How Can I Send A Gift To Europe ?

You have three ways to send a gift to someone in Europe:

* You can buy a gift locally and ship the gift to Europe.

* You can buy a gift from a US website and have them ship it.

* You can buy a gift from a European Website and have them ship it.

Each of these ways has its advantages and disadvantages. These will be discussed individually.

You may want to buy a gift from your local store and ship it to Europe. Many gifts would be very appreciated. For example, Levi's blue jeans can often be purchased in the USA for $25 to $30. The exact same Levis are usually over $100 in Europe! So, if you send your European friend or loved one a pair of Levi's you can be sure that they will be appreciated. It is no longer like the old days when you could not buy things such as Levis in Europe. Most things that are available in the USA are generally available in Europe. But there can be large price differences. If you find something like Levis which are cheaper in the USA, by all means buy them for your European loved one and ship them. How? Forget couriers such as FEDEX and UPS. The costs of shipping internationally with a courier is outrageous. But US postal service has very good pricing for International shipping.  You can estimate the costs of shipping by post using the Postage Price Calculator. 

For example Priority Mail International Padded Flat Rate Envelope costs only $17 and can contain up to 4lbs. However, each option has its restrictions.

You will have to fill out a small form which attaches to the outside of the parcel for the customs purposes. BE CERTAIN to mark that the item is a gift. If you do not, there is a very good likelihood that the person who receives the gift will have to pay import taxes which can exceed 20% of the purchase price.

Is shipping gifts to Europe safe using the post? The answer is YES! I have had many items sent to me by the postal service. I also use the postal service daily to ship items around the world for my business. I am happy to report that it is extremely rare that anything gets lost. For my business I have sent thousands of packages and I believe only one shipment vanished. I have never experienced a problem with a shipment between the USA and Europe, other than delays clearing customs. Shipping to Europe usually requires 1-3 weeks except during the Christmas holidays, when shipping time can be twice that of the rest of the year.

Some items are more easily found on a website in the USA and can be inexpensively shipped as a gift to Europe due to special pricing that the website receives from the post office or a courier. One example is adult footed pajamas. You will hardly find adult footed pajamas available in Europe. If you do, they will likely be rather boring and expensive. On the other hand, there is a wide variety of fun and unique adult footed pajamas available in the USA. The footed pajamas below are available ONLY in the USA and the manufacturer ships them to Europe for under $10 per pair. Imagine how fun it would be to send these footed pajamas as a gift to someone in Europe. Be sure to ask the company to mark the item as a gift on the customs label to avoid that the receiver has to pay import taxes.

Possibly the best way to buy a gift for someone in Europe is to buy the gift from a European website and have them ship it directly. Why is it the best way? If you buy a gift from a European website:

* Shipping costs within Europe are relatively low

* With few exceptions, there is no customs clearing in Europe. So the item arrives faster and there is no risk of customs charges. Switzerland is an exception. For example, items bought in the UK and shipped to Switzerland will have to go through customs and if the value is above a certain amount (22 euro I believe) the receiver will have to pay customs tax. But all countries which are part of the European Union allow for free movement of products without tax.

* Some items which are bought in the USA will not work in Europe. These items include many Electronic items, DVDs, etc. On the other hand, all of Europe uses the same electrical standard (220 volt) and DVD standards (region 2). Many countries use different electrical plugs. But adapters are inexpensive and widely available.

What websites should you buy from? My favorite two are the same websites that are widely used in the USA. Ebay.co.uk and Amazon.co.uk. Interestingly, you do not need to open a new account to use them, your US account will work on the European websites. However, not all products can be shipped everywhere in Europe. Below we will discuss how to ship internationally with both websites.

If you love buying from Amazon US, you will love buying from Amazon UK. You can use your same account to buy from both websites. And Amazon gets special shipping rates so the cost to ship within Europe is extremely low.

The only real difference with Amazon UK is:

* Many products are different. Some of your favorite products will not be on Amazon UK, but other products will.

* Many search terms are different. Amazon UK uses British terms. So for example if you want to buy pajamas, you will need to search for pyjamas. 

* You will pay in GB Pounds.  Use this website to determine the amount you will pay.

* You can ship all products in the UK, but usually you can ship ONLY the products that are sold by Amazon outside of the UK. Most items sold by third party retailers will not ship outside of the UK.  How do you easily find the products that are sold by Amazon?

Once you do a search on a product, on the left hand side of the website, click on department (books, clothing, kitchen and home, etc). Then scroll down and look under "seller" (see the photo below). Click on Amazon.co.uk. Most of the products can be shipped everywhere in Europe.

You can buy a gift from Ebay UK and have it shipped to your friend or loved one in Europe. However, not all sellers will ship outside of the UK. What is the easiest way to find sellers willing to ship outside of the UK?

Once you have done a search for your product, look for the drop down menu which says "sort by". Usually, products are sorted by "best match". Change the sorting so that products are listed by "Price and P&P: Lowest First" (see photo below). You will be asked to select the country you want to ship to (in my example, I have selected Lithuania). All sellers who ship to Lithuania are listed first.  Then you will see the cost of the product, plus shipping cost to Lithuania. If there is a price there or if it says "Free", the seller has agreed to ship to Lithuania. If there is no price, the seller may not be willing to ship to that country. However, often if you write to them, they will agree. If it says "pick up only: Free", they will not ship it anywhere.

Depending on where your loved one lives, English language books can be hard to find. Of course, there are specialty shops which sell English language books. But where I live the selection of English language books is rather small. So, any book I buy for my baby, I have shipped to me from outside of the country.

One of the BEST sites for shipping books around the world is The Book Depository. The Book Depository was actually started by someone who worked at Amazon, but the big difference is that WORLD WIDE SHIPPING IS FREE! You can select to have the currency in US Dollars (look in the upper right corner of the website to select the currency) and you can pay with paypal or credit card.  I have bought many books from the Book Depository and have been quite satisfied with the service and results.

Why not buy your gift from a specialty company, such a company which specializes in chocolates or gift baskets?

Many European business, particularly those in the UK will not ship to the rest of Europe. Or if they do, they will ship only by courier and the shipping costs are often EXTREMELY high. The cost of shipping to the rest of Europe is often more than the cost of the gift item. That is why I am recommending Amazon UK and ebay UK.

Amazon often uses DHL or Deutsch Post with tracking. And they have special shipping rates. I have had huge boxes sent to me by courier for under $10 from Amazon UK. I would pay many multiples of that if I sent a gift from most other UK business. Similarly many Ebay sellers are willing to use regular post. I have shown on the leaf about how to find those. If items are sent by post it is inexpensive, usually just a few dollars. And it ALWAYS arrives.

Few European companies have the special shipping rates that Amazon has or are willing to ship with post. As a result their shipping costs are simply ridiculous.

But you can get pretty much anything you would want from Amazon or Ebay UK. Probably not a week goes by that I do not receive something from one of them. I get everything from printer cartridges, to my mobile phone to clothes and specialty candy from those two sites. It is fast, inexpensive, reliable and it comes directly to my house, without going through customs clearance because it is shipped from within Europe.  (Remember that if it is an electrical item, it will work all over Europe because all of Europe uses the same 220v electricity. But if it comes from the UK, the recipient will have to buy a simple wall adapter to plug it in. But these are easily available and inexpensive.)