Sending household items to Costa Rica from USA page 2 - Costa Rica forum

samramon · 2015-07-01T02:08:10+02:00

Anyone do this? I'm not talking about a shipping container as we aren't shipping that much stuff. What we are interested in shipping is maybe 4-6 boxes maybe 24"x24" of some household stuff like our favorite blender, nutribullet, lightweight ceramic coated frying pan, stereo speakers, some favorite but not valuable art work, used shoes, used clothes, a few electronic items - all used.... stuff like that. Is it best to ship it FedEx or DHL or ? Would it be so expensive it would hardly be worth it to do so? I know most household items are more expensive in Costa Rica, plus some stuff like the Nutribullet may not be available there or may cost twice as much there. I know stereo speakers of good quality are way more expensive than the Bose I have already. But they're heavy! So has anyone shipped stuff like this? Or is it just going to be too expensive? Should I inquire at DHL and FedEx? or are they for sure going to be too costly? I did contact a shipping service out of FL but they charge something like $550 for a pallet that is something like 48" by 48" and 80" high (don't quote me; something like that). To me that seems way too high as I THINK we could replace most of the stuff for almost that same price. Plus we'd have to pay to ship it to FL first which is the real big fly in the ointment (too expensive with that on top of the other cost). So just curious if there are any good solutions. Also, how many suitcases can you bring down on a flight? Usually they seem to charge $25 extra for suitcases so would my wife and I be able to each bring 1-2 extra or ... more? Anyone know? Also I have a grand piano about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide (electronic - Yamaha). Would I be able to bring that down on a plane when I come? Would it count as a suitcase or ?? Yeah sure I can probably find all this info by going around to airline sites, shipping sites etc. But thought I'd ask here - maybe someone has already done the research and can share! Thanks!

Sending household items to Costa Rica from USA

Yeshua39 Member

Member since 17 September 2018

Yeshua39Member17 September 2018 16:51:58

#41

We are currently going through the process of receiving a pallet we shipped to Costa Rica. It is becoming so frustrating my wife started crying. Everything was going great and the pallet was shipped from South Carolina with a broker in SC. The company Multimodal said they had it and customs was checking it out. There are two bikes, cd player, radio for my car, tools, a small welder ($100) type, lights, car mats, stand up paddleboard and other small items. It cost $2700 to ship the pallet to Costa Rica. We were then told to pay for taxes, storage, and other little fees in Costa Rica. We went to the bank and transfered the money $1880.00 We were told two days later the customs agent wanted to check the pallet again. We were then told by Multimodal that they were saying this was not all household items and we would have to repay the taxes again. We asked what would happen to the original amount of money聽 ($1880.00) The Multimodal person said we might get some of the money back. We will have paid over $6000.00 to get a pallet valued at $2500.00 worth of stuff. I so regret doing this that I'm thinking about having the pallet returned to the U.S. and just loosing 5 thousand dollars.

kohlerias ViP

Member since 05 September 2013

kohleriasViP17 September 2018 19:12:54

#42

1572

Very sorry to hear what you have gone through.

I have never heard of this company.

samramon ViP

Member since 11 January 2011

samramonViP17 September 2018 22:45:20

#43

1338

玩偶姐姐Dave wrote:
SanRamon,

I have also used Michael with shippingcr.com. many, times.聽 We ship almost once a month and have never had any problems at all.聽 Michael charges $4.50 per pound with a $30 minimum or you can ship via pallet for $650 per pallet.聽 Pallets can be stacked/packed 7' high.聽 There are no additional import taxes, no brokers, etc., etc.. (As usual with Edwards comments, he talks quite negative and has no idea what he's talking about.)聽 It's a flat rate and you will get everything that you ship.聽 As Terry stated, you simply ship to their Miami address and then pick up your packages, etc. in Escazu.聽 You can also pay a bit more and have it delivered to your door.聽 You can ship anything you want with the exception of illegal items of course.

His info.:
Michael Baird
info@shippingcr.com
506 7241-8772

So, you're finally making the BIG move?

- Dave

Hey Dave, I am interested in shipping some stuff from the USA and so went to shippingcr com and the site no longer works.
Do you know if this Michael guy is still in business?
I am interested in buying some stuff on Amazon, having it shipped to Michael (or someone like this) and then getting it here without having to go to Aduanis in San Pedro or whatever...
Do you know if this is possible nowadays?

samramon ViP

Member since 11 January 2011

samramonViP17 September 2018 22:46:21

#44

1338

Yeshua39 wrote:
We are currently going through the process of receiving a pallet we shipped to Costa Rica. It is becoming so frustrating my wife started crying. Everything was going great and the pallet was shipped from South Carolina with a broker in SC. The company Multimodal said they had it and customs was checking it out. There are two bikes, cd player, radio for my car, tools, a small welder ($100) type, lights, car mats, stand up paddleboard and other small items. It cost $2700 to ship the pallet to Costa Rica. We were then told to pay for taxes, storage, and other little fees in Costa Rica. We went to the bank and transfered the money $1880.00 We were told two days later the customs agent wanted to check the pallet again. We were then told by Multimodal that they were saying this was not all household items and we would have to repay the taxes again. We asked what would happen to the original amount of money聽 ($1880.00) The Multimodal person said we might get some of the money back. We will have paid over $6000.00 to get a pallet valued at $2500.00 worth of stuff. I so regret doing this that I'm thinking about having the pallet returned to the U.S. and just loosing 5 thousand dollars.

Sounds like a nightmare!
Sorry for you...聽 but thanks for posting to let others know what can happen...

samramon ViP

Member since 11 January 2011

samramonViP01 October 2018 21:34:55

#45

1338

That place 玩偶姐姐 Dave mentioned that ships from FL聽 - he said Michael Baird - has anyone used him recently and is it still in business? Price seems a lot more reasonable than AeroCasilla. I assume you used to be able to order stuff from amazon and have it sent to him and then he'd get it to you here without import taxes, right?

Looking for something like that but the phone or web site for him doesn't seem to work.

holisticdoc Contributor

Member since 07 October 2012

holisticdocContributor25 February 2019 23:10:44

#46

103

This is a very important topic post. I am going to subscribe to because I don't want to do the "wait to cross that bridge when I come to it." I'd like to find out all I can right now. My concerns are also similar to some expressed above, such as item damage, theft/loss and unforeseen "extra" fees.