Shipping goods to Peru

3POSTS

13 years ago

Don't EVER, EVER ship personal goods to Peru. It took my husband a. week of working all day every day before we finally picked up our humble belongings.this involved trekking from one side of Lima. To the other, getting a stamp here,filling in a form there. We had to fill in one form 4 times before it was accepted. Then we had to return to the same place way out in the outskirts of Lima.the folowing day after our form had Ben checked. Then it was another trip across town to have our goods inspected. Once inspected , we didn't get to take our goods. We had to go the following day to another place where our goods had been sent when we finally got to pick them up.
We were charged duty on used CDs and our old laptop which was obviously for personal use.
The whole exercise cost us thousands of dollars far more than the value of the goods.

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russpeters Active member

37POSTS

13 years ago

I agree,unless you feel the cost and trouble would be worth it.

I recently sent a knock down wood chair I bought while living in
Thailand many years ago by LAN Cargo from Los Angeles.

I carefully boxed it to meet the size and weight limitations for accompanied luggage. LAN Airlines told me it would cost US$90. or maybe US$180 if I took it with me as a 3rd piece of luggage. So I took my box to LAN Cargo and paid US140. for shipping and airport handling.

Now here is the bad part: It took me most of the day in Lima waiting in lines, filling out forms, paying fees of US$76. for LAN documentation then another US$76. at the freight company at Lima airport, then US$40 to the airport storage company and finally US$30 to customs for the 14% import duties. Personal, used unaccompanied baggage was ignored. The chair will need new cushions as I did not ship those, so this will be an expensive souvenir in Peru.

I don't think taking it with me as baggage would have been better, first of all it was heavy and not suitable for the airport baggage carts you rent and I would have needed two of them. Second, maybe the check in counter would have made me take it to LAN Cargo.

My next experience will be to ship a large heavy carved room divider by ship to Peru. I think I will use a customs agent and let them do all the running around and be prepared to spend about US1500. in total.

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Mos68x New member

7POSTS

11 years ago

I assume by your post that the customs agent will take care of all fees? Or is that in addition to the fees incurred for all the paperwork?

russpeters Active member

37POSTS

11 years ago

The $1500 is a rough estimate & would included agent's fees. Best to get quotes and be prepared for surprises. A Peruvian lady friend living in Los Angeles recently paid $5000 to ship her stuff including a piano to Lima and told me it was delayed until a less than full container with stuff from other customers was ready then some of her furniture arrived slightly damaged. She was nice enough to include a couple used surf boards belonging to my daughter as a favor. Surf boards arrived fine.
By the way, I decided to not ship the room divider not worth the expense & trouble.

Mos68x New member

7POSTS

11 years ago

I will probably purchase two 40' ISCs and fill one with shop equipment (for my woodworking business) and for my personal goods, and the other will be for my Harley, truck, and the 'trailer' equipment to move the ISCs to their final locations. My only concern besides the costs of shipping those ISCs will be the traffic on the roads while transporting them, but for that I may see if I can arrange a police escort to make it far easier if they are willing to help for the sake of other people's safety.