International shipping of books?

Has anyone recently had to ship a large number of books (or anything
else) overseas? I'm interested to hear any experiences, recommendations,
sob-stories or dire warnings. Thanks.
G.S.

Has anyone recently had to ship a large number of books (or anything
else) overseas? I'm interested to hear any experiences, recommendations,
sob-stories or dire warnings. Thanks.

Errrr, what for? Shipping books to a friend? For business purposes?
Moving your household overseas?

Alban

I've *received* a few books at a time from the U.K. It took 4 weeks to
receive them and some of them had customs declaration forms on them.

I don't know if it is the same in reverse. Someone from the U.K. I spoke
with told me they get stuck at U.S. customs and that is what causes the
long delay.


wrote in message
Has anyone recently had to ship a large number of books (or anything
else) overseas? I'm interested to hear any experiences, recommendations,
sob-stories or dire warnings. Thanks.
G.S.

wrote:
Has anyone recently had to ship a large number of books (or anything
else) overseas? I'm interested to hear any experiences, recommendations,
sob-stories or dire warnings. Thanks.
G.S.
For shipping quantity to a single address I have found M-Bag the most
ecnonomical. (M-Bag is a large sack, can hold multiple cartons). You can
find it in the usps complete rate charges. Here is the entry for United
Kingdom

Economy Mail
Direct Sack to One Addressee - M-Bags (260)

Regular
Weight Not Over 11 lbs. $15.95
Each additional pound or fraction of a pound $1.45

Books & Sheet Music, Publisher's Periodicals
Weight Not Over 11 lbs. $9.90
Each additional pound or fraction of a pound $0.90

Billy Bob wrote (snip)
I've *received* a few books at a time from the U.K. It took 4 weeks to
receive them and some of them had customs declaration forms on them.


As someone who sends books from the UK I thought the customs declaration
form was obligatory?

Best wishes,

John Townsend
Genealogist/Antiquarian Bookseller
http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk

I've *received* a few books at a time from the U.K. It took 4 weeks to
receive them and some of them had customs declaration forms on them.
I've received several books over the last several months from several
European countries; I believe the longest a book took to get here was
a bit over a week.
They were sent mostly by FedEx International, which handled all the
necessary interfacing with US customs (the sender filled out the forms,
and FedEx did the rest). One was sent via the appropriate country's
post office.

No problems, no delays, very little hassle; I had to receive, fill out,
and fax back two forms to FedEx at this end, something to do with
Importation of Antiquities if memory serves. Total time spent on
both forms and the faxing thereof? Oh, about five minutes.

I'd think lengthier journies might have involved the equivalent of
parcel post, aka the slow boat to China method.

Alban

BTW... I bought my books which were shipped from the U.K. to the U.S. from
abebooks.com or a similar web site as I recall.

There did not seem to be an option/mechanism for fast *international*
shipment of books. Seems to me the shipping charges for the faster delivery
choice would barely cover the cost of slow shipping if an international
order.

If I was buying the following book, I would want the best and fastest
shipping available, not the choices given.

Example...

Title: The School of Recreation
Book Cost: US $8345.02
Book Seller: C. R. Johnson, London
Slow Shipping: 14-45 business days US $7.38 (4.10 UK)
Fast Shipping: 5-10 business days US $15.93 (8.84 UK)

Our organization, Books for the Nations, is a non-profit and very
small. We have sent books to different countries in bulk and
individually. For bulk we use the M-bag supplied by the Postal Service
and can put up to 30 pounds of books and school supplies for
approximately $30.00 just about any where in the world. The worst is
bulk to Uganda, it took a year. The Phillipeans could be worst...they
never showed up. The people there frequently have to ransom their
packages from thier postal employees. Shipping to Muslims countries
you cannot legally send Christian Bibles or materials.
We have had good results sending bulk to Pakastian and India. The
individual books have gotten thru also. We have shipped small groups
of books (all in the same box) to Iran. My favorite way to send books
overseas is on a cd disc using the MP3 file format.
Audio books can be sent in cd envelopes at a letter price. The entire
Old Testament Audio book will fit on one cd. The New Testament and 134
musical peices on one disc. I purchase MP3 players at Wal Mart for $25
and speakers for $3 to $6 from eCost.com.
Our website is http://www.booksforthenations.org and I spend time in
Yahoo Christian Chat Room 12 as Bibleman_3 if any one wants more
information or has questions. Thanks, Perry Cox