TubeNet

Hello,

Has anyone bought their tuba from a seller overseas? If so, which company did you use to ship it and how would I go about it? I'm thinking about buying a tuba from a seller in the UK and have it shipped here to California but I just don't know where to start or who to go with. Thanks in advance.

Royal Mail--->USPS through customs is my guess. Or maybe DHL. You might even get someone to chime in "Greyhound" here if you're lucky I remember buying something from Europe and it came USPS service through customs and everything in 10 days and was cheap. Shipping TO Europe would be way more expensive.

A tuba may be too big to go through Royalmail and USPS.

My B&H was shipped UPS from the UK to Canada. With bubble wrap inside and outside the hardcase. Fedex and DHL could also be options. I would guestimate that it could easily cost 200 GBP to ship to USA.

That said, I would ask the seller what they use. Sometimes they may have an account (so you could save on the cost) or be close to a shipper making it easy for them to drop off the horn.

I have. About a year ago, I bought a Besson tuba from a seller in England. The seller shipped the horn to me via UPS (my cost was approximately US$350), and it arrived in about 3 days, as I remember. The horn was not shipped in a box, but rather a hard case with several layers of bubble-wrap, both outside and inside the case. The process was really pretty easy, and the only 'wrinkle' was that I had to pay customs duties (my cost was approximately US$100), and I did that thru the UPS website.

-Martin.
B'ham, AL

Hi. Living in England myself and having sent a few tubas to the US I firmly recommend a third party such as Parcel Hero. In the past I've also used Transglobal. They tend to end up with UPS but significantly cheaper.
For insurance have the English guys use "The-Insurance-Broker" or similar broker. MUCH cheaper insurance than through the shipper.
Good luck!

I fully agree with Peach: use a third (private) party. I have very bad experiences with DHL/USPS, shipping from the Netherlands to the USA.
Hubert