Help! Fastest shipping importers?

[MattDean]

As someone who imports infreqently, could anyone tell me which online retailers get the titles to you the quickest?

I know a lot depends on (obviously) when stock is received but they all use different companies/methods to ship items and I just want to know, in your experience, which companies are the fastest and roughly how long you wait?

I have used Movietyme, Axel and PlayUSA in the past BUT have had to wait up to a month after the release date before receiving certain items.

If it matters, I'm only really interested in US Region A releases as opposed to Canadian blu's.

Thanks,

Matt

SORRY IF THERE IS ALREADY A THREAD LIKE THIS OR ONE WHICH ANSWERS MY QUESTION - I DID SEARCH BUT DIDN'T FIND THE INFORMATION.

[Chordata]

Vandalay Industries?

















(kidding! Besides this obvious Seinfeld joke, I have no idea.)

[dirkblack]

dvdworldusa deliver 2 to 3 weeks early, You pay a little more, but you recieve within 3 to 4 days.

[popcultureboy]

Wow no kidding you pay more with them! Coraline is on there for £19.99, plus £1.95 shipping (an additional £2.95 on top of that if you want to insure the delivery.)

So that makes minimum outlay for Coraline £21.95 to get it express delivered. It also states they ship from Florida but makes no mention of whether you would have to pay any import duty. I'll stick with Amazon, where you could get the same disc for £18 including shipping, no import duty as it's under the threshold amount and it could arrive not much after the express timeframe given by DVDWorld. My copy of Watchmen took a week to arrive from Amazon.

[ijokr]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

Vandalay Industries?

I thought that was latex importer/exporter

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by ijokr

I thought that was latex importer/exporter

Oh, you think you know all of the things Vandalay Industries imports and exports? Who are you, Putty?

[richieb1971]

I used tower.com for ages and ages. Recently though they found problems with my credit card. I would still use them otherwise.

5 working day delivery from the USA
Customs never touched a single order of mine because no receipt on outside of packaging.
Quite cheap (comparable to amazon.com) But without amazons ludicrous 5 week wait.

They don't ship early, but you get good prices and almost always get movies 5 working days after release date.

[popcultureboy]

Interesting you say that tower.com found problems with your card. I work for a credit card company and last year we had a massive issue with fraudulent card usage which was traced back to tower.com. For that reason alone I would never touch them.

As for Amazon's 5 week wait, that's really dependent on the postal service. I ordered Blade Runner and Watchmen from them and both arrived 8 days after dispatch.

[samdaman94]

playusa.com?
how long does that take?

[MattDean]

THANKS for the replies

Sorry for being naive but what's the amount you can pay up to before you get charged import duties? Is the amount simply the value of the item or does it include the cost of postage?

I have read recently the amount is changing - any news on this?

Also, has anyone else used DVDworldusa? Would you recommend it?

Matt

[richieb1971]

Realistically one Blu ray is all you can get in a package to safely clear the fence.

I bought Kill bill double pack from amazon a while back and got £12 added on at customs. Since it took so long to get here from amazon the UK release was available before I got mine and it was over £10 cheaper.

You want to use a company that doesn't put receipts on boxes, since then it doesn't matter if you have a PS3 in there, they can't touch it unless they have grounds to open the package.


People should chime in here with this criteria.

A) How long to ship to UK?
B) Do they receipt outside of the box?
C) Does the online store ship before release date?

[richieb1971]

My experiences -

TOWER.COM


A) 5 working days with cheapest option
B) Not that I am aware (never been charged customs)
C) no


Amazon.com

A) Up to 5 weeks for me with cheapest option, other option too expensive.
B) YES, you'll get hit everytime if more than 1 blu ray
C) no


PlayUSA

A) 5 working days
B) YES, I got hit on the Bourne trilogy for £12
C) no that I am aware


Currently expecting dvdpacific.com's Braveheart but already its 5 working days and still not here. They charged me up front as well. No return emails yet.

movietyme.com needs a review.

[dirkblack]

Originally Posted by popcultureboy

Wow no kidding you pay more with them! Coraline is on there for £19.99, plus £1.95 shipping (an additional £2.95 on top of that if you want to insure the delivery.)

So that makes minimum outlay for Coraline £21.95 to get it express delivered. It also states they ship from Florida but makes no mention of whether you would have to pay any import duty. I'll stick with Amazon, where you could get the same disc for £18 including shipping, no import duty as it's under the threshold amount and it could arrive not much after the express timeframe given by DVDWorld. My copy of Watchmen took a week to arrive from Amazon.

They dont charge import duty,it does say this in their terms and conditions. If you buy a box set they ship it to their uk branch then re post it to you, Which i think is quite good.

[ijokr]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

Oh, you think you know all of the things Vandalay Industries imports and exports? Who are you, Putty?

Yeah, Magic Eight Ball!!

[josuv22]

Originally Posted by MattDean

As someone who imports infreqently, could anyone tell me which online retailers get the titles to you the quickest?

I know a lot depends on (obviously) when stock is recieved but they all use different companies/methods to ship items and I just want to know, in your experience, which companies are the fastest and roughly how long you wait?

I have used Movietyme, Axel and PlayUSA in the past BUT have had to wait up to a month after the release date before receiving certain items.

If it matters, I'm only really interested in US Region A releases as opposed to Canadian blu's.

Thanks,

Matt

SORRY IF THERE IS ALREADY A THREAD LIKE THIS OR ONE WHICH ANSWERS MY QUESTION - I DID SEARCH BUT DIDN'T FIND THE INFORMATION.

I use deepdiscount.com
in stock movies shipped within 1 - 3 days and took 7-10 delivery via USPS destination post office.
pre-orders all of these shipped before the the Street date. all shipped between 3-7 days before rls date.
they also don't hold orders ie all instock items ship and any back order items ship as they come into stock at no xtra cost.

also used dvdpacific.com had 1 order with them so far took 2 week for em to ship the order.

[Reduman]

Originally Posted by popcultureboy

Wow no kidding you pay more with them! Coraline is on there for £19.99, plus £1.95 shipping (an additional £2.95 on top of that if you want to insure the delivery.)

So that makes minimum outlay for Coraline £21.95 to get it express delivered. It also states they ship from Florida but makes no mention of whether you would have to pay any import duty. I'll stick with Amazon, where you could get the same disc for £18 including shipping, no import duty as it's under the threshold amount and it could arrive not much after the express timeframe given by DVDWorld. My copy of Watchmen took a week to arrive from Amazon.

Mmmh ... this is a bit of a tricky one. I live in Germany so the delivery times to here may well differ from those to the UK. I, too, import a lot of US titles. In the past I have mainly used DVDworldusa. They appear to be somewhat quicker than Axelmusic.com. Deliveries from DVDworld (and yes, they do come directly from Florida) take on average 7 working days from despatch - normal airmail. I have not yet had to pay import duties on any single titles, though I know a lot of these packages are inspected by German customs by the green ink stamp on them stating as such. Now, if you were to order a high-value boxset, or 4-5 blus at once, I do not know if they'd turn a blind eye to the import duty due. But that's my experience here. UK Customs and Excise may be stricter, or more lenient, I do not know. I guess most customs authorities are more interesting in preventing imports for commercial gain, than bothering genuine film collectors. As one film is clearly not usually for resale, I think as long as it is under or close to the import minimum, charges will not normally be made. It is probably not worth chasing up 1-2 pound charges, which might be due in some cases, as a cost/benefit analysis would show.
But I digress. Axelmusic.com usually take a longer while to despatch and deliver with an average of 9 working days delivery to here. Now that is longer than I usuallly like, but sometimes it is also a balance between longer delivery time and a cheaper blu-ray (5-7 Euros cheaper than others sometimes). With Axelmusic, you often also have an option of sourcing the Canadian version at a cheaper price (2-5 Euros cheaper usually). With Axelmusic, you are never quite sure just from whence your blu-ray will come! Most to Germany appear to enter the EU through an address near Heathrow, London. Some come via Belgium, others via New Zealand!! (you can see from your order whether your goods have been shipped from New York, LA, Toronto etc)I have never yet been charged customs for Axelmusic goods, possibly as they all appear to be repacked and shipped from within the EU, thereby not attracting customs duty.
You can also order blu-rays direcly from the US Amazon.com. Here you will normally attract a heavy express shipping option to receive your goods within a reasonable timeframe, plus an "import fees deposit", which will cover any customs duty due. The advantage is that you have fixed costs and the fee will be reimbursed, if it is not charged. On the other hand, these hefty extra costs very rarely make it worthwhile to order single items directly from the United States.
From my experience, I have never had anything get lost in the mail yet. I have had to use both DVDworld's and Axelmusic's customer services on occasion and matters have always been resolved quickly and to my fullest satisfaction.
The bottom line is to judge for yourself what is important for you: price, early shipping option or fast delivery etc. and go with that. I hope my experience can help.

[Reduman]

Sorry, it is me back again.

Any incoming mail containing merchandise from outside the EU normally has to have one of those customs labels stating the [true] value of the item within, on it. Customs are allowed to open any item of mail they see fit under postal regulations and making a false declaration about the mail content can -as far as I know - theoretically lead to prosecution. Now if you pay for your goods and the sender puts on a false declaration to put it under the import duty threshold, I believe that the sender (and recipient?) can be done for that.

Some links for UK readers:

ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/pu...toms_guide.pdf

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/internet.htm#4

[richieb1971]

Just put $5 DVD on the package.

Thats what dvdpacific done on my braveheart.

[Reduman]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Just put $5 DVD on the package.

Thats what dvdpacific done on my braveheart.

As you can see from my earlier post, I certainly do not recommend anyone break the customs/postal regulations of the territory where they live, or ask someone to do so on their behalf. Without wanting to sound melodramatic, each person has to face the possible consequences of their actions. I'll leave it at that.

[nekromantik]

I have never had a dvd or blu from Axel take more then a week. Last 2 bds came in 4 days and they ship pre-orders early. I have been using them for over a year now.

Plus never get customs charges