs per box. I have one box that weighs 40kg. TransGlobal does give me a quick quote for it and I can't find any reference for that weight of 30kg.

 

Is there a source that it can't exceed 30kg or will I be fine with one box at 40kg? The rest are all around 25kg

 

Thank you 

 

 

 

 

[Pat2021 43]

So I added a fifth box to reduce the weight. Even so, due to one oversized box, the quote came to £922 😢

 

Surprisingly though they're now asking for "Commodity Codes" during the customs part, despite it being a personal shipment. I just put 000000 as a placeholder and have contacted TransGlobal if that's correct. Will keep you guys updated as this thread is really useful!

[Wuozopo 4,293]

3 hours ago, Pat2021 said:

So I added a fifth box to reduce the weight. Even so, due to one oversized box, the quote came to £922 😢

 

Surprisingly though they're now asking for "Commodity Codes" during the customs part, despite it being a personal shipment. I just put 000000 as a placeholder and have contacted TransGlobal if that's correct. Will keep you guys updated as this thread is really useful!

Have you gotten a quote from this company? https://www.shipit.co.uk. Their shrink-wrap method of preparing for shipping was excellent. The customer service with 1st Move International was very helpful. Reading on the previous page of this thread, there are several posts concerning lack of assistance from Transglobal with preparing the shipment, lists, and labels.t

[Pat2021 43]

21 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

Have you gotten a quote from this company? https://www.shipit.co.uk. Their shrink-wrap method of preparing for shipping was excellent. The customer service with 1st Move International was very helpful. Reading on the previous page of this thread, there are several posts concerning lack of assistance from Transglobal with preparing the shipment, lists, and labels.t

No I didn't. I might've jumped the gun a little bit with TransGlobal, as I used them in the past and always had good and cheap experience with them. Admittedly not for a bigger move, only for a box here or there.

 

Hopefully it'll work out, as I do have the whole packing list with the all the items in each box and their value as well as the filled out customs form. Final delivery is DHL anyway so I'll probably deal directly with them?

 

One "benefit" of having the oversized box is that I could only have the "Express" shipment which delivers in a day. I'll ask TransGlobal to hold the boxes until we arrive but from the previous pages it seems there isn't much of an issue if the boxes do arrive before our arrival date.

 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

4 minutes ago, Pat2021 said:

No I didn't. I might've jumped the gun a little bit with TransGlobal, as I used them in the past and always had good and cheap experience with them. Admittedly not for a bigger move, only for a box here or there.

 

Hopefully it'll work out, as I do have the whole packing list with the all the items in each box and their value as well as the filled out customs form. Final delivery is DHL anyway so I'll probably deal directly with them?

 

One "benefit" of having the oversized box is that I could only have the "Express" shipment which delivers in a day. I'll ask TransGlobal to hold the boxes until we arrive but from the previous pages it seems there isn't much of an issue if the boxes do arrive before our arrival date.

 

Sounds like you have everything well in hand. I was just thinking about your quote and I shipped 23 boxes plus a crated antique clock for around that much., albeit it was by boat in a container and took several weeks to arrive.

[Pat2021 43]

Just now, Wuozopo said:

Sounds like you have everything well in hand. I was just thinking about your quote and I shipped 23 boxes plus a crated antique clock for around that much., albeit it was by boat in a container and took several weeks to arrive.

Yeah, I also suspect prices went up lately like crazy. Actual quote was £770, then they slapped on £80 for oversized box, £50 for insurance and £20 in "admin fees"

[Pat2021 43]

Hi everyone, sorry for all the double posts but I have an interesting update that might hopefully be helpful to all future movers.

 

I spoke with various people at TransGlobal and got the following information:

 

Commodity Codes are now required for any goods moving abroad since 1st of January 2021 which is why OP probably did not need to provide them.

 

I updated my excel packing list with a column for each item with the commodity code and sent it to TransGlobal.

 

Furthermore, all information to be transmitted to DHL has to be in a single .pdf attached to the order. For me, I attached the packing list, the CBP3299 form, the supplementary info, passport photo and power of attorney into one pdf.

 

IMPORTANT: After this pdf is uploaded, you need to call TransGlobal to generate new shipping labels. I suspect this is the reason so many people on the previous pages said DHL never received the information from TransGlobal - they don't automatically attach the info to the shipping labels.

 

Hopefully this is helpful to someone, my boxes are being picked up Friday, I'll keep you all updated on the progress! 😊

 

[Pat2021 43]

Update:

After a lot of stress, we finally received the last of the boxes today.

Turns out that TransGlobal does not talk to DHL, who in turn don't talk to DHL Export, neither inbound, nor outbound. Supposedly all due to GDPR but it's not made clear at all.

So, boxes got stuck in UK customs, DHL export contacted us, we needed to provide the same paperwork we did to TransGlobal. Once that was done, boxes got stuck in US customs. DHL there never contacted us, which was a pain and a half, as we had to multiple times message TransGlobal about the status and ask for a DHL contact information.

 

Once we got that, they had a completely different format for a waybill so we had to rewrite the waybill as well. Once provided, it cleared customs relatively quick but it went to the FDA as we had wooden utensils. That took an extra 3 days before delivery happened.

 

Oh and of course the boxes got separated from each other, so we had 2 different deliveries on two different days. One box went through Ohio, the rest through LA, but in 2 batches...

 

All in all, relatively stressful as no one provides any contact numbers for the export / import teams and no one communicates with each other...

 

At one point TransGlobal said the boxes "might be returned to the UK" if customs is unresolved - and of course they'd charge those fees to us. Who would receive them in the UK? No one knows.

 

Have requested a partial refund from TransGlobal as I find this was too stressful and not straight-forward enough. The customs process seems to have been easy - no boxes were opened or checked, our packing list was more than sufficient. It was the miscommunication between TransGlobal, DHL and us that made this into a frustrating experience.

 

Overall, probably better to go straight via a courier that also does the customs clearance and delivery.

[meladee 160]

@Pat2021 sorry your experience was so stressful, but I very much appreciate you sahring your experience!

[Nous Eb 126]

This topic is golden! I can't find anything on hs codes being needed now though? Anyone know anything about that? I plan on shipping 30 boxes, not sure how I would be able to find codes for all my personal belongings. Seems not right.

[Dragonsarereal 14]

On 2/1/2024 at 1:52 AM, SouzaGarcia81 said:

This topic is golden! I can't find anything on hs codes being needed now though? Anyone know anything about that? I plan on shipping 30 boxes, not sure how I would be able to find codes for all my personal belongings. Seems not right.

Hi! I just got my VISA 2 weeks ago, bought my tickets and chose a courier to go via air, which turned out to be half of the price of shipping with Sevenseas Worldwide. I phoned many companies, got lots of quotes, checked every Trust Pilot review and came out with two companies I thought were the best and cheapest.

I then told one company that the other was offering a cheaper price and they reduce theirs.

 

I am now all paid and ready to upload the dreadful custom form - the codes are NOT requested. There is a drop down menu where you start writing name of items and something appears and you just click on 'book' or' shoes' etc and click on the number and value.

I am using SHERPR.com and so far really happy, but the custom form is tough and unclear (as for everyone)

 

from my notes: 

Trust Pilot reviews: Great, except when FEDEX works with them and makes a mess. (Not often) https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.sherpr.com?page=2

Transport method: Standard service - Estimated transit time: 4-7 working days

Quote 20 boxes, dimensions 53cm x 53cm x 31cm (max weight: 20kgs/box) £2,045 - $2555

Price per box: 102.28 revised to £98,15 per box all included after competition with Deliver 1.

Other details: insurance included up to $100 (20% deductible), but boxes NOT included.

 

Also, the poster of this thread has done a magnificent job to describe the process. BUT be careful not to order boxes from Amazon from the company suggested here as I did (trusting the poster and reviews) and they are SUPER flimsy, and one broke the handle immediately, so I reported them for scam and got a full refund. I then went local and bought double wall proper sturdy boxes from a place I can trust.

[Deejee 5]

Dear all, 

 

Does anyone know :

 

1. If we have to pay any fee to the U.S. customs please. (Or any fees at all besides shipping cost you paid the shipping company) 
My stuff are personal effects, ie clothes, shoes, handbags, plates, bowls, pots, and pans owned more than 1 year. Should be 11 boxes in total. 

2. Do we put on our packing list e.g. box 1 winter coat x 5 = $250 (do we declare in $?) 

 

3. Did you have to state how long you have those items in your possession ? 
 

4. I am using used boxes e.g. ones used by Amazon. Will this be ok ? 
 

Thank you so much. 

[Deejee 5]

Also I have so many pairs of shoes and lots of clothes (they are all more than 1 year old) CBP won’t think I’m bringing them in the US to sell them, will they?