Top Tips to Buy and Ship Furniture and Large Packages from the UK

You’re planning to purchase furniture or other large products from online stores in the UK. However, it might be the fact that you do not have the UK delivery address and are not certain of how to ship furniture or other large items to your destination overseas. Many shipping and forwarding companies, including some Couriers do not offer you a UK delivery address to buy from store or ship furniture and large packages to outside of the UK. This is because shipping furniture and large packages that are oversized or overweight require special handling, and packaging. In this article, we will provide you guidelines of where to purchase, and how to ship the products to European and global destinations from the UK.

Where can I buy and ship furniture and large packages? #

There are many excellent UK online stores where you can purchase furniture. These are a few that has delivered the furniture here safely to forwarders like ForwardVia to forward it to EU or European countries and all over the world.

It is simple, simply browse any of these stores, choose the furniture you would like to purchase, and on checkout use the provided UK address as the delivery address.

• DUNELM
• IKEA
  
• HABITAT
• THE RANGE
• DFS
• MADE
• MAISONS DU MONDE
• WAYFAIR
• WEST ELM
• NEST

Other popular large items that has been successfully forwarded using forwarders in the UK are

• Keyboards
• Large mirrors
• Bicycles
• Folding bicycles
• Electrical cable trucking and conduits
• Single armchair
• Flat packed furnitures
• Cabinets
  

Some large items we cannot ship

• Mattresses without packaging
• Fully built furnitures without packaging
• Sofas 2-seater or larger
• Items over 500 kg
• If you are not sure, just ask and we will let you know if we can ship it
  

How to pack and ship furniture and large packages? #

Packing of furniture and large items for international shipping can be complicated. The packaging has to be stronger and more durable compare to packing and shipping smaller items. This is because shipping furniture and large packages requires manual handling like moving and switching several times using heavy equipment e.g. forklift and pallet trucks during international transit. Without proper packaging, there is a risk of it getting damage when shipping furniture and large packages.

Here are the top tips to ensure shipping furniture and large packages:

1. Use durable packaging - select only corrugated cardboard boxes that are strong enough to withstand the weight
   
2. Ship on a pallet - large furniture and items are best pack on a pallet for shipping. Use edge protected and strap it down securely
   
3. Double box - if possible, especially for fragile goods, place it into another box and fill space with protective packing materials
   
4. Add protective cushioning - surround it with protective foam or bubble wrap and if necessary, pad it with layer of cardboard
   
5. Seal it generously - tape it securely or even better wrap it stretch film giving the furniture and large items liquid protection barrier
   
6. Label it - apply appropriate labels e.g. fragile, this way up, handle with care on the outer surface of the packed furniture or large packages
7. Shake it - give it a shake before shipping to check the packed furniture or large packages to make sure nothing can move
   

Which Carrier is best to ship furniture and large packages internationally? #

There are various carriers in the UK that offer shipping furniture and large packages. You can buy in the UK and ship furniture by road or by air. However there are many with size limits unable to accept or ship furniture and large packages. We have compiled few that have excellent track records shipping furniture and large packages. These carriers can accept, transport by road or air to most EU countries and worldwide and deliver your furniture and large items.

• Fedex
• DHL Express
• UPS (pallets not accepted)
• Palletways
• Pallet Force
  

How about import tax and duty? This is normally chargeable when the furniture and large items arrive at destination. For delivery duty unpaid, DDU, which is the most common arrangement, the receiver is responsible for local tax and duty, which consist of VAT/GST, Duty and Carrier's advancement fee.

To sum it up

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There you go, you are now equipped with know-how on where to buy and how to ship furniture and large packages from the UK. To make things easier for you, forwarding company like ForwardVia.com offers free UK address where you can shop for furnitures and large items, ForwardVia accept it for you at their warehouse in the UK, and offer you various shiping options to ship it directly to your door step. Let them take your stress away. They have years of experience packing and shipping furniture and large packages to over 200 countries worldwide. Have a look at their website and sign up for free here.