Has anyone ever done this?
I am selling my DH bike on Pinkbike and a guy from Russia asked if I would post. Figure why not. UPS want £333 to send the bike out. Now I have no idea if thats good or bad! It sounds a lot. Is it?
Has anyone sent anything to Russia before? Who did you use?
Not sent any bike outside of Europe so cant help although judging by recent Europe postage costs it sounds about right. But I would just gather some prices and send them to him if he wants to pay that then fine, but I suspect they will leave it. Or alternatively get them to arrange pick up/delivery.
I did it once, it was a story of pain and suffering, broken promises and stressful exchanges with the Russian buyer.
I assume by the price you have that you've done it properly, got a quote the EXACT address, the EXACT dimensions of the package and the EXACT weight? I made the mistake of using a quote from Parcel Monkey using weight and country alone.... bit me in the arse that.
Not all couriers go to all parts of Russia. I had one accept the delivery, then refuse to send the dispatch note, but the poor courier turned up twice a day until they cancelled it.
There is some sort of trade embargo in place or something which prohibits to sending of stuff directly to someone’s home, I forget the exact details, but in theory it could be seized in Russia and it's gone. I had to risk it, but if I did it again, I'd made sure the buyer knows they accept the risk.
Personally I wouldn't offer to ship outside the EU again, it's a right faf.
Yeah I am wondering if its really worth it! I had a quote from TNT for 135 with approx generous bike box dimensions and weight as I don't have a bike box to measure at the minute!
How much did you end up paying P-Jay?
I can't remember exactly rhid, but it was more than double what I quoted the buyer and had to paid it myself.
It was only a frame, but it was between £100-£200, took forever to get there over-land. 2-3 weeks or something.
I got so pissed off with it, I threw myself at the mercy of the local post office counter, lucky for me the guy who served me was in his 70s and work their for 40 years - even then it took 3 forms and about 45 mins to sort it all out.
Make sure you get the money in your account first, get it insured and don't do returns as it'll probably never come back. Once had a discussion with a business colleagues about some kit we sent to Russia for an exhibition and he thought we'd get it back 🙄
I queried this with UPS a few years back. Apparently stuff goes "missing" at customs.
Having worked in Russia I would say the chances of it arriving at it's destination [s]complete[/s], at all, or of the recipient acknowledging receipt are at best zero.
I wanted to post a bike to my flat at St Petersburg,the quotes I got were a bit above that. I used it as an excuse to ride from Holland to Finland and finished the journey over on the ferry. Given the experience I had doing business in Russia I was glad I did, the place is ****ed.
There is some sort of trade embargo in place or something which prohibits to sending of stuff directly to someone’s home, I forget the exact details, but in theory it could be seized in Russia and it's gone. I had to risk it, but if I did it again, I'd made sure the buyer knows they accept the risk.
This and
Having worked in Russia I would say the chances of it arriving at it's destination complete, at all, or of the recipient acknowledging receipt are at best zero.
This.
Step away now. it won't get there. I tried to send a frame out there once, and after jumping through many, many hoops to complete the transaction, the courier wouldn't commit to it actually ever arriving to the final destination and saying it could take weeks/months to clear customs, if it ever did.
Done it many many times. You can send with parcelforce, that gives you a 50/50 shot of it no coming back as they seem better at dealing with customs. But the carriage is way overpriced.
Other carriers are good value, but you need a federal tax number for customs, which ONLY businesses have, and Russia does not have a large amount of businesses in the public domain.
Hope that sheds a little light.
The place 'runs' on a system of pyramid theft.
If you work on the shop floor you can take a a few (large) crumbs home, if you are the supervisor you can take loaves, if you're the manager take a crate of bread, if you're the MD what you want.
There was some big History of Russia tome written just after the tsars were booted out and the preface was simply "Theft."
The guy suggested I send it to his place in Finland instead which should be easier and cheaper. I hope!