Recommendations for shipping to EU countries

Could anyone suggest the best ways of shipping lenses outside the UK?

Equivalent to RMSD within the UK, is what I have in mind.

Specifically to Germany, in this case, but it may be relevant to other countries too.

Many thanks.

Royal Mail do an International Signed for service - with insurance up to 500 GBP.

Otherwise you need to look at DHL or similar.

http://www.parcel2ship.co.uk/

http://www.tnt.com/express/en_gb/site/home.html

Airsure (Royal Mail) is slightly better than international signed for.

Really depends on weight and value.

In this case, it's a DA 35mm

However, more generally, I guess up to a couple of kg, and a few hundred pounds.

Under 2kg and under £500 ... Airsure via Royal mail.

Some countries don't qualify for Airsure so then I would use International signed for.

To be honest UK postage has gone up so much in the last 12 months when sending abroad with tracking/insurance that a lot of the time it's just not worth it to the prospective purchaser.

Depends on what you're looking for, price-wise. DHL are owned by Deutsche Post, so I suppose if you wanted a courier service, they're the guys, although expensive! Better option is to use a reliable independent courier company, where you are talking to somebody that actually cares about you and your shipment. I noticed that you are in south-west London - give Lisa Dunlop a call on 020 8844 2676 tomorrow (Monday). She's the GM for Corniche International, where I work as the ops manager. We can collect from you, or you are equally welcome to call in to our office! If you do so, you are what's referred to as an "unknown shipper", so for security reasons I'd advise you to leave the package open for inspection. If you are happy for us to deliver this to Germany for you, you can also choose to pay by cash or CC. If you tell Lisa that you're a friend of mine, I'm sure she'll give you a slightly more favourable price.

I just send Intl. signed for, with no insurance. I have never had anything broken or lost in the mail! My main concern is the buyer receives the item then says he hasn't and demands a refund. If the item was worth several hundred pounds I would probably fork out for it though. DHL I would steer clear from, after seeing footage of couriers chucking flatscreen TVs over hedges

As Mike says, Airsure is the way to go. I've sent stuff all over the world (including the USA) and never had a problem, and it's available for Germany.

Personally I think it's cheap. I'm spending more time in Spain now, and bought a boxed FA* 24 (which is bigger and heavier than the DA 35) on this forum recently which the buyer sent to me in Spain. I forget exactly, but I think postage came to about £13 with insurance (again more than would be necessary for the DA 35) included. Pretty reasonable in my opinion.

If it is signed for you know it was delivered. The purchaser cannot then claim it wasn't.

As for DHL - one delivery driver, in the US and you want to paint an entire international company black? I have never had a problem with them.

That was FEDEX - SPECIAL DELIVERY!!..

I have .. and being an ex postmaster have also seen how the post office employees treat the parcels they deliver.

When selling I always make sure the amount I am asking includes enough to put insurance on anything I send. I usually give buyers abroad the option of insurance on the understanding should an item arrive broken (or not arrive) then I am not responsible if they don't pay the extra.

Airsure is very good, but I would not post to Italy again.

I think you cannot ship with Airsure to Italy..
Or maybe the 2 comments were not related?

I ship quite a few lenses and cameras all over the world and the percentage loss is very, very small. I'd take a risk on Royal Mail Small Packets for items of relatively small value, but be careful with items over £500 as the cost will be huge if you want them properly insured.

Exactly, that is precisely why I use signed for (but don't bother with insurance on most things). Badly worded post - sorry!