Sending Christmas presents to America

mb3006

Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this (if it is please feel free to move to correct one).

I have a brother who now lives in New York and I wondered if anyone could advise what would be the cheapest way of sending his Christmas presents out there?

Many thanks

kingfisherblue

My sister, who lives in Manchester, has an account with Amazon in America (as well as her British account). Presumably if you open an American account, they will deliver over there for you, making delivery either cheaper or free of charge.

fran-o

Agree with Kingfisher - you can set up account with US shops and buy gifts through them, we do it for Aussie relatives.
For sending UK bought items, the earlier you send the cheaper it can be. We always buy Aussie gifts now with weight in mind or its easy to spend more on postage than the gifts are worth!!

rlc22

I'm another one with a US Amazon account.

We always buy everything for my BIL from them and then it automatically ships to them at very little or no cost

mb3006

Thanks for the great advice. In future this is definitely what I will do. For now however, his presents are bought and wrapped here waiting to be posted. Am guessing I'd be better doing this sooner rather than later. Is there anyone other than Royal Mail that it would be cheaper sending with?

quinechinoise

mb3006 wrote: »

Thanks for the great advice. In future this is definitely what I will do. For now however, his presents are bought and wrapped here waiting to be posted. Am guessing I'd be better doing this sooner rather than later. Is there anyone other than Royal Mail that it would be cheaper sending with?

I'll be interested to know that too. In particularly crafty/homemade years, the postage costs as much or more than the contents. I often give up and just buy on Amazon instead. Plus, it always seems such a shame to have to list the contents on the customs label - what's the point of wrapping anything?

Grapey

Depending on the weight of the package you could try Parcel Monkey as they may well be cheaper than RM. I've used them loads this year and would fully recommend their own Parcel Monkey International service if it turns out to be cheaper than RM. I've sent a few packages internationally using this service and every one of them has arrived within 3 working days

continualdiamond

It will have passed now, but surface mail is a great way of cheap postage.

I'm from Australia and usually post by air mail, but slit it up into smaller packages rather than 1 big one so its cheaper. However this year I was super organised and posted all the pressies (my mum, dad and sister) on the 22nd Sept. The last posting date for Australia for surface mail was the 28th Sept.

I managed to have all the pressies in 1 parcel and was only £15 to post with also insurance on it this time. I will do it again thats for sure, cheaper and a lot less stressful.

daisyboyd24

I didn't realise you could open an Amazon in America account.
Wish I'd read / thought of this before sending our parcel. Cost a fortune this year!

Oh well I know for next time :-)

fiscalfreckles

You can order form Amazon UK to America too. Postage for a book was just over £3 which I didn't think was bad.

quinechinoise

daisyboyd24 wrote: »

I didn't realise you could open an Amazon in America account.

You can log in to all the Amazon websites with your Amazon UK details.