I saw some talk of this in one of the other topics here and would like to see what other think the best methods for shipping from the US to Europe?
We've worked with Andrew and have shipped to him a few times, but it seems like it's the choice between time or money. Once, to get him books in time for a con we used DHL, which was the cheapest of the main three shipper(UPS, FedEx, and DHL).
On the other side, to save money we shipped books by USPS M-Bag. Which I have to note, the weight listed on there web site is not the weight that they will allow in a M-Bag now. But as Andrew said, it took something like 6 weeks to reach him.
What is everyone else's experience and comments for shipping?
Thanks,
Lance Williams
Avalon Innovations
We're always hampered by
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Sat, 24/02/2007 - 18:12.
We're always hampered by exceptionally bad planning on our part when it comes to shipping, usually requiring some sort of expedited shipping.
The m-bags worked really well for us, but only as we weren't really in a rush, although I think we could have done with only the one m-bag after all, which would have halved the cost to $35 or so.
I'm never really satisfied with air freight - it's way too expensive to make it worth while, especially in quantities of more than 10 or so books.
Of course, because we sell most of our books in the US it's not really an issue, but I do like a stock of books here to take to conventions. In the end we got 2 big bags of books sent over before christmas so I wouldn't have to get any more sent for some time. I think that's the most cost efficient answer.
Bag Weights
Submitted by AvalonTeam on Sat, 24/02/2007 - 18:55.
Andrews comment about the two bags instead of one was the problem we had. When he and I research everything on-line at the USPS site and weighed his books, they should have all fit in one M-Bag. But when we went to the Post Office, he computer would not let it go through, and since no one there was used to shipping M-Bags, it took them a little while to figure out what was wrong. I forget the exact weights, but it was listed as around 70#, but found out it was really 50#.
So, if you are doing this, double check first.
Lance Williams
Avalon Innovations
POD & Short Run Digital Services
For the Gaming Industry
www.AvalonTeam.com
Back in the day
Submitted by JamesWallis on Sun, 25/03/2007 - 12:18.
Esdevium used to allow us to piggy-back their weekly shipments from the US, for a minimal fee. On the other hand they were buying significant quantities of our products at the time (hundreds of kilos of books) so it probably didn't make much difference to them. However, if you know someone who does US-UK shipping already, see if you can sort something out with them.