Shipping heavy amps abroad

Deijavoo

Was offered a decent deal on my amp but I had to ship all 33 kilos to Ireland, which came out as pretty costly.

Is there any tips for this in case he comes back with the value I want or anyone else "abroad" wants it?

I mean despite the flightcase sure it could still get smashed up in the post, or the buyer could claim that and try to get money back etc...? I once sent a 4x12 Mesa cab to Latvia but he organised the collection as he worked for TNT (or whoever) over there so it was pretty easy all round.

karltone

Personally if a buyer abroad wants to do a deal with you i would get them to organise a courier. If the couriers in their country are expensive they can also book through a UK firm.

Deijavoo

He was happy to pay it, seemed a cool guy but I just worry about damage in transit I suppose. 

I was gonna drive until I realised how far it actually was. 

Fortheloveofguitar

I shipped both my old Cornfords to Germany. Had no problems but can't remember who I did it through.

May have been parcel force. Price was good too.

Deijavoo

Really?  With this being over 30 kilos I seem to be getting a very expensive service and with an un-named budget courier which I don't like the sound of.

I might go a wee drive over for a holiday this weekend or something.

Fortheloveofguitar

The Cornford came in at less than 30. That's probably where the start getting silly in the cost, over 30 kilos

Deijavoo

So annoying. He's happy to go with courier but you know, what happens if they smash it up in transit or he just says they have and gets PayPal to knack me? He seems a good guy but I don't know him so you never know.

Heard too many horror stories to be casual about it really.

martinw

I've shipped a few amps abroad with no problems. Pack them well (big boxes with loads of room for cushioning, scrap cardboard to reinforce, lots of tape) insure them and use a reputable firm (UPS or DPD have always done mine).

Shop around the brokers for the best price...it's never going to be cheap, but if the guy at the other end will pay, it's ok.

hywelg

I was up a a business supplier of mine a few weeks back and watched them packaging sheet glass for shipping. Basically it was wrapped in thin polythene then suspended manually in the dead center of a big cardboard box and filled with the equivalent of builders foam, y'know the expanding stuff. They reckon they get very few breakages at all even for quite large sheets (500mm x 500mm) of quite thin glass.

I think that would be excellent cushioning and protection for an amp and relatively inexpensive.

Flanging_Fred

I shipped a Silverface twin reverb to Ireland by UPS. It cost £100 nearly, I packed it up REALLY well. When it arrived the purchaser said they had managed to break the magnets off the speakers!

ICBM

Flanging_Fred said:

I shipped a Silverface twin reverb to Ireland by UPS. It cost £100 nearly, I packed it up REALLY well. When it arrived the purchaser said they had managed to break the magnets off the speakers!

Because no matter how well you pack it, if you're unlucky and it gets dropped, the inertia of some of the heavy internal parts - speakers and transformers - is enough to do damage to themselves or the rest of the amp.

So I won't ship amps that I can't afford to write off if something goes wrong.

Deijavoo

Ah that's my worry. 

Right definitely not doing that then  

Horatio_Caine

I've shipped a few amp related items abroad before, while it went ok I still was cautious until it got there, and that was packing it as tough as I could.  You never know what couriers will do.

Oh and as said, it will be expensive.  I remember shipping an empty Marshall 1960a 4x12 to France, which still weighs a load and with good packing around it is very large.  The cost was something like £115, what I was more surprised about was the fact they buyer was fine with the cost, the desire to get what you want really outweighs the high costs for a fair few people.  Although admiteddly I'm one of them sometimes on stuff I've bought before.  I've also shipped amp heads to Germany before, twice, and the cost for those came to something like £50 each time.

At the end of the day if you decide to send a heavy large valuable item, I would always pack as best as you could with the most protection rather than being careless, even if something gets broken, if it has been packed well the couriers chances of trying to defend themselves are made pretty much redundant, although that has already been said countless times before here.

timmysoft

I shipped a mesa tremoverb to Belgium, no problems. Shipped an engl powerball to china, again, no problem. I've even sold cabs to Hungary with no problems.

Catthan

I was comfortable shipping heads until I saw an interlink guy drop the box to the floor to make space in the van before loading..
I should have held and load it in myself- lesson learned. Luckily in a sense the amp was going back for warranty work so I didn't mind it that much but now I'm even more careful.
Removing power valves is crucial but I am now concerned that if the parcel dropped a component inside may get loose..
I guess the best we can do is pack extremely well keeping the insurance policy T&Cs in mind as the companies will likely look at reasons to invalidate-deny a claim.

Moltisanti

i've sent a Rectoverb combo to Germany, that thing was seriously heavy, from memory it cost him about £80, i just packaged the shit out of it, so even if it got thrown around it should have been relatively bomb proof. Just take the valves out, and fill any gaps inside the amp that look vulnerable.

I just did a quick quote on interparcel (35kg, 100x40x40) and it came out as follows : 

Deijavoo

Aye I had quoes around that insured on Parcelmonkey but it was an un named courier. Budget only apparently. 

Is that fully insured?  

Moltisanti

no, insurance is extra, but at least it's UPS so you know it's a proper courier

Deijavoo

Good point mate.

Deijavoo

All you guys who have sent abroad, were these amps flightcased?

Moltisanti

no, just a shitload of cardboard, bubblewrap and tape!