Should I Ship?
 

Hi,
I require advise please! I have a small 2 bedroom home and have been quoted an average of £2500 to ship my goods but the only items of quality are my 2 sofa's and 2 beds. Most other stuff is IKEA or childrens toys. I cannot see that my items are worth £2500. The quote doesn't include dining table or bedroom furniture so I would need to replace that anyway but I feel nervous of selling all my worldly goods! I really don't know what to do as I do not have much money to emigrate with and need to make the most cost effective decision. HELP!

Re: Should I Ship?
 

Surely you have answered your own question. if the stuff isn't worth what it will cost to ship there seems little point? unless of course they carry sentimental value.

Re: Should I Ship?
 

It's not so much what the stuff is worth in the UK and whether it's more or less than the shipping cost, it's more about what it will cost you to replace it here. It might costs you $2500 to ship, but $4000 to replace in Australia. An IKEA bed might cost a lot more here than in the UK, for example, or the quality of other brands might not be as good here as the furniture you've already got.

There other discussions about this on BE - I vaguely remember one a couple of months ago about how much it cost people to set up home here if buying furniture. There are more recent discussions about the cost of getting utilities connected, a deposit if you're renting plus rent payable in advance, and all sorts of other costs you might not be expecting. Usually when you rent here, the house or unit (flat) is completely empty except for a cooktop or oven (and sometimes not even an oven). There are furnished places available as well, or short-term rentals. Whichever way you do it, it always seems to cost more than you expect.

Re: Should I Ship?
 

£2,500 sounds very expensive compared to someone recently suggesting that they paid £1,700. If my memory is correct I believe they even had a 4 bedroom house! Worth doing a search

Re: Should I Ship?
 

We are paying £2600 to ship much more, 3 bed house and garage things. We are using Pickfords maybe worth asking for more quotes.

Re: Should I Ship?
 

All three quotes which we had to ship our entire house contents plus a motorbike in a 20ft container to Canberra were greater than £4000.

Re: Should I Ship?
 

We had asimilar conundrum - though ours was partly put on us as we were given an allowance by the company i was comming to work for that was very small. Most of our things were well past there best as they had been hand downs from family. So just ended up shipping some personal effects and cloths. So we used the bit of profit from the sale of the house and bought all new here and i have to say it was the best decision. Although many things are more expensive, it was lovelly to have all new for the first time. You can also get some good cheap deals to furnish a house. There is a company i ant remember the name of that does packs where you are given everything from beds to sofas for a very reasonably price