Does anyone have experience of shipping small paintings from the uk? Particularly to USA. I would just like to know how to do it and if its just posted through the post office .
Yep- I go to the post office, ask for the ātracked and signed forā option, which usually costs just under Ā£10. Then I email the buyer with the tracking number on the receipt, so they can keep an eye on it if they want. Hope that helps!
Same as the previous reply. All my sales are from the UK to the USA. I paint on panel as it is more robust, gift wrap it, then wrap lightly in bubble wrap then put into a rip-proof Royal Mail posting bag and fill in the customs slip (you can get these by the roll from the P.O.). Cost is Ā£9.75 or thereabouts for up to 10x8.
call fed ex , I have heard they know how to deal with customs and do the paperwork correctly.
Thankyou! Thats great.
Thanks Karen! Really useful information .
Thanks , JHolder! ā¦
Hi Karen. How do you fill in the customs declaration? I mean, do you specify Other and provide the sale value as Value in the declaration? Do your buyers pay a customs fee in the States?
Hi Artemi, on the U.K. customs form There is a space to write in what the item is. I write āunframed original oil paintingā. I give the value as the gross sale price paid by the customer in US dollars i.e. what it cost them, not what i get after DPW fees etc and not including the shipping because I charged separately for that on top of the sale price of the painting and the charge I made was exactly what it cost me.
Customers buying from the US do not pay sales tax on their purchases of paintings from the U.K. or at any rate they do not at the sort of values I was selling at. I think it is different if the art costs 1000s but I was not in that market!
I never had any problems and nor did my customers. Delivery sometimes took a while if there was a holiday in the States when the item arrived (especially Thanksgiving) or if there was industrial action or snow at the receiving airport. But everything arrived eventually.
Hope this helps.
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Thank you very much Karen. This is exactly the information I was looking for. It is all new to me.
This is all GREAT information - anyone reading this might also be interested in THIS thread Do you ship internationally? If so, where and what has your experience been? I will say this, shipping TO England from the US is a VERY different experience compared to shipping TO the US from ENGLAND. 