• When you are ready to ship your lasers to Parallax for service, you have the following options:

you can ship with one of the three International Carriers : DHL, FedEx or UPS

or

you can ship via a Local Freight Forwarding Company in your city.

* There are big differences that you should know about *
• DHL/FedEx/UPS give you Door-to-Door price
• Local Freight Forwarding company gives you Door-to-Airport price.

Release from Airport and delivery to our Door is another $200!

Read on :

 

Local Freight Forwarding Company Appears To Be Cheaper but it is Not and this is why ;

• Local Transport Company arranges with an Airline (usually the flag Airline of your country), for example in China - China Air, in Korea - Korean Airline, in Germany - Lufthansa, in England - British Airways, etc. etc. etc. and they will send your goods to the U.S.

  What happens next ?

  Upon arrival at the airport (New York or Boston) an agent will contact Parallax. They will tell Parallax that "your package has arrived from ABC. WHO IS your custom's Broker ? "

  Then we have 2 options : use our broker or ask them to release it themselves

  Option 1 : we give them the name of our Customs Broker

  The agent transfers the 'papers' to our Customs Broker
  The agent charges between $25 to $40 Airport Transfer Fee.
  Our Broker will do the paperwork for goods to be released from Customs
  Our Broker will arrange for truck pick up and delivery to Parallax
  Our Broker will send an invoice for
  (a) Brokers Fee $160 (2010)
  (b) Delivery $40 Boston, $85 NY

  Then, we will bill you and attach all their invoices. (about $230> ).

  Option 2 : we ask the agent to release it himself.

  The agent will do the paperwork for goods to be released from Customs
  The agent will arrange for truck pick up and delivery to Parallax
  The agent will send a bill that is somewhere between $150 to $300.

  Then, we will bill you and attach all their invoices.

  Please note that these charges are Not Customs Duty.   These are additional delivery charges we must pay for receiving your goods.

  The above Door-to-Airport rule is always the case when you ship something to the U.S. It has nothing to do with Parallax or with lasers. Therefore, kindly make sure you understand what your freight forwarder is charging for ? Are you charged for Door-to-Door delivery or Door-to-Airport delivery ? Almost EVERY freight forwarder, except the big 3, give you a quote that is for Door-to-Airport UNLESS YOU ASK for Door-to-Door quotation.

• What about DHL, FedEx and UPS ?

  These carriers have their own Customs Brokers and their own delivery trucks but these carriers also charge us for the delivery.

  If you declare a price that is more than about $1,000, then they will charge us a 'fee'. DHL calls this 'Single Transaction Fee' and they charge us $48. FedEx and UPS have other names for it, but in general it is less than $40. We will invoice you for these charges.

  Please note that it is very very very dificult ( almost impossible) to get any payment from these carriers for goods that arrive damaged even though you may have paid for 'damage and loss insurance'. If you decide to insure, you are insuring against 'lost goods' but forget about 'damage'. Just Package your goods for safe travel.

  We understand that you can not control Customs Duty, which is Zero for U.S. made goods and Zero for goods coming from Israel. Other than duty, all other charges should be made clear to you in advance.

  Stay tuned for more !

In another transaction, a box containing a laser arriving from Egypt had to be returned to Origin because we refused to pay $400 ON TOP OF what the customer had paid. It later came back via another carrier.

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