Shipping to Australia?!?!

[rgr]

Does anyone have suggestions for how to ship a guitar from the US to Australia reasonably? I can't use USPS Airmail because of the size restrictions by the Australian postal service (less than 42", length + girth < 79"). When I worked at a music store, we had packages returned because they didn't meet these requirements and they were smaller than a guitar.

Any ideas? The quote I just got from Fedex is $436.

[Rich]

Postal Fedex [GXG]. About $250 depending on insurance.

[David McCarroll]

Hmmm - strange - I have had several guitars shipped to me by USPS - they simply use FedEx as their actual carrier

[rgr]

Originally Posted by David McCarroll

Hmmm - strange - I have had several guitars shipped to me by USPS - they simply use FedEx as their actual carrier

That's what GXG is, the Post Office uses Fedex as its international carrier, http://www.usps.com/communications/n...4/pr04_040.htm.

Thanks Rich, I'll look into it. The guy that is asking says he has gotten some guitars from the US for around $120 but I haven't found anything that cheap, Europe or Japan, yeah, no problem, Australia, problem.

EDIT, I just checked the usps website and got a quote for Global Express, a couple of inches in any dimension can make a big difference, they ranged from $274 to $363, of course it will probably be a little different when I actually ship, sometimes they can use document rate for packages that obviously aren't documents. Insurance will add some too.

Thanks for the help.

[jaken777]

If you take the neck off the body of the guitar & this is if your not getting a case with it, you can pack it in a smaller box & save heaps on shipping , price is around $70USD big saving! i 've had lot's of guitars shipped form the USA to Australia this way & if your a gambler & want to save on customs dutys get the seller to price the guitar $100USD as a used guitar, I have saved thousands of bucks this way on guitars so if your willing to risk it give it a try With the money you save you can buy a guitar case in Australia.

Cheers- Jake.

[rgr]

Dude, I'm the shipper, not the seller.

That thought has come up, but the buyer won't get the case and if I ship it in pieces, I will insure it, but I can't guarantee the playability or anything when he gets it. But yeah, good thought.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by rgr

That's what GXG is, the Post Office uses Fedex as its international carrier, http://www.usps.com/communications/n...4/pr04_040.htm.

Thanks Rich, I'll look into it. The guy that is asking says he has gotten some guitars from the US for around $120 but I haven't found anything that cheap, Europe or Japan, yeah, no problem, Australia, problem.

EDIT, I just checked the usps website and got a quote for Global Express, a couple of inches in any dimension can make a big difference, they ranged from $274 to $363, of course it will probably be a little different when I actually ship, sometimes they can use document rate for packages that obviously aren't documents. Insurance will add some too.

Thanks for the help.

There's no way to ship from the US to Australia [cased guitars] for $120. 5 years ago you could send EMS to AU but they changed the size limits and now you cannot. So yes, in the past, but, the past is just that.

I use Chesbro boxes for most everything cased Ibanez, 45x18x7. A factory Ibanez shipping box is 45x17x5 [with UV1000] or 6 [with M100 / SKB type] or 7 [with J Craft case]