Shipping Costs UK to Europe

[Aidan]

Sorry for going off the topic a little, but the Irish post office have more than doubled their price for sending packages to Europe and the U.K. It went from about 17 euro to 27 euro in one day.

Also, DHL can send up to 5 kg parcels to Ireland from Germany for about 19 euro, while they charge over 70 euro for the same package going the other way!

I think it might be cheaper to send parcels from the U.K. to Ireland than it is from the U.K. to Europe, but it usually costs me about £12. I think when I got stuff from Ardbeg, it was only £8.

[Mr Ellen]

Hello C_I
At most online stores you can check the shipping rates. It varies a lot as you say depending on where you buy from.
From Germany you can always check at http://www.deutschepost.de or http://www.dhl.de and get the actual cost. I know some retailers add a fee to cover for packaging etc.
Royal Mile used to have a fixed price at £16.00 up to 8 bottles, I don't know if that's still valid.
TWE also has fixes prices available on their site.
If no prices are stated, drop them an E-mail, let them know how many bottles you want and ask for the shipping cost. Most of the online dealers let you know within minutes.
For me 4 bottles and £33.00 would be out of the question. I have just ordered 8 bottles from a german dealer with a shipping cost at approx. £20.00 (EUR28.00).

Cheers
________________________
Anders

[parvus]

It cost me £33 for the shipping of two bottles from the UK to New Zealand, so I can't imagine anywhere charging that sort of cost from the UK to France / Belgium / Netherlands. The cost of shipping is initially quite expensive, but subsequent bottles are very cheap, around £4-8 per bottle. Also, when you add up the cost of the whisky and the shipping, and divide by the number of bottles you've ordered, it works out to be cheaper than you'd expect.

[Lawrence]

Loch Fyne Whiskies have an extensive section on their website breaking down the costs by country, both EU and non EU. It seems to be £ 10.00 for the first bottle and then the cost varies depending on the number of extra bottles.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

.....I know the shipping costs from various countries, but discovered that shipping from the UK is quite expensive. It might also be that if you send a package through the Post Office, it might be cheaper, but this I don't know.

One thing is for sure, for £33 I can even pick them up personally (and have a good excuse to go to the UK ).

I have checked this out and again from and Irish point of view but I would reckon it is similar for the UK. The post office charges by weight but when you are using DHL and the like they charge you by frequency. By this I mean I would be charged 70 euros+ to send 1-6 bottles to UK/Germany etc if it was a one off or once a week delivery. However if I was sending bottles all over Europe all the time (10 plus parcels a week) the cost comes down significantly. The more volume of parcels you send the cheaper it is. Therefore if your buying online you will get different dispatch costs depending on the online shop and the courier they use.

Not very fair really but I suppose if think about it, if they have to send a truck to pick up just one package you will pay full whack but if it is picking up 10 parcels that is the pick up charge divided by 10. Think in terms of man power etc a guy being paid and running costs of a truck to pick up one package if you are a low volume seller, you could be in the middle of no where and no other customers near you for the courier so it incurs major costs to them just to pick up. However when it reaches the depot and goes on the plane, there are loads of parcels to be sorted, dispatched etc and the cost versus scale is reduced. SO the big cost is in the initial pick up and not sticking it on the plane.

Make sence to any one. By te way I'm just guessing based on what info I was given by DHL