Shipping to France

ColeParks · Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:05 am

I have to ship a poster to France. I was just curious about how much I should expect to pay for shipping and also if there is any other advice I should know?

Thanks in advance!

summoner · Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:13 am

Standard 25x3 tube probably around $35 shipping priority mail, then tack on insurance.

bryndavies · Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:24 am

i did a little research on this a while back because there was a member on here who wanted some prints, and he lived in france. granted, something just seemed odd to start, so that had me on guard, but when i reached out members here, they pretty much said the french postal service is notoriously shitty, if you can believe that.

so, i backed out, because the advice i got on EB was basically "good luck proving it was delivered, so you will/could get drymounted if the buyer files a paypal claim." granted, i'm sure loads of people have shipped things there with no issues, but for the reasons listed above, i opted out. had the member had feedback, been active, and not seemed a bit shady, i probably would have gone for it.

bigmclargehuge1 · Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:33 am

Depends on the value of the prints. If it's not terribly pricey, consider First Class International with USPS. I've shipped many items to Europe and always use it. 1 pound tubes (ie 1 18x24 print) always costs $15. 2 pound tubes (ie 1 24x36 print) are around $22. Includes tracking. The size restrictions are a little wonky but if you read the fine print, a 31"x4" Yazoo actually complies because there are different standards for rolls/tubes. I've found that they get there in 5 business days, whereas Priority Mail seems to always takes longer, and costs twice as much.

Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:48 am

I've also had some recent interest on high dollar prints from a couple different members in France. It's the poor reputation of the French Poste that has me balking. Does using DHL give the seller any better verification of delivery than USPS Priority International? If so, I might be willing to roll the dice.

ColeParks · Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:50 am

It is actually through eBay and he has 100% feedback, so I feel pretty comfortable dealing with them. Plus the print is not a super expensive print. So if the print is 18x24 then $25 should cover everything plus a little bit for nerves..?

summoner · Sat Nov 15, 2014 1:03 am

I have only shipped to france from an ebay sale a few times. Because it is ebay I ONLY ship USPS Express Mail overseas. Costs about $10 more on average but is fully trackable in lost cases and meets all ebays requirements. Personally I have never had an issue shipping to France.

bryndavies · Sat Nov 15, 2014 1:22 am

electrachrome wrote:I've also had some recent interest on high dollar prints from a couple different members in France. It's the poor reputation of the French Poste that has me balking. Does using DHL give the seller any better verification of delivery than USPS Priority International? If so, I might be willing to roll the dice.

i'd be interested if your interested buyer was the same as mine. halftongraphics and i had the same interested buyer from france, and he was interested in somewhat relatively high dollar obey prints. halftone and i talked via PM, and that's when i decided it wasn't worth the risk. the first thing that jumped out at me, is that he didn't try to haggle price whatsoever. not that that's always an indicator, but the whole thing just seemed odd. perhaps the french are nicer than when i was last there.

Luigi1138 · Sun Dec 28, 2014 9:13 am

bigmclargehuge1 wrote:Depends on the value of the prints. If it's not terribly pricey, consider First Class International with USPS. I've shipped many items to Europe and always use it. 1 pound tubes (ie 1 18x24 print) always costs $15. 2 pound tubes (ie 1 24x36 print) are around $22. Includes tracking. The size restrictions are a little wonky but if you read the fine print, a 31"x4" Yazoo actually complies because there are different standards for rolls/tubes. I've found that they get there in 5 business days, whereas Priority Mail seems to always takes longer, and costs twice as much.

Thanks for the info.

Perhaps you or someone else can help me a bit. I live in The Netherlands and have received a lot of tubes.

I have a problem figuring out what the cheapest shipping method for a standard 1 pound tube measuring 31 inch by 4 inch is.

-I have received a lot of standard tubes from individuals shipped by USPS First class international. Costing just about USD 22.
-However on numerous occasions the post office told the individual that USPS First class international is not available due to the size of the tube (to thick)
and that priority international should be used. Costing USD 40.
-My Mondo standard tubes and also tubes from other galleries get shipped USPS First Class International. Most of the time they use some mailing service "Endicia".
-If I go to http://ircalc.usps.com and select a large package, non rectangular and put in the weight and dimensions of a standard tube the cheap option to ship USPS
First Class international is not available.
- On USPS for First Class International it states for Rolls: Max. length 36". Max length and twice the diameter combined 42".
I can interpret that statement in two ways:

1) The thickness can't be larger than 3 inch: 42 inch minus the max length (36 inch) divided by two.
2) The thickness can be up to 4,5 inch: 42 minus 31 (the actual maximum length of the actual tube being mailed) divided by two.

I know that there is conflicting information any help in finding the cheapest option is more than appreciated.