Shipping to Germany

[Niagara2]

My son is studying abroad this year in Germany. Gone a whole year! He did the Disney College program which was only for 5 months and I got to visit but this is much longer and so far away.
I put together a box of Halloween treats and other small tidbits to brighten his day. All said there is not $40 of goods in a 6 pound box.
I went to ship and costs range from $65 to $300 through fed ex.
I cannot be the first trying to find an economical way to ship goodies to Germany and not have it take 6 or more weeks.
Anyone have any experience with this or advice?

 

[ktlm]

I don't know about the shipping cost, but I will warn you that unless you are shipping from the U.S. to a U.S. military base in Germany, Germany tacks on a lot of taxes and dutys for packages shipped into the country from the U.S. My Grandmother lives there, and she has requested for years that we do not send her any gifts because it costs her too much to pick them up at the post office. I absolutely hate that we can not send her birthday or christmas presents from the U.S. If you send a package with contents valued at over 45 euros they tax the person receiving it something between 15 and 20% of its value. I also think that Grandma has mentioned that customs is the one that determines if they think it has more than that value. I know that she asked that we not even send her things under that value because in her experience sometimes they would open it and look at it and claim it had a value of over the allowable amount and tax her, even if it did not actually cost that much when we purchased it.

Here is some info on it:

http://www.zoll.de/EN/Private-indiv...ermany/Duties-and-taxes/Gifts/gifts_node.html

 

[tvguy]

DD just got back from a year in England. One of her roommates was from Germany. Pretty much expect shipping to Europe to cost more than the contents of the package, and for a package to take a month to get there.

 

[pryncess527]

It's expensive! I sell on eBay, and don't normally offer to sell to Europe, but one day had someone in Spain contact me about shipping to Europe. To ship a 1oz troll doll (the ugly ones from the 90s ) to Spain cost over $35! She was willing to pay it though . . . I suppose she was used to paying ridiculous shipping from the US.

So, you can try USPS, but I doubt it's cheaper

 

[lelalittlelegs]

My son is studying abroad this year in Germany. Gone a whole year! He did the Disney College program which was only for 5 months and I got to visit but this is much longer and so far away. I put together a box of Halloween treats and other small tidbits to brighten his day. All said there is not $40 of goods in a 6 pound box. I went to ship and costs range from $65 to $300 through fed ex. I cannot be the first trying to find an economical way to ship goodies to Germany and not have it take 6 or more weeks. Anyone have any experience with this or advice?

I'm in England and have family in America. Since the privatisation of the postal service here, Amazon is now our friend when it comes to send gifts and treats from home to each other. It's just too costly to send more than a birthday card/letter or a small box under 1kg. I am not sure about Amazon in Germany but you can buy on amazon.co.uk and ship to anywhere within the EU relatively cheaply.

 

[AquaDame]

All my brother wanted for christmas last year was a box of cereal from home that he can't find in the Netherlands. That and a book cost me over $60 to send via USPS.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

DD just got back from a year in England. One of her roommates was from Germany. Pretty much expect shipping to Europe to cost more than the contents of the package, and for a package to take a month to get there.

I have shipped to Europe many times and you can ship items which will arrive a lot faster than a month! Use USPS, not FedEx, DHL, or UPS, which may charge very hefty brokerage fees. International first class or priority mail is a good option.

 

[ronandannette]

I suggest you post this question on the Community board. NHDisneyLover is a regular there that presently lives in Germany - she'll likely have some good information for you.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

The USPS has flat rate boxes for international shipping. It is still EXPENSIVE, but if you have heavy stuff and can cram it in you can save some money

 

[ellochka]

Go with the Postal Service, regular mail. I had a thick letter sent to me from Germany regular postal mail, and it took 4 (FOUR!) days to get from Frankfurt to Ohio. There must be some agreement between US and German postal services that mail through so quickly.

 

[tvguy]

I have shipped to Europe many times and you can ship items which will arrive a lot faster than a month! Use USPS, not FedEx, DHL, or UPS, which may charge very hefty brokerage fees. International first class or priority mail is a good option.

We used USPS exclusively. 1 item made it in 3 weeks. Our Christmas card to our daughter took 5 weeks, got their mid January.