International shipping experts! Need to know about parts of an address and cheapest way to ship...

[CZroe]

I've been collecting a ton of games for a kindred spirit across the ocean in the UK (our PC/GBA/DS games are WAY cheaper). I sent him a small package once before and I don't remember shipping being too much. I remember that it was enough to convince him to wait the full 30-something days for it to go by boat, but I could not get a similar rate from the post office for his latest package.

The package is about 1.5'x1'x1' (18"x12"x12") IIRC. It is a little weighty but I still can't imagine why they want almost $50 to ship it by BOAT.

I'm 100% sure that businesses get a cheaper rate, if not simply because they know what service to request from the USPS. Asking for "the cheapest way" just gets me two or three Airmail rates. Adding "last time, they said 'by boat' was cheaper" just gets me a slightly cheaper rate (~$45.XX vs ~$50.XX).

So, if $46 is the best I can get from the USPS, what alternative delivery services are available? FedEx? DHL? I seem to have no local way to check these out (the USPS has a FedEx box for some reason). Even so, I kinda need a list of delivery services that operate here in the US and there in the UK.

My other problem involves the USPS customs forms and electronic forms at UPS (HARDLY and alternative... $150-$205!). From the address, I could not answer wimple questions like "Street" and "City"

So from this...

John Doe
001 Dowey Block
East Drive
University of Durham
Queen's Campus
Stockton-on-Tees
TS17 6JZ
UK

...How do I provide the "Name, Street, City, Zip, Country" that the forms ask for? I guessed...

"John Doe, care of University of Durham, Queen's Campus" - Name of recipient and facility
"001 Dowey Block, East Drive" - Street and Street Number and WTF ever that extra bit is
"Stockton-on-Tees" - City, though "Durham" sounds more like a city than something hyphenated
"TS17 6JZ" - Zip code
UK" - Country
...but the electronic fields at UPS would not accept anywhere near that much data (plus it demanded a phone number which I don't know).

Perhaps I should have broken these up into two questions ("Parts of a UK address" and "UK delivery/Shipment options") but if you can help, just take your pick! Thanks in advance.

 

[doze]

Fedex, and DHL all offer international shipping, and both will be cheaper than UPS, but unless you can ship from somewhere with business rates your probably gonna pay more than USPS.

All they really care about is the street address 001 Dowey Block East Drive and the postal code. You can put whatever you want in the other fields. If and when the box gets ripped open in customs make sure you have a piece of paper inside with the address and list of what's in the box. Unless you are including in invoice in the box then declare it to customs as a gift to avoid import taxes.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: doze
Fedex, and DHL all offer international shipping, and both will be cheaper than UPS, but unless you can ship from somewhere with business rates your probably gonna pay more than USPS.

All they really care about is the street address 001 Dowey Block East Drive and the postal code. You can put whatever you want in the other fields. If and when the box gets ripped open in customs make sure you have a piece of paper inside with the address and list of what's in the box. Unless you are including in invoice in the box then declare it to customs as a gift to avoid import taxes.

Thanks! I marked "gift" on it when I got my estimate. It's almost all retail boxed and sealed game software and a few guide books (which would qualify for Media Mail rates here ), but will it cause a problem if customs finds game backup DVD-Rs from Valve Software's "Steam" application (Half-Life 2, HL2EP1, Counter Strike, SiN Episodes EP1, etc)? I was careful to mark them "Steam Files" because that's all they are. You still require a Steam account and ownership of the games to play them and the files are just to avoid a lengthy download process that is available to EVERY owner.

I'm only worried about what customs thinks because I already asked if it was OK on the Steam forums. This guy has dial-up and can't purchase Steam games if he has to download them (Steam titles can be purchased at retail or online through Steam). The GCF files the backup consists of are encrypted and often offered as a "preload" to non-owners of upcoming releases. Technically, that's all these are. On the forums, they made it clear that it was OK, even if just to avoid a lengthy update download after installing from the CD/DVD. Even updating the retail products now requires an extreme amount of updates to be downloaded through Steam before they can be played. There is NO REASON to pirate Steam files because they require a Steam account to play anyway, while a Steam account holder can download them at any time from the Steam client. The ability to back them up is automated and encouraged in the application, and what better reason is there than avoiding a lengthy download process in the future? That said, I doubt customs will see it that way.

So, too risky? I think I should just save it until I get Half-Life 2 ready to ship to him (The Collector's Edition box was too big for this package).

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: doze
Fedex, and DHL all offer international shipping, and both will be cheaper than UPS, but unless you can ship from somewhere with business rates your probably gonna pay more than USPS.

All they really care about is the street address 001 Dowey Block East Drive and the postal code. You can put whatever you want in the other fields. If and when the box gets ripped open in customs make sure you have a piece of paper inside with the address and list of what's in the box. Unless you are including in invoice in the box then declare it to customs as a gift to avoid import taxes.

i have found USPS Global Priority the cheapest to Japan.

 

[doze]

Customs on both sides is concerned with bombs, guns, drugs, or high value items like diamonds getting thru untaxed. Your steam CD's will be fine.

 

[KarenMarie]

I ship to the same area... only a couple of towns over... all the time.

John Doe
001 Dowey Block East Drive
Univ of Durham Queen's Campus
Stockton TS17 6JZ UK

Stockton is a city in teeside. Queens campus is part of Univ of Durham... kinda like Penn State has campuses all over. dowey block is sounds like a block of flats on east drive.

USPS is the cheapest I have found.

I was told that the UK has outsourced their customs agency, so be careful what you put on the envelope. VeggieFrog came home to the USA ;ast year, bought clothes, left them here and asked me to ship them 6-8 months later. Customs doesn't care. If she cannot prove that it is more than a year old, or has more than 6 months use, they hammer her on duties. My local USPS told me it will be like that all the time from now on.