Founded in 1907 as a messenger company in the United States, today UPS is one of the largest express carrier and package delivery companies in the world. Provided you’ve signed up with them you can quickly work out how much it’ll cost you to ship from one country to another, and what the taxes and duty are likely to be. Again this is another delivery service most suited to people who send out a lot of items and businesses.

If you want to bring in goods from non EU countries (where prices can be very competitive) the chances are that you will not only have to pay extra shipping costs but also duty and VAT as well. Calculating the exact duty is complicated (and nearly impossible for a normal person). However, DHL have produced some essential information which is very helpful when you're making your mind up about buying from overseas. Just click on the information button on their website. As they have links in over 220 countries Worldwide they also offer one of the best, trackable and reliable services for all sorts transport and express deliveries.

Hitwise award winner Parcel2go uses FedEx, DHL, City Link, UPS, Home Delivery Network and Royal Mail to provide a fast, efficient and well priced collection and delivery service throughout the world. Having used them to deliver golf clubs to the US and large packages to both Edinburgh and Newcastle I can only say if you want to send anything anywhere, try them.

On the Fedex website there’s just about nothing, shipping related you can’t do. Make sure you select your location first so that you don’t get loads of information on US only related services. You can do everything from ordering your special packaging online to choosing from the variety of services they offer and tracking your delivery wherever it’s coming from, or going to in the World. This is really worthwhile if you’re sending out a lot of items as the system works best if you open an account with them. There’s also a lot of essential information here on sending goods overseas.