Hidden shipping costs

[skuggs]

Hi,

We're in the process of getting quotes from a few shipping companies.
The most expensive quote supposedly includes ALL costs including customs and the "standard" MAF inspection charge of $400. The only extra's we will apparently be hit with are things like fumigation if needed.
The cheapest quote does not include MAF or customs charges. When I questioned them, they said they don't understand how another company can include these cots as they're incredibly variable.

I'm suddenly at a loss and not sure what to think. Excluding things like fumigation of dodgy items, what other costs were you hit with for bringing over a container from the UK? By this I mean, which costs to third parties (port fees, customs, MAF etc) did you have to pay that weren't included in the quote and service provided by the shipping company. We're bringing over a 20'

Thanks!

[jawnbc]

I suspect the "all in" quote has quite a buffer built in for the vendor. Theoretically you might save money by agreeing to pay the extra costs as they come in. I would consider the reputation of the companies, since the better rep'd ones will probably do a better job advocating with you through the MAF/customs processes.

[Chalkgirl]

Hi,

The most expensive quote supposedly includes ALL costs including customs and the "standard" MAF inspection charge of $400. The only extra's we will apparently be hit with are things like fumigation if needed.
The cheapest quote does not include MAF or customs charges. When I questioned them, they said they don't understand how another company can include these cots as they're incredibly variable.

I'm suddenly at a loss and not sure what to think. Excluding things like fumigation of dodgy items, what other costs were you hit with for bringing over a container from the UK? By this I mean, which costs to third parties (port fees, customs, MAF etc) did you have to pay that weren't included in the quote and service provided by the shipping company. We're bringing over a 20'

Thanks!

I've not heard of the all-inclusive option before but it doesn't seem unreasonable unless you have absolutely NO items of interest to MAF. If you are careful enough you should easily avoid things needing to be fumigated but it's pretty hard to avoid inspection. For us this came to about $450 (the shipping company are charged per item inspected) and this was on top of what we paid for shipping. We had a 20ft container too. As for hidden extras we had to pay another $448 to get out container to Ashburton as our quote was originally to Christchurch. A pain but one we had to take on the chin as it did require quite a bit of extra work for them.

The other companies are probably right though - the MAF charges would vary depending on how much they want to inspect.

[Lauralocks]

Our stuff has just cleared customs. The only charges were the standard customs charge, approximately $34 plus GST. None of ours required inspection, despite shipping a bike and hiking boots. I don't know what the $400 refers to - maybe they are working on the basis of the average number of boxes inspected, however if you aren't bringing in too many things that are likely to need inspection you may not incur that many charges, in which case the company will pocket the difference. They should also try to pack things that are likely to be inspected together to minimise the charges. We used Pickfords btw - can't comment on their delivery as our things haven't arrived yet but they've been very helpful to date. Our delivery date is 11 December.

[skuggs]

Thank you everyone, that is REALLY helpful. The companies are Crown and PSS, both of which have a great reputation.

We do have bikes and camping gear which will be of interest to MAF, so will have that packed last so its easily accessible.