Cheapest way to send a parcel to the USA

Becles · 3 September 2008 at 4:52PM

A lady in the USA bought something from me by ebay. Before the auction she asked how much shipping would be. I said I didn't know as I've never shipped abroad before. I said the parcel weighed 3.1kg, and she said Royal Mail surface mail was the cheapest costing £16.81. I checked the RM website and found this was correct so she paid £16.81 postage.

Just been to the Post Office and the Postmaster said the website is wrong as Royal Mail surface mail only goes up to 2kg. Anything over 2kg has to go by Parcel Force World Wide and costs £42.39.

The lady won't pay this much. Does anyone know of a cheaper way to send it?

It weighs 3.1kg and the dimensions are 30cm x 22cm x 12cm.

pinkgem · 3 September 2008 at 5:03PM

£16.81 is for surface mail printed papers, as are all the other royal mail services to usa for that weight

you can only send airmail or surface mail packets up to 2kg with royal mail

i would refrain from sending surface mail as it can take up to 8 weeks for delivery and buyer could do a paypal claim before it has been delivered

Becles · 3 September 2008 at 5:06PM

Thanks - she told me small parcels could go by printed papers, and I had no reason to not believe her having never shipped abroad.

Does anyone know the cheapest way of sending it?

I'm not a regular ebay seller - just sell odd bits of unwanted stuff from home.

ArmitageShanks · 3 September 2008 at 5:14PM

From the courier thread

[FONT=&quot] INTERNATIONAL AGENTS (Worldwide)[/FONT]

Trans Global Express

Worldwide Parcel Services

Both offer very good rates to Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada and to other worldwide destinations.

The discount code for WPS is/was ebay10pc

TARA67 · 14 October 2008 at 6:04PM

hello, i also want to send some football shirts to canada + will be sending them about 2 times a year.
is royal mail the cheapest for sending these parcels by air + surface mail ?
what size does the parcel have to be if the weight is 2kg .

pinkzebra · 4 November 2008 at 6:44PM

I'm not sure what you sold on ebay, but could you split the item into 2 packages and send them Surface mail? Then they would be under the 2kg limit.

ArmitageShanks · 4 November 2008 at 6:51PM

This is a old thread being rehashed by probably wps for marketing purposes. transglobalexpress are cheaper and direct parcel distribution are significantly cheaper still.

@pinkzebra surface mail is no no to be honest, it takes months and airmail is not much more. In the main courier thread there is a link to get FedEx >25kg for £25.

Cheapest way to send a parcel to the USA

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