Shipping Laptops Overseas

MrHoon

10183 Posts

August 23 2009 12:13 GMT

So... My sister left her MacPro in Korea and she left weeks ago. I was originally going to give it to a friend of mine who goes to the same school as her, but he bailed out on me and now I have no choice to ship this laptop by mail.

So I was wondering if anyone with similar experiences with me help? I've never sent a computer overseas nor have anyone close to me who shipped one overseas (they all made their colleagues bring it to them if they left it in Korea).

I'm worried if the mac will be safe or not when it gets shipped. Also most importantly, the cost of sending a computer overseas.

Can anyone help?

zerotol

Belgium508 Posts

August 23 2009 12:33 GMT

The only way i would ship anything that fragile overseas is with a well known transporter like DHL.
Be sure to package it well.

http://www.dhl.com/splash.html

Also be sure to ask what the insurance is for damage during transport!

konadora

Singapore66365 Posts

August 23 2009 13:11 GMT

Tell them it's electronic too (as in, tell them not to magnetize it)

miseiler

United States1389 Posts

August 23 2009 14:08 GMT

Well, you have to make a decision.

ALL carriers will insure your laptop, up to the full value. However, they will most likely force you to ship it using their fastest method, and give you some crap like "This is the only method where it's guaranteed" or "this is the only method where we probably won't lose it." So, besides overcharging you for insuring it, they will overcharge you to ship it.

A small suggestion which just occurred to me now is that, if the fastest method really is the safest, maybe you could use that and avoid the insurance charges? It's a decision only you can make. For the record, the last time I shipped a $2000 macbook pro to england it cost me $250 to ship and fully insure it against damage/loss (and got there in 3 days.)

The second thing is that they will ask you whether the laptop is new. IT ISN'T (even if it is.) You see, if the laptop is "second hand" most import/export laws consider this a gift rather than a sale. A sale would get charged in customs, usually a large amount. Your mileage will certainly vary there, as it is obviously up to the import/export laws of the countries in question.

The last thing is that shipping a macbook from some countries (notably the US) is illegal due to export of strong cryptography or powerful computers or what have you. Again, it's up to the countries in question, and I've never been hassled anyway.

RaGe

Belgium9950 Posts

August 23 2009 14:43 GMT

My sister once shipped her laptop from singapore to belgium along with some other stuff, using the cheap postal service.

It arrived exactly 1 year and 3 months later.

aev

166 Posts

August 23 2009 14:47 GMT

On August 23 2009 23:43 RaGe wrote:
My sister once shipped her laptop from singapore to belgium along with some other stuff, using the cheap postal service.

It arrived exactly 1 year and 3 months later.

that is total fail...what carrier did she use?
and incidentally, what did she do in the meantime?

ghostWriter

United States3302 Posts

August 23 2009 14:53 GMT

Try to find someone else that's trustworthy. I wouldn't trust shipping companies with anything fragile and macbook pros are expensive as hell.
Even if you get the insurance money from it, you will still lose all the information and stuff which really sucks =/

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