Freight from USA

[faza]

Guys

I have purchased a 1958 jukebox from just outside New York which is packaged ready for pickup.
Obviously this item is pretty heavy and bulky, wondering what other people's experiences have been importing heavy items from the USA. (cost, air freight, verse sea freight)
Who would you recommend as a import company?
I am located in Sydney

Cheers

John

[tonyt]

Congrats, why type of Jukebox is it?

I used an importer of cars from the US in Adelaide to bring over a Diner Booth for me. I think this will be your best bet, share space in a container.

Maybe grab a Deals On Wheels magazine and contact some of the car importers from the US in Sydney. You will just need to get it freighted to their depot and they will take care of the rest.

[faza]

Thanks mate it's a 1958 Seeburg 222 needs restoration.
This was the first stereo jukebox made.

[swinks]

if it is crated ensure it is import safe (timber crate material) otherwise it will be quarantined and you could cop storage fees, import duties normally look at the volume of a box not the weight, invoice value (lower the better but needs to be original) and if it is coin operated as there is a entertainment tax so get them to state maybe parts so to avoid that duty tax.


this guy on the Central Coast at one stage was offering share importing where if you can get you item shipped to his warehouse in I think California you could share in his shipping container for a fee. Though not sure if he still offers it or how reliable he is.

http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/american-cool-stuff-imports

[swinks]

here is one of his pin adds just now and he offers importation from $500 stated in the sales add.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Top-Score-Pinball-Very-nice-rare-and-hard-to-find-Super-clean-Best-deal-in-OZ-/221731186346?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item33a03566aa

[faza]

Thanks Swinks but his depot is on the opposite side of the states, looking for door to door so far UPS is looking ok, looking for alternative companies to compare prices.

[Wiked]

I recently had a pallet shipped from NY to the Gold Coast but it only weighed 280kg's. Door to door with a freight forwarder I use was $1085. Took around 25 days as the ships go to NZ first. USP. FEDEX etc were way dearer.

I used to use a Kiwi guy in Sun Valley, CA when I was bringing pickups over and he would put stuff in his next container but in reality these freight forwarders have good prices and there is no waiting and it's straight to your door.

[faza]

Thanks mate I'm looking at using UPS but having a shitload of problems with there website.
I want to pay with credit card but item is to big for shipping so must use freight.
Freight requires an account but when I try and setup an account for personal use it won't let me saying personal use must use shipping not freight.
Have contacted there support but very hard to understand Phillipino staff.
Awaiting a reply from an email on what my alternatives are.
Anyone else had issues like this and how did you get around it?