Has anyone used SendMyBag service for shipping? Specifcally US to Europe?

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st4r-lord@reddit

I'm about to use them to send personal effects from Spain to the US. Their rates and entire process seems more streamlined than other options i've seen. Going to send a test box with some items and see how things go before sending more boxes.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

Did you gas these comments? I’m so glad we didn’t use them!

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st4r-lord@reddit

From what i've read there are a lot of positive reviews and a lot of negative. Hard to determine things based on what i've read. I will report back how it goes.

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Old_Property1568@reddit

bonjour je dois envoyer de la france vers les USA - comment c'est c'est passé pour toi ?

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st4r-lord@reddit

Actually went really good. After selecting a pickup date and paying for the delivery DHL showed up to get the package and it ended up in the US about 4 days later. Everything was really quick. Just be sure if you select a pickup date that’s within the next couple days you might have to reach out to the company and request your labels. Their system says it will generate labels etc when it’s close to your ship date but the labels were still not available yet as the shipping date got closer. Reached out to their customer support and they provided it right away.

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rock717777@reddit

Complete scam of a company.. Stay away.

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okayteenay@reddit

Yes, from WA state to Norway. Pretty straightforward. No surprises. Stuff arrived in excellent condition. Definitely took more than two weeks, not 3-4 days. Though, some of that time was spent trying to clear customs here in Norway.

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Tanzen69@reddit

Hey were there destination charges in Norway??

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okayteenay@reddit

Hm, I’m not sure. All the prices quoted are what we paid, so no surprises.

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Tanzen69@reddit

Thanks!!

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

ahhhhhh thats really good to know to set expectations! lol I appreciate the feedback

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Prudent-Bit-3974@reddit

I shipped 5 bags from the US to Italy (2 hard-shell suitcases, 1 cardboard box, 1 soft-shell suitcase and a duffle bag). I spent close to a $1k despite most items being far below max weight. The instructions were lengthy, convoluted, and delivered piece-meal. I spent days trying to get everything right because they make you list EVERY SINGLE ITEM you put in and estimate the re-sale value OF EACH ITEM. Good luck not going insane if you’re shipping more than a few items.

First, the shipment was a week late and communication with them/customs close to impossible – they kept asking for documents I already provided.

Second, they emailed me WEEKS after the shipment was sent to say that the measurements I had provided were not correct and I had to pay an extra $80 plus $15 of late fee for exceeding my baggage allowance. I re-measured all my bags and they were straight-up LYING. I pointed this out to them, and they waved the fee *almost like it was never supposed to be there in the first place.*

Third, all the items in the duffle bag (which was fully wrapped in plastic wrap as per their instructions) and the WATERPROOF soft-shell bag were COVERED IN MOLD. I don’t know what they did to the bags, short of throwing them in the ocean, but a lot of items were still soaked through weeks after (this is the summer, in Rome). I had to throw away irreplaceable memories, clothes from my late father, etc. I spent DAYS cleaning. Not even the dry cleaner could save some of the items, and they REFUSE to reimburse me because they claim that I had to file a complaint within 7 days of delivery (which I couldn’t do because I hadn’t arrived in Italy yet) – as if it should only be possible to ship an item if you can personally be there within 7 days to inspect the contents of the bag?!

Stay away from this company, unless you want to pay them to get scammed, waste your time, and throw all of your earthly possessions in the trash.

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Prudent-Bit-3974@reddit

I shipped 5 bags from the US to Italy (2 hard-shell suitcases, 1 cardboard box, 1 soft-shell suitcase and a duffle bag). I spent close to a $1k despite most items being far below max weight. The instructions were lengthy, convoluted, and delivered piece-meal. I spent days trying to get everything right because they make you list EVERY SINGLE ITEM you put in and estimate the re-sale value OF EACH ITEM. Good luck not going insane if you’re shipping more than a few items.

First, the shipment was a week late and communication with them/customs close to impossible – they kept asking for documents I already provided.

Second, they emailed me WEEKS after the shipment was sent to say that the measurements I had provided were not correct and I had to pay an extra $80 plus $15 of late fee for exceeding my baggage allowance. I re-measured all my bags and they were straight-up LYING. I pointed this out to them, and they waved the fee *almost like it was never supposed to be there in the first place.*

Third, all the items in the duffle bag (which was fully wrapped in plastic wrap as per their instructions) and the WATERPROOF soft-shell bag were COVERED IN MOLD. I don’t know what they did to the bags, short of throwing them in the ocean, but a lot of items were still soaked through weeks after (this is the summer, in Rome). I had to throw away irreplaceable memories, clothes from my late father, etc. I spent DAYS cleaning. Not even the dry cleaner could save some of the items, and they REFUSE to reimburse me because they claim that I had to file a complaint within 7 days of delivery (which I couldn’t do because I hadn’t arrived in Italy yet) – as if it should only be possible to ship an item if you can personally be there within 7 days to inspect the contents of the bag?!

Stay away from this company, unless you want to pay them to get scammed, waste your time, and throw all of your earthly possessions in the trash.

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Lopsided-Giraffe-671@reddit

They are a dodgy business. I used them for UK to mainland Europe. They shipped through FedEx and practically extorted money from me. FedEx insisted on over €100 cash for one suitcase at the time of delivery. I had to pay and then Send My Bag agreed to raise a dispute with FedEx when I complained. Months later, Send My Bag arbitrarily insisted I must pay €40 + VAT because "FedEx would've charged that anyway" and get the rest in the form of store credit. I followed up with FedEx directly and they told me they'd settled the invoice in full after the dispute was raised. Send My Bag kept claiming they'd not received confirmation from FedEx. It is still unresolved. Never using them again so store credit is pointless anyway.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

its crazy how fast these reviews went from amazing to absolutely terrible. sorry you got so ripped off. I hope people find these feed before using!

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Firm_Construction676@reddit

Are there any alternative options?

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

We ended up packing up everything into giant moving boxes and paying to check them onto our flights. Ended up being about $1200 cheaper than shipping! Not every airline offers this, but most big ones do- we did Lufthansa

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almyri@reddit

We are considering doing this. About how many boxes did you check? How did you get them from the airport to your residence? I think it’d be difficult to have several carts and try to get out of the customs area with them.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

We did 5 MASSIVE boxes. The biggest you can get from Home Depot + another custom sized box from Fed-ex for large paintings. It costs about $500 which was very reasonable in our opinions! It probably depends where you live for customs. They didn’t even blink an eye where we are. It was difficult physically though. We had to rent a vehicle to get it from the airport to home.

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almyri@reddit

Thanks so much! Is that $500 per box or $500 total? $500 total would be amazing. But even $2500 would not be terrible.

We are limited to United because they’re the only airline that has a direct flight and allows dogs to fly under the seat on transatlantic flights.

Yeah, I’m primarily worried about how to get out of the airport and to our place with everything. By customs, I meant the customs area where the international bags are and you can’t go back into. We’ll have a lot of boxes on carts and 2 dogs and our carry-ons. I don’t know if we can get out of the customs luggage area in one trip.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

I think you’ll be okay with that part it will just take a little work. We had to do two carts.. you might be able to do that too!

And yes only $500 total 💓

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Firm_Construction676@reddit

what is the name of this service? Thank you

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Different_Tap_2217@reddit

Worked at smb for 6yrs, when FedEx say the invoice is settled they prob mean it was paid. If customs fees are refunded it always goes back to who paid, for Fedex that usually meant cheque in the post to receiver named on AWB, Fedex think it's 1990...or they do this as they know you might not cash it! If Fedex didnt send you a cheque it wasn’t refunded. Manager would issue store credit if smb customs guys were unable to secure refund for customer but they disagreed with the decision

€40 will be a customs processing fee charged by destination country customs, if they didnt refund it, it should have been listed on the customs page for you destination, after Brexit Spain started charging €35, funny thing was they seemed to charge it to UK customers but not US!! think a lot of the customs in EU wanted to punish UK for Brexit

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Lopsided-Giraffe-671@reddit

And smb decided I need to pay the €40 charge in the middle of the dispute only when the question of the refund appeared, even though it's not listed anywhere on the FedEx receipt? So smb's argument is that FedEx should've/would've refunded the amount charged minus the customs processing fee (for a suitcase of personal items by the way) and now they are charging me on their behalf and giving me the rest in store credit generously? Does not make them any less unscrupulous.

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Effective-Shift-5343@reddit

the worst service ever. do not use them. they blame everything on DHL when it’s really the fault if send my bag. horrible.

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antizana@reddit

Yes. Sent a bag from US to France. It was actually shipped via DHL, but with send my bag we paid far less than the regular DHL rate. SMB does the customs form and there was a bit of a debate about how generic the description needed to be (“personal effects” vs “3 jeans, 1 t shirt, 1 belt”) and there was a bit of a delay in customs on the receiving side but AFAIK no customs duties needed to be paid. We shipped a friend’s personal effects she had left behind so there was nothing that looked like potential commercial wares.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

awesome!! This is great to know. I think we're going to try it. For us its just old clothes and books so hopefully it would be straightforward in customs but you never know

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pinkflowersofavadan@reddit

Can I ask how your experience was?

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

We didn’t end up doing it! They were going to charge way more than the original quote (by like 1k) and so we packed everting up in boxes and checked them on the flight instead

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CuzViet@reddit

1000$?

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

Yes

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iamthedanger11@reddit

Interesting, how was it collecting it at the airport with all your bags as well seems like a nightmare. We need to ship 8ish boxes and seems unlikly we could handle all that in a airport.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

No problem it all! We just used one of those carts to move them. One bag got lost due to a tight layover so we came and collected it a free days later

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New_Hunt7780@reddit

The things I liked:

-generally the team was really kind and they were really trying to help and advise in the best way possible, each time I called.

The things I disliked:

-unfortunately, the experience overall was disappointing. I was sending just 4 boxes (one of them was a bike box), for which I spent almost 500 GBP (these were 4 boxes from UK to the EU). I was charged 70 GBP for exceeding the size of two parcels and there was no mention of exceeding any size, at the time of putting the order through or thereafter.

-nobody has informed me that I should have made videos or photos of actually measuring the boxes as, otherwise, I couldn't make a dispute against the 70 GBP charge - the measurements that they quoted as the reason behind the charge, were very different to what I originally quoted when making the order (obviously, I wouldn't have given different measurements to what they were).

-bike box - I was advised to disassemble my bike and I did so in accordance to the directions they've given online. I then ordered a double-walled cardboard box for my bike. Unfortunately, upon making the order, it turned out that the box was too large. I had no time to order a new box and I had to manually redo it and disassemble every little part of the bike to fit it inside of the box. Needless to say, I phoned in two or three times about sending the bike, as I've never done it before, and not once anyone told me that I'm supposed to not exceed certain, particular measurements.

Each time I called, I mentioned that I was sending the bike for the first time and I expected some advice. The same about the two boxes, which I was charged for - they should have advised me to keep the measurement on pictures.

As a comparison - I sent the remaining 7 boxes I had through a company, which was only sending between the UK and Poland - they were much cheaper and they sent everything without any issue whatsoever (I was actually using the same cardboard boxes, because I ordered a bulk of boxes).

-The one box, which I sent to Poland (two were going to Cyprus and one to Poland) was stopped at the border with a whole list of paperwork to be filled in - I'm not sure if it's due to the border check but, again, with the other company everything went extremely smoothly and I was sending the boxes packed exactly the same.

-I haven't received none of the boxes yet, so I'm unable to confirm the state of my things, etc. (I put two of the boxes on delivery pause, due to Easter holiday).

I have honestly never had so many issues with sending my parcels before, as I had with this company.

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acappella-pasta@reddit

I've used them twice - Ireland-Germany, and more recently Germany-UK. Was very happy with the service both times and would not hesitate to use again. My shipments actually arrived a day earlier than expected in the UK.

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Level-Escape-3670@reddit

Terrible, terrible, terrible service.

Everything goes smoothly — until you make the payment.

As soon as the payment is processed, you suddenly receive new information: since your bag contains personal belongings and it will cross a border (e.g., from the UK to the EU for a holiday, or from the EU to Switzerland), you are required to fill out a detailed inventory list of every single item in the bag, including its original purchase price and current estimated value. You are expected to find receipts for each item and potentially pay customs duties for importing/exporting personal belongings that exceed €150 in total value.

None of this is disclosed before payment — at that stage, you only receive a quote for shipping your luggage or ski gear, for example, from the UK to Switzerland.

Then you find out that all of your personal items are subject to customs duties based on their residual value.

We also encountered a situation where the exact same hard-shell suitcase — on the return leg — was suddenly declared to have a different size, even though its physical size cannot change. The company insisted that the dimensions had changed and charged an extra €200–300. Photos or other forms of proof made no difference — they simply referred to “internal DHL measurements” and denied the possibility to dispute it.

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anthonyathens@reddit

I used them to ship my stuff from the UK to Cyprus. My advice is ''don't do it''. My boxes were completely damaged, and I had four pairs of trainers stolen. They are quick to tell you how * seriously* they take security, but no chance of them ever paying compensation. The list of questions they ask when you report the issues are designed specfically to make it impossible for you to prove they or their couriers are at fault.

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Sorry-Supermarket229@reddit

I wouldn't use them anymore, they're obviously now cutting corners that they've got bigger, using really useless couriers now as they're obviously cheaper. Used to be great!

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deeplyaqua@reddit

What makes you say this? What's an alternative?

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Sorry-Supermarket229@reddit

Taking it yourself or using someone else, they used to be amazing but the capability of the service and the carriers they use now are abysmal, obviously money grabbing

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bassabuse@reddit

Sent 3 boxes from US to Portugal and everything arrived on time and intact. We had to pay an extra €12 on delivery for some customs fees but it was about 1/4 what UPS and DHL quoted us even though DHL handled the whole delivery.

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Only-Literature8021@reddit

Thank you for this comment! Can I ask how the process went with customs? Did you have to itemize your contents? Do you just show recipes where you purchased your own items or house does this work? I’m headed to PT from the US and trying to get my arms around how to get some boxes over to PT. Thank you for any insights you can share.

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bassabuse@reddit

We provided general descriptions of the contents (e.g. board games, knives, books). We did have receipts for most if not everything that we were sending. We assume someone is being reasonable about old items, clothes, or sentimentals. We never interacted with customs directly. We did the packing, FedEx picked up some boxes, DHL delivered the same boxes on the other end.

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belldandy33@reddit

I am in the middle of a terrible experience with them- they fumbled customs paperwork and it’s going to arrive way later than quoted so I have to reroute it to another address to try and catch up with it to which they are charging me more money to do! I’ve had to chase down customer service who keeps giving me conflicting answers. Never again.

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purrpurrpurrr@reddit

Used it just now shipping from UK to EU It’s absolutely awful, customer service is non existent, they haven’t passed my customs docs to fedex (and then said they did but never actually picked it up with supplier to clear the issue etc, FedEx claimed they heard nothing from them, I had to send it all myself in the end)

This should have been customs free as it’s a personal possessions shipment for relocation which is supposed to be a part of the service. FedEx declared it as a purchase basically so I ended up having to pay customs + fees + twice the amount for shipping because they are EXPENSIVE

Would not recommend anyone to use it, terrible company, ended up losing money and still don’t have my stuff, customer service is beyond shit as they basically argued with me in the chat and tried to brag how they are the only ones providing this service and how good they are etc. actually a joke

I think it says a lot about the company when instead of sorting the issue they try to brag about how good they are, like in most cases if all goes well you might have a good run but if any issues happen it’s diabolical to solve and you are on your own

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Different_Tap_2217@reddit

worked at smb for years, docs are all transmitted straight into FedEx or DHL’s customs systems, sometimes could be a break between courier’s central and regional customs in Europe, easy to resend though, I did it at least once a day, dont know why person would waffle on instead of just doing that for you. after Brexit several EU countries introduced clearance fees for UK, so although you wont pay VAT and import taxes on the total value, for some countries you do now pay a customs fee like €30 at the destination, this is why from 2021 they stopped advertising UK - EU for holidays, only relocation

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

wow it's crazy how bad the reviews have gotten about this service! we didn't end up using and very glad. Sorry for all the hassle. That sucks. Hopefully people will find this feed before using it in the future!

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Thestonedwitcher@reddit

I used it from Canada to Austria,

3-4 weeks with customs for used items my partner left in Canada. Almost everything in it was from Italy.. Had to rewrite the list in german.. And then after two weeks of back and forth for that. Had to sign a form to attest nothing was from Russia.

The idea of send my bag is good but the price of it isn't worth it. It's more than double the cost of bringing stuff by plane even though traveling solo would have been a PITA.

I do not recommend this service. Nor DHL that has made me waste at least 4 entire work days.

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Toiletpaperwaterfall@reddit

Used SMB when we moved our family from US to Germany. Sent about 9-10 boxes in total and felt like the price was reasonable. Be sure to include descriptions on the packing list but be careful not to pack/list anything that’s prohibited. Our stuff got stuck in customs for like two weeks because we had listed some kids medicine on the packing list. Customs searched the boxes, removed the medicine and that was that.

Customs then tried to send us a bill for over 1,000€ for having to hold our boxes. We talked to SMB about it and SMB got it reduced to less then 100€. Overall we were pleased and would certainly use them again.

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miken0222@reddit

How much was your shipping total for the 9-10 boxes? Need to know to quote my employer. Thanks!

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

very good to know thank you!

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littlepretty__@reddit

My mom used this service to send me some bags when I moved to Belgium from the east coast, she said it was super easy and relatively cheap.

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samelaaaa@reddit

I used the one that eurostar links you to (turns out they have much smaller size limits than international airlines!) and it honestly exceeded my expectations. Not crazy expensive, was fully taken care of on both ends and everything arrived (Manchester, UK -> Utah) in about a week.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

Thank you I’ll check it out!

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bullgod13@reddit

We are traveling to Albania from Mexico City in October. I just went to get a quote and the price of 415.00 usd is waaaaaay more than a bag fee on AeroMexico from CDMX to Roma. am I missing something? its almost as expensive as my one way ticket to Rome.

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blueberries-Any-kind@reddit (OP)

For sendmybag? I wonder if it’s because of whatever shipper they pair with, it sounds like they are using fedex and DHL and etc but with lower rates. I am looking at west coast USA to Greece and it is looking like ~$90usd/bag

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Anxious-Ocelot-712@reddit

Yes, we've used them twice for shipping from US to France. Once when we moved to send clothes and toiletries, the second time sending home Christmas gifts. Super easy, cheaper than DHL, and super fast. I think our bags took 3 days or less door to door.

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