Something we just wrote up for the support team, posted here as a heads up:
We fully insure your shipment. If something happens on the way to the address you give us, we’ll make it right. Should you have a problem after delivery, since you’re in the US, the warranty even pays for shipping to our repair center and back again.
One note: we’ve heard some planning to ship to the US who plan to ship their Glowforge on to another country. Of course that’s OK by us, but a word of caution. If you decide to send your Glowforge on to another destination after you receive it, any damage from your shipment will not be covered by the warranty. Also note that while we’ll honor your warranty even if you’re not in the US, warranty service does not include international shipping.
For all those reasons, to ensure you get the coverage you deserve: inspect, unbox and try out your Glowforge when it arrives, before you send it anywhere else.
Not exactly overseas though. Overland shouldn’t be a problem unless you have car crash but unless you have a private plane it would have to be checked in baggage and that gets handled with no care at all.
If you’re paying for us to ship it to you in Malta, then our insurance covers you all the way to Malta. But if you take delivery in Omaha and truck it to a Malta-bound freighter, don’t make a claim for seawater damage.
Note: if you plan on shipping it from the US to another country make sure it meets the target country’s regulations. I ship equipment around the world at my job for regulatory testing and to customers and it can be very difficult.
In many cases countries require very specific requirements. For Example many European companies are going to require at the least a CE mark. Places like Brazil, Korea, Australia and China have their own requirements as well.
It would be sad to hear some ones glow forge gets stuck in customs.
I hope the Glowforge has at least CE, RoHS, and WEEE. I dont know what they have marked it as. In the US they will need FCC but could not have the others yet.
If anyone is doing this then I’d like to point out that since the Glowforge is so compact they could fire it up and test it before shipping it out of the country.
I’m sure you could get away with a test in a hotel room(even if it does sound shady).
So much for living in vermont. (My son has a friend whom he can’t visit without a long explanation to the phone company that no, he didn’t go to canada)
Be warned that shipping to Blaine will cost you more. As Glowforge is based in Seattle, they need to charge WA state sales tax to any address they ship to in WA State. When you cross the border, you will pay your home taxes (PST + GST). This will end up costing more than the Canadian shipping.
There is always a chance that you will be waived through the border, but it’s unlikely (based on the cost of the forge).
Thanks for the heads up. I’m more so doing the shipping to Blaine because I want the machine faster and I like to clear the customs myself. The Canadian taxes isn’t bad, it’s the broker fee that’s crazy. Especially from UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc…
My rough estimate for taxes is $450 and $0 duty Thanks NAFTA
