Logistics of shipping stuff to Taiwan

I’m currently a visiting scientist in a country other than my home country, in a rented two bedroom apartment filled with stuff I have accumulated over my stay of about a decade here. I have no family here and feel it is time to move on.

Most of my stuff isn’t particularly high value but I’m pretty sentimental when it comes to my things, such as mugs from my graduate study days or an ancient relic of a microwave oven that refuses to stop working :slight_smile:

I would like to ship the contents to Taiwan at minimal cost (doesn’t even have to be insured) and how long it takes to arrive is of no concern as well.

My problem is that I don’t have a destination in Taiwan to ship the stuff to, and I don’t have a place to keep the stuff in my present country while I come to Taiwan, settle in and find a place to buy/rent. Although I have checked with storage companies here and they can store my things and permit me to give a freight company authorization to collect it in my absence.

What should I do? Does anyone have any experience with freight companies and shipping stuff to Taiwan? What’s the best way to do things? Any recommended freight companies?

Given that the cheapest freight option will probably be via sea, do they need to have a destination at the moment of departure or can it be noted as “to be confirmed”? Or would it be better to store the things in my country of origin for the time being, find a home in Taiwan and then sort out the collection from the origin country to Taiwan remotely? Will I need to be present for the customs export declaration?

Thanks for any advice.

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Based on experience I suggest sell/give away your stuff and start a fresh here, anything else will either be a headache, stupidly expensive or both. Small sentimental items just stick them in your suitcase.

Shipping stuff will incur a fixed customs inspection fee of 2/300US$ Taiwan side, you can check the export customs fee your side. If where you are is not 110V 60Hz then probably best not to bother with anything electrical.

Your cheapest option is likely by post, noting there are some restrictions on what can be sent by post, however you obviously need an address here to send stuff too. Any friend or contact?

if you absolutely want the stuff then this is probably the best option.

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I’m not sure what the situation is for different countries, but I believe surface post shipping from Canada to Taiwan (and I think USA to Taiwan?) no longer exists, so you’re stuck with air shipping - which of course gets very expensive, very quickly.

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i was in similar situation, i stored my stuff at a friend’s house, and once i found an apartment i shipped it to Taiwan.
I used DHL back in the day, they charged me 5usd per kg. They have a few rates (only air, mixed air+sea), you can check it out. rates have probably gone up, but it wont cost anything to ask them for a quote.
they take care of all the customs clearance.

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I worked with a freighting company to ship so many cubic meters of stuff. They store it in a sea container. The stuff will take a couple of months to arrive. I would imagine you do need an address for where it should go.

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Thanks everyone. Best option I think is to store things in a professional storage company in the origin country, while I go look for a place to move to in Taiwan.

@izzy Storing things in a friend’s place is OK but the volume of items has reached the point where it would be embarrassing to ask them to store it for free, and if I pay them then I might as well store it professionally.

@SuperS54 I can get rid of most of the household electrical stuff. Desktop PCs the PSUs can be switched to 110V and for laptops I can buy 110V chargers in Taiwan.

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I found a shipping company that stored for me while I sorted paperwork and moved to Taiwan. A bit more expensive but convenient. If you use a storage company, will the shippers be willing and able to pick it up without you?

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Yeah I checked with a storage company about a month ago, they cost about US$150-300/month for 20m3 of storage, depending on how central the location was. They said I can leave the access card either with a friend, or with the shipping company.

The storage company didn’t want to keep the access card themselves.

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