A Students Guide to Shipping your Luggage Abroad

Student Shipping Guide

Never sent anything abroad before? Not sure whats involved or what you need to do?

This guide aims to provide some simple answers to those questions and help you to choose how you want to send your luggage, guide you through the booking process and make sure you are prepared when it comes to sending your items.

Calling/Emailing for a quotation:

When calling or emailing for a quotation we need the following information from you:

Collection address in the UK
Destination City/Town and Postcode
You name and telephone number/ email address
A rough idea of the amount of goods you wish to ship
Whether you want DOOR TO PORT (Cheapest) or DOOR TO DOOR

To order your boxes:

You can ship your own boxes/suitcases if you prefer but we do offer boxes free of charge. Each box is 49 x 49 x 49 cms, can carry up to 25 kgs and is specially designed to hold items for shipping.

To order these please do the following:

Call/ Email Joanna (English & Chinese speaker) or Gaz in the office
joanna.hanchett@advanceforwarding.com
gaz.hodson@advanceforwarding.com
Provide the number of boxes you require (remember 8 of our boxes = 1 x cubic metre)
Provide you full collection address & telephone number
Tell us which day you would like delivery (deliveries usually take place between 10am and 4pm)
Pay a deposit of £20.00 – this can be paid to the driver on delivery or over the phone. This will be refunded off your total shipping cost at the time of collection

Packing your items:

When packing your items to be shipped please follow the below instructions. There is no time limit for you to pack. Just call/ email us when you’re finished to arrange collection.

boxes/suitcases are to be no more than 25 kgs each
DO NOT pack any toiletries, perfumes, aerosols, chemicals or cleaning products
DO NOT pack any un-treated wood objects (wood that is not varnished/ waxed etc)
Do not pack any FRAGILE items
Make a list of the contents in your boxes/ suitcases
Please label and seal your boxes/ suitcases, label them with your full name and destination address
DO NOT TRY TO HIDE ANYTHING HAZARDOUS/ DANGEROUS- THIS WILL PUT YOURSELF OR ANY OTHER PASSENGERS AT RISK

Collection Procedure:

Once you’ve packed and labeled your items in your boxes or suitcases, you need to contact us and arrange a collection date/time

Call/email to arrange a time/date of your collection
The driver will weigh and measure all of your items and calculate your total cost
Pay the driver the required amount by cash/ credit or debit card
Fill out the declaration form (can be downloaded off our website or the driver will provide one)
You will need a photocopy of the photo pages in your passport and give this to the driver
When we have the items in our warehouse we will book and confirm all of the shipping details to you, either by email or telephone
Please make the driver aware of any ‘Special requirements’ such as approximate delivery dates etc

Things to remember:

Your shipment will go on a DOOR TO PORT service unless otherwise stated
Please be aware of the one-off payment of £40.00 for airfreight shipments (charge for security/ x-ray and handling)
If you have any specific delivery date for your goods, please let us know otherwise your goods will be sent on the next available flight/ ship
With sea freight we do require a couple of days to pack your goods on to a pallet suitable for shipping (included in price)
Don’t forget the copy of your passport
We do not collect heavy items, such as fridges unless previously stated at time of booking
For cancellations on the day we will charge £20.00 extra, please allow 1-2 days notice
For collections outside of NOTTINGHAM, LEICESTER, DERBY. LOUGHBOROUGH, WARWICK/ COVENTRY, BIRMINGHAM areas, collection fees apply.
For DOOR TO PORT service, you will be expected to pay for customs clearance charges at the destination. Charges are out of the control of Advance Forwarding and are applied by the destination customs. Charges should be minimal.

INSURANCE: (This MUST be stated at time of booking if required)

We offer insurance when shipping your items. If your shipment is valuable we do recommend purchasing insurance.

Our insurance is just £25.00 per £1000.00 cover
It covers loss, theft, damage caused by miss-handling
The damage MUST be reported at time of receiving your items and SIGNED for as DAMAGED
It does not include any fragile items such as china, glassware or ornaments
Insurance is not available to all countries, please ask for details
For a copy of our insurance terms & conditions please click here