BEWARE - shipping items home from overseas diving destinations can result in unforeseen costs

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This discussion has been quite enlightening.

I would like to offer that if you research how much it costs to take extra baggage back, it might not be as much as you fear. Add to that the security you will have about having your items there when you get there.

Perhaps Marie or someone can tell us what kinds of issues might arise if / when I bring back some art items from Bali to the US on the flight.

Thanks,

Bill
 
billt4sf:
This discussion has been quite enlightening.

I would like to offer that if you research how much it costs to take extra baggage back, it might not be as much as you fear. Add to that the security you will have about having your items there when you get there.

Perhaps Marie or someone can tell us what kinds of issues might arise if / when I bring back some art items from Bali to the US on the flight.

Thanks,

Bill
Click to expand...

Wood? First off, Lacey Act!
 
Bill I am retired and spent many hours chasing paperwork and dealing with questions like send us a copy of your accounts with the total amount you paid for this item, note must be a scan or clip of real account (a cut and paste into word is unacceptable) or they won't accept it. This is just one of the 15 to 20 things I had to get done in a very short time before storage costs start. My importer said that if I left it in storage for a week I could double the amount I have to pay!!!!

It all looks wonderful but Marie is right, if you don't fully understand, as it is an area for an expert! then don't do it!
 
@billt4sf

Bill, Bill, Bill... let me reiterate. Unless you have a ton of spare cash to burn for unexpected costs do NOT bring anything back from Bali. Period. I have no clue what has you so absolutely set on this idea, but banish it from your mind. It is not worth it.
 
I'll add extra baggage might be more than you expect as well. We brought luggage back from Bali (hey there is that place again!) and a 3rd piece was like $100 but a 4th was like $300+. That doesn't really have to do with it being Bali but the airline fees. My point is to specifically check instead of assuming and getting to the airport for a big surprise. We brought some smaller art things, nothing big, and declared them. It's just cheaper in the long run.
 
billt4sf:
This discussion has been quite enlightening.

I would like to offer that if you research how much it costs to take extra baggage back, it might not be as much as you fear. Add to that the security you will have about having your items there when you get there.

Perhaps Marie or someone can tell us what kinds of issues might arise if / when I bring back some art items from Bali to the US on the flight.

Thanks,

Bill
Click to expand...
Bill - Don't know if this will help you but I remembered, whilst in Ubud, I was chatting to one of the local artists. He said he displays his art in frames but NEVER sells them like that. He rolls the canvas and has special plastic tubes so you can either take them on the plane or post them home.

That way you may avoid the nightmare.
 
Assuming Bill doesn't plan to bring home artwork made from an illegal substance/plant/etc., my recommendation is to make sure the item is well sealed in your suitcase and then put it into freezer or an unheated outside building or container (Assuming freezing temperatures). You need to kill the weevil, etc.

Ask me how I know. LOL
 
If he is actually in Bali or even in SF, he's going to have to look hard for a cold place... besides I'm surprised that would kill insects. I thought they would be around even after nuclear war...
 
Shasta_man:
If he is actually in Bali or even in SF, he's going to have to look hard for a cold place... besides I'm surprised that would kill insects. I thought they would be around even after nuclear war...
Click to expand...

It's been working great!!
 
Not SCUBA, but travel and importation related.

Billy and I went skiing in Austria, and each day the ground operator would come to our hotel and sell us various transportation options for choices of different ski areas. They had an array of college age girls who spoke whatever languages needed to service the visiting skiers. Billy meets this Russian girl and is instantly smitten with Svetlana, a stunning creature of classical features, education and culture and brains. We return to the US, but Billy kept in contact with her. Lots of contact... $1,ooo phone bills. Trips to meet her at the Rooskie version of our Caribbean. Visiting her in Rooshia. Say $25,ooo worth of long distance dating in total.

Yadda Yadda Yadda, now we are off to Moscow to get Billy married to Svetlana. Aeroflot airfares times the 5 of us, rooms at the hotel next to the Lubianka KGB Prison, tix to the Bolshoi, food and beverage and all of that, maybe another $20,ooo... Hard to say what with the highly variable flim-flammerry exchange rate. Maybe another $3,ooo to get married all legal and paperwork including the Zil limousine with sirens and lights (grampa was a decorated Komissar) and celebration dinner (where they put me next to a former KGB agent that I likely tried to kill in Grenada but it's all good now, vodka comrade mujik!)

Moscow for two weeks in this situation was truly one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had. This place was pure Jabberwocky, through the looking glass type insanity. Everything you know is wrong. Nukkin' futz, Boris.

We go back to the States. A few months later, they get Svetlana all crated-up and shipped to O'hare to get her big welcome.

She didn't like it here. Decried the lack of culture. She wanted no more, and went home 4 months later. Add another $10,ooo for the RMA (return merchandise authorization number), airfare, the paperwork for divorce, cost of shipping her clothes back (which we stuffed the extra space with some American toilet paper as a parting gift).

Yes, when shopping abroad (or for one), do be cautious of the hidden costs.

(If you want to do this as a SCUBA Diver, try the Philippines. It's been a noted phenomenon)
 
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