Can some of the more experienced uk sellers chime in on the least expensive way to mail items to the U.S.?
I believe DHL is the cheapest. Believe it or not. Check out their website, or maybe parcelmonkey.co.uk. I used to use Royal Mail for convenience though.
I've found that Royal Mail work out the cheapest by a long way - if the package is under 2kg. Last time I was shipping a few somewhat bulky items it actually worked out cheaper to do two parcels under 2kg rather than go over that limit. If this is those PSX manuals, though, the big one will probably be over that. Expect to get ripped.
Royal Mail are okay, and if you send it "Signed For" it can be tracked once it enters the US (since it's carried onwards by USPS). That said, I've had a fair few items get "stuck" in limbo once they reach the first port of call in the US. Like Taucias says, you may want to try DHL - never had anything go missing when I've used them.
I've had bad experiences with books getting lost in transit going from the UK to the US (via one of the cheaper types of Royal Mail). If I were you I wouldn't try to save money in this department, unless the books are utterly replaceable.
You can send books via Royal Mail's Printed Papers service, which I believe is a little cheaper. However, as I've mentioned before, beyond a certain volumetric size, you're better off going for a company that offers discount shipping, e.g.: www.interparcel.com www.parcel2go.com www.postagesupermarket.com I think www.myhermes.co.uk is UK only, but they're very cheap. I personally use Interparcel or Postage Supermarket (which is run by a friend of mine). Also, for the US there's a similar service - www.ipsparcel.com. They probably offer an import service, but such services are usually quite costly (i.e. it's cheaper for you to use a UK company than go with the US import option).
Royal mail isn't that expensive. I sent a game to the USA just the other week and it only cost me £6 something for the signed for express service. Worst comes to worst, send it via ground mail.
Books are heavy. Much heavier than games. Royal Mail ARE expensive - and their prices have just gone up. Six pounds odd? WTF was the game? To send a parcel up to 100g costs £7.02 by International Signed For or £7.37 by Airsure... but only £2 by Airmail. Was it a Gamecube game, disc only?! lol Incidentally, International Signed For still isn't tracked - the tracking is until it leaves the UK. Yes, you get a signature - IF it arrives. If you're sending something of value, use a proper carrier service with proper tracking. And if you mean Airsure, that's a waste of money. You pay extra so it MIGHT get there a day quicker. There's no guarantee - and there's no guarantee it wouldn't have got there as quick, anyway! And it's not signed for - you only get delivery confirmation. International Signed For is better, and cheaper.
