To ship or buy new?

jbiggley · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 7:08 am Post subject: To ship or buy new?

I am trying to decide what to do with a house full of furniture. I am pretty sure that I am going to sell off most of my electronics (unless of course it is more economical to keep them). Having a computer is of the upmost importance since we will be leaving _all_ of our family behind. Heck, my inlaws live next door another relative a block and half away and my parents about 30 minutes away!

Here is the situation. I just bought new leather furniture (which my wife is absolutely in love with!), and have associated other items that are needed to run a household of 6!

Which is cheaper - ship or buy new?

Josh
Ontario, Canada

andy · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 3:07 pm Post subject:

I would say ship! You will have trouble replacing alot of the things you sell for the amount of money that you will get for them second hand. I am expecially gutted about my big beautiful fridge freezer, it was in perfect conditionand I got £150 for it, it will cost me about £500 to replace it with the same here.

veronica · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 9:53 am Post subject:

Hello, can we have some more info like the fridge/freezer bit please thats really usefull,

and have you any idea what they are like about normal ikea type pine furniture at the customs check. Hmmm

thanks Veronica

andy · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 7:04 pm Post subject:

I think most furniture is ok, as far as I am aware its just the bamboo type things you have to be carefull about.
I would recommend bringing all the little things with you. It is good to have familiar things around you. We brought crockery, kettle, towels etc.
I would strongly suggest, if you have children, bring as much of their things as possible like favorite duvet covers and books. Large items like beds and sofas are not really worth bringing unless they are expensive or much loved. Propertys here mostly come with a cooker and dishwasher as standard so dont bother with them. Microwaves, videos, dvd players are cheaper to buy here than ship in my experience.
Please please be carefull with your choice of shipping company and insurance. I was ripped off in a big way and ended up with damaged and missing things that the company refuses to pay out for.
Rather than persue them from this end though I have told people about them and they have lost 6 times more money in business than they would have if they had looked after me!
Word of mouth is great, like these forums, make informed decisions and dont rush into anything that sounds good from the brochure.
Hope this helps, let me know if there is anything specific you are not sure about!

karltsmith · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 8:33 pm Post subject:

Hi Andy,

are you prepared to name and shame the company???

andy · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 8:38 pm Post subject:

Sure. The goods were packed very poorly by Brittania and when they arrived damaged and some lost they were not compensated as per the claim, with Incorporated insurance services. Even after producing photo evidence. Brittania refused to back me with the insurance company.

Scrivo · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 12:43 pm Post subject:

Robert · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 9:06 pm Post subject:

GULP.

MY stuff is coming with Britannia too! Confused

Mostly though thay have been quite good so far.

Will be sure to let you know how it goes (mind you - I thought that the small print of the policy was so hopeless it was not worth paying for accidental damage and instead opted for total loss cover only)

roberto · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:40 pm Post subject: U Pack We Ship

Has anyone had any experience with www.upakweship.co.uk ? They do some good weight rates on air freight and can move you from door to door.

Also, has anyone looked into Air Freight VS Shipping, costs VS benefit?

Cheers

Rob (must get an Avatar)

richsadams · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 4:55 am Post subject: To Ship or Not to Ship?

Hi Scrivo!

Thanks for the posting about the moving company. We're considering Allied/Pickford's too.

You wrote:

richsadams · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 5:23 am Post subject: What to Bring?

Hi Josh and Welcome!

We're taking our "good" furniture (leather, oak, etc.) as well as a lot of our home theater electronics and a refrigerator. (They'll need about $500 worth of transformers but we think it'll be worth it.) When we were in NZ a couple of months ago we shopped around and found replacements either lacking in quality, too expensive or non-existent. Confused

You can keep your computer! Nice One

Almost all computers (as well as many printers, scanners, digital camera chargers, etc.) will work in NZ as they are built to utilize 110V or 220V - 60Hz/50Hz. Desktops generally have an internal switch on the power supply (check with the manufacturer). Laptop A.C. power supplies switch automatically. You'll only need a plug adaptor for either.

I posted a couple of articles on electronics in another thread if you want to take a look...

http://emigratenz.org/community/viewtopic.php?t=145&highlight=

And on advice from several others, if you really like some of your stuff, bring it! It's a trade-off btw original cost, shipping and replacement though so you might want to reconsider that crate of eight track tapes! Laughing

richsadams · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 5:41 am Post subject: What to Bring?

Sazzle · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 8:30 am Post subject:

Transformers?

If you are going to NZ from the uk you wont need any transformers.

Also, for items from america, often you will find, especially if its overseas made ( ie not made in USA) that it may already have a "tap" for othercountries

Maybe?

richsadams · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 9:32 am Post subject: Transformers

Thanks Sazzle and absolutly right! Folks from countries with 220V - 240V electricity will not need transformers when they move to NZ (only much less expensive plug adaptors). Clapping

(Didn't notice that Veronica was from the UK Embarassed

)

Note however that NZ televison works on PAL B, thus UK and other Euro TV sets will not work in NZ (picture/no sound) without a signal converter.

Thanks for keeping us honest! whip

Alan · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 9:37 am Post subject:

With TV's check your manual before you get rid of that very expensive widescreen TV you trested yourself to. Some Japanese makes do support various signals as does my Toshiba TV, so maybe no need to give away after all.