Has anyone shipped works from the USA to Europe?

[Justan]

I received an inquiry from someone about shipping one of my works to Poland. My suggestion to them was rather than mounting and framing the work here, I’d roll the un-mounted image and ship it in a standard paper roll box.

Does anyone know about fees related to this? I’m not so much interested in the shipping costs, as I can get that from UPS, but does anyone know if there are tariffs or customs related fees for this kind of thing?

TIA

[louoates]

Call FedEx or UPS or USPS and ask.

[framah]

Don't forget to get full payment up front before anything leaves your hands.

[LesPalenik]

I shipped some prints to Europe from Canada, but the prices and procedures should be about the same in USA. I have used round shipping tubes, rectangular boxes, and sometimes for double protection - tubes in boxes. I don't use Fedex or UPS, since they charge much more than the Postal Service.

Postal shipments have a field where you indicate the item value and whether it is a gift, commercial sample, or other. You also have to state the value.
If the value of the print is less than $100 (each country may have different limits), typically, there is no import duty. The receiver should know that limit.

Since the post office increases their prices every year, nowadays the shipping costs are quite expensive, and sometimes they may even exceed value of the actual picture, so I seldom send something anymore.

[Justan]

>Call FedEx or UPS or USPS and ask.

Thanks for the suggestion. They might know about that, or not. Anywho, I found a place on the web that has a “Duty Calculator" and following is a link to it:

http://www.dutycalculator.com/popular-import-items/import-duty-and-taxes-for-fine-painting/

>Don't forget to get full payment up front before anything leaves your hands.

Gosh, you mean you don’t trust someone half a world away? Heh, either would i!

>I shipped some prints to Europe from Canada, but the prices and procedures should be about the same in USA. I have used round shipping tubes, rectangular boxes, and sometimes for double protection - tubes in boxes. I don't use Fedex or UPS, since they charge much more than the Postal Service. …

Didn’t know there was a wide cost difference between the shippers. Good to know!

[langier]

I sent a box of 13x19 prints to Belgrade last fall. UPS was to charge more than $200 and the USPS ran under $70. Since this was for a show, I also did all the paperwork.

It took a little over two weeks before my colleague got the package and a bill for $100 for customs duty. Shipping took less than a week, bureaucracy added more than a week on the other end.

It can be done, but expect glitches along the way after it leaves your hand.