Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to share my experiences in regards to importing a backglass from overseas.
It has been discussed a fair bit lately on the forum and I wanted to share my experiences and offer a few tips in the hope it might make it easier for others.
Ok, I have a Bally Viking pinball which i got about 3 years ago.
It did not have a backglass and I'm sure it was privately imported. Getting a BG locally for this was never going to happen because I guess there is probably only a few of this title here in Australia which means overseas is really the only option.
I patiently kept an eye on US Ebay and one became available in Florida for $99 Buy it now.
The seller didn't offer worldwide shipping, so I asked nicely if he was prepared to ship overseas and told him I understand it can be expensive and I will happily pay extra costs for packing materials, his time etc etc.
TIP- dont get put off because they dont offer worldwide shipping or it says US only shipping because 90 percent of the time I have asked about sending stuff o/seas and the seller will happily do it as long as you pay any extra costs and understand shipping may be expensive.
Also, as we all know already most of the hard to get bits that we are always chasing for our machines are pretty common in the USA, certainly easier to find there than here, which means I guess that someone selling stuff in USA is going to find it harder to sell their stuff with so many other sellers offering the same stuff at similar prices. Keeping this in mind if a seller is not having any luck selling their stuff then they will probably be happy to send it overseas even if it means a bit more work with packing it and Customs etc., so it doesn't hurt to ASK! The worst that will happen is a no or a no reply.
Ok, so seller agrees to this, and wants advice on how to pack it and who to send it by.
TIP- dont use UPS, Fedex , DHL or BAX Global as they are all way too expensive.
Use USPS Global Priority International.
They offer tracking/ insurance and it takes about 10 days and the cost was about $107 for a parcel that measured 37'" x 4"x 27"inches ( 860 x 110 x 700mm ) it weighed 13 pounds 1 ounce ( about 7 Kgs ).
Packing- The seller charged me an extra $20 for packing materials which was reasonable and he used a U-Haul Mirror Box which is made specifiacally for pictures and other glass products so a backglass fits that de******ion ok and also it comes with 4 foam corners that the BG slots into. I think he got the box from the US Post office too.
To pack it properley to send wrap the BG 3 or 4 times in bubble wrap , put some thick polystyrene foam all around the edges on the inside of the box in case it gets dropped on its edge, put a piece of 1 inch foam approxiamately the size of the BG in front and back of the BG so that when you slot it into the box it will be a snug fit and wont move around. He just wrapped it in bubble and put it in the box with the 4 foam corners and that made it here ok, but a bit of extra packing is always a good thing.
The first post office he took it to wouldn't take it because they said it was too big, but the second post office did take it . It wasn't oversize or anything and it did fit within the parameters of what they can send so I dont know what the problem was, but anyway all was good.
Ok, he sent it and it took 10 days and all up it cost $230.
Its not the best BG it does have a bit of ink separation from the glass , there is a 8mm wide scratch about 100mm long but the colours are bright the chrome lift trim and plastic edge trims are all in good nick so a 7/10 Bg is better than no backglass at all in my opinion and well worth all the effort.
I was probably lucky getting a seller that was happy to put in extra effort to do all this but if you really want a backglass of some other awkward thing you can always offer them a bit more money for all the extra work involved and chances are if you ask nicely they will probably do it.
Hope this is helpful to others, hopefully the pic of the BG attaches ok.
Chris
