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Kalkan Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: mitch on January 29, 2012, 01:14:28 PM

Title: Posting to Turkey
Post by: mitch on January 29, 2012, 01:14:28 PM
Hi,

I know this topic has been covered before but I would be grateful for any advice.  I need to send a parcel out to Kalkan from the UK, it weighs about 2.3kg (not too big in size) and is quite valuable.  Can anyone recommend a safe/reliable courier service? I've looked on various websites and am getting quotes anywhere between £35-£90 to send the package.  Would be good to know if anyone can recommend a company, and failing that- being very cheeky- is there anyone going out to Kalkan in the next couple of weeks who would be able to take it with them??! Thanks for any help  :)
Title: Re: Posting to Turkey
Post by: Blue Lizard on January 29, 2012, 07:58:42 PM
You would have to be pretty trusting to take a package through customs for someone you don't know..Since watching "Midnight Express" i have a re occuring nightmare about turkish prisons in which a man sporting a Fez,monocle and a large handlebar moustache, twists my nipples before giving me a wedgie and then makes me wear squeaky rubber crocs 2 sizes too small filled with pebbles before forcing me to dance to the Birdie song :o :o :o
 
(or was that the Butlins one?)
Title: Re: Posting to Turkey
Post by: Wendy on January 29, 2012, 08:29:20 PM
I'm going out 25th of March Mitch. I would however want to know that the parcel wasn't drugs or money? :-\
Title: Re: Posting to Turkey
Post by: Dellbarr on January 30, 2012, 08:10:48 AM
And it it is they're going to tell you aren't they!
Title: Re: Posting to Turkey
Post by: Cosetta on January 30, 2012, 08:36:11 AM
In my experience of both sending and receiving many packages over the past 9 years, anything sent through a courier will be opened by customs, possibly sent back to the place of origin if the contents are not admissible, or you will receive a notice asking you to come to a customs office to pay import duty (only exist in big cities) or if they decide it can enter and is not particularly valuable, for example, not a machine of any kind, they just may let it go through.  I know of someone who recently had some office equipment sent from the UK to Kalkan so he could continue his work while away from his office.  He did not check first or get an import license for these things.  They arrived in Izmir and were refused entry, sent back to the UK at his expense.

For the above reasons, I avoid all courier services like the plague.  What usually comes through reliably is ordinary postal mail, unregistered, and unmarked as anything valuable.  I buy things from both the UK and the US only from places or people who will send them by plain postal mail, no express or priority mail.

Even sent by ordinary mail, I had a parcel of several heavy bottles of vitamins inspected by Turkish customs and sent back to the store in the US.  But most things come through even though they are VERY slow in arriving.  International mail has gotten slower with tighter controls and more frequent inspections in the last 2 years.  Find someone willing to bring the item or wait until you can yourself.
Title: Re: Posting to Turkey
Post by: mitch on January 30, 2012, 09:05:39 AM
Obviously I'm not asking anyone to carry drugs/money over to Turkey for me! It's actually just a very late Christmas present, so of some value but nothing like office equipment/electrical items.  Thanks very much Wendy for the offer, end of March is just a little too late. Thanks Cosetta for the advice- I'll have a think about what to do. The item is too important to risk getting lost in normal mail- I have used normal mail in the past and been unlucky with things never turning up.  If anyone else is willing to bring it out a little earlier I'll PM with full details of what it is! Thanks
Title: Re: Posting to Turkey
Post by: pirha on January 30, 2012, 10:37:19 AM
Our experience in over twenty years here is that anything sent by courier either will disappear completely or else will arrive in Istanbul or Izmir, and you'll spend a long time tracking it down, finally ending up having to go to Fethiye or Antalya to pick it up. DHL are the worst; in our experience the couriers to whom they subcontract seem to leave items at random all over the place, and 80% of the stuff they send never turns up.
We have had no bother with items sent by mail, and recently have had goods delivered from the UK, Denmark, Germany, the Channel Islands & France. For items of no great importance, normal mail is fine, and typically gets here in 1 - 2 weeks. For items of value from the UK we use the Royal Mail's "international signed for" system, which will cost slightly more, but using the barcode given you, you can track the items every step of the way online. It is also covered by insurance.
And it should be glaringly obvious that the package should be properly and fully addressed, but people don't always ensure that this is done.
Drugs or money are illegal, and not surprisingly will get you arrested and jailed. Obviously you shouldn't try to send anything prohibited, since you will of course have problems with customs. This includes electronic goods and medicines, which will be refused.
For a smallish item such as yours, the Royal Mail's "international signed for" should get it here safe and sound.
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