I have about 3 boxes, 4 guitars and 3 suitcases to move from Adelaide to Toronto.
I looked into freight forwarders and a few other options. It almost seems cheaper to pay 100 for additional pieces of luggage (Qantas allows up to 5 extra pieces). For small amounts there doesn't seem to be any economical way of moving stuff internationally.
Anyone have suggestions?
Trying to sell 2-3 of them. (Have 5 or 6 currently).
The remaining 3-4 are rare and difficult to replace.
You must not be a guitar player!
Do it through airlines. You can use their unaccompanied baggage service instead of paying excess rates
https://www.qantas.com.au/qfreight/qfe/retail/baggageservice…
Ah ok, weird that they didn't suggest that when I was chatting online with Qantas. Will look into it.
I got a quote for 3 pieces using the unaccompanied baggage service (All less than 23kg). Over 1200. WTF?
Unfortunately you do have an awkward amount of stuff.. Too much for Qantas allowance and not enough to justify a consolidated shipment through a freight forwarder. I used to work for Qantas Freight, i'd be terrified to know how much that would cost you from Adelaide to Toronto.. especially considering it'd be routed ADL>SYD/MEL>LAX>YYZ at bare minimum..
You could duct tape 4 guitar cases together and claim it as one article.. if it weighs over 23kg then you just have to pay an additional excess for overweight baggage (as long as its under 32kg..). For the rest of it, i'd be getting larger second hand suitcases or maybe even sports suitcases in order to consolidate the 3 suitcases plus boxes down to 4 suitcases.
I once moved interstate, flew Qantas, had 4 suitcases, a bike and a backpack (that i carried on). If I had of used larger suitcases I could have consolidated those 4 suitcases down to 2 if they were reaaally big suitcases..
Sea Mail is still cheap - it takes months to arrive but a fraction of the cost
Really? When I checked via freight forwarders and AusPost, the prices were pretty crappy. Is there a better way?
Is there a specific company to go through for sea freight to get a good deal?
Have a look at Seven Seas Shipping (not sure if they have exactly the locations you want), but I used them to ship 60kg (2 large boxes) over from London to Melbourne and that cost AUD$150 + AUD$120 (customs charge). It's not exactly cheap but may be a bit more affordable
Sell it all and start life fresh!
Im pretty sure you can buy guitars in Canada…