How to ship from Spain? Way too expensive!

[alik]

Dear all,

We keep a quite successful t-shirt business in Spain, but we are facing a very tricky problem: we CAN'T SHIP abroad (from Spain to Europe and specially to the Americas) due

to the senseless and prohibite international fees of our national postal service (Correos).

Starting from the weight scales (from 350 grams you jump directly to 1 kg) and ending with the fees themselves. Shipping up to 1 kg to America costs over 20 euros (US$25),

when the other way around is barely US$8.

If you sell expensive stuff it might be affordable, but not in the t-shirt business.

I know it's a difficult question, but: Do you know any potential solution? Unfortunatelly, using private courier companies such DHL, UPS, etc is not an option either; they

are even much more expensive.

What it amazes me is why it is so expensive in Spain, when shipping abroad from UK, US, Germany, etc is MUCH cheaper.

Would you tell me please how much is to ship up to 1 kg from your countries?

Ok guyz, any help will be GREATLY appreciated.

Regards,
Albert

[vincevincevince]

How about regional production? Do you have enough international trade to justify setting up a manufacture only base somewhere with cheap international shipping and preferably within one of the high trade international areas?

[alik]

No, unfortunately we don't...

[ectect]

Have you checked the rates for SEUR, Nacex, MRW, even UPS and FedEx?

[alik]

We use MEX for our home shippments, but their international rates are outrageously expensive. Keep in mind that we are talking about orders of 20-50 euros, shipping costs included.

We'd need rates at around US$10 up to 1 KG...

[vincevincevince]

Is it (possibly) cheaper to combine a number of orders and ship one large parcel, compared to many smaller ones, and then have someone split them up when they arrive in the destination country? (Just thinking with my fingers...)

[jecasc]

We ship from Germany into all EU countries with DHL. The shipping costs vary. The normal price to Spain for example would be 17 EUR. However we pay only about 11 EUR because we have a contract with DHL and have negotiated this special price.

Have you thought about shipping the T-Shirts not as insured package but as small parcel without tracking? I know that when you ship from Germany with DHL to the US you pay about 32 EUR. However if you ship not as package but as small parcel you only pay 12 EUR

This would be much cheaper however you would not be able to track the parcel and check if it is really delivered. But since the goods you ship are not that expensive you probably could afford if a shippment is lost.

[Leosghost]

If you are shipping a teeshirt of 125gm fabric weight ( light weight tee ) then the all up weight of tee and packing you should be able to come in under 300gms per piece including packing on an XXL ..

If you are near enough to the French border you could ship them out from France ..but once you cross the border you'll have all the customs declarations etc to fill in ( how much is you time worth )..

I think on non "colissimo" we pay about 12 euros to the "states" for upto 1kg ..can get you a figure tommorrow when they ( la poste ) open again if you really want ..

Europe is horribly expensive to ship out of ..if I want to send 1 kg to Asia it will cost me 22 euros the other way only 3 ..and if on aDHL account 4 to Asia from here and only .50 centimes to do the otherway ..

Unless you ship bulk quantities ..at least 1000 units or 100 dozen shirts ( I used to do tee shirts ..from China to intermediate country ..design and print and then on ship to Europe..orders around 1000 doz or upwards ) ..already in Spain you pay high for your basic tees at any gram weight any supplier to screen on ..( used to ship to Spain ..Mataro area near Barcelona ) ..then export is n't really on ..

You might also look into shipping from Andorra if you are doing quantity ..

Uk textile exporters pay about 3.5 euros per kilo to ship to France via DHL ..those are high volume rates tho ..

Not all North American shipping is cheap ..Canadians pay more than Europeans ..

Inside the USA shipping via Fed ex or UPS or UPSS etc is so cheap it keeps the wheels moving ..

You dont know how lucky you are over there ..here we read the "free shipping" thread and laugh til we cry ..real tears ..

If we "free shipped" at under 1000.oo euros per order ( about 1250 $ US ..even on light stuff sent just 20 miles we would go broke )...