Smallish load shipping queries - customs, quarantine and ownership

[supermatt]

Hi all,

 

My girlfriend and I are uprooting from the UK and heading Sydney because I lost my job in the UK and she is from Sydney. Because we had been living in rented accommodation, we don't really have much furniture so are mostly just shipping personal effects in boxes. Also, I am South African, so I am currently in South Africa arranging defacto partner visa while my girlfriend is wrapping things up in London before she leaves.

 

With regard to the paperwork, it asks questions about ownership of the goods being shipped for customs. Because I don't yet have my visa, I'm technically not allowed to ship to Aus, so my girlfriend has to do the shipping. The paperwork asks that she owns everything being shipped when we really jointly own a lot of it, except for some clothes and shoes of mine as well as my 2 bicycles. How much of a big deal is it if she ships some of my stuff for me but claims ownership herself? Can we say, by virtue of being in a defacto relationship, that we jointly own it all and so she partly owns all of the things of mine which we are shipping.

 

The other thing, bicycles are supposed to be cleaned for shipping. I gave them a quick clean, so they are basically 'as clean as a used pair of shoes', but still with a little bit of grease on them.

 

Any help, tips or experiences would be appreciated.

 

Matt

[Etienne]

Hey Matt,

 

Also a former PMB boy here. I do not have answers but am more curious then anything else. We will be moving to Sth Aus in May-ish 2011, and have already started getting quotes for shipping. We do not intend to take all our furniture as we will be renting our place out here in the UK and will be leaving some stuff, so we are also shipping a "Smallish load" what sort of quotes did you guys get. And is there a lot of paper work and effort involved? Would starting the shipping process in Jan 2011 only leave me enough time to arrange it all?

[supermatt]

Hi Etienne,

 

I started calling around for quotes in August and compiling a list of comparative prices (only half a days worth of effort really). All the company's I spoke to could deliver boxes within 2 days and collect with 2 days notice. Shipping time was generally much the same. We got our boxes delivered about 2 weeks after I started looking into it, and 2 days after I called to place the order.

So January for a May move is almost too soon - maybe look into if if you want to check out the company's, but you'd be ok leaving it until April I'd think.

 

We ended up going with a company who a couple of friends had recommended and who turned out to have the best rate.

 

PM me with your email address if you want me to email you my spreadsheet of prices.

 

Matt