Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: viking on May 29, 2009, 04:33:14 PM
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Hi! I'm about to buy a Egnater Rebel head from the US.Should i use USPS (Priority Intern.) or UPS ?Of course,USPS is much cheaper but i never used them before.They say it's 6-10 days delivery,insured &" trackable"..Is it safe?I'm not really in a hurry but I don't want to wait 2-3 weeks wondering about it..UPS would be about 100 euros more !What do you think?
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UPS will use ParcelFarce when it gets to the UK and in my experience they are $%&#ing dire.
guitar guitar in the UK are selling them for 569 quid with guaraneed next day delivery
http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/amplification_detail.asp?stock=09022611355229
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I live in Belgium :? When i tried to find one (Rebel)in Europe,it was'nt available before September!The USPS shipping is USPS Priority Mail International ,insured and trackable.
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Thanks for the link,Lew!I'll check that one! 8)
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Thanks for the link,Lew!I'll check that one! 8)
It should work out faster and cheaper for you than getting one from the states 8)
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Thanks for the link,Lew!I'll check that one! 8)
It should work out faster and cheaper for you than getting one from the states 8)
Faster,no doubt!But not cheaper as i found one second hand from US.. But it means i can rule out the UPS option ..If USPS is safe,the US second hand one is still interesting...Mmmmm... :?
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viking, I'm a professional amp reseller and I buy most of my amps from US. I would strongly advise you to use USPS Express instead of Priority. It has realtime tracking (opposed to just customs form tracking in Priority) and is handled by couriers locally. They should deliver it straight to your door and you won't have go to the post office to get your box.
Make sure the seller takes out the tubes, wraps each one of them in bubblewrap and stuffs them altogther (with more bubblewrap) inside the amp. Also, you might want to ask the seller to lower the customs value and insurance to avoid customs fees in your country.
Good luck!
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I've shipped guitars from Arizona to Norway via USPS. No problem if the shipper packs it for nuclear war. It's all in the packaging.
(pics by request)
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Thanks guys! fred,i would also prefer USPS Express instead of Priority but isn't it about as expensive as FedEx,USP etc. ?
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UPS will use ParcelFarce when it gets to the UK and in my experience they are $%&#ing dire.
Are you sure that's not USPS?
I've ordered loads of stuff from Warmoth the last few months, shipped by UPS... they've all arrived in UPS vans, and I've paid the import charges to UPS Ltd.
Whereas stuff sent by USPS (trackable) does transfer to ParcelForce once it's in the UK.
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+1 on that
USPS comes in via Parcelfarce
UPS comes in via UPS here in the UK.
If it comes in via USPS be prepared to lose all the money you saved in postage on Parcelfarces extortionate Import charges. UPS is a lot more reasonable, whereas FedEx has the cheapest Import Charges.
Import charges vary from company to company as it's wha they like to charge you for waving it under the nose of a Customs man at Stansted somewhere. Everything that comes in from outside the EU will incur VAT (currently 15%), but then the comanies charge their own fees on top of that. Parcelfarces are an absolute disgrace, and to be honest should be looked into by some form of ombudsman.
I'd take the UPS option if those are the only 2 options available to you
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Don't forget i'm in Belgium :) So,if it's USPS,it will be a Belgian Post handling it in Belgium...But,here,the VAT is at 22,5% !With UPS,the total custom fees+VAT is at about 30%!I don't think it's worth it,if i have to pay UPS kind of fees...If USPS Priority was safe,i would do it.If it's not,i'd better wait to buy it here with Thomann etc..
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Parcelfarces are an absolute disgrace, and to be honest should be looked into by some form of ombudsman.
completly agree.
£8 admin charge for all parcels, £12 if it happens to have been sent with an express service (which is slowed down by at least 2 days by this whole process). + customs and VAT
all payable before they even attempt to deliver it
i much prefer DHL sending me a bill at the end of the month with a £1.25 admin charge!!! they focus on delivering it fast
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If it was me, I'd choose UPS over USPS for any large, valuable or fragile item that I was interested in actually receiving. UPS may be more expensive, but you'll soon forget the extra 60-odd quid once you have a shiny new toy to play with.
As others have pointed out, USPS hand the package off to another courier at this end (in my experience not always Parcel Force), so you don't get the continuity of service. However, UPS handle the parcel door to door - IMHO it makes for better service that they have responsibility for the entire journey.
Since the advent of the internet I've bought many things from the US & UPS have always been absolutely fantastic. The only packages I've ever had go missing or get damaged have been when shipping via USPS.
You get what you pay for...
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I had lots of stuff shipped from the US with USPS priority, no issues whatsoever.
It used to be really bad organised in Belgium, I had to chase them and then drive a long stretch to the central customs thing (ABX). But nowadays, I get a paper and pick it up at the local post office, no chasing and no delays. They changed the system and I would recommend USPS. I have used UPS for shipping stuff and it's also good, but more expensive.
+1 on the packaging.
They will throw the parcel around, no matter which service you use. I worked at a private parcel delivery service when I was a student, I know what I'm talking about. Like mentioned before, everything must be packed to survive a drop from 1m (the height of the transport band in the dispatch station).
Calculate 25% extra for customs and VAT.
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Thanks,guys 8)!Being in Belgium,Hunter's post is very interesting for me.Good news!Btw,i used to use UPS shipping only (DHL for Germany etc.) from the USA and i confirm it's a great service!Sometimes amazing even!It's unbelievable to be able to track a package from place to place,city to city etc..It was great fun!But...it's very expensive!
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Thanks,guys 8)!Being in Belgium,Hunter's post is very interesting for me.Good news!Btw,i used to use UPS shipping only (DHL for Germany etc.) from the USA and i confirm it's a great service!Sometimes amazing even!It's unbelievable to be able to track a package from place to place,city to city etc..It was great fun!But...it's very expensive!
USPS tracking numbers work also here once the thing enters Belgium: http://www.post.be/etr/base/welcome.do?method=checkCookie&lang=nl
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Thanks,guys 8)!Being in Belgium,Hunter's post is very interesting for me.Good news!Btw,i used to use UPS shipping only (DHL for Germany etc.) from the USA and i confirm it's a great service!Sometimes amazing even!It's unbelievable to be able to track a package from place to place,city to city etc..It was great fun!But...it's very expensive!
USPS tracking numbers work also here once the thing enters Belgium: http://www.post.be/etr/base/welcome.do?method=checkCookie&lang=nl
Wow!Better & better 8) Thanks!Now if only my seller would answer to me... :?
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Ok,my Rebel has been shipped today by USPS Priority Mail International.I always insisted to get a "insured & trackable" shipping,in any case...Now,the guy tells me the Post office's clerk told him it wasn't trackable..I asked him ,at least,a receipt number to identify the shipment and he told me he only got a "form" but will forward it to me tonight..(he is at work,right now).I hope it will be ok.. :? EDIT: :D I got the tracking n° and it's fine.Ouf!Now,the waiting...probably next week.
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Parcelfarces are an absolute disgrace, and to be honest should be looked into by some form of ombudsman.
^ +1
You get a £13.99 'handling fee' on pretty much anything from the US that passes through the Parcelfart system.
UPS ain't any better - I once sent an amp to the States via their Expedited service (3-5 days) and they mistakenly sent it priority (next day). They promptly sent me a bill for the extra cost of the priority service and I promptly told them to kiss my white ass. They tried to bully me with debt collectors and such, in the end a few strongly worded letters and forcefull phone calls back to them did the job - I think their collections dept got sick of me giving them grief and withdrew the charges - never did get to find out what happened, but they did stop sending me letters.
FedEx/Business Post - got some end bell covers sent to me as repair items for a transformer that had been damaged during transit. the end bell covers were worth maybe £5.00, £10.00 max - I got a £20.00 import duty bill from FedEx which, one again, I told them to whistle for a told them they were repair parts with very little value. They actually wrote to me, which gives them points over UPS for starters, and waived the charges.
The point of all this? - USPS is as good as anything, except their extortionate import duty charges.
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got some end bell covers sent to me
I had to read that twice. :|
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Bad news=no news :( USPS tracking shows my Rebel arrived friday 05 june at 13 h into Belgian Customs!Since then,nothing !It's quite frustrating as it must be at 20 km from my house..It left Orlando,Fl,on early monday 01/06/09 ;Miami on wednesday 03/06/09 and was in Belgium Friday 05/06/09.Not bad, but no news since it arrived in Belgium and the Belgian tracking (TaxiPost)shows nothing..they don't recognise the tracking number.The Post office here don't know anything about it either.
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Even more incredible news!I just phoned TaxiPost and they told me it just had been "accepted"by the Customs TODAY!They say,until then, it was only "announced (presented)" to the Customs since Friday 05/06 by USPS;it means USPS only presented the Customs papers ,without the item!!But the worst of it all is that ,now,it can take between TWO DAYS TO TWO WEEKS to go out from the Customs!!! :shock: But the guy was confident it would arrive early next week ... :? IF i'm home when they come,of course...Anyways,he told me there was no other way (not possible to pick it up somewhere..).Crazy!