need help with setting up shipping

[janicecabs]

i own and operate a small company that builds custom guitar speaker cabinets.

the business has grown a lot in the past year do to our website and word of mouth. because of this i have people wanting me to ship these packages over seas. do the the packages size and weight it cost as much to ship as what they are paying for the product. most of the people don't care how long it will take for them to get it, but i can't really figure out how, or a way to ship by boat. or just a cheaper way to ship overseas

any help would be great

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum janicecabs First congrats on the business growing. I realize it's causing some problems, but better than the problem of having no customers. Is the issue that it costs too much to ship and people overseas aren't willing to pay the shipping cost? It sounds like that's the issue, but I wanted to make sure. Unfortunately I think that's a common problem shipping some items overseas. Your products are either flying overseas or taking a ship and neither is likely cheap.

I tried to search a little, but I'm mostly finding others in a similar situation as you find yourself. I searched for things like "inexpensive international shipping large items" and found some companies that ship, but I have no idea if they're good or how much they cost. One company is Pakmail (http://www.pakmail.com/crating/large-item-crating/). The link takes you to a page about shipping large items. The other company is UBox Worldwide (http://www.uboxworldwide.com/). They have rate quote form for large items.

You might just have to search and find as many companies like these as you can and see if any could work. The worst case scenario is the people ordering overseas will have to pay the cost of shipping. Unless you grow large enough to expand overseas.

[MyITGuy]

Have you looked at the USPS? While I don't ship overseas, I did ship an item to an APO and I was given the choice of Parcel Post (By boat and would take a few weeks for delivery) or Priority Mail (Air Delivery, delivered within 2-3 days).

The item I shipped was a 23" Monitor that was averaging about $45 a shipment via UPS. USPS rates were $35/parcel post or $60 by priority mail if I recall correctly.

Definitely work with your packaging/shipping companies though as they know the guidelines and should be doing what they can to help you keep your costs low. I.E. If the smallest dimension of the package exceeds 8" externally, then your costs significantly increase, this is just one item I am aware of.

[vangogh]

I was wondering if USPS or UPS had options. I never did check their sites though. It's good to know USPS can literally ship items at a reduced cost.

[KristineS]

DHL is the best we've found for international shipping, as that is now where they are specializing. We also seem to have less problems dealing with tariffs and fees when we use DHL. Might be worth looking into if you think you'll be doing a lot of overseas shipping.