[StevieD]

Have to ask what people have done to get over this with the shipping insurance. Is it just a case of trawling furniture sites? :(

If so, are there any good sites to start getting an idea.. get the feeling this is going to be a mountainous task.

All help greatly appreciated.

Steve

[Cardiff Irons]

Hi Steve

We started off trying to do some online comparisons but, to be honest, in the end we guessed most and it still took days to do. I ended up with a 12 page Excel spreadsheet. :no

I reckon if I'd properly researched every item on the inventory it would've taken me several weeks solid.

Who you going with? We went with Letton Percival - seemed OK and certainly a lot cheaper than others.

[gil]

Mountainous is the right word StevieD! We did a fair bit of trawling and I think it took us about 2.5 days to complete :( Here's some we used:
http://www.freedomfurniture.co.nz/catalogue/index.html
http://www.thestudio.co.nz/Home.html
http://www.mitre10.co.nz/home/index.cfm
http://www.harveynorman.co.nz/viewPage.tho;jsessionid=D2C737832C818B702E01343B01 3A7899.hxa
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/

Should get you started!
Good luck!
Gil
x

[Kim39]

Steve, next time we speak, which will more than likely be either within the next hour, or maybe tonight then have words with E, as she will put you right on this.


Kim

[StevieD]

Kim, what the ********** is that!!!!! (imagine as appropriate)

MSN will be on soon...


Thanks Steve and Gil - those sites will be useful, already tried for half an hour and my head is cabbaged already!

[Kim39]

Will chase her up as she is still snoozing.....lazy mare:yes

Kim

[StevieD]

And my eyes hurt too :(

http://bestsmileys.com/eyes/14.gif

[wanderingoregonian]

You're probably going with a shipping company so I don't know how relevant it is... but we set up our excel worksheet so that it was both an inventory and our insurance sheet - and that seemed to really smooth the way when dealing with customs and MAF here. So even if it seems like a lot of work for hopefully nothing (as the idea is that your stuff is fine when it gets here) it might help a little to know that it can ease the process at this end to have a good inventory and prices on any newish goods etc. I also marked on the same excel workshop all the boxes that might have something of MAF interest (camping gear etc) and taped those boxes with red tape.

I think page one was a summary, where we boldfaced the boxes with insured stuff (I didn't bother insuring lots of the little things, too much work) and then each tab on the excel was a different box or item. As I was packing, I took digital photos (rough ones) of the box and then the each layer of stuff. From there I could go back and do the inventory/insurance stuff and figured as a byproduct documented the condition of the goods.

You probably already know about it... but for those who haven't this is the document that you'll have to fill out when you get here. You have to use their forms from the office, but it was helpful having this in advance

http://www.customs.govt.nz/nr/rdonlyres/57f48aa6-0081-47bc-98ae-3bd044638529/0/nzcs218.pdf

It did take quite some time, and we only really were doing books and camping gear (amazon and powells.com were my friends). I also was very very glad to know that if I had the web browser open and an excel doc I could switch between them by hitting the alt and tabkeys together, that saved some mouse work....

Are there any web wizzard teenagers around who would do some of the investigating for you? - I know I would have at 17 for a few extra bulks. My dad was always saying things like, if you organize these files I'll give you a dollar a file or a quarter per pound of moving wood/manure, and I thought I was so lucky :laugh Granted I just miss the cut off for Gen Y and I hear they are less interested in such things ;)

We were also told to insure the replacement value, so I set up the worksheet to have one column be value in US$ in Oregon (no sales tax), the next column converted it to $NZ dollars, then next added GST of 12.5%, then I converted that back to American dollars to base the insurance value on since any claims would be in US$ as would the premium. For other things, we just looked a NZ sites, including trademe, and grabbed those prices.

[StevieD]

Thanks for that w/oregonian! Yes, the stuff is being packed by a shipper, but some great ideas all the same - like the spreadsheet idea, guess I'll go along with some of these suggestions.

Steve

[wanderingoregonian]

hope something helped, hang in there.. I remember the insurance lists being such a drag! Plus my passport had been delayed so whlie my OH went off to Hawaii (for his stop over) I was still in mainland US toiling away on the insurance list... probably the low point in my immigration process....

[StevieD]

:( Just got to plod on, early Sunday morning and I about to start again...

[pinkpiggy]

Hi Steve

We're not going anywhere near as soon as you, but we've already started compiling a list. Partly because we've been getting some shipping quotes and obviously thought it would be useful and save some time when the time comes.

This is also a great exercise for anybody about to renew their house insurance (either in the UK or NZ) as you can make sure you get enough cover.

Don't envy you Steve. Keep plodding on. :cheers

[Calbabe]

Do you mean that you have to insure your stuff in NZ dollars and not in GB Sterling. The packers are coming on Friday. I was up til about 1am this morning with OH preparing our insurance proposal (we have been putting off the labourous task!). This was the 2nd one we have done as we argued of the value of stuff the first time. It is a nightmare. Please tell me I don't have to do in over again. I am in the midst of pasking hell at the moment, far too many desicions for be made at once!!

[The Hodges]

Do you mean that you have to insure your stuff in NZ dollars and not in GB Sterling.

As I understand it, the insurance figure is the replacement value, so you need to work out how much the replacement value will be in NZ$ (i.e. the destination), or if can't be bought in NZ, the replacement value plus shipping cost to NZ. Then you convert it to GBP, or the currency that is required.

If it can't be bought in NZ then it would make sense to take off the VAT/GST in the origination country and then adding on the NZ GST, as is mentioned by wanderingoregonian.

Hope that this helps. Good luck. :nice1