Cost of sending a mandolin from US to EU?

Does it really cost 200 usd to send a mandolin from US to Europe or are the sellers(or the site calculators) charging for handling as well.

I often see a nice mandolin for sale in the US but the shipping price is prohibitive. A Mandolin for 550 USD and shipping 200 USD!!

I can send 5 kg door to door in 2 days for 80 USD from Denmark.

We got the internet so people in the whole world can interact and exchange ideas and knowledge but when it comes to interchange of goods, the prices have gone up and up and on top there is customs and VAT.

Yes, it's expensive to ship. I shipped a mandolin to Australia a few years ago. It took forever to get there and it was very expensive. I probably could have flown over there for about the same.

I would try Transglobal. They told me they give so much business to DHL they get up to 75% discount. Yed you may have to open an account with them but they seem happy enough with that.

Try Parcelmonkey.com . I have gotten good deals on shipping a mandolin from the UK to the US recently through them and they make any paperwork easy.

Last September I sent an old F-5 to Germany and want to say it was a little under 200 bucks?

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Originally Posted by William Smith

Last September I sent an old F-5 to Germany and want to say it was a little under 200 bucks?

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How much?

The problem is that most sellers don't want to discuss shipping, they just do as usual, as the customer pays!! And he does, twice, because VAT is calculated from the buying price PLUS shipping!!

Shipping a mandolin to Europe used to run around $125 for the lowest-priced option through the Postal Service, but rates and services have changed.

I had a customer in the UK not long ago who bought an electric mandolin and a tenor guitar. I gathered he was rather well off and didn't mind paying the higher fees for "Priority Express International" for the mandolin and "Global Express Guaranteed" for the tenor (the only option available, due to either the size or the amount of insurance required, or both ... I forget exactly), which came to more like $400.

Once in the UK, the mandolin was handled not by Royal Mail but by some shifty-sounding freight company that went on a little adventure before finally delivering to the preferred address. With the tenor, the partner agency was FedEx or UPS, which was less of a hassle.

I've recently sent an mandolin to Australia. But since the US Postal Service has suspended delivery there, we ended up using a service based in Hong Kong that aggregates packages in its own US warehouses and loads them out when it has enough to fill a container, I guess. I have no idea how long the mandolin will actually take to get there.

I heard recently that shipping from the US to the UK has got a lot more expensive, in part due to the fact that there are fewer flights happening, therefore fewer planes to put freight on. I tried to order a book from the US last week - the book cost $25 and shipping was quoted as $45!

I know one player in the UK who ships books of fiddle tune arrangements and has said shipping to the US has shot up recently.

Last mandolin I shipped EU to US was way over 200EUR... Fedex and such charge volumetric and even if I pack in small plywood crate barely as large as rectangular case the cost is huge. I shipped two mandolins in double crate (only 30% larger than crate for single mandolin and it cost 293EUR for Fedex economy ,3-5 days) that was before the pandemic hit and prices increased drastically.
VAT and taxes/duties are always added over total value of shipment including shipping cost.

I think the delcared value is also a big factor. It seems like insurance has really gone up on shipping cost. I can't tell you the cost for shipping to EU, but I recently bought a mandolin and it was about 6 hours away from me and it was still almost $70 for it with a delcared value and insurance of 2K, and I was shipping much larger guitars with the same value for around $50 or so a year ago.

I shipped a project instrument to France a while back. I tried to discourage the buyer as the shipping was the same price as my project. The buyer insisted, stating that instruments were not plentiful in his country. He followed up after receiving it and very happy with it.

General rule of thumb is that, after VAT and duty, freight and clearance costs, importing an instrument from USA to EU or UK will cost 30-50% more than the USA price. More often 50%.

For a price guide, look at EU and UK mandolin retailers like New Acoustic Gallery in Germany or TAMCO in UK - what they charge includes all those costs, and in my experience, cannot be beat by personal import unless you are hand-carrying on a trip you were going to do anyway.

Not to mention that those local retailers will be able to provide after sales service and setup.

It cost $102.45 last November for me to send a mandolin (10 lbs 15 oz) to the United Kingdom through the USPS and it included tracking despite the postal clerk telling me there would not be tracking. It took about a week but was held up in customs for another week and a half.

Surprisingly, both UPS and Fedex wanted about $550 for a 3-5 day delivery to the UK with no other option

Mark,

But how much did the recipient have to pay at the UK end to get it released?
That is what really adds to the costs for anything over £135 ( I think) in value. The actual freight is trivial by comparison.

Yep, USA to New Zealand, price has doubled since 2019.

Same sending in the other direction.

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Originally Posted by Bren

Mark,

But how much did the recipient have to pay at the UK end to get it released?
That is what really adds to the costs for anything over £135 ( I think) in value. The actual freight is trivial by comparison.

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Hi Bren, I'm sure you're right.
I was just reporting what I had paid over here, but as you say there are the VAT fees and the sellers should be reimbursed for their packing and handling time.

Hi Mark,

I only mentioned it because OP Mark was asking about importing a mandolin from US to Europe, and the extra 30-50% over sale price and shipping that the buyer ends up paying can come as quite a shock.

I have looked at it often, and cast envious eyes over US prices.

But I wouldn't do it unless I wanted badly to buy a special instrument without having played it, so I'd save that purchase for my next trip to USA and hand-carry it back (nothing scheduled at the moment).