Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

My brother (who lives in the UK) wants me to purchase a battery-powered saw from Home Depot here in the US and ship it to him. It's the only model the manufacturer does not sell in the UK. There are no batteries included and none needed as he already has batteries for it - so I won't have any issues with shipping batteries. I suspect the parcel I will be sending will weigh about 15 lbs and have approx dimensions of 20 in x 18 in x 10 in. Does anyone know the most economical way to ship this?

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Try sendmybag.com?

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Dewalt, Milwaukee?

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Makita, Japan

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

I looked at my usual suppliers finding one that would ship internationally would see the best bet but easier said than done.

Otherwise it will be the usual suspects but not likely to be cheap and he will have customs at his end.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Your brother could use a forwarding service like SkypaxUS.com to buy US goods and have them shipped to the UK. And similarly a UK forwarder like Skypax.com can ship goods from UK to US (or elsewhere). *
This shipping rates may or may not be as good as you can get by sending directly, depending on weight and size and your free labour in purchasing and packing the goods, but it might be a good option.

* I declare an interest on the above services, and providing this to be helpful. Other forwarders are available.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

They appear to have Makita saws on Amazon -- you might want to check if they are eligible for their international shipping program. It would save you a lot of hassle.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Sounds like a nightmare if he should need a warranty repair on it. He'd need to ship it to you, for you to ship it to the US repair depot to get it fixed, then ship it back to him.

Without the batteries, you can't even test it before sending it to him!

Perhaps a different model saw is a better idea?

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Thay are not.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

He really wants the saw and is prepared to take a risk on warranty repair. He can pay someone in the UK to fix it if there is an issue. I was able to test it with a neighbor's batteries before shipping it.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

I ended up using parcelmonkey for shipping - a broker that uses various shipping companies. It's a bit like Expedia for shipping. I selected DHL International as my shipper and was able to get a much cheaper price than if I had used DHL myself.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Hope you filled out the appropriate TOR documentation or it will be held at the shipping port. Some companies don't know about TOR

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Actually I used Transglobal Express (transglobal.co.uk) although I still ended up with DHL International as the shipping company. The package was picked up at my house yesterday (Monday) by DHL and has already cleared customs at East Midlands airport in the UK today (Tuesday). It is supposed to be delivered to my brother in London on Thursday. Pretty good service if that happens.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

Isn't that for Transfer of Residence? I'm not moving to the UK. I'm just shipping something to my brother who lives there.

Re: Best way to ship heavy parcels to the UK
 

you are right. Might still need to pay customs though if its worth more than 135GBP.