Has anyone recently imported a strat from the US? What shipping did you use?

Reinhard

I have been getting obscene shipping quotes from Ebay sellers. Has anyone recently imported a strat and what shipping company did you use? Cost?

kapepper

i imported a guitar from the US, neck seperated from the body, no case with USPS international
It costed around 700 rsa (90 USD)

Reinhard

Thanks Kapepper!

The online calculator is giving me a quote of $530 for a strat in a case ☹

Mr-M

If it's in a G&G Fender Case - I'm assuming this since I'm pretty sure you would only go to the trouble of importing a USA model - it should not be nearly that expensive from a reputable Ebay store. I recently imported a guitar in a G&G case from the USA (it's a standard exterior size regardless of the guitar) for $158 via USPS Priority Mail International. Most SA distributors have deals in place with local couriers for cheaper rates as frequent shippers, so it is also likely Ebay sellers have something similar in place with USPS that private individuals don't have access to. Finding an Ebay store willing to ship to SA is the other issue though... :?

When I was in the USA myself earlier this year, I wanted to ship a guitar back as I didn't want the hassle of carrying it around on the way back through Europe. They also quoted me some insane figures. I think it was $400+. ??? I carried it instead. ?

andrewjbryson

Rein - The 2011 Ash Standard Strat that I is currently being shipped, worked out to 166$ USPS

Reinhard

Thanks for the info guys!

AJB did you also use USPS Priority Mail International?

Attila

Geetar in case (2009/10) USD 120 USMail - to front door + 14% VAT

kapepper

this is good to know, since I always get the answer back that due to size restrictions on the SA side they are not able to use USPS for shipping a guitar in its case

Reinhard

kapepper wrote: this is good to know, since I always get the answer back that due to size restrictions on the SA side they are not able to use USPS for shipping a guitar in its case

The seller went to the post office yesterday. The size restriction to SA is 42inches, and a packaged strat is 46 inches in height, so it defaults to the expensive global shipping. The only reasonable alternative is using MyUS, which gets your parcel here in 4 days for $210. The problem with this is, if your MyUS address isn't associated with your PayPal account, may sellers won't send it there. So you have to open a 2nd Paypal account, with the MyUS address, get a US telephone number from skype and use that account on ebay OR pay a personal shopper from MyUS to pay for the item using their account, but they charge you 10% for this service.

tiller

I recently bought Fender from guitardistrict on ebay. It took about 10 days for guitar to ship from California to New York. From NY it flew about 3 days to destination. It costed me 90.00 $. The shipping was done by the USPS.com service. Well, everything was good, but it took about 15 days ?
15 days of waiting ???

andrewjbryson

Reinhard wrote: Thanks for the info guys!

AJB did you also use USPS Priority Mail International?

Yes indeed, it took about 2 weeks to arrive from USA

free2rhyme

Use a minimum of priority mail if courier isnt available, dont go lower as that is a bit dodgy at times and I waited something like 8-9 weeks for arrival
Priority mail will take around 2 weeks, courier is about 2 days.