does anyone have any experience receiving a package from overseas?

[TurdBerglar]

especially from the UK through the courier parcelforce?

i found this great online bike shop but it's in the UK. they have free shipping to anywhere in the US. how does shipping from overseas to a residence work? who delivers the package to my address? does the united states postal service just take over once it gets here? will i have to deal with other charges through customs?


this is the online shop if anyone is interested:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/

[Helvete]

I have quite a few times. In my experience, it will probably get held up at customs for a bit then it'll just be brought by your regular domestic mailman. It might have a customs slip with some charges on it, sometimes they let you pay at your door otherwise you'll go to the mail office whatever you call it and pay there.

Not much to it, you shouldn't have to do much else.

[cubsfirstplace]

I've ordered stuff from China. It actually didn't take that long, about a week USPS delivered it to me, it was originally shipped by one of the Chinese post companies. They people who ship it should pay all the custom costs, but i'm not sure if they always do.

[TurdBerglar]

cool, thanks

i was a little worried that it might be a little more complicated than that.

[Helvete]

Oh yeah, you need to do a piss test.

[TurdBerglar]

aww, no semen sample? :(

[Adam]

The customs cost is the tax (+ a fee normally) your state charges. The sender is not liable for your tax or fees your country imposes. Speaking from experience of someone who used to ship abroad from UK with their own business.

This is illegal but if they send the item as a gift you'll avoid all that.

My advice is contact the shop and ask what experience they have - they will probably be vague as it's so random custom charges but it'll give you an idea.

[ms.peachy]

When we have stuff sent to us in China from the US, we ask the sender to mark it as "samples" and have it sent to my husband's office (a business address, as opposed to residential). For whatever reason, this seems to bypass customs and attendant charges. No sure if this is an option between US/UK.