Questions on Shipping & Customs from London to KL

[omarjamaludin]

hi guys,

might be going back to Malaysia for good sometime end of this year..so in this period of one year i have amassed err quite a number of 'toys' and now in a rut on how to send them back to Malaysia from London
the current plan is to send them back using UPS to Malaysia..it's quite expensive but oh well...anyway got some questions:

1) do you guys know anybody who does shipping from Malaysia to London cheaply and safely for either both air freight or by ship? if by ship how long?

2)i'll be sending off my personal items like guitar , small guitar amp , surfboard and err photo enlarger (yikes). Will there be any trouble at the custom regarding shipping own personal items? is there any specific custom laws/ rules that I should know that would apply to me in this case? like special exemptions for personal items etc.

well erm that's all for now thanks ya

cheers
Omar

[khoking]

I do not think that you will want to ship via surface (Sea). It will take around 3 months to reach UK from Malaysia. Box will be damaged to beyond recognition...regardless of how careful you pack it. Still good chance that you might receive your box...but inside content might have been damaged.

Air parcel or EMS is still the best, unless if you are going to ship a full house, then use container and ship via sea.

[omarjamaludin]

thanks KK,
i've shipped my stuff from US to MY using ship before..took about 3 months too and everything arrived in one piece..

most probably i'm gonna send it through EMS/UPS so it'll arrive faster, any ideas on any potential custom issues when sending back personal stuff?

[noruazumi]

potential custom issues when sending back personal stuff?

based on my experience sending stuffs from US to MY, custom checked every single box, open them, empty the boxes, check every stuffs in the boxes. and when they are finish, they just throw in everything into the boxes eventho' i packed all of them properly. i even lost a few stuffs too. not sure how they got lost.

that's based on my experience, maybe i'm jinxed!

[Leslie2005]

Hi Omar i shipped my personal effects , if i remembered there were tonnes of it....probably a few hundred kgs in over a dozen huge boxes from Manchester back to KL.

Many of the items were books, magazines, clothes god heavens what i collected. haha

In all i spent if i am not mistaken over a few thousand MYR, probably more couldnt remember.. but it was a few hundred pounds plus including VAT .

You might wanna try this site..

http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/
prob might wanna google more.

There are quite a number of International Movers...albeit many British Expats living in Msia and also the large number of Malaysian students in UK. I didnt use Fed Ex...as my total billed would have easily exceeded 5 figures .

But i waited a couple of weeks before it was delivered back to me, in all i paid insurance etc...and they took care of customs as well. Cause they did indicate clearly returning student in the documents from UK.Everything was in perfect condition.

Most students use international movers if you really have more than 3 suitcases of stuff to bring home.

[RAD]

Hi OJ! Agree with Leslie. Use international movers. When I moved back to KL fro Australia a few years back, used a mover too and everything arrived in one piece. Every item accounted for - non were missing. They did everything for me. Door to door delivery. It cost me over AU $300 to ship everything back. Ard 50 boxes.

In the UK, it would cost about GBP300-500 for the same amount of boxes but one of the seniors here told me that to get the entire container cost around GBP700. Do you know any one in London who'll be returning to KL about the same time as you? You can share the costs then and put everything into one container.

[eugene]

http://www.shippingtomalaysia.com/

We used this the last time I came back. Cost about 40euro a box. A large box is quite big, I manage to shipped back a 12R framed photo with borders in it and had other stuffs in it too. Takes about 3weeks to arrive in port klang by sea and another week to deliver straight to penang. It has house to house pickup too.

[noordin]

Personal effects have no issue with Customs. But if you're gonna ship the items then you should use a forwarder who will also have local agents to handle and clear the cargos here in Port Klang.

I had a container to ship my son's stuffs from London (with his car in it). And again a container to ship my other son's stuff and our apartment things from Melbourne, Australia. I had many new stuffs that I bought in Melbourne in that container but it was no hassle. And the container was delivered right to my house.

But expensive lor............

[omarjamaludin]

he he noordin...

thanks guy for the info .. gotta find out about that forwarders , trying to get the items shipped straight to my house..

cheers

[noordin]

Yes. You can have door-to-door service. That means they'll clear the Customs and arrange transport for you. It'll be hassle free and worth the bit extra.