Furniture is the heaviest thing in the decision and the easiest to get wrong in both directions. People ship things they should have sold, and sell things they spend years regretting.
We connect your enquiry with a vetted international moving company from our network that wraps and handles furniture to export standard rather than domestic standard.
The test is simple enough to apply room by room. Would you buy this again at the price of shipping it? For a good table the answer is usually yes and for a flat pack wardrobe it is usually no.
solid, well made and sentimental pieces are worth shipping. Flat pack, worn and easily replaced furniture usually is not, because the freight cost exceeds what replacing it would cost in America.
Measure the doorways and staircase at the far end before you decide, not after. Furniture that cannot enter the new house has been shipped across an ocean for nothing.
Pieces are wrapped rather than blanketed, because a blanket is removed at the depot while wrapping stays on for the journey. Corners, edges and polished surfaces get specific protection.
Larger items are dismantled where the design allows, which reduces both the risk and the volume. Fixings are bagged and labelled so reassembly at the far end is not an afternoon of guesswork.
Antiques and delicate pieces may be crated rather than wrapped. That costs more and it is the right answer for anything whose value would not survive a knock.
Would you buy it again for what shipping it costs? That single question settles most of the list.
Doorways, staircase turns and lift dimensions at the far end decide what can physically arrive.
Beds, wardrobes and large tables usually need both, and whether reassembly is in the quote varies.
For solid, well made, antique or sentimental pieces, usually yes. For flat pack, worn or easily replaced items, usually not, because freight costs more than replacement.
It is wrapped to export standard rather than blanketed, with corners and polished surfaces protected specifically, because it must survive weeks rather than an afternoon.
Larger pieces usually are, where the design allows. Ask whether reassembly at the far end is included, because that varies between quotes.
They may be crated rather than wrapped, which costs more and is the right answer for anything a knock would ruin. Declare their value properly for insurance.
Often not. It was designed to be assembled once, and taking it apart and rebuilding it twice is where it usually fails.
Measure the doorways, staircase turns and lift at the destination before deciding. Furniture that cannot get in has been shipped for nothing.
Only through the usual test. Pieces used in your household for a year normally enter free of duty; anything newer is declared separately.
Rarely. They are bulky, they take a lot of container space and they are inexpensive to buy in the United States.
On a full service booking, normally yes. Check, because reassembly is one of the things quotes differ on.
Send your collection address, your US destination, the move date and a list of the larger pieces. A moving company from our network surveys them and advises on what is worth shipping.
Send your move detailsA Working Member of AGM Group. Enquiries are connected with vetted FIDI FAIM certified and BAR Overseas accredited international moving companies from the network.
We are an enquiry service rather than a removal company. Furniture is packed, shipped and delivered by the moving company you are introduced to.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder.