Everyone has had or will have to deal with sending a shipment to another country at least once in their life. Sending a shipment to another country is a responsible job that requires some knowledge. In this case, factors such as the size of a shipment, a weight, a country to which you are sending the shipment restrictions, and other things should be taken into account. Also, fast shipping is particularly important, so pay attention to the delivery period.
For isntance, if you send parcel to Spain from Germany you should take some notes before doing it. So, in this article, we will provide the most important tips to help everyone send a parcel correctly to another country and not face unnecessary problems.
The most important aspects
- Two time check the address;
- To be sure you have familiarised yourself with any prohibited or restricted items that you;
- Your parcel pack properly, your parcel is likely to travel many kilometres;
- Make sure you check how long the estimated time, you can see our timings here;
- Make sure you protect your parcel with the inclusive cover on overseas deliveries.
Standard posts vs courier services
Standard posts, dispatcher vs courier services is a big dilemma. For example, standard post offices most often offer low costs but really long delivery times. Parcel within the EU can take up to 3-4 weeks to be delivered. Worldwide deliveries to Asia, Africa, or they can take from 3 to 4 months, thus standard posts can be tricky if you are in a rush.
If it is essential to get a parcel delivered within a week pick a courier service. Most often service providers will take care of your parcel in four-day door-to-door service or different economy service that you can choose.
Sending a parcel in different countries
For instance, If you are sending a parcel within European Union or within countries that have bilateral relations with the EU you don’t have to take care of customs clearance or brokerage which can cause much less trouble if you not experienced in shipments and logistics.
For example, if you are sending a parcel outside of European Union, somewhere overseas, or else you have to take into account customs clearance or brokerage. In order to send parcel overseas, customs will certainly check your parcel and its documentation. Invoice is essential in order to ship parcels outside of the EU.
The most common issue that customers face – indeed the missing invoice in the parcel. That affects the time of delivery drastically because either the parcel returned to the shipper or even gets lost in logistic warehouses, either it is stuck in custom clearance posts as long as the parcel does not have proper documentation to proceed.
To pay attention to delivery time
Also, a great tip is to advise people to pick an arrival date rather than picking a send date. This will give you a better understanding and a bigger window for when to have your parcel ready to send.
This especially is important when you are sending a parcel during the holiday period.
The most crucial delivery information
Keep in mind that there are certain rules when sending parcels. Some countries prohibit alcoholic beverages or medicine. Thus, if you plan to send those either you need to have specific documentation or you can’t send them.
Also, you do need to attach relevant invoice copies when sending parcel outside of the EU.
When it comes to delivery information do not stick with address only, provide as much information as possible. Provide accurate contact information of the recipient in case of an emergency situation for them to pick it up from the depo or in order to find the recipient on the premises.
To be checked before entering a certain country
Not only people who travel abroad need to be checked before entering a certain country. Parcels do have the same rules in these circumstances. I think, there’s no news for anyone, that some countries have import restrictions.
In this way, the best option before sending parcels is to check country’s restrictions on an official website. By doing this, you will avoid misunderstanding and additional troubles. And that’s where customer documentation knowledge comes in handy. There are specific custom clearance requirements.
You are decided and you are planning to ship a parcel with a courier and you are planning your shipment online – you’ll give a downloadable or web-based form to fill in. When filling it in, be comprehensive and descriptive in order to get through customs. Such attentiveness lessens the chances of parcels being held up.
Correct packaging of the parcel
If you already decided what services you are going to use and you are ready to ship a parcel one of the last things to cover is how to properly pack a parcel to avoid holds.
The most important thing when it comes to packing your parcel is its protection. Most courier companies consider parcel safe to ship when they packed in a cardboard box with cushioning inside.
When the item itself is not compatible with the size of the box you are putting it in – it is highly recommended to fill inside with some soft of cushioning. It could be foam, bubble wrap or paper. All of them are fine as long as the items inside are safe to transport.
The last step
If everything that is written above is clear you should not worry about the parcel getting lost or damaged, at least it is not your responsibility anymore. It is time to wait and from time to time check your parcel progress. Courier companies provide tracking numbers for you to track your parcel.
Also, you can share your tracking number with the recipient of the parcel in order to be up to date.
To sum up
In this article, we described some tips how to send parcels abroad and answered to the most common questions in order to help you sort this out as fast and easily as possible. Follow these steps and your package will reach the addressee without any difficulties.
More information you can find ecoparcel.eu
