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Hi all, We were granted our visas this week (hurrah!). We aren’t taking a lot with us but we would like to send a couple of suitcases ahead of us (I have relatives there already so we can have them delivered there). I’ve done a few online quotes and they seem extortionate. Would we be better to pay for extra baggage on the flight and take it on the plane with us or is there a reasonable company out there for sending just a couple / few suitcases? It doesn’t matter how long it would take to ship them over, I’ll happily start packing now! This is Midlands UK to Sydney. We’d appreciate any advice.

Hi, We're aiming to move over to Brisbane next year and I want to be as organised as possible because we've got a lot of stuff to sort through in our house, some of which we intend to sell and some we want to take. I'd like to begin clearing our loft first and sorting piles out for car boot sales/eBay etc. My questions is, does each shipping company have their own specific boxes you need to pack your things into and if so do you buy them direct from the shipping company or are they standard packagin boxes you can buy online? I'm thinking that if there are things we won't be needing before we go I could get started putting stuff to keep in boxes so it won't get mixed up with the sale stuff. This will also give us a better idea of how much stuff we want to take to get a quote for shipping. Any advice you could give about where to begin with shipping would be really appreciated as at the moment it looks like a really daunting task! Thanks.

Does anyone know any shipping companies who let you pack your own boxes (but not furniture) for shipping? I had PSS round to do a quote and they said as we only have about 200 cubic foot it would cost the same for them to pack it as if we packed it ourselves, which seems a bit weird. We partly wanted to pack it ourselves for convenience, partly to save money, but also as it's all done on space I (perhaps stupidly ;-)) think I can pack a bit more in (or at least have a greater incentive to). Anyone packed thier own? Thanks Sophie

We are currently packing boxes to send with the post office in Spain, We have decided on the slower option of sea rather then air. They have given us a simple form CP72/pem to fill out with 3 lines for contents and said to generalize whats in the box (clothes/kitchenware/shoes etc) Does anybody know if this is sufficient for Australia? should we be contacting the Customs dept or anything like that , we are sending to our sisters house , would it be better to use her name or ours? thanks

Hi All, I'm moving back to the UK in June and need some advise on shipping. I don't really have much to take back with me as I've sold it, but I have a few items likes pictures, clothes, CD's, DVD's etc that I want to take back with me, but my suitcase will be to full. I think I'll only need 2 boxes, but just wondered if anyone knew of a site where you just make a one off payment, fill the box and ship without having to worry about measurements etc. I've seen sites from UK to OZ, but not the otherway.:arghh: Any information would be greatful.... Thankyou :ssign5:

Hi there, we are moving from rental to rental and stupidly gave back all our moving boxes to Crown when we moved here from NZ. Does anyone have any moving boxes in the Gold Coast/Brisbane we could borrow/have? Many thanks in advance:cute:

Hi all I'm heading home for a while and need to ship a few boxes. Most of the info I can find is around whole house moves and talking in terms of containers. I just need to send a few boxes - any ideas on the best people to use? Thanks! Ruth

Hi, I'm packing my own boxes at the moment (a necessity as only one of us is moving, so not everything is coming)... Does anyone have a photo (or can just tell me) how their movers marked the boxes - ie. what did they write on them and where? I guess you need name, contents, box number and destination, but would love to see an example of how the professionals have done yours before I go messing up my nice new boxes. :biggrin: And did they just mark one face of the box or every side?

Hiya:biggrin: Wandered if anyone could help me please? We are moving to Australia in 5 weeks time (eeek!!) and need to send over 6 boxes of our belongings including the children's Christmas presents, old clothes, kitchenware and 2 boxes of the children's old toys. My problem is I've never sent anything before and am paranoid about it not getting there or being returned. We are sending the boxes just before we leave so if they are returned for any reason we won't be in the UK to receive them. How specific do I have to be when writing out what's in the box? Can I get away with 'children's toys' or do I have to be really specific and write 'cuddly toy rabbit with an ear missing'?!! Also with the Christmas pressies, can I wrap them or not? I think we will send them with a courier like parcel2go but are there any other declaration forms we have to enclose + is there a limit on how much the stuff is worth? Will we be charged loads the other end for sending out new things like wii games, Nerff guns for Christmas presents and if so how much?? Apologies for the amount of questions but I really want the stuff to get there and am imagining a massive bill of $100's!! Please help? Thanks xx :err:

I am planning to move back to Edinburgh early next year and was wondering if anyone could recommend a company to ship just a few boxes with? Thanks Emma :hug:

Hi there, We are shortly moving out of our rental accommodation in Brisbane into our new place and we need packing boxes - particularly book boxes. Does anyone have any that they need to get rid of - we are happy to pick up. Thanks :smile:

Hi everyone, I am looking at very shortly shipping about 10 - 15 boxes, I gave the shipping companies a rough estimate of the size of the whole amount roughly 3 cubic metres but they seemed to want details of each individual box. I am just wondering how much notice do the shipping companies normally need to arrange picking up the boxes. Mostly I am unsure of how much we will have to ship until it is all packed but do you think a shipping company would be able to take our boxes with about a weeks notice? Thanks!

Hi guys, i only have about 6 boxes of stuff i want to take with me its all packed ready to be properly packed when needed......but what do i do??..who do use..is it the same as shipping an entire house full?? ...and does t get put in someone elses container to help fill it....im so unsure of how to go about this...and will i be charged tax when i arrive in australia...its juts sntimental stuff really .??...im of to sydney early next year:eek:

Wasn't sure whether to post here or in Dilemmas but here goes nothing. Got the keys to our rental today and already we have some mail in our very nice mail box. My question though, is what happens if you have a parcel or a lettler that doesn't fit in said mailbox? Does nice Mr Postie knock on your door, leave it near the front door, try a neighbour or what? :unsure:

Many new houses in the UK are "shameful shoebox homes" which are too small for family life, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has said. It says average three-bedroom houses are 8% smaller - the space of a single bedroom - than the recommended minimum. The institute, which looked at 3,418 three-bedroom homes in England, based its findings on building regulations which have come into force in London. The House Builders Federation says that bigger homes could prove unaffordable. RIBA's Case for Space study discovered the average two-storey three-bedroom home for five people was 8 sq m (86 sq ft) too small. It claims the shortfall in space is the same size as a single bedroom with a bedside table, wardrobe, desk and chair. The most common new three-bedroom house was also found to be only 77% of the recommended minimum - the space equivalent to two double bedrooms. Shameful shoebox homes are being churned out all over the country, depriving households of the space they need to live comfortably” RIBA chief executive Harry Rich The institute's research was based on the 96 sq m (1033 sq ft) London Plan space standards which have just been introduced in the capital. There are currently no UK-wide standards. 'Cramped life' RIBA chief executive Harry Rich said new houses were causing some people to endure a lower quality of life. "Our homes should be places that enhance our lives and well-being," he said. "However, as our new research confirms, thousands of cramped houses - shameful shoe box homes - are being churned out all over the country, depriving households of the space they need to live comfortably and cohesively." The institute wants consumers to get better information from estate agents and house builders. For example, it is calling for floor area to be included in marketing material and floor plans to include furniture, so that people can get a clearer idea of the size of a property. The Home Builders Federation however, said that if new homes were built bigger, some people would be priced out the market. "If you increase standards you're going to increase costs," said head of planning Andrew Whitaker. "That's going to mean houses are going to become more expensive and we're already suffering from a lack of affordability for young people and first-time buyers."

I'm getting to the stage now where I'm wanting to start sending stuff over to Australia. All I really have to send are about 5 boxes of goods (50x50x50cm), a 32" TV, a push bike and a couple of pictures in frames. What or who are the best companies to use and what sort of costing do you think it would be? (I'd want it collected from Birmingham and delivered to Wollongong). Any help greatly appreciated. Alternatively, if anybody has a container going over to Sydney soon and has room for these items that I could fit in that would help too! (I'm happy to contribute of course). Bazz

I'm sure this question has been posted a million times but I hope some of you dont mind helping me out :wink: We are at the stage of working out what to bring with us and as its not a lot I feel a few boxes/crates will be more than enough, can anyone reconmend a haulier that will be prepared to ship a few boxes (we would rather pack these ourselves) any advice on costs, customer care etc would be great, thanks for taking the time to read this :chatterbox:

Hi All We have just had Anglo pacific around to take away out years of hoarding and was a bit shocked at the amount of boxes they went away with. Our original quote was for 28 boxes and they totalled 39 on departure. I picked up a few of the boxes as was curious and the felt near empty! Has anyone else had this experience? Has anyone else challenged them on it? Also more nuisance than anything else but they packed stuff we asked not to go (like the foot and pipe to our vacuum cleaner that we were giving to a friend. It's going to be hard work cleaning the flat now without the foot! Bit random as they picked this up from the don't take pile). They also forgot some stuff from the do take pile. I have half a mind to call Monday and ask to go to the warehouse and ask to retrieve the misplaced items and put back the things that should have gone but I'm not sure if this is the done thing or not?) has anyone else had experience of this? Thank you very much in advance for any advice offered.

Hi I will probably be moving in the next couple of months. We're just starting to have a sort out in the loft and so far we are putting a lot of stuff into plastic boxes. When we do have the shippers in, are we allowed to keep it in them or do we have to use their boxes? I only ask as there's quite a good deal on the boxes near me at the moment and I was going to buy a few more - but its not worht it if I have to empty them and use something else.

Hi All, I'm really struggling to find the right deal here. Heres what needs to be shipped: 1) A small box about 10kg of textbooks. Not negotiable to leave behind as I am still at Uni. 2) A larger box with personal effects, trinkets, shoes and the like. Maybe 10kg all in but volume a bit bigger I would like to ship both by air as when I looked into sea, it takes way too long for me and also comes with additional charges that make it not worth the wait. I have a couple of options, Fedex do an economy service, 3-7 days for £70 for box 1. This seems to be the same price that the 'movers' charge, without the added hassle of having to use their boxes, have them come back, pay extra fees etc. There are excess baggage companies charging around the same for the two boxes, £170ish for both but I have to deliver them to their depots. Anyone had any experience with small scale shipping of stuff, and if so, who did you use and what were the costs? I should add, I don't have transport at the moment, and will most likely be catching the bus Stansted - Heathrow, so difficult to drop stuff off anywhere. And I leave in 11 days. :twitcy:

Hi PIO we have got the shipping people coming this week to give us a price for shipping to Brisbane. Wwe have been disscussing what were thinking of taking and its not going to be that mush as we think it may be to much, and to be honest we will be downsize anyway when we get to Aus. depending on what price we get, do all the main shipping companys do small containers etc, just to ship boxes over, plus some electricals goods, TV's, stereo's Photos, xbox etc. any information will be appreciated Cheers, Troy

Hey all Just wondering, what service did you use for removals? I have 2 14kg boxes and one slightly larger one to be sent to Brisbane, what companies would you recommend? Thanks :cute:

Hi, Can folks give me any advice on companies that can handle this small shipment from Oz to the UK? I suspect air freight might be the simplest way to go... I can't wait months for the box to hit the UK. I'm going back to England for a few months and have a box of books and other stuff in a suitcase I need to get back with me When I came out to Australia in the autumn I used parcelflight from the UK to ship a few boxes from England to Oz (which they did through UPS), which was a good price (though a hassle as UPS came chasing a crazy amount of money and I had to try to get them to speak to parcelflight in the UK to resolve, which was not easy). I'm leaving for England in just a few days - so any leads would be a HUGE help!! Cheers and thanks:jiggy:

Hi, I probably should be posting this in the 'return to the UK' forum but I didn't see any shipping related info there.. I wonder if anyone can give me advice on companies that can handle this small shipment? I suspect air freight might be the simplest way to go... I can't wait months for the box to hit the UK. I'm out in Oz doing a phd but am heading back to the UK for a few months, and can't take the books and other print material in the suitcase! When I came out here in the autumn I used parcelflight to ship a few boxes (which they did through UPS), which was a good price (though a hassle as UPS came chasing a crazy amount of money and I had to try to get them to speak to parcelflight in the UK to resolve, which was not easy). I'm leaving in just a few days - so any leads would be a HUGE help!! Cheers and thanks

Hello All I know this post has been done many times before but I wanted to hear some recent experiences. I only need to ship a few boxes with books and some of the little ones toys etc. Any advice always appreciated including costs, we live on the south east coast Thanks TT x