How to best ship big & heavy speakers internationally?


Who might I call? What shipping company is best suited for this sort of thing? These are both big and heavy- 175# ea. Can you share your experience? And lastly, I stand behind my shipping until received undamaged. Any peculiarities about international insurance/liabilities, F.O.B. considerations? I need some "how to" help please.
Thanks, Truman


truman
Wooden crates with 3" of foam around them. You want absolutely no movement in the crates. Do not under insure. Bax is good, but UPS and FedEx may be easier if this is a one time shipment.
Pretty sure UPS & FedEx have weight limits under this. I use uShip for big speakers I've sold, Tyler D1 & Tannoy Churchill. No problems. They're pretty great actually. Door to door service.

The responsibility is ALL YOURS until they arrive safe at the destination. I've had this out in the past with sellers who didn't understand the rules. It is necessary to meet the requirements of all parties involved. Overseas is especially tricky. I send two LP's to Japan once. It cost me $125.00 to do so because Fed EX was the only company who would give me a receipt guaranteeing delivery. Another time I sent two Luxman units to Spain. Very unusual situation. The man paid me in advance and let the funds clear first before I sent the gear. I also declared a low value though at this point it was all his risk. I emailed him several times to see if he got the gear. He never responded! Another time I bought two B&W subs from a dealer in Florida. He shipped them via truck while I was on vacation. My son called me to say the truck was in the driveway. I told him to inspect the speakers before signing for them. They were damaged. I told him to write it on the bill of lading so I could turn in the damage claim. Big mistake! I was screwed! The trucking company only pays .20 cents per pound for damage. Paypal would cover it BUT I was required to return the speakers on my dime. This would have cost me in excess of $300.00 I worked it out with the seller who was a nice person. I could have been left with nothing but damaged speakers. I don't think I would ship overseas unless I had zero risk. I hope this helps. Joe

Getting cold feet on this one.

I don’t blame you. At least three areas of risk.

1) Speakers are damaged while being packaged/prepped for shipment
2) Speakers damaged during shipment.
3) Speakers damaged by the receiver (buyer) in removing them from the pallets, their boxes and setting them up.

One option - Have buyer assume responsibility for shipment.
As the seller, have the buyer have someone; friend, dealer visually inspect and hear the speakers. Close the deal. Buyer then assumes responsibility for coordinating shipment. I would help / do the packing and wait for truck to show up, sign the paperwork. This way if a problem occurs and speakers are damaged, the buyer who has paid for and is controlling the goods, deals with the courier company/broker direct.

Good Luck.

fwiw I bought speakers that were very heavy and loaded onto two pallets at sellers location (Florida) When the truck arrived in my driveway at my house Ontario Canada they were on one pallet !

Anyone want to take a guess what happened....