Shipping from UK to Australia

Dear All

I am in need of everyone's experience regarding shipping of furniture from UK to Australia. My hubby and I are moving out to Brisbane early next year and we need to start looking at shipping. Does anyone have any experience that they would like to share with us - do's, don't's, companies used. What to look and ask for!!

Look forward to hearing from you all...

Thank you

Sarah :confused:

You'll find a lot of advice if you simply browse through some of the Shipping threads.

The first thing you should do is start to declutter. Every single thing you ship will cost you money - so get rid of everything you don't really need!

We all have stuff that's too good to throw out but don't actually use/wear - sell it on eBay, or give to charity shops.

Personally, I favour shipping all your furniture and household goods. Some people think it's better to sell/give away everything and start afresh when you arrive - but having just done it in the opposite direction, I don't recommend it. For one thing, if you haven't bought furniture in a while, you'll be shocked at how much it costs! Secondly, you've got enough on your plate without having to find your way around the shops, hunting for things you like.

You'll find a lot of advice if you simply browse through some of the Shipping threads.

 

The first thing you should do is start to declutter. Every single thing you ship will cost you money - so get rid of everything you don't really need!

 

We all have stuff that's too good to throw out but don't actually use/wear - sell it on eBay, or give to charity shops.

 

Personally, I favour shipping all your furniture and household goods. Some people think it's better to sell/give away everything and start afresh when you arrive - but having just done it in the opposite direction, I don't recommend it. For one thing, if you haven't bought furniture in a while, you'll be shocked at how much it costs! Secondly, you've got enough on your plate without having to find your way around the shops, hunting for things you like.

Sound advice. I am in the throws of a huge sort out ready to ship. I'd add start early, especially with selling things. Then you are less tempted to settle for silly offers people make for quality furniture just because you are desperate to get rid of them as time is running out. I'm taking basics that are expensive to replace such as sofas and beds, but I'm ditching the flat packed cheaper stuff.

I found that there is a basic cost to shipping regardless of the amount you take based on costs for packing, transporting, customs etc. this may be for example £1000. After that the cost of individual items becomes negligible e.g £150 for a bed. £200 for a dining setting etc.

You'll find a lot of advice if you simply browse through some of the Shipping threads.

 

The first thing you should do is start to declutter. Every single thing you ship will cost you money - so get rid of everything you don't really need!

 

We all have stuff that's too good to throw out but don't actually use/wear - sell it on eBay, or give to charity shops.

 

Personally, I favour shipping all your furniture and household goods. Some people think it's better to sell/give away everything and start afresh when you arrive - but having just done it in the opposite direction, I don't recommend it. For one thing, if you haven't bought furniture in a while, you'll be shocked at how much it costs! Secondly, you've got enough on your plate without having to find your way around the shops, hunting for things you like.

Sounds like a great plan and I appreciate you coming back to me.. I'm going to take your advice and getting selling stuff on eBay that we really don't need or use and only ship essentials. Better get sorting out..

Sound advice. I am in the throws of a huge sort out ready to ship. I'd add start early, especially with selling things. Then you are less tempted to settle for silly offers people make for quality furniture just because you are desperate to get rid of them as time is running out. I'm taking basics that are expensive to replace such as sofas and beds, but I'm ditching the flat packed cheaper stuff.

I found that there is a basic cost to shipping regardless of the amount you take based on costs for packing, transporting, customs etc. this may be for example £1000. After that the cost of individual items becomes negligible e.g £150 for a bed. £200 for a dining setting etc.

Thank you for your reply.. I just need to be honest with the furniture shipment the - being quoted between £2.5k and £3.5k between different logistics companies. All systems go now - so much to do.. Stressful..

Dear All

 

I am in need of everyone's experience regarding shipping of furniture from UK to Australia. My hubby and I are moving out to Brisbane early next year and we need to start looking at shipping. Does anyone have any experience that they would like to share with us - do's, don't's, companies used. What to look and ask for!!

 

Look forward to hearing from you all...

 

Thank you

 

Sarah :confused:

where are you moving from? We are flying over in January so need to ship in December. Done loads of clearing and not much selling but too much for 20ft container at the moment... Need to decide what we really want to take..... Don't want to pay for 40ft... Had Anglo Pacific pickfords and clockwork out. Crown coming on Monday but will start haggling then decide.... Guy from Anglo Pacific v knowledgeable and spied an oil lamp with fir/pine cone stuff in it it can't go... Had two friends used pickfords. One just gone so waiting on goods and other friend one small breakage otherwise all good x

Dear All

 

I am in need of everyone's experience regarding shipping of furniture from UK to Australia. My hubby and I are moving out to Brisbane early next year and we need to start looking at shipping. Does anyone have any experience that they would like to share with us - do's, don't's, companies used. What to look and ask for!!

 

Look forward to hearing from you all...

 

Thank you

 

Sarah :confused:

We moved from UK to Sydney last year. We used Crown removals. Really good service. It was based on volume rather than weight, so I measured out roughly the size we would need and ordered that. After, we got a refund from Crown as the final volume was less than we ordered. A bonus was that we didn't need to pack anything, they turned up and boxed it all up, packed it really well. In Sydney they would have unpacked it and taken all the boxes, but we just had it stored in a friends garage, so they left it all in the boxes. They did unpack and rebuild the bikes.

We didn't have any furniture, but lots of records, books and kitchen stuff. We sold all our tv/stereo equipment and donated a lot of stuff to charity after having a clear out.

One good tip, bring over some UK extension sockets. Then you can just change the plug to a Aus one and use all your UK gadgets with UK plugs.

We used the move cube from sevenseas. couldnt fault the service and arrived early. If you dont need a full container it is a viable option (or more, i know of one couple that used 2 movecubes and staggered the departure / arrivals)

Bear in mind for all the stuff that you want to keep and ship - it'll be on a boat for roughly 3 months, so you need to manage for the last 3 months in the UK, or the first 3 months in Aus or as we did, about 6 weeks each side.

This might help plan for if you really need certain things, or would you need them straight away etc forcing you to buy regardless.