Recommendations for international moving companies

Welcome on Expat.com trickrider

I will suggest you to contact our moving to Hungary partner who will give you a free quote and lot of professional tips.

https://www.expat.com/en/movers/europe/hungary/

Regards

Hi,

No experience with moving companies, but the reason for that might be interesting to you:

We came and went between the US and Hungary a few times, planning to do it again soon: we always ended up just taking what fits in our checked baggage allowance, and half of that was souvenirs.
The climate and clothing style is so different there's little sense in hauling many clothes, everything electric is incompatible, furniture won't fit or match, bringing a car is an administrative nightmare...
So what's left? Books? Art? China?

If I were you I'd just rent some long-term storage to stow away all the US stuff, and come to Europe to live like Europeans do :-)

trickrider wrote:

I am moving from the U.S. to Hungary in the next few weeks and would appreciate recommendations for excellent moving companies. At the moment, I'm considering Rainier Overseas Movers. Anyone familiar with them? Other ideas?

I used AGS [url=www.agsmovers.com]www.agsmovers.com[/url] who have a place in Budapest. You could also try Interdean [url=www.interdean.com]www.interdean.com[/url] but I've never used them.

Our stuff was in storage for 3 years. After that amount of time, it becomes a bit ludicrous to keep it in storage as the costs become prohibitive. You might as well sell it all and buy new stuff or keep a low cost apartment to store it where you can at stay when returning home. In our case, the cost of renting an apartment is lower than the storage and insurance costs. I'm presently in the same boat again. I have a house outside of Hungary which is cheaper to use as a storage location than the movers storage costs here, so I keep everything that's not used there. Every so often, I do a round trip and swap stuff about. One problem we've encountered is that we've got 3 of everything - three toasters, three irons, three TVs etc - all bought from different moves.

Regarding moving a car to Europe, it can be done. You just need to ship it to say, Hamburg or Rotterdam, fly up there, then drive it back. If you are not importing it, just driving it around, then there should be nothing to pay.  Importing it into Hungary, I wouldn't bother as plenty of folks drive on other country plates, including US, Canada, etc. If you have a US passport, just show that to any police if stopped, don't show an EC one and act as a dumb tourist just passing through, even if speaking Hungarian or another European language - why make it easy for them? Once you are in Europe and in the Schengen area, then you can just about drive about anywhere without hassle (apart from the UK usually - but that's not Schengen). Getting insurance could be problematic but not impossible. If it's a big engined gas guzzler, leave it at home in the USA. Fuel is too expensive in Europe for large engined US imports (although you could convert it to gas if a late model and therefore worth keeping).

If it's a company financed move, they should take care of all this for you. Usually companies give "grants" for this kind of thing.

We used a company called Fürgefutár.hu w didn't have a large amount of stuff to move but they proved to be a cost effective solution and they speak English. furgefutar.hu

Hi there,
what ever u do , just ask them  where is the custom takes place, Rotterdam?? AND  where will it arrive?!   will it be  on
H  2046  TOROKBALINT-DEPO PF.11?   I had went to   Hungary  told them to take my car back, they took my car on march 23rd, 2014   but it didnt get deleivered to NY, but  it went to florida, about more than 3 months later, never bothered to e mail me of the change, not once....Do not get a hungarian  company to move u.....  it is a  shame how they treat people..

I have been reading about this also. Is it better to get an USA company to move stuff to Hungary? Or a Hungarian company to move our stuff from USA to Hungary? In our case we are not bringing our car and we are doing a permit move.

{I have been reading about this also. Is it better to get an USA company to move stuff to Hungary? Or a Hungarian company to move our stuff from USA to Hungary? In our case we are not bringing our car and we are doing a permit move.}

Oh in our case we will not have much stuff, just some clothes, stuffed animals, hmm ok my book collection which is around 300 books, not much else really.

Does anyone have an idea about this?

We had 2 cars that we shipped over to HU from Calif. in the year 1989.
We did buy auto insurance for the one car that we drove on the road, the other we sold.
The cost of auto insurance with US plates was well over $100. a month for basic.coverage back then. Now we pay less then that for 3 months of coverage with a car that has HU plates on it.
Not sure if it is worth the trouble and cost to bring a car these days in from the US.
Back in 89 it cost us $100. per foot. The Audi was 17 feet long at a cost of $1,700.
I am sure the shipping rates have gone up since 1989.
I forgot to mention the car was shipped to Germany, we had to go over and pick it up. In Germany they demanded $130. for a daily coverage while driving through Germany.
I am sorry, I have never had a good experience at any level here in Hungary with shipping, immigration or medical care.  Seems we always run into people or situations that test us over here.
I know the last time we shipped our 12 boxes over we just about died doing it. My husband almost had a heart attack over the BS we got last min. with customs.
As a HU citizen he was allowed a one time deal of not paying duty on his personal household items, not sure if this offer is still going on or not. It was a one time thing for citizens returning home.
Ok, no duty but we still had to go into the customs office. Insanity!!!
They finally allowed us to bring our 12 boxes home, got the papers, husband had to hire a truck and helpers to the place near Budaors where the trucker dropped them off. We brought the boxes  home but customs had a ribbon around every box. They told us under threat of jail that we could not remove the ribbon and open our boxes that were stilling for a week in our living room until they gave us the ok, either by pone or by having officers come to our house and look at the ribbons on the boxes!! WTF!!
On top of that we had to submit another list , more details about every single items we shipped in.
From how many pairs of underwear to every dish and towel.
That drove me insane! Stayed up all night long racking my brain to remember every tiny item we shipped and packed months before hand.
I think they just did this to hassle us because after a week they just called and no one showed up at our door with the police. People here with one drop of power over do it.
My advice is if you have not worn an item in the past year, toss it out and don't bother bringing it here.
The junk we brought was not worth the cost of shipping and the rude customs treatment.
We still pay monthly for a storage unit in the US. Mostly full of tools, too heavy to ship over here.

First time we shipped items to Hu from Calif. we used a little HU shipper located in Calif. It was cheap, not sure he is in business any longer and collecting our items in HU from this co. was a huge mix up hassle. They let people just walk in and grab their own items.
Some one walked away with one of our boxes. Thankfully they were honest people and returned our box.
5 year back we used a shipper in Las Vegas. He gave us a good rate, clean and fast, they picked up our 12 boxes right from our living room in Vegas and all seemed good.
They shipped to a port in Serbia or in that general area.
What a shock we got once our items arrived in HU.
The middle man charged more for the drive from the port to HU then it cost us from Vegas to Europe.
We had to pay up because they brought everything to a pricey holding area and charged by the day.
Do your research and save yourself a hassle and money.
If I move away from HU, at least half my stuff is getting tossed out.

Hope your books are paperbacks, they quote shipping by the lb.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

My advice is if you have not worn an item in the past year, toss it out and don't bother bringing it here.

I agree. Mostly not worth the cost to transport. Have a garage sale in the US, then just re-buy here. And it is a good excuse to lighten one's life of all that "stuff" all of us seem to collect.

Books are a tough one however. Those may be worth just high grading for the "must keep" ones and ship them via UPS. Else there are many new and used book stores. Most have an English section. I get most of my used books in Vienna however, better English selection there especially if you collect old books (I got some lovely ones published the 19th and early 20th Century in the larger Vienna book markets).

Noticed your old books comment and wonder if you could name a few Viennese markets or places where English selection is good. I collect autobiographies from 19 C, and would appreciate the info.

Mostly I walk around Vienna and serendipitously stumble upon book markets or sales. I may start randomly or from a well established market, such as the Flohmarkt am Naschmarkt (or other similar markets which you can also check for old books (since there are antique stalls at the Naschmarkt -- but get there early and expect to pay more than not)), then I wonder down side streets and often find a few "side markets" or stalls set up taking advantage of the over flow coming to and from the larger markets. Found a church on one such side street walks which had a tiny little sign "Bücher" and an arrow, which had a very large room with used books for sale. With a large English collection. A lot of Danielle Steel "novels", but also some real gems: I picked up a nice little 1861 memoir "Sporting Adventures in Many Lands", which had a chapter on Hungary ("sports" in this context was of course about hunting).

Side Note: On one of my wondering I came across an old book store, an odd little place just full of old books with a proprietor who was very polite, but had an air of serene disinterest if he sold anything or not. Decent prices though. If you can find that shop, a good place to look. Sadly, I honestly can not tell you exactly where it was except it was near and parallel to Maria Hilfer Strasse. When I wonder I really don't pay much attention to where I am, I just like to wander and explore.

Hi, I have been working with inbound controlled clients - when they give the order to the destination office instead of the origin - at a large relo company. And a savy client told me that it is always best to select the destination mover - since they will be more trusty when there's an issue.
On top the best option could be a mover with offices in both US and Hungary to get the best quality - maybe not the cheapest.
If you are lost you may want to give a go to our - still beta - service where we do the hard work of getting estimates to you (even quotes if time allows). See for yourself at urelocateonline.com
Anyway, please share your findings and experiences!
Best,

Igi

We found a shipper that does the price by the box and cubic foot which seems more affordable. Does anyone have experience shipping their stuff using the fill the crate method? We are only having boxes, no furniture or anything like that.

What i mean by that is we are going to pack our stuff in boxes and then the shippers put it on a pallet, tape it and then put it with a crate going to Budapest. By sea transport as we want cheap and will not be in a hurry.

One thing the shippers mentioned to us was that we would have to have an IRS number? Has anyone heard of that or what that is?

We are moving from USA to Hungary

Once again, sadly I only have a horror tale to share.

We shipped 12 boxes from Las Vegas to Hungary 5 years ago.

Our situation was slightly different because my husband is a HU citizen who was moving home to HU. In his case he was not required to pay duty taxes on personal items he brought back, just a one time break for citizens to move home.

In any case we found a great, nice, helpful shipper in Vegas that came to our house and took our boxes, shipped them out as your planning on doing on a pallet.

Got a very good price of $600.

The deal was once our boxes arrived in Hungary, it was a different story all together. First the trucking co. in Hungary added and extreme amount on top of what we had already paid, sort of made us wonder if the items we packed were worth it or not in the end.

Was another $600. just to have the boxes driven from a port in Serbia or there about's( I forgot exactly which port in the S. of HUngary they arrived at) Then they were taken to a warehouse where they  charged by the day for storage, no problem we thought until we did the customs papers at the local customs office.

The agents were horrible, they would not release our boxes until we filled out more papers. They wanted a list of every single fork and knife in each box. I had a rough list with me so stayed up until 3 am racking my brain to remember where I packed everything etc..

They released our boxes to us, told us however we were not allowed to open the customs seal and open the boxes until they said so. They had legal rights to enter our home and check to see if the seals were broken or not.

What jerks!!

They 12 boxes just sat in our living room for nearly 2 weeks unopened and making us mad every time we looked at them. Finally they called our flat and said we could open them up. Either that was their sick game to mess with people or they really have no clue what they are doing.

Hope you don't have any issues, sometimes local Hungarians enjoy messing with expat Hungarians because they are jealous that they left Hungary.

The shipper in Vegas had no idea that the trucking co. was going to add more to the costs.

They HU gov. issues tax ID no. to people,not sure if that is what they want from you or not, have to talk to your embassy.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
They 12 boxes just sat in our living room for nearly 2 weeks unopened and making us mad every time we looked at them. Finally they called our flat and said we could open them up. Either that was their sick game to mess with people or they really have no clue what they are doing....

My issue was solved by an "agent" facilitating the Customs officer's rubber stamping clearance with a bottle of vodka. I had my rubber stamp same day!

Not sure but we had a different sort of customs, we were not suppose to pay any custom duty since my husband was a citizen relocating home.
He moved away from HU in 1971 and these new "customs" of ripping people off are new to him.
He and I both prefer to know what game we are playing before we lay a bet down.
it was more of a control thing then anything serious in the end,just makes us sick how some people with a tiny bit of power like to use it.

We used a co. in the US called, "Dove Shipping" I think they have offices all over the US. They were very nice and were surprised when I called them months later from Hungary to tell them about the rip off with the trucking and storage co.
They quoted us the rate they had all the way to Budapest. Not sure if they made a mistake or if we once again were just being scammed.
The rules in Hungary are not like anything you find in the US, no BBB office here that's for sure.
The consumer protection agents in Hungary hardly have any power at all.
The tax number they wanted from you is confusing.
I got my HU Tax ID number after my immigration status was all finished with,I actually didn't even need on they told me since I do not work in Hungary.
Then again, when taking in some auto batteries to recycle they wanted to see my tax ID number. Guess some people had stolen batteries from cars and took them into recycling. They now want to match the recycling to an actual person with an ID no.
You don't really hear much about these petty crimes in the US, not too many auto battery mob's stealing batteries to recycle in the US. Like I said, it's different here.
We had sent over twice beforehand a few items from the US to Hungary using a guy we knew in Calif. A small shipper who was a Hungarian and only sent things into Hungary. No big issues with his end of the business.
You must speak Hungarian though to use his services.
The problem we had with his connections were that when our things arrived in Hungary they were at a small storage place with 2 people working the front desk. We went to their place of business to collect our things and they had let other people just roam around and pick boxes up without double checking their tags. One of our boxes was given to the wrong party.
Lucky for us the people were honest and brought our box back to the office, lots of running around and hassles to get our things in one piece.
I will never send anything to HU again, too many odd experiences doing so.

FeliciaOni wrote:

One thing the shippers mentioned to us was that we would have to have an IRS number?

Your social security number.

My understanding was that only importers moving goods into the US need this from you. You should not need to provide them this number just to export. And you should never give your SSN to anyone unless they can prove in writing why they need it.

In my humble opinion, select another shipper. I am not sure this one knows really what they are doing.

In fact, it is best to ship with a company that is a licensed customs importer in Hungary who will take care of all the logistics and customs issues for you, door to door, starting from USA pickup to delivery in Hungary. Else, you may get the packages getting handed off to another transporter who will charge more for their services and having to deal personally with customs in Hungary (such as Marilyn experienced). Yes, the licensed customs importer will give you a higher quote to do the transport, but you are buying trouble free service, which may actually in the end costing you less money than all the extra fees you may be charged with another service.

Another option, just have a huge garage sale. What you get in the States for your "stuff" will probably be more than what it will cost to replace it all here in Hungary. For documents, photos, etc have scanned in and transport digitally. I came to Europe with just two suitcases of "stuff". Never regretted leaving everything else behind. If starting a new life, letting go of the old in every way is refreshing.

Great advice from Kisalle.
You do not need the extra hassle of dealing directly with customs and second party movers.
I was also going to suggest just taking a few suitcases and putting your other items in boxes in storage until you are really settled in HU for good.Maybe someone can forward them to you at a later date if you need them.
Mush easier to replace household items then hassling to bring them along, pots,pans, sheets etc.. can all be bought in HU. Besides the sheets don't fit the bed sizes over here, either too small or too big. Different sizing in cm.
I now wish I had only brought a few boxes of clothing and not half of what I own. Brought crystal wear made in HU back to HU with me, now I have to worry about taking them back to the US later in my life, want to give them to my DIL.
We still have a storage unit in the US, usually a small unit does not cost more then around $50. a month sometimes less. Over the many years of going back and forth to HU and the US we are glad we have our tools for work stored, never know when we will have to go back to work. The world is changing and maybe even the old will have to work again.
Be aware also that HU is colder most months then it is warm, summer is very short, Coming from FL.you will probably have more warm weather clothing then winter.No need to bring every piece of summer wear with you.
I lived mostly in warmer climates in the US and have more summer/spring clothing then heavy wear. Had to buy sweaters and heavy coats here in Europe.

The shipping company does handle basic customs. But i have insurance on the rare books and occult items i have in my collection and the insurance company informed me that i have to declare those at customs and do some other paperwork to bring them in Hungary. I will figure that out as the paperwork on that seemed str8 forward when the appraiser sent his assessment to the insurance company. 

Yes we are going to store the boxes here locally and then when we are settled in a few months have the shipping company ship them over to us in Hungary. We have no friends or family in USA so we will have to have the shipping company go to the storage place and move them and ship them out. So before we leave we will have to have everything packed ready to ship and whatever paperwork be done to avoid having to fly back for something. Hence why i was asking on here to hear some ides on companies and the process from others.

Yes we are allowed 2 checked bags and 1 carry on each, but we need a bit more so i am going to call Norwegian and ask how much it is for extra checked luggage. I am hoping it is not too much anyone with some info on that feel free to let me know! Norwegian had some kind of table that made no since so i will just have to phone them! he hee.

{Mush easier to replace household items then hassling to bring them along, pots,pans, sheets etc.. can all be bought in HU. Besides the sheets don't fit the bed sizes over here, either too small or too big. } Oh i totally agree in that regard! The things we are shipping are just stuff that can not be replaced and things that are of sentimental nature. (books, figurines, orbs, ceremonial masks, ritual tools and family photos. Stuff like that no household items or like furniture)

{Be aware also that HU is colder most months then it is warm, summer is very short, Coming from FL.you will probably have more warm weather clothing then winter.No need to bring every piece of summer wear with you.} Oh goodness, i hope you were making a funny when you wrote that! Yes i do realize Hungary is colder than Florida! I am almost 36 not 6! he hee.

Yes one thing about coming from very hot place to a cold one, is that i have been able to get several coats, jackets and sweaters for really cheap as there is no use for those here at all. And from start of this year till now i have ordered from online 15 pairs of over the knee and thigh high boots so all that should get me to Hungary until i can shop for some more attire there. All that is going in the luggage to take with me on the plane! Hence the need for an extra checked bag. he hee.

thanks everyone for the info!

Kisallee

They said this exactly:

REQUIRED: If you declared over $2500 of value WE must complete a Shippers Export Declaration on your behalf. To do so we will need your Corporate I.D. Number i.e. E.I.N. Number or if you are an individual you will need to get an exporter number with the IRS. We will send you that link.

So i have to contact IRS

FeliciaOni wrote:

If you declared over $2500 of value WE must complete a Shippers Export Declaration on your behalf. To do so we will need your Corporate I.D. Number i.e. E.I.N. Number or if you are an individual you will need to get an exporter number with the IRS. We will send you that link. 

So i have to contact IRS

The Shippers Export Declaration has been superseded by the Electronic Export Information (EEI).

https://aesdirect.census.gov/

So asking for information to fill out a SED I do indeed find odd.

Yes if your values are valued that much, you need to fill out a EEI. Did not realize you were shipping that much**.

I also find it odd that the shipper did not provide more details how to assist you in this matter in getting the correct ID number for shipping.

So for not knowing about the EEI and for not giving complete instructions to help you get the correct shipping number, I still think they do not really know what they are doing.

According to https://aesdirect.census.gov/ein_help.html, you have to register as a "Sole Proprietor" business with the IRS to get the EIN (the IRS will only issue an Employers ID Number to a business).

Which means you might now be a "business" for tax purposes, but without a business. Probably not an issue, but I would wonder what having an EIN without a business might affect your IRS 1040 filings (which you will still have to do each year even if living abroad, if you are a US Citizen).

**Also, you also should check if you will need to pay VAT of 27% of your declared import value into Hungary if the value is that much. So you might end up "buying" your own things again for 27% of their value.

klsallee wrote:

**Also, you also should check if you will need to pay VAT of 27% of your declared import value into Hungary if the value is that much. So you might end up "buying" your own things again for 27% of their value.

It could be worse than that. There's also import duty.  And this is payable on the basic value of the goods and then VAT is layered on the top of that amount.  The rate of import duty depends on what the goods are.  I sometimes import US car parts and I have paid easily 15% import duty  then the 27% on top.  It makes US car parts ludicrously expensive. Something that cost $5 can easily end up costing $15 with all the mail charges, duties and VAT.   The charges are variably applied. Sometimes I pay nothing and other times, I pay lots.  There's a serious gap in the Customs officer's knowledge about what "technical" goods actually are.  They have not got a clue about technical items and make it up as they go along.

As someone who moves around for work a lot, both within the EU and outside, the rule generally coming into the EU however (as far as I know), is that personal goods (including cars), over 6 months old (cars >6000km) and not for resale are not taxed on import if one is moving one's household.

Electrical goods like food mixers and washing machines and TVs should be left in the USA as they will not work here.  Some other goods like computers may work if their power supplies auto-sense.  Printers are an issue.  It's all A4 paper here, not Letter sized (unless the printer has a a tray that can support both sizes).  Alcohol and cigarettes are a problem in shipped goods so best to drink and smoke it all before arrival if that's your thing!

Sorry my info was so funny to you, he hee.
I tried to be helpful but seems like help is not going be to enough in your case.
This is the second time you've thought I joking. Guess I've been in Hungary too long because no one jokes over here.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

no one jokes over here.

True. Hungarian humor is more subtle, with a lot of inbuilt commentary about life. Such as:

An EU representative came to a small Hungarian village to give a speech. Not speaking Hungarian, there was a Hungarian interpreter for him.

EU Representative: "The EU has rural development funds that we will be giving to villages like yours to help the local inhabitants improve their basic infrastructural development and bring sustainable economic growth to this region"

Hungarian translator (in Hungarian to the crowd): "Money."

EU Representative: "These will be awarded as EU grants and you simply will need to fill out the necessary forms to receive these EU funds."

Hungarian translator (in Hungarian to the crowd): "No money."

Funny, what gets me I perhaps I have become more old time Hungarian just by being around Hungarians for most of my long 60 years of life. In Hungary speaking rude to an "old" person is one of the lowest things anyone can do.
I personally bend over backwards for people older then myself( not that many around as I am getting older by the year)
I do tend to cut a wide bit of slack for my own peeps ( being from outside of HU) but anyone who comes to Hungary and laughes at people is going to have a major hard time.
Some people do tend to get in over their heads...

Marilyn Tassy

I do not think your info is funny and i am quite thankful for the time you take to reply.

What was funny was the statement that Hungary is colder than Florida. That is rather common since, anyone that does not realize something simple as that really should not be moving. I do not know many things about all this but i do realize the weather difference i look forward to it really.

klsallee

Thanks for this info! I have talked to 7 different different shippers in this year and  all have said the same thing about this SED. Which is why i figured i ask others about this. I have never heard of it either but i keep hearing that it is standard so i do not know.

fluffy2560

I have been thinking that we would have to pay VAT on top of import duties. That seems to be something unclear when i have asked about it. I guess the customs want people to just move their stuff there and then charge them extra unknown to them?

{As someone who moves around for work a lot, both within the EU and outside, the rule generally coming into the EU however (as far as I know), is that personal goods (including cars), over 6 months old (cars >6000km) and not for resale are not taxed on import if one is moving one's household.} Well that is good news. Everything we are taking is just our personal items from our household. Nothing for sale, no car or anything like that. No electronics, which means i will have to buy a cell phone once i get there, hmm i guess i will have to enter that world as i do not use a cell phone here at all.

And we will be partaking of the beer, wine and liquor that Hungary has to offer! he hee

FeliciaOni wrote:

...That was funny was the statement that Hungary is colder than Florida. That is rather common since, anyone that does not realize something simple as that really should not be moving. I do not know many things about all this but i do realize the weather difference i look forward to it really.

You' be amazed. Years ago, an American I was speaking to was rather surprised we had refrigerators and we also had cars.  Hollywood has a lot to answer for.   

Mrs Fluffy's cousin's cousin apparently hated it here on their first visit because there was "no American food". I guess carrots pulled directly out the ground and chickens plucked in the garden was rather new to her!

I also heard a British guy talking on the radio recently after many years in the USA. He said he found he had more in common with Italians and Germans despite using the "same" language.

Oh my goodness! No fridges or autos. That is bad, i think i read that Teller who was principle at inventing nuclear power was a Hungarian so i think Hungary would have some advance things.

Yes it is media and tall tales.

My dad went to get a shipping quote from a company that is based in USA but is very big called Uhaul. Both calling their corporate office and two of the local location mgrs. The responses were surprising! We heard things like "Hungary that is in Russia right?" " Hungary hmm i do not think we ship there since that country does not have internet" "I guess since Mandela was president things are better in Hungary but shipping to Africa will be costly"

and my favorite "Aint that were them vanpires come from? You gotta ship somthin there? I done saw lot o movies, i know some of you colored folk can be vanpires. Eu o peans got more of them vanpires and minorities like that so i guess that is why they got socalism"

FeliciaOni wrote:

.... we ship there since that country does not have internet" "I guess since Mandela was president things are better in Hungary but shipping to Africa will be costly....

When you visit some web sites, they  do a geolocation check and sometimes they do place Hungary in Russia.  Some folks even think people speak Russian here.  No-one speaks Russian here.  Well, very few anyway.  It's Hungarian, German and if you are lucky, English.

As for Africa, some places are actually MORE advanced than here as far as Internet goes. 

BTW, all the vampires are further east in "Romania" - Transylvania or more properly (politically correct for HU), Erdély.

fluffy2560 wrote:

When you visit some web sites, they  do a geolocation check and sometimes they do place Hungary in Russia.

Geolocation of a web page uses the IP address of the web server for that web page. If the page is suppose to be in Hungary, but is actually showing up in Russia, it might actually be from a Russian web server. Ergo, it may not be a legit web site you are visiting, or the page you are visiting may have been hacked and the traffic diverted.

Or the geolocation software being used is complete and utter garbage.

We used to subscribe for a private VPN monthly.
Let it go as we found another solution to watch shows through Netflix.
I noticed when trying to connect to links in the US without the VPN I sometimes can not get through.

Funny you should mention fresh plucked chickens to eat. My first trip to HU in 1978 was not exactly what any tour guide would recommend.
I was a fresh, sassy 23 year old Cal. American who came for 6 weeks with my then HU boyfriend and our 2 year old baby.
Never set foot out of the US before and found myself in communist Hungary.
What a shock to the system!!
Felt like going from living color to black and white.
My second day in Hungary was a nightmare and all because of a darn chicken.
I was a new vegetarian and wanted to stick to my guns, no meat for me.
My MIL had other ideas though.
She brought out one of her favorite chickens, hand raised and let my baby play with it in the morning time. He loved chasing it around the yard.
We all went out for the afternoon while my MIL stayed home to make a nice welcoming dinner for us all.
Came home and I freaked out, chicken feathers all over the yard and the poor thing in a soup pot and a paprika dish.My son was bright enough even at that age to ask where his "birdie" was, he was crying for it.
I refused to eat any of the bird and my MIL burst into tears and cried her eyes out because I didn't like her food.
My BF( now husband) told me how mean and cruel I was to his sweet mother.
I was in the middle of emotions I just din't know were in me. Felt anger because they were forcing me to eat food I couldn't swallow and anger at myself for hurting my MIL.
Just hated Hungary and wished I was home with my open minded mother who let me eat whatever I wanted to.
That was the second fight my husband and I ever had in all our years, the first fight was also over a darn chicken but in Calif.
On the other hand my SIL would not touch any Mexican food when we paid to have her visit us in the US from HU.
She also would not touch any food from a nice Japanese place we took her too or any shrimp.
Considering we were footing her entire visit including a new wardroom, gifts, a 6 week gym membership and trips to Disneyland, San Diego, Mexico , SF and Las Vegas, you would think she could of chocked down a few bits of taco just to make us happy. Double standards once again...

klsallee wrote:

.....reolocation of a web page uses the IP address of the web server for that web page. If the page is suppose to be in Hungary, but is actually showing up in Russia, it might actually be from a Russian web server. Ergo, it may not be a legit web site you are visiting, or the page you are visiting may have been hacked and the traffic diverted.

Or the geolocation software being used is complete and utter garbage.

They use YOUR IP address to resolve where you are, not the web site you are visiting which could be hosted anywhere, even in Russia. That's not relevant.   It's easy coding to find out your address in a browser and use that to set the locale.  It's a few lines of code.   It's  just garbage software for the geolocation as they do not want to pay on subscription for a dynamic lookup or they have some wonky data from wherever.  They will default to the Russian language if they cannot resolve the address to Hungary - default case = East, therefore Ruskies.  They can easily tell it's not in Russia if they put their minds to it.

So yes, garbage.

fluffy2560 wrote:

They use YOUR IP address to resolve where you are

There are two types of geolocation from an IP address. (1) The IP of the web site's server hosting the web site and (2) the IP of the server reaching out to that web site.

To geolocate the point of origin of the web site, then the web site's IP address is used, and unless it is spoofed that information is transparently and easily retrieved from the web site's data packages.

Else, unless you host your own server, or use a static IP address, when you access a distant web site that web site only is provided with a dynamic IP address assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). That IP is taken from an IP range assigned to your ISP by the network authorities. Your ISP address and location is usually public information, but your location is typically not known (beyond being within the service range of your ISP -- i.e. Hungary). Unless you have a static IP address (which is unlikely unless you have a contract specifically this) your IP address is assigned dynamically by your ISP and is shared by others on their network. So if you have a dynamic IP (which is most likely) there is no way for a remote web site to know specifically where you are, since many users may use that same IP address over time. That is, your IP changes. And thus a dynamic IP, in of itself, tells nothing specific about where you or your computer is geographically (again, except that you are in Hungary). The ISP of course knows your real location as they got your address when you sign up for that service and what IP you were assigned at any time (so one's normal actions over your ISP are not really anonymous, and the ISP can provide to a legal authority exactly who did what at any time online). But that data is not available over the network, especially for dynamic IP addresses.

For example, every web site that has tried to geolocate my location always shows me in Budapest. I am not in Budapest. But my ISP's servers are, is so that is what is recorded. If there are other service nodes that also pass off your network request that are closer to you than your main ISP servers, then your location can be even further resolved. But again, only with some geographical limits.

See here for the difference between a static and dynamic IP address:

http://whatismyipaddress.com/dynamic-static

You can check your IP address here:

http://ipchicken.com/

Note that Apps in phones or tablets are different. They do know where you actually are because they can either use the GPS unit in the mobile device or by triangulation based on local cellular towers.