suebrennan

I decided after much humming and hawing to ship 4 boxes to Oz. These included linen. clothes, photos from my travels and other stuff. Now having been in Oz for 7 weeks or so and still no sign of my boxes which are Sydney bound and yes I know that I am in Brisbane (will spare you the logic) - I have nearly bought everything that I thought I was going to save money on by shipping them.

Just bear that in mind if you are in the same boat.

Sue

Maybe I should take this up???

joanneS

Hi Sue, can I ask how much it costs and how long it was to ship over four boxes to Oz?
Thanks Jo x

Sun n Surf

Thanks Sue. Yes we aren't taking too much either and are trying not to bother shipping anything that we think we will need straight away because as you say, you just end up buying it over there.

sparkley23

I am shipping 7 boxes. Cost me £350.20 plus 5% of the value for insurance. Through 1st contact (which is actually Excess Baggage). Got picked up today

They reckon it takes 6-10 weeks but you should then allow another 2 weeks on top for it to get through customs and be delivered. The containers can wait a week till customs can get round to inspecting it. They then have to be transferred from the container to the depot of the compnay you used. So usually between 10 and 12 weeks. So I'm not really suprised your haven't arrived yet, the earliest you can prob get them is 8 weeks. Did they quote you something else? Also, if they have to be moved from Syd to Bris, that's gonna add some more time on.

joanneS

Hi Sparky, that sounds quite a good deal! can I ask are the boxes standard size removal boxes, do they have to be under a certain weight? I mean can you put things like tools in or heavy stuff like computer etc?
Let us know thanks Jo x

sparkley23

I thought it was a good deal too. I was quoted -
7 boxes, £350.20
8 boxes - £370.60
10 boxes - £404.60
15 boxes - £540.60
20 boxes - £557.67

So you can see the more you ship, the cheaper it gets - only £17 diff between 15 and 20 boxes!

I basically logged on loads of websites and got quotes. Nearly all of them are actually run by Excess baggage - London Baggage, Company, 1st Contact, but they market themselves under different names. Def shop around, the prices vary enormously. I was quoted £560 by Anglo Pacific for 10 boxes, the same amount could have got me 20 boxes with 1st Contact!

The boxes I chose were T Cartons with a max weight of 35kg per box. If you put all heavy stuff in, like books, stereos etc, they will weigh about 40kg so you just have to mix it up a bit. I put all my heavy stuff in like books, but also put light things like clothes to make them less than 35kg. They are 4.5cu Ft and are 61x51x41cm or 24x20x16 inches.
Hope that helps

Clairertw

Thanks for taking the time to give all the details Sparkley - am in same boat (only taking personal items) and have had an initial chat with Excess Baggage but think they quoted a bit more than that... so am definitely going call 1st Contact instead, esp. if they're the same company anyway!

joanneS

Thanks Sparkley you've been a great help.
Jo x

Clippy

Great post

Simba

We are thinking of selling our furniture and just shipping personal stuff, this looks a cheaper option and the money we save on shipping we can use to buy new furniture. Just one thing to be aware of on the 1st contact web site its says there may be a quarantine inspection cost on top of the shipping cost this it says can be between 40 & 200 dollars depends if and how many boxes they inspect. Neil.

sparkley23

It sure does but if you look at the small print of all the shipping companies its the same

suebrennan

Hi Jo

I used excess baggage (1st contact) which was also the agent I used. I think it cost about £300 for 2 t-chest boxes and 2 book boxes. They left just before I did on the 13 July and there is still no sign of them. Because I rented an unfurnished flat when I got here I ended up buying loads of bed linen here etc. I took out insurance with a company plugged here. That saves quite a bit as the shipping companies charge way more "Letton Perceval" or something like that. Any more info need just shout.

Sue

joanneS

Thanks Sue I'll look into it this afternoon.
Jo x

kt.2006

I rang 1st Contact (Excess Baggage) on quite a few different occasions for quotes as I kept changing my mind about how many boxes we wanted to take. I noticed that one of the quotes (for 11 boxes) was quite a bit cheaper than some of their other quotes for less boxes so I rang and there was no problem with them accepting this rate. My advice would be keep asking for quotes until you get one you like the sound of

We used loads of bubble wrap and nothing was broken. We used Letton Percival for insurance. However because we had wrapped the goods ourselves the insurance would not cover for any breakages, only complete loss.

Jockstar

If it was just 4 boxes and nothing else. Then why did you not just fly them over? More pricey but far quicker.