The right shipping company can ensure your package reaches the correct location in a reasonable amount of time. But if you’ve never worked with a shipping company before, you might not know how to choose the right one.
Thankfully, finding a reliable shipping company isn’t as hard as it sounds.
Keep reading and you’ll discover 5 tips that’ll help you choose the best international shipping company for your needs. Read until the end and you’ll be armed with the knowledge needed, to make sure your package safely reaches its destination.
Let’s begin!
1. Consider Your Budget and Everything That Might Affect It
When deciding on your budget, it’s important that you don’t budget too little. Shipping companies of all shapes and sizes tend to offer a variety of shipping options. Some of the ‘cheaper’ shipping options are not always as reliable as you’d like them to be.
Because of this, you might want to think about going for some of the more expensive shipping options available. This’ll ensure you don’t lose your packages simply because you chose a shipping option that has price and not reliability as its focus.
It’s also worth mentioning that you shouldn’t shy away from some of the more expensive shipping companies. If these companies have been in business for a while, they’re likely expensive for a reason. It can be a sign that the company in question knows what they’re doing.
You might question why the price is so high. But the company likely has many existing, repeat customers that are happy to pay this higher price, because they know the service is reliable.
If you’re worried about overspending, there’s nothing wrong with obtaining a wide range of quotes. You just need to be careful if you come across a quote that looks too good to be true. Odds are a very cheap shipping company, might be cutting corners.
You should also ask a shipping company about any potential costs you might face, outside of the basic shipping fee. Sometimes a shipping company might hit you with a cost you didn’t expect. You can avoid this, by understanding the circumstances that lead to extra charges, before you ship your items.
2. Investigate as Many Reviews as You Can
You’d likely read reviews when you’re buying a new phone, so why not read reviews when investing in overseas shipping?
Reading reviews can help you get a sense of how happy past customers were with the service they were provided with. You’ll be able to determine whether the company provided accurate delivery times.
You can also read about the state of the packages once they got to their destination. After all, fast shipping is no good if the item gets to its destination in a damaged state.
3. Niching down Might Be a Good Idea
Not all shipping companies are the same. Some are designed to ship only certain kinds of items, or only to a certain destination. If you want to work with someone that’ll know how to deliver your particular item, in the best way possible, reaching out to a specialist can be a good idea.
They’ll know exactly how your items should be packed so that they do not get damaged when in transit. Or it may even be the case that they have shipping facilities that are suited to the product you’re shipping. For instance, if you need refrigerated shipping, a specialist company will likely be able to provide this.
Such a company also likely has predetermined processes in place to deal with orders like yours. They’ve probably dealt with similar customers in the past and so know how to overcome common issues. This might include customs issues, for instance.
As you might’ve guessed, specialist companies can cost a bit more. But due to the reasons mentioned above, this cost can be worth paying. Especially if you’re transporting something that’s of high value.
Sometimes, you can tell a shipping company is specialized if they have expert content on their blog. This content can help provide some background on their process. If you’d like to see an example of a shipping company that does this, you can read more here.
4. Be Aware of the Insurance Process
No matter what you do and whom you work with, there will sometimes be instances where your packages don’t make it to their destination. Insurance can help you deal with a situation like this, but you need to arrange this ahead of time.
Sometimes, the shipping company might be able to provide you with insurance. This is not always the case, though, and you’ll want to double check this ahead of time.
If you’re not able to access such insurance, you might need to speak to an insurance company or an insurance agent. Keep in mind that if you’re going to do this, make sure you know exactly what you’re going to be transporting. You should also think about calculating a rough estimate of the value of the items you want to transport.
5. Test out the Process
If you have some doubts, you can always do a test run.
You might ask some companies to each ship an identical package. Then based on the results with this package, you’ll be able to judge which company is best for you.
You’ll want to pay attention to the process associated with shipping the package. You’ll also want to focus on the delivery times and the state of the package when it arrives.
This process can be very helpful if you’re going to ship a large expensive order, as it provides evidence a certain company is good at what they do.
Time to Work with an International Shipping Company?
Shipping items abroad can be an incredibly stressful process. Especially if you’ve never had to do this kind of thing before. Yet if you find the right shipping company, a lot of this stress can be alleviated.
In this post, we’ve taken a look at what it takes to find the best international shipping company for your needs. You need to think about all the costs that are going to be involved. You should also sift through as many reviews as you can.
If you want to be really sure about how good a shipping company is, you can do a test run. Doing so can provide you with a surefire way of figuring out which company is best suited to the task of transporting your goods.
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