My partner and I are moving to Spain on Sep 2 and I have been reading several posts about shipping taxes and duties on items received.
We have about 30 boxes of items that can be shipped 4-6 weeks after we arrive. Mostly clothes but many CDs, DVDs, two DVD players, Bose Wave radios, etc. Can anyone recommend the best way to get these over? Also, we need to insure to protect us but does this automatically give Spanish customs the value? We also really need this door to door.
The next shipment is several flight cases and boxes of professional recording equipment such as two keyboards, rack case full of audio equipment, guitar, etc. I would like to get these about 4-6 weeks after arrival but I could wait longer if needed. Any ideas on how to get this to Madrid insured, safe and without paying massive taxes?
Thanks so much for all of your previous help in the past.
Try these sources of information for starters, there is plenty more of it in there too, and the answers to your questions are all in there, so get ready for a few late nights of reading & making notes.
If you can swing it, since you have flight cases, I think the best thing to do with the keyboards (and any recording equipment that you can fit) is bring them over on the plane when you come... If they are oversized, you can usually get someone from the airline to handcarry them out to the baggage car. Get instrument insurance for them before you go. That would be safer than shipping.
My husband has transported his upright bass this way and didn't have to pay extra baggage or anything at customs. At the airport, you can get a taxi-van to take you and your stuff where you need to go (if there's one there it doesn't even cost extra--if they have to call one, it might).
Posts: 1064 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
I'm with mariposita on this. Anything you can safely bring as excess luggage I would go for!! It was well worth the cost for me, considering the hassle I had to get my stuff out of customs when I shipped it. Though of course, I was shipping from the UK, so that could have been different. I paid 400€ excess baggage to bring 45kg of stuff over. Does that compare I wonder with US carriers excess charges?
________________________________________ Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional
It depends on how many bags you've already got checked, I think. Christian's bass came over in a gigantic flight case (on Iberia) and they didn't charge anything extra--it just counted as one bag. They could have charged an extra $100 or so if they had been strict about the size limits, I think (they tend to cut musicians slack on the European airlines, not so much on the American ones).
In general, I think the excess baggage fees are less on big international flights than on shorter flights (Southwest and discount airlines like Vueling are the absolute worst). If you guys are doing a non-direct flight, then you'll have to make sure you know the rules on the smaller connection, too--the airline should be able to tell you exactly how many bags you can check, what the dimensions and weight can be and what the oversized baggage fees would be.
Posts: 1064 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
Thanks for the response everyone. I called Continental and they said that already having 2 checked bags, we would pay $120 for each bag extra that was under 50lbs.
I think I will wait to ship the recording equipment and, instead, we have two extra boxes that need to come over with us. So, I will bring the two extra boxes on the plane at $120 each. Good deal I think rather than having to wait for them and run through customs.
We will probably wait until we get there to have some of our other boxes shipped to us and I can gather more information about that until we are settled a little more.
Doing a little research on this thread I found that the USPS has apparently (and sadly) discontinued its international Economy Surface mail service. This was the cheap (slow boat) way for shipping things from the US to Spain. They apparently "restructured," getting rid of the cheap services and making the rest more expensive. At least the M-bags are still available for books and printed materials (at a higher rate). The Priority Mail flat rate box (up to 20 lbs for $37) seems like a pretty good deal if your stuff fits in the
Good luck with your move... My advice is that you try to bring the most expensive stuff with you on the plane... That way you won't get stuck with high import tax, duties, etc. on the things that you mail (20% of value plus service charges). I have found they are very picky about electronics through the mail...
best, Christian
Posts: 55 | Location: La Latina, Madrid (ex. Wash. DC) | Registered: 10 March 2004
