Packing light.....will ship stuff back to the states!!

Viajera · Sep 27th, 2005, 03:04

Hello All,

All the advice on packing is wonderful.

Due to my wonderfully light and small pack I will need to ship stuff I buy in India back to the states. Is there a limit on what I can bring back? Is there anything I should know about customs, other, ect. Is the shipping form a pain the butt to fill out

? How reliable is the postal system in India?

Chandra · Sep 27th, 2005, 03:18

I know that many people disagree with me, but I'm a big fan of the Indian postal system.

I've sent around 20 parcels by sea from different places in India to Norway, and all of them arrived safely after one to three months. The two I sent by air took around a week. Sending books by sea costs nothing, so my personal library is growing a lot for each India-trip.

I love it!

C

camelgirl · Sep 27th, 2005, 03:53

The Indian Postal System is just fine & efficient. We've always got whatever we sent. The big problem is when it gets back to the USA. It also depends on what you send.

We never sent clothes or books, just arts & crafts purchases. You cannot know in advance what customs will charge you back in the US before hand. At least not on arts & crafts stuff. Clothes & books may just come right to your house.

We bought a wonderful wooden 40 lb. Ganesh for $160 and by the time we were able to retreive it from US Customs, with all the added charges connected with all the admistrative things that I can't begin to explain, including us having to go down to get it and pay the customs brokers fees, and all sorts of costs, Ganesh cost $400!!!!! We will never do that again!

But we do still love the sculpture.

Nick-H · Sep 27th, 2005, 04:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viajera

... ...

Due to my wonderfully light and small pack I will need to ship stuff I buy in India back to the states. ... ...

Buy a case there and bring? Shame to waste that valuable baggage allowance...

(Yeah, OK, I appreciate that you don;t want to lug stuff around...)

traceyam · Sep 27th, 2005, 05:08

I use FedEx to ship boxes back to the U.S. from Delhi, usually just inexpensive (but meaningful!) souvenirs and personal items. They need a list of contents and are unhappy if you've already sealed the box but they'll usually ship it anyway. Once I had some toiletries that included liquids that apparently weren't supposed to be in there, but they let that go. It takes about a week for them to reach Arizona and everything is always perfectly intact.

wonderwomanusa · Sep 27th, 2005, 12:56

The parcels I shipped from the Puri by sea mail arrived in San Francisco in about two months; the airmail parcel was much faster. Neither was very expensive and all contents were intact when they arrived.

Sep 27th, 2005, 03:04	#1
Viajera Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bay Area Posts: 25	Packing light.....will ship stuff back to the states!! Hello All, All the advice on packing is wonderful. Due to my wonderfully light and small pack I will need to ship stuff I buy in India back to the states. Is there a limit on what I can bring back? Is there anything I should know about customs, other, ect. Is the shipping form a pain the butt to fill out ? How reliable is the postal system in India?

Sep 27th, 2005, 05:08	#5
traceyam Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 426	I use FedEx to ship boxes back to the U.S. from Delhi, usually just inexpensive (but meaningful!) souvenirs and personal items. They need a list of contents and are unhappy if you've already sealed the box but they'll usually ship it anyway. Once I had some toiletries that included liquids that apparently weren't supposed to be in there, but they let that go. It takes about a week for them to reach Arizona and everything is always perfectly intact. __________________ "Don't you sometimes wish the arctic was strawberry flavoured?" -- Thermoman

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Sep 27th, 2005, 03:18	#2
Chandra Compulsive India traveller Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Oslo/Trondheim, Norway Posts: 195	I know that many people disagree with me, but I'm a big fan of the Indian postal system. I've sent around 20 parcels by sea from different places in India to Norway, and all of them arrived safely after one to three months. The two I sent by air took around a week. Sending books by sea costs nothing, so my personal library is growing a lot for each India-trip. I love it! C

Sep 27th, 2005, 03:53	#3
camelgirl 10 year Visa okee dokee Join Date: May 2005 Location: Swannanoa NC usa Posts: 1,018	The Indian Postal System is just fine & efficient. We've always got whatever we sent. The big problem is when it gets back to the USA. It also depends on what you send. We never sent clothes or books, just arts & crafts purchases. You cannot know in advance what customs will charge you back in the US before hand. At least not on arts & crafts stuff. Clothes & books may just come right to your house. We bought a wonderful wooden 40 lb. Ganesh for $160 and by the time we were able to retreive it from US Customs, with all the added charges connected with all the admistrative things that I can't begin to explain, including us having to go down to get it and pay the customs brokers fees, and all sorts of costs, Ganesh cost $400!!!!! We will never do that again! But we do still love the sculpture.

Sep 27th, 2005, 12:56	#6
wonderwomanusa Maha Guru Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Northern California Posts: 3,479	The parcels I shipped from the Puri by sea mail arrived in San Francisco in about two months; the airmail parcel was much faster. Neither was very expensive and all contents were intact when they arrived.

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