Artwork International Shipping Nightmare…

Be mindful of the shipper you use when you’re shipping or having an artwork shipped internationally. Due to the cost of most artwork, an artist or gallery will want any shipped painting to require a direct signature by the purchaser. This is reasonable and helps prevent theft and catch any damage to the artwork that may have been caused by shipping. A number of the artists we have purchased from offered shipping insurance which was different from what the shipping companies offer to cover any major damages that might occur.

If you can possibly avoid shipping things via FedEx and UPS, do it! FedEx and UPS international shipping support is abysmal. We don’t say this out of spite, but because of the numerous issues that we have gone through. Thankfully, nothing’s been damaged in their possession because we can not imagine how horrible it would be to have to claim that damage from them. The thing to know is that when you are buying art work internationally, tariffs are an element of custom forms you have to be aware of. Restricted and regulated items such as types of wood, which can include paper, and or fabric composition as well. There are many forms that customs can require, if the shipping manifest is not filled out properly by the artist or gallery. Sometimes it is just unavoidable anyway, no matter how good you are. Filling those forms out can be a nightmare. We have been required to fill out up to 10 or 11 custom forms per one shipment. If there is anything at all wrong with the form, then it had to be redone. These forms can ask about the composition of wood, used in a frame which can also require the species and genius information of the harvested tree. Who knows that? We even had to fill out a customs form describing the paper, pulp and manufacturing of drawing paper. You would think maybe the artwork was coming from some exotic location or some politically inconvenient enemy of the United States in fact it was just coming from France. We have not encountered the same difficulty with things clearing from Japan.

It seems that there is a special custom declaration for artwork. Custom fees are also a real aspect of having artwork shipped internationally. They can be very high. The artwork we shipped from France cost us about $350 in additional fees; this included customs processing fee, tariff fees and taxes. You can also be charged as significant amount of money if your package is not able to be processed within 2 after being held at a custom facility waiting for paperwork. This has happened to us, also on the same artwork from France. We were able to get those fees off because we showed that the UPS custom processing department was not unhelpful assisting answering questions about the the forms and unresponsive in responding to the forms that they received, and our questions about them. Providing that evidence saved us about $150 storage fees that they had assessed on the package. We still had to pick up the shipment in the end, to resolve all of the issues

Spare yourself, this nightmarish rigmarole and make sure that the shipping gallery or artist fills out all of the requisite forms in advance for the artwork needed to clear US customs. It would have been cheaper in the end to go with a professional art shipping company, which is very expensive rather than FedEx for that one particular work. A number of the artists I have purchased from absolutely refuse to use FedEx for good reason. Recently, I’ve experienced a fairly smooth shipping process with Maersk. The main thing is to do your research and understand that when choosing a shipper, sometimes the cheapest becomes the dearest. .

Filing out a Lacey Act Declaration

Occasionally shipments will require additional paperwork before they can be delivered. The most common type of form is a Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Certification for addressees located in the USA. This paperwork is required by the US Customs Office, usually for shipments including ink or some non-toxic paints. Please note that if you do not file the requested paperwork in time, your package may be returned to the sender. Packages held for incomplete or missing customs forms tend to incur high brokerage fees for processing, storage, and high return fees: if the forms are not submitted within five business days. Contact your shipper as soon as possible to avoid any costly fees. The images of the forms below are examples of the types of documents that are most often required when art work is being shipped internationality.

This is an example of how to petition to have brokerage fees reduced