Shipping jewellery abroad - can anyone help?

[diamondhoarder]

Hi.
I am in the UK and am trying to find a way to ship a ring to someone in the US with a value of up to $2000. I am a private individual (not a business) so is the recipient.

Are there any UK Pricescopers out there who have found a way to do this, fully insured and tracked?

The Post Office lets you do it within the UK for items worth up to £2500, but when it comes to shipping abroad, their max compensation is £500 ($800). Parcelforce, UPS and Fedex, and Interparcel have an absolute ban on shipping fine jewellery of any value from UK to US.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Maisie]

I don't think Fedex refuse to send jewellery. I think they won't accept liability though. I have shipped a ring to the US from UK before but I had to accept that there was no insurance. It arrived safely but it was a risk I decided to take.

 

[Maisie]

I think you can send it with DHL International. They have a limit of £5000 per item of jewellery.

http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/shipping/shipping_advice/prohibited_commodities.html#non_account_holders

 

[diamondhoarder]

Thanks for your suggestion.

I looked very promising but I just got off the phone with DHL now and they are saying that although their website says they take jewellery, when they go onto their system to get a quote and insurance details they cant go any further because their system tells them not to accept shipments including any precious metals - they are on the banned list still. Obviously their website is not talking to their logistics system.
??????
I dont understand why this is so difficult!

 

[Pandora II]

It's pretty much impossible if you want it properly insured - or indeed for them to take it at all.

Brinks will transport jewellery to the USA but it will cost you a couple of hundred pounds to do it and you need a load of paperwork to go with it (receipts to prove payment of VAT etc).

I'm fortunate in that my SIL is from the USA so I get her or my BIL to take things over and post them with USPS in the States. If you have a friend going out there that is likely to be your best bet.

Otherwise you will have to risk DHL - don't tell them it's jewellery (they won't transport it) and keep your fingers crossed it gets there.

Sorry not to be more use, but I spent several weeks trying to do this a few years ago and ended up just waiting a couple of months till SIL was popping home to see her parents.

 

[Pandora II]

It's pretty much impossible if you want it properly insured - or indeed for them to take it at all.

Brinks will transport jewellery to the USA but it will cost you a couple of hundred pounds to do it and you need a load of paperwork to go with it (receipts to prove payment of VAT etc).

I'm fortunate in that my SIL is from the USA so I get her or my BIL to take things over and post them with USPS in the States. If you have a friend going out there that is likely to be your best bet.

Otherwise you will have to risk DHL - don't tell them it's jewellery (they won't transport it) and keep your fingers crossed it gets there.

Sorry not to be more use, but I spent several weeks trying to do this a few years ago and ended up just waiting a couple of months till SIL was popping home to see her parents.

Just checked back and Brinks quoted me £500 GBP back in 2007 for a then £2.5k ring.

 

[diamondhoarder]

Ouch! Thats a pretty outrageous shipping fee. I wonder why its usch a problem to do this cross-border when the post office is quite happy to to do this within the UK for up to £2500.

Thanks for your input anyway.

 

[Pandora II]

Brinks isn't generally a general public shipper - I used to work in the gold industry in Italy and we used Brinks to transport bullion so I remembered them when I was looking for a shipper. I'm not sure if they are trade-only but they said they would be prepared to help if necessary.

But for £500 I could probably have flown over and back!

I think you will probably have to just risk it and feel sick for a week or so till it arrives. Will the person at the other end accept risk? Or can they do a DHL shipment from the USA (ie, they fix the shipping up at their end for it to come from the UK?)

It's a major reason why UK jewellers and eBay stores won't ship outside Europe - just too darn difficult.

 

[Cluless]

Maybe you can contact them (pasted a link for you) never heard of them or used but it's worth a try........... good luck!

http://www.packsend.co.uk/packandsend_terms.php

 

[diamondhoarder]

Thanks, everyone who responded. Its been really helpful.

The good news is: I finally found someone at DHL UK who agrees that their jewellery policy has recently changed and that they are now prepared to ship jewellery up to the value of £5000 fully insured

Pack and Send are also prepared to do the same, but I suspect they are just using DHL and putting their own mark-up on top as the terms were the same but the cost was a lot higher.

So anyone wanting to ship fully insured from the UK to the US - DHL seems to be the best option (and believe me, I have spent hours and hours researching this ).

 

[Maisie]

Thats good news! I'm glad you got it sorted out.