Shipping Guitar to South Korea? UPS or Fedex? USPS?

[rustyAir]

I'm moving to South Korea in a few weeks. I was considering taking my Martin OM-18 Authentic 1933 on the plane with me, but I have other plans before my move, so shipping is probably a better option (to someone I know living in Korea).

I have to choose between UPS, FedEx, or possibly USPS, and I was curious if there's a better one. I will be selecting the fastest shipping option since I'm extremely worried about damage.

Does anyone have good experience with shipping a guitar to Korea? If so, which company was it?

I'm not selling this guitar, and I hope to keep it until my time ends, but I need to pay all customs and broker's fees, right?

Thanks

[67goat]

I've only done imports for things I have bought, so I won't speak to the fees part. Customs is a web of rules that I don't want to give bad information based on something I've read (even if it was off the government's own website.

As for shipping service, everything I've gotten from there came from DHL.

[UncleJesse]

From what I've done with overseas shipping USPS has always been preferred because it gets around brokerage fees. There may be import fees still involved but at least USPS doesn't try to shake you down for several hundred bucks like UPS and Fedex do. I've shipped to Denmark, Canada, Israel, Korea, and China (by way of a freight forwarding service).

[BigTim]

I have shipped guitars to France and Australia. But I used USPS. I am not sure how the others would work but I am sure it would be similar since they all provide tracking numbers.

Make sure you insure it and make sure that you state the value on the foreign custom papers. And do not let them talk you into putting a lower valued price on the customs form.

[Johnny_lzl]

I've tried UPS twice, buying guitars from Japan to Hongkong. It took around 2 days at the custom, and 1 day on the flight.
Both guitars were packed with the original hard cases, and corrugated boxes. Both arrived safe. The expense was around 120 USD each.

[jmhill]

Originally Posted by rustyAir

I'm moving to South Korea in a few weeks. I was considering taking my Martin OM-18 Authentic 1933 on the plane with me, but I have other plans before my move, so shipping is probably a better option (to someone I know living in Korea).

I have to choose between UPS, FedEx, or possibly USPS, and I was curious if there's a better one. I will be selecting the fastest shipping option since I'm extremely worried about damage.

Does anyone have good experience with shipping a guitar to Korea? If so, which company was it?

I'm not selling this guitar, and I hope to keep it until my time ends, but I need to pay all customs and broker's fees, right?

Thanks

I live in Korea, and have shipped a few from the West Coast (CA, OR, WA) using FedEx. Didn't have any issues with shipping, no damage, and everything arrived on time. Although it was a bit more $$$ compared to USPS, IMO it was worth it. Just be sure to package it well. I used stewmac's inflatable bottom and tops with the orginal box the guitar came in and have never had any issues with damage.

You will need to pay customs fees 100%.
It's fairly easy to do though and the system is pretty straight forward for making a payment. (either online or through a korean bank)
If your friend already lives there, it may even be easier if they have a korean bank account or some type of korean mobile pay already set up. Might be easier for them to pay on your behalf.

Not sure if you are active duty military, but if you are, you may not have to pay the customs as long as the address you are shipping to is an APO/FPO, AP, address.

If you need any more info or any help feel free to DM me and I can try to give you more information or help out with whatever you need.
Cheers

[rustyAir]

Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate all the input.