The International Schools Review Forum

Have any of you ever traveled with a tv? Where I'm moving I know electronics are expensive, and my shipment won't arrive for several months. I'm thinking of buying one at home and bringing it with me. Thoughts?

Really comes down to - of the specific costs. What’s the tv cost here and there? Cost of bringing it with you? Customs duty? How annoying will it be to travel with it? What would you have to not bring in order to make room for the tv?

If you're going to a city with a sizeable expat population, there's often a buy & sell Facebook group for expats. Have a look there first, or ask around on an expat Facebook group for that city (even if there are only a few expats there will probably be at least one group). There they can tell you how to buy a used of new one and what they generally cost, and perhaps also what you would pay at customs to bring in a TV with you.

You don't mention where you are headed, but I doubt you are going to save any money in the end. Voltage issues, customs issues, and wondering if your TV will be damaged in transit just makes it pointless IMO. Assuming it's a new TV in box, customs charges are almost guaranteed.

I once saw someone checking in a car door on a flight to North Cyprus.

I like to think they were taking the whole car one piece at a time over many, many journey's...

I am leaving my school after this year to move to Southeast Asia and I'm just selling everything here and buying second-hand or new stuff over there. Saves me the trouble of having to ship it all and don not want to wait months there till it arrives. Some destinations might not have certain things though and if that is the case I would ship it but I doubt there are countries where they will not sell tv's and also doubtful the prices will be so high that it justifies shipping it.

EyEyEy wrote:
> I'm
> just selling everything here and buying second-hand or new stuff over
> there. Saves me the trouble of having to ship it all and don not want to
> wait months there till it arrives.

This used to be our MO, but then we bought some really nice design furniture for our previous apartment, and since we wanted to ship that we thought we might as well add some other items such as out TV since we had a container to fill anyway. But yes, waiting for it to arrive was annoying, but nevertheless worth the wait IMO.

This is normally how I roll as well...BUT our new country has about 1000% markup on electronics...and our shipment won't arrive until Christmas. I refuse to pay $1000 for a tv. I wish I could say I was highbrow enough that we don't watch tv...but we do...especially during the NFL season...and this interminable pandemic.

In every apartment I’ve rented, a TV came with the place. Maybe check on that before including it in your shipping?

I cant imagine a scenario where that would be an advantage given all the things that go wrong and the loss of control in factors effecting damage taking it as baggage. That said Ive done it before, but I used a common courier (like Fed-Ex) to ship it to myself in advance of departure. Aside from that one time, my apartments/flats have included a television as part of the furnishings or I've been able to find one used for cheap. Sometimes you can find a group online or in your neighborhood that just gives things away vs. throwing them away.

@twoteachers - if your new country has a huge mark up on electronics, watch that they don't have a similar customs charge for importing them. You need to figure out how much it's worth with the customs charges factored in on top of the transport over simply buying one new.

Again, depending on the country, you might actually find that some of the local makes are just as good as, if not better than, a major brand elsewhere. For example, in China, there's a huge customs markup on electronics which come by removals (if you can't carry it with you like a laptop), but local makes like Xiaomi and HiSense are just as good and as cheap too.

No TV with the housing...hence my dilemma. You're allowed one TV customs free. My current TV is the same plug as the new country.

Definitely not a TV expert, but some countries use PAL and some use SECAM signals, so some TVs from some countries won't work in others. We had a big TV that was a great deal where we lived, but we couldn't bring it back to our house in the US because of this.

@twoteachers

Its more than having the same plug its voltage (though most recent manufacturers use a universal converter), signal formats for - broadcast (NTSC, SECAM, PAL), even digital formats such as HDMI which have universal plugs have differing decoders for various regional compression schemes, though it might not be an issue. First, thing to do is check the manufacturers website and see what the compatibility is either using a web tool the manufacturer provides or downloading the manual for your particular model and comparing it to the standards of the region your going to and how you plan to utilize it (IE. satellite vs. streaming stick, etc.). If youre satisfied it will work for the applications you want than I can understand bringing it on a plane. The issues being one, that cost for extra baggage is much lower usually than paying a common courier and two, immediate access to your set when you arrive.
From my experience you have two baggage options. First, NOT recommended, bring it in the original box if you still have it. The problem with this is everyone is going to know what it is, and it might disappear. While these boxes are designed for travel its typically when included on a palette which gets less abuse than baggage and the airlines will not cover damage assuming they even accept it as baggage. Second, is to pack it either in its original box or in a generic shipping box within a padded piece of luggage. This conceals the item from ordinary view and based on the amount of padding and material used affords extra protection. The airline still wont cover any damage when shipped this way but you can increase the amount of protection. Consider a hard shell piece of luggage and use rolled 'fluffy' type clothing around the set box. Before packaging apply strips of easy peel packing/shipping tape to the front display, this will help to reduce impact point stress and fracture. When you arrive just peel the tape off, it should leave a minimum if any residue.