Box contents listings- how specific?

[GreenMeansGo]

I feel so far away from moving to NZ... still busy getting the house ready for market, job hunting, etc, but we're going ahead and packing things up to clear them out of the house and put in storage while we're showing the house.

With that in mind, some boxes we are packing that we don't plan on opening again until NZ-- books, art, etc. So, how do you go about listing the contents of your boxes for moving? I"m pretty sure 'books' will be sufficient, but what about art- - do we need to list the medium? e.g. wooden sculpture and knick knacks, ceramic art, etc? It's nothing like wicker or something that might carry bugs...??

I don't plan on bringing anything potentially dirty other than bikes and hiking boots, so more concerned about regular day-to-day items.

thank you

[BkyMonster]

I had some decorations made of treated wood and I put 'treated wooden X' on the list. MAF office people wanted to have a look at it (and charge me for it) but the actual inspector didn't care. If you're doing a container with packing/unpacking shippers it might not matter, but if you have a smaller shipment and are going into the MAF office they might be overzealous like they were with me.
They also charged me for 'inspection' (they didn't look) of bamboo fabric, like cotton but made of bamboo fiber, because of the name.
I'd also avoid listing anything with wood in the name, or at least put it all in one box.

We made an exhaustive list of everything (including every book) for insurance purposes though.

[GreenMeansGo]

is there some form we are supposed to be using, or is writing on the box with a crayola sufficient??

[BkyMonster]

Your shippers should give you these forms:
http://www.customs.govt.nz/NR/rdonly.../0/nzcs218.pdf
http://www.customs.govt.nz/NR/rdonly...0/NZCS218A.pdf
We just made a list on the computer and attached a printout as there isn't that much room on the form. You can number the boxes in crayola if you like though

[Kanga]

They'll want an itemised list- so number the boxes and write their contents on the list. Your shippers will eventually give you inventory paper. Ornaments are likely to get pulled if wooden and there's a seperate form you'll be given that asks about certain items (sports gear, Xmas decs, wooden stuff etc) and box numbers. I used a pink highlighter on my personal inventory for boxes I thought MAF would want to see and stacked them in the container last.

ETA: sorry, cross posted with above!

[jeffanar]

Defintiely be specific about what's in the boxes, when we moved the shippers who packed the boxes marked some as "miscellanious" so MAF wanted to look at them to find out what was in them. If you can, try and put all the things MAF may want to look at together to limit the amount of boxes they have to open, so hopefully the amount of money you will have to pay them

[GreenMeansGo]

So if I'm understanding correctly, I fill out the form (link above) just once, and attach to a master list of boxes and detailed contents. Ok, can do!

Good thing we haven't gotten very far in the packing, cause I have already forgotten half of what's in there I don't know how I'm to keep track of all this, sigh.

We are planning on doing a smaller shipment, as most of our stuff (furniture) isn't worth the trip, so thanks for the advice to be extra detailed- hopefully it will save us some trouble when we arrive. We have no idea when we'll be moving and haven't booked shippers yet.

Packing feels good though, makes me feel like I'm doing *something* when so much of this is a waiting game for me at this point.

thanks everyone.

[tea drinker]

Hope you don't mind me joining in to ask...
is this the form I would need if I was shipping a few boxes only (no container)?
Ta

[BkyMonster]

Yes, it's the form for anything not coming on the plane with you.

[tea drinker]

Thanks

Also - reading the small print - I have discovered that I need an 'at least 12 months' work permit before I can ship boxes.