[sdiy] Shipping PCB's overseas

[Gene Stopp]

I used USPS when I was shipping out ASM-1 PCB's and it worked out great.
Padded envelope, taped up well, green-and-white customs form that I filled
out while standing in line at the post office window. Cost varied depending
on the destination, with US deliveries in the single-digit dollars and
international in the low teens for first class. International took about a
week, domestic just the regular 3-4 days. I rolled the cost of shipping into
the original PCB price so I never charged for shipping, I just made sure my
margins were enough to even it all out in the end. I rented a PO box at the
same post office for incoming orders, and visited every Saturday. The
biggest drawbacks were:

1. Time spent making copies of the documentation
2. Time spent creating the orders
3. Time spent in line at the post office

As you can see time was the critical element for me, and with 3 little kids
it got to be pretty back-burner after a while. That's why I handed it off to
somebody who already had a similar thing going (Laurie Biddulph in
Australia, thanks Laurie!).

For international I would always declare $10 value so that it would zoom
through customs at the other end. Most international orders came in with
cash in USD, worked every time. I would have to say it was a great
experience.

- Gene


-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Perry [mailto:pfperry at melbpc.org.au]
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 8:42 PM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Shipping PCB's overseas


At 06:14 PM 21/01/04 -0800, you wrote:
>OK, I have sent the VCA out to the fab house, if anyone
>
>I was curious...and this is probably going to sound naive...is there a lot
>of hassle with shipping these overseas from the US?  

....USPS is really the only way.
Airmail to Australia would be 6 to 10 days average, surface mail 
can be 6 weeks or more.

When you send a parcel to Australia, get the customs form from the post
office 
(it sticks on the outside of the box) and write

"electronic board and component  value $20" (or whatever) and 99.95% of the 
time, all will go smoothly.

paul perry (Melbourne Australia)