shipping amp to germany?

[broken_fusion]

Anyone here ship internationally? Is at a pain? I have a small amp (Boogie head) that I am considering selling to a guy in germany. The last time I sent something through the mail I had a stack of customs forms to deal with and I said never again. I think that was usps. What about UPS, or should I stay away?

[micha]

just be sure to pack it well!!
we've all had damaged stuff in our packages already, the idea of shipping a tube head really scares me...

if you want to speed up things for your german customer: clarify clearly on the outside of the pack what exactly it is and what you got for it.
best is to put a copy of the receipt and/or email exchange along with it.
the duane guys love it that way.

at least german duane is pretty low-security IMO. they take anything as a proof for a transaction (a paypal receipt, an email, ICQ-log... once I had to login to the forums to print out a few PMs I got from a member...).
and if you pick it up over here they have a look at what it is (if not stated on the outside of the package) and what it's worth, look up how much to charge you, rob you out and let you go.
that doesn't prevent the whole show from taking an hour, but anyway, it's fairly easy.

if you got lots of forms to fill out, that's not a fault of destination country I think.

[Horse Called War]

It doesn't matter who you use, customs form will need to be filled out.

[Endrik]

at least german duane is pretty low-security IMO. they take anything as a proof for a transaction (a paypal receipt, an email, ICQ-log... once I had to login to the forums to print out a few PMs I got from a member...).
and if you pick it up over here they have a look at what it is (if not stated on the outside of the package) and what it's worth, look up how much to charge you, rob you out and let you go.
that doesn't prevent the whole show from taking an hour, but anyway, it's fairly easy.

Same here, that's why when I order from US I usually let the seller put a lower value on the box and send me an extra e-mail saying "Hi, the item costs $10" if it really costs like $300. Fuck the customs. But I do that very rarely as mostly I let them send stuff as a "gift".

[Infernal Death]

Same here, that's why when I order from US I usually let the seller put a lower value on the box and send me an extra e-mail saying "Hi, the item costs $10" if it really costs like $300. Fuck the customs. But I do that very rarely as mostly I let them send stuff as a "gift".

Only problem with this is that if lets say you buy a guitar from the us and it gets damaged on the trip, then i wish you good luck on trying to explain to the insurance company why the $200 guitar suddenly is worth $1.5K. That's always a risk.
Sending as a gift officially is working here in germany only up until 40 Euros i believe. Over that and you have to pay customs/taxes, even if it's declared as a gift.

Flo

[Endrik]

Only problem with this is that if lets say you buy a guitar from the us and it gets damaged on the trip, then i wish you good luck on trying to explain to the insurance company why the $200 guitar suddenly is worth $1.5K. That's always a risk.
Sending as a gift officially is working here in germany only up until 40 Euros i believe. Over that and you have to pay customs/taxes, even if it's declared as a gift.

Flo

yep I know the risk but hey that's me