Shipping internationally, especially to France, is not an easy task. Whether shipping personal gifts or business documents, you need the best option.
People nowadays avoid the hassle of delays, high prices, and trustworthy services to send parcel to France. Gifts can be sent with safety and documents can be legally delivered.
France is always a leading sending country for personal and professional mailing from abroad. Not knowing the best options can lead to high costs, customs problems, and even lost packages. This guide will help you send a parcel to France and have costs controlled and deliveries made.
The Importance of Planning
Multiple factors come into consideration with international shipping from packaging, the reliability of the carrier, customs, and shipping time.
Poor planning can cause all kinds of issues from package returns, additional shipping costs, and goods being damaged. Following structured and planned steps can help with the success of shipping and the satisfaction of the recipient.
How to Choose the Best Shipping Carrier
Several carriers offer shipping to France and good services. The “big four” (DHL, FedEx, UPS, and the country’s postal services) offer a range of shipping speeds and prices.
Gifts and lighter packages can be shipped using express couriers and can arrive in as little as 2-5 business days. Secure door-to-door services and tracking are available. If you are shipping a document or a package that is not time sensitive, the local post and freight services are good options and, despite their lower costs, good services.
Consider the time it takes your package to arrive, the insurance offered, and how the carrier handles fragile packages.
Pro Tip: Some carriers have a “gift packaging” add-on which includes decorative and protective packing. This is a time saver for gift giving during the winter holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions.
Gifts and Documents for Shipping
Proper packaging helps delivery go smoothly. Use durable boxes that help keep gifts cushioned. Use Bubble wrap to cushion and wrap fragile pieces, and use peanuts or air pillows to fill empty spaces. Use waterproof envelopes or rigid mailers for documents to keep them from bending or getting damaged by water.
Address every item clearly. Lists the senders and receivers for each item. Packing lists are attached to the outside and are placed inside the package.
This helps customs go through your shipment faster. If a box has an old label and is being reused, remove the label to avoid sending it to the wrong address.
French Customs
Being in the EU, France follows strict import protocols. Most gifts less than €45 don’t incur duty, but gifts that are more expensive have VAT and customs fees. Typically there are less restrictions on documents, but they still need to be declared.
Declare contents and say what they are on your declaration and if HS codes are applicable, provide an invoice.
If they are banned or restricted, check the traps or the official French customs to be on the safe side, and to help avoid bad surprises.
Cost Saving Strategies
Choose off-peak shipping to even out demand and avoid holiday surcharges.
- If items can be bundled, make it single box shipment.
- If shipping often is a necessity, a freight forwarder may be a good investment to consolidate smaller deliveries.
- Always choose a tracked delivery service, no shipment is too small to require tracking.
- Select an aggregator for a comparison of carriers. They provide real time data for the cost and efficiency of shipment.
Tracking, Insurance, and Delivery
Choose an end-to-end delivery service that provides tracking at every point of contact.
Buy insurance on gifts and important shipping documents for delivery to ease worried minds for a small investment.
Post on the delivery time and date. France delivers gifts to work and not home, post to a work address.
Best Practices:
Follow the best practices to ship gifts and documents as a regulated shipper. Careful packaging, the right carrier, and a little research will nurture the plan so gifts and documents arrive on time to France.
Trust the strategies and avoid the trials, and send a great Parc in an inexpensive economical shipment.
Shipping brings parcels, parcels make recipients happy, happy is the goal.
