Jenster

We're looking at moving quotes at the moment, and one mover has said something which I think sounds like a sales ploy but I wanted to check - she said that US customs don't like boxes of household goods which have not been packed by a mover. Personally I can't see what the problem is if you give a detailed enough contents list, but I wanted to be sure before dismissing her comments as sales pitch. Any comments/thoughts?

Our current favourite is looking like an excess baggage shipping company which has given us a fairly good quote for self-packed boxes. A mover seems excessive (and out of budget) simply for some clothes and plates.

Sasoozie

I used Ship it and self packed, there was no issue with that for customs.

You will need to have a REALLY detailed contents list with everything on the list marked as New or Used and its approximate value.

I did a spreadsheet for each of the boxes that I had and can recommend Ship it.

PM me if I can help anymore..

Sas

Pony

I had the contents of my home in storage in the UK and later had the same company ship it over. They 'export packed' (their words) my belongings. As far as making a detailed inventory went, they most certainly did not. I had the whole contents (including hundreds of small computer components, a garage full of tools, drawers of items that had been in my home, ornaments - imagine taking everything you have now, literally every item). A full inventory would have run to hundreds of pages, I kid you not.
I had to 'sign off' a list they compiled at their repacking facility and it listed just the main items. An example - one box was described as 'lamp' and actually contained (when I unpacked it here) a lamp, some cushions, kitchen cutlery, some books, a few small vases, an umbrella etc etc. Many of my boxes had been packed by me from a previous move and had been sat in my garage at my last home, they were labelled as 'customer packed' by the mover. I had no problems clearing customs. Some items were computer power supplies (basically they look like metal boxes with lots of wires coming out of them - ie like a home made bomb might look).

Even if US customs "don't like boxes of household goods which have not been packed by a mover", as the company claim - what are they going to do? Sounds like a sales ploy for sure.

Good luck with your move

Angry White Pyjamas

US customs have an agreement in place with certain approved companies and ports to allow for prescreening. What this basically means is that they guaruntee the contents of the crates and customs dont need to open them here. If you self pack then they cant do this. The upshot? Apparently your things will pass customs in a few days instead of a few weeks.

Rushman

I was told by a few companies that US customs dont like customer packed boxes of personal effects too. I ignored that and wrote a detailed list of everything I shipped (for my own piece of mind). I shipped through:

S.H.E Maritime Services Ltd
2 Town Quay Wharf
Abbey Road
Barking
Essex
IG11 7BZ
UK

I was phoned by their US agent in NYC when my stuff arrived and that I just needed to complete a form (they emailed me) and fax it back to them for US customs. I was also told that I might have to pay a fee to US Customs to open and search my stuff ($50 ish) if they decided to do so. US Customs didn't search it and it was then shipped to my door at an all inclusive price.
I shipped 2 days before the shipped sailed and got a call in the US 11 days later telling me the stuff was in NYC port. It was at my door 4 days later. 2 and a half weeks and a quarter the price of Air Freight.

I will be shipping more stuff next year...again through SHE Maritime.

Jenster

Really great advice there, thanks guys. I know that it sounds a bit silly to worry about ignoring their sneaky sales ploy (although if they had the pre-arranged thing then I can see the point but they didn't say they did), but I was more worried that we'd end up paying twice if US Customs maybe refused it and made us pay to get it all back to Holland, followed by a follow up sending etc. Thanks for the addresses but we're shipping from Holland.

snowbunny

My husband self-packed his stuff from Holland.... went from Rotterdam to NYC. It was considerably cheaper, but it took far far longer to receive it.

We had all sorts of scares because my husband didn't use the right kind of wood to build his crate, and so forth.... but in the end it made it.

Since his career is in transport he used a shipper that would not be available to you, but I might try usadutch.com as the forums there are specifically about moving from Holland to the "VS"

best of luck,
amy.

dbark

I used Simpsons, and they gave me the choice of them packing or do-it-yourself. I chose DIY as it was a lot cheaper. They told me to list what was in the box - so for example, box 3 of 10 may have said CDs, clothing, books, ornaments, photo albums. No more specific than that. They did tell me not to have anything perishable, inflammable (including aerosols), etc. There was no trouble in customs, they didn't open any of my boxes and all arrived safely

tonrob

I used Ship It too and they got the job done ok. I self-packed - no problems there. My inventory wasn't particularly detailed either, as I recall. Whole thing took about 4 weeks from collection in London to delivery in MA. (Ship It is a shared-container service - cheaper but not as fast. Their website explains).

Jerseygirl

We shipped 2 lots over...one when we moved...the second when we sold our house in the UK.

Both times Allied shipped our belongings...mostly packed by them...but there were several boxes I wanted to pack myself. I made a list of the contents...it wasn't what I would call a detailed description ie clothing, cutlery, dinner service. We didn't have any problems with customs or extra fees...it took 4 weeks door to door.

Bob

you probably wouldn't pay twice, they'd probably confiscate and then burn it all

Big D

I used Crown and was very pleased (expensive but company move) they packed and did the inventory - but it was quite high level - assorted ornaments etc and we had no issues and cleared customs pronto.

when i have moved in the UK the movers had to pack for the insurance - to be honest for the extra we paid it wasnt worth the hassle of us packing anyway!!

Angry White Pyjamas

One other thing...it depends a lot on the PoE of your stuff apparently. Certain ports (like Miami) tend to be more scrupulous about checking for contraband and drugs and hence cause delays. Cant think why.

snowbunny

....and since it's coming from Holland, they'd inhale.

Jenster

Hartstikke bedankt voor de tip!

And thanks everyone else. The shipper I am planning to use actually sells the crates too!