[sdiy] Shipping PCB's overseas

[J. Larry Hendry]

----- Original Message -----
From: <synth at charlielamm.com>
I was curious...and this is probably going to sound naive...is there a lot
of hassle with shipping these overseas from the US?

--LH--
I ship Stooge products into about 10 different countries -- Australia,
Canada, and several in Europe.  I have checked pricing against all the
carriers and can tell you that your best bet is right at the US post office.
You have about 3 choices:

Cheapest is surface = slow boat delivery in about 6 weeks.  Forget that
because the savings is too small.
Small packet air = usually about a week.  reasonable prices.
Global priority, faster BUT, you pay for it.

You also may have to deal with customs.  Her is the scoop on that:

If you package can be made quite flat and basically resemble a letter packet
and stay under one pound, you can avoid customs forms altogether.

Any small package under 4 pounds can use a small green & white custom form
that asks you to simply declare the contents and value. Takes about 30
seconds to fill out.  I keep them at home so I can have them all filled out
and ready to go before I get to the post office.

If you package gets over 4 pounds, you have a large 5 copy customs form.  It
is essentially the same.  You declare the value,  list the contents, and put
on the addresses.

If you want to insure the package, you have to insure it for the exact same
about as the declared value.  I never bother unless the buyer requests it.

The bottom line is that international with US Postal is easy.  Just go in a
grab the custom forms ahead of time.  They will know what you want if you
tell the under or over 4 pounds.

Companies like UPS and Fed Ex are at least twice the price.
Larry Hendry