International Shipping & Ordering: Stories/Tips/Tricks/Advice

[CornAndBeer]

As another data point, it looks my current box made it through Chicago customs and may get delivered today which will make it a 7 day delivery from BiaB. Hoping everything made it considering what some of these recent boxes have looked liked.

Indeed, all is still good in the Midwest

4 days from leaving Belgium to my hands. Thanks Kurt!

 

[tosh1]

i'm in the process of getting a box proxy'd to the uk then sent to me here, the guy mentioned that hes close to a service called royal mail which ships to the states. has anyone had experience getting boxes from that company? just want to avoid any possible issues with customs but FWIW i am on the east coast.

if this falls through i'm gonna have to find someone else in EU that can assist me with this box

Just to confirm what SeattleBeerPenguin said. Royal Mail is just the standard regular mail carrier.

 

[Calcifer]

Had two boxes ship from Belgium on 5/27, both landed this week. One on 6/1 and one on 6/2. No problems with customs on the East Coast still.

 

[Padraig]

Yes Royal Mail is the equivalent of USPS, except it's been privatised unlike you Americans with your socialist postal service.

Technically Royal Mail only send small packages and letters. Bigger items (which this will be) have to go through Parcelforce, their courier division. Same company just a different brand. Be warned it will be expensive if he just rocks up to the counter and gets a quote. A six bottle wine shipper to the east coast will run at about £120/$180. So either get him to measure and weigh the box for an online quote from the Parcelforce website and arrange for them to collect or print out the quote and get that price if he does send it from the local post office.

The cheapest option is to go through a 3rd party consignment agency. If he does do this I would suggest to only go via Parcelforce or DHL as UPS and Fedex are more likely to reject it.

https://www.parcel2go.com/

I've sent at least 20 boxes to the US via Parcelforce and never had a problem. Usual story about not declaring it as alcohol although they don't care as long as it's less than 70% ABV. You can use the tracking ID to follow the box on both their site and USPS' (both companies are part of the EMS system). Should take 4-5 days.

 

[kindaphunky]

Had two boxes ship from Belgium on 5/27, both landed this week. One on 6/1 and one on 6/2. No problems with customs on the East Coast still.

Yup, mine went out through Miami and my buddy's came in through NY no problems. He uses DHL and then usps takes over.

 

[DrLoveMD]

Indeed, all is still good in the Midwest

4 days from leaving Belgium to my hands. Thanks Kurt!

So I take it mine is good news?

 

[CornAndBeer]

Very rarely do mine not get "retained" but they always get released and show that "departure from international depot" as the next update.

I would be expecting your package shortly

 

[adschus]

I've had a box with ISC Chicago for nearly 6 days going to the Netherlands. Anyone else experiencing a delay?

 

[bsc]

they are busy watching the stanley cup, bro.

Maybe try bribing them with a Mornin Delight to get it movin' along

 

[adschus]

they are busy watching the stanley cup, bro.

Maybe try bribing them with a Mornin Delight to get it movin' along

Unfortunately, I traded it away for too many loons. Do you think they like loons?

 

[Hopping Tiger]

Hate to be this guy but I placed an Etre order 7 days ago and have heard nothing on it since. Status just shows "processing". Was trying to get this in before I go on vacation in a couple of weeks. What should I do? Panic and freakout? Or just be cool and wait? When do you start with the emails?

 

[thrashD]

Hate to be this guy but I placed an Etre order 7 days ago and have heard nothing on it since. Status just shows "processing". Was trying to get this in before I go on vacation in a couple of weeks. What should I do? Panic and freakout? Or just be cool and wait? When do you start with the emails?

i wouldn't panic, Belgians/Europeans can sometimes take some time to answer emails. I emailed them a week ago about my reservation beers and for a shipping quote and haven't heard anything back yet so they might just busy/backed up/away.

never hurts to send a follow up email though.

 

[balesfc]

Hate to be this guy but I placed an Etre order 7 days ago and have heard nothing on it since. Status just shows "processing". Was trying to get this in before I go on vacation in a couple of weeks. What should I do? Panic and freakout? Or just be cool and wait? When do you start with the emails?

Saturday was the deadline for shipping items reserved over the past three months. I'm guessing they are a bit behind on shipping orders because of that. I wouldn't be worried about it.

 

[Shakedwnst]

I placed an order on the 13th that was just shipped yesterday (they said Friday but sent the info yesterday). I emailed to change the shipping address, so maybe that helped.

 

[Hopping Tiger]

Etre sent me an email this morning saying my order is shipping out Friday. I didn't even have to follow up. Golden Blend on its way to me. Go Belgium!

 

[Shakedwnst]

I placed an order on the 13th that was just shipped yesterday (they said Friday but sent the info yesterday). I emailed to change the shipping address, so maybe that helped.

Annnnnd it's on the truck for delivery today

 

[Shakedwnst]

Annnnnd it's on the truck for delivery today

Also arrived JFK last night at 5pm, already on the truck for delivery in Philly this morning. Thanks JFK customs!

 

[kindaphunky]

Hey guys. I mostly acqure my lambic elsewhere, but recently bought some golden blend on BIAB. The tracking number forst showed a few things on Bpost, just that the information was submitted and that it was sent out....anyway 6 days later I look at tracking and it is blank, and still no usps tracking info for that number. Anyone else ever experience this? I did send a change of address request to BIAB after I submitted the order, as I just moved, but got no response to that yet.

 

[kindaphunky]

OK so its been over 2 weeks and 4-5 emails, with no response, no package, no tracking, etc. Wow BIAB. Looks like packaging is about the only thing they do right.

 

[Xul1]

Any updates on shipping to the West Coast? I've heard of a couple people in CA receiving packages ordered from Belgium but I have no idea if it's dumb luck or if something changed.

 

[wolfman1201]

I tried to search but failed. Can someone give me an idea on price for shipping 12 bottles from Etre or BiaB?

 

[mrk_d]

I tried to search but failed. Can someone give me an idea on price for shipping 12 bottles from Etre or BiaB?

11x 750s = 78 Euro from Etre (you can add 11x bottles to your cart to check this).

 

[boogercrack]

11 depends on the bottle..... 3f and cant are heavier than say... tomers.

 

[duhduhdee]

Quick question, I read the first few pages but don't feel like reading 17 pages worth.

So shipping beer internationally is illegal. I have a friend in Taiwan who loves good beer and is going to have to drink ****** Taiwanese beer for a year. The two of us brewed beer, and I would love to send her some of my own as well as some other limited release type stuff, I know she would really appreciate it.

From what I've read, you guys seem to all be of the attitude that "Yeah it's illegal, but it's not that big a deal and the worst that could happen is your beer gets seized".

Is that about right? Or are there real legal ramifications for the sender or receiver if your box gets inspected and they (US or foreign customs) figure out it's alcohol?

 

[mrk_d]

Quick question, I read the first few pages but don't feel like reading 17 pages worth.

So shipping beer internationally is illegal. I have a friend in Taiwan who loves good beer and is going to have to drink ****** Taiwanese beer for a year. The two of us brewed beer, and I would love to send her some of my own as well as some other limited release type stuff, I know she would really appreciate it.

From what I've read, you guys seem to all be of the attitude that "Yeah it's illegal, but it's not that big a deal and the worst that could happen is your beer gets seized".

Is that about right? Or are there real legal ramifications for the sender or receiver if your box gets inspected and they (US or foreign customs) figure out it's alcohol?

My buddy is doing 15 months in a low-security federal prison for shipping beer to himself from Belgium.

 

[thejukes]

My buddy is doing 15 months in a low-security federal prison for shipping beer to himself from Belgium.

He must've cooperated and given up some names, because it's a 24 month mandatory minimum.

 

[balesfc]

Are boxes consistently clearing LAX customs now? Or should I still be shipping through a proxy?

 

[sunnrider]

I get beer shipped to me here in Spain, it´s perfectly legal here. The only issue is that sometimes the boxes get stopped temporarily by Customs in order to calculate duty. Lately this happens more frequently, they just request a list of contents and a receipt for the value. Obviously I don´t have any proof of purchase or receipts so in the end I just fabricate one using photoshop and some online pics. They´re okay but not exactly reliable.

If anyone could upload some pics of their ticket for 6 beers and/or 12 beers from any beer store I´d appreciate it. I don´t care if it´s PBR, Lagunitas or Heineken (maybe not Heineken, doesn´t make sense to import that) It might help speed up my boxes getting through. The current one with fresh Vermont hoppy beers has sat in Madrid for 11 days.

 

[kscaldef]

Are boxes consistently clearing LAX customs now? Or should I still be shipping through a proxy?

I've been looking at 3F volume packs wondering the same thing

 

[RyanG1]

Are boxes consistently clearing LAX customs now? Or should I still be shipping through a proxy?

I've been looking at 3F volume packs wondering the same thing

Believe Etre is okay, but not BIAB.