r2i forum

So, here's the big financial question related to shipping: I live in a 3-bed townhome and have been in the US for more than ten years (just for some background). Now that we are considering R2I'ing from Atlanta to Bangalore, I am faced with the dilemma of whether to ship everything (furniture, electronics, toys for kids etc, which would essentially fit into a 20ft container) from here or whether it would be better to buy it all new from India? Given that the door-to-door cost (packing, USA freight, over the water freight, India freight, paperwork and labor) for my move might come to around $8K , I am starting to think, I might actually find it a better (and easier!) solution to replace everything in India, since I will then get the added benefit of all of it being new! One reason for my thinking this way is that I have been fairly frugal in my purchases here and so if I were try and replace everything here in the US today, I could probably do so for around $10K. So, at first glance, the idea of spending another $8K to ship $10K worth of items doesn't seem worth the added cost. One thing that I do not know though is what the replacement cost in India would be for the same quality since most items today actually seem more expensive in India! One example - a good 46" LCD TV here can bought for $1500 here (on sale) but could cost double that in India. Of course, even if I disposed off all of the household items here, I still would have to move lots of boxes of books, files, clothes, computer and maybe even the TV ...and then I would be stuck with trying to figure out an inexpensive solution for just that!

Has anyone looked at their move this way ? Would also be great to hear some thoughts from folks who have completed their move and are familiar with the cost of comparable quality products in India . I tried to find a thread that discusses this question but could't find any . However, that could just be me overlooking something and this might have already been analyzed to death in the forum - if so, would appreciate someone pointing it out. Btw, this forum has been a great resource so far in my planning...thanks a ton to all the folks who have contributed!!

Buying everything after landing here may not be the most cost effective solution. If you plan to spend $20k or more setting up things here, you are better off bringing things from there. Most things of similar quality would cost you 30 - 100% more (even if they are available). That's why very very few people try to land here and buy everything in India.There is a detailed thread on this in the forum on what to take.

http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/showthread.php/423-R2I-Checklist-What-to-carry

Even if the cost is break even, it makes sense to ship furniture from here. As the choices in India are a lot less compared to here, the chances are the quality, design and finish of the stuff you get back home may not be to your liking. So if you like what you have and it can serve you for many more years, shipping it from here would be better.

Let me give you a different perspective.. If you do not have a ready home to move into, you are better off buying everything in India. American furniture are big in size. They do not fit the standard indian size living/bed rooms easily. Same goes with living room furniture. Oversized size sofas in living rooms of size 12x16. Bed rooms will be 12x12 max except the master which will be 15x12. I visited someone who brought over a large 6 seat dining table from U.S. One had to basically bump into it every time you pass it. It's not worthwhile doing a dollar-to-dollar comparison. If it's going to cost you 20k to buy and ship, you are better off buying everything in India. Unless you own/plan to buy a large 2000 + sqft flat (which will only give you 1500 sqft living area ) buy it local.

Yes, a 46" TV is more expensive in India. But have you watched channels in India on a large LCD. Without HDTV, it's pretty bad. You may be better off with a 35" or 40" TV. In India, i found a large flat screen/tube TV better on the eyes. The newer tube TVs are not as bulky as the old ones..

If you decide to ship,keep the size in mind. Buy european size Sofas and queen set mattresses. Anything bigger is going to take too much space in the rooms. Actually, i would ship clothes of next couple of sizes if you have kids. Finding decent comfy clothes is tough in India if the kids are small. Cheap toys are plenty in india and kids tend to outgrow toys fast.

If you check craigslist or local freeAds, there's lot of NRIs trying to sell stuff they moved from U.S or elsewhere after finding them oversized for their homes.

Unless you have sentimental attachment to the items (or they are unique, which doesn't look to be the case here), the easier option is to simply dispose things off here (make whatever you can) and buy new in India. You also need to factor in your hassle of shipping stuff, finding homes suitable for them etc. There are a lot of things you need to take care of once you R2I and you don't want to complicate things further if you can avoid it.

SVNLOGIN:
I am too in the same dilemma! I live in a 4 bedroom single family home and also planing to move to Bangalore this Mid June. How about you when are you R2Iing? I would love to take my furnitures and other belongings but not able to decide if it is worth or not! Some people say quality of items purchased may not be up to the US quality. Let me know your timelines so that we could share the container as I too live in Atlanta area only! You can PM me.

svnlogin;282595So, here's the big financial question related to shipping: I live in a 3-bed townhome and have been in the US for more than ten years (just for some background). Now that we are considering R2I'ing from Atlanta to Bangalore, I am faced with the dilemma of whether to ship everything (furniture, electronics, toys for kids etc, which would essentially fit into a 20ft container) from here or whether it would be better to buy it all new from India? Given that the door-to-door cost (packing, USA freight, over the water freight, India freight, paperwork and labor) for my move might come to around $8K , I am starting to think, I might actually find it a better (and easier!) solution to replace everything in India, since I will then get the added benefit of all of it being new! One reason for my thinking this way is that I have been fairly frugal in my purchases here and so if I were try and replace everything here in the US today, I could probably do so for around $10K. So, at first glance, the idea of spending another $8K to ship $10K worth of items doesn't seem worth the added cost. One thing that I do not know though is what the replacement cost in India would be for the same quality since most items today actually seem more expensive in India! One example - a good 46" LCD TV here can bought for $1500 here (on sale) but could cost double that in India. Of course, even if I disposed off all of the household items here, I still would have to move lots of boxes of books, files, clothes, computer and maybe even the TV ...and then I would be stuck with trying to figure out an inexpensive solution for just that!

Has anyone looked at their move this way ? Would also be great to hear some thoughts from folks who have completed their move and are familiar with the cost of comparable quality products in India . I tried to find a thread that discusses this question but could't find any . However, that could just be me overlooking something and this might have already been analyzed to death in the forum - if so, would appreciate someone pointing it out. Btw, this forum has been a great resource so far in my planning...thanks a ton to all the folks who have contributed!!

I'm currently going through the same thought process. We downsized from 4 bed room SFH to a 3 bedroom TH rental. There are these 4 things to consider:-

1) Space. As #4 mentioned you need to be cognizant of the target space you are going to move. American furniture is bloated (just like everything else ;) ) and a regular apartment would be a disaster mate.
2) Quality. Is your stuff medium end+ or Ikea class ? Latter is easily disposable. I'm stuck with mid-grade stuff that will pinch on disposal.
3) Where are you moving to ? If its Tier1 city then you can replace anything (albiet a higher price as #2 mentioned). At other places choices would be limited.
4) Timing factor. If you buy local you can have your furniture delivered same day to same week and you will be all set. Shipping is a 2 months plus business. Whats the plan in the interim ?

In my personal case I'm stuck with stuff that wont fetch its worth. I'll still have to do LCL for the rest of the stuff so I'm tilting towards 20' FCL. I'm worried about 4) though. I'm still researching to see if I can rent bare minimum for a couple of months. I'm not bringing in any electronics or appliances though and will buy it all here. I too have a 46'' that will sell easily. I'm planning on downsizing and getting a 40'' here. The Tvs are not the same btw. One bought here will run in any part of the world without regards to voltage or TV system. The one bought there will require what I call a life support system.

Asking around these are the furniture prices as bought by an acquaintance for their new apartment (Gurgaon). I don't know anything more than the prices (love the fact that you can ask these things freely here ;) ) though.
1) Sofa set (3 seater + 2 single seaters) - 50k.
2) Dining set small w/ 6 chairs - 20k.
3) Beds - 15 to 25k each.
4) Mattress - around 20k each.

We just moved to Blore 1 week ago. We did ship our stuff only because the company was paying for it. The shipping will cost us around $6000 including packing and will reach by first week of june. If the company was not paying I am sure that we would not have shipped our stuff. There are a lot of furniture stores available in Blore now. Various brands and quality of stuff. So price wise it would depend on what you are looking for, higher end furniture or the local brands. The only things we plan to buy here are a fridge, washing machine, gas stove, microwave oven and blender. The only electronic stuff we carried was our 42" TV, home theatre system and a couple of laptops. We bought clothes and lots of toys for our little one.

we're going thru the same for many months now. most of the stuff we have is about 7 years old when we bought this home and they aren't highend. at one point my wife feels we should buy lot of new stuff and ship it and then if we have to spend 20k buying new stuff and shipping them for 5k more what's the point. If somebody is paying for shipping then taking everything is acceptable to me else not. just my personal op though.

this is what we decided to do.... get rid of all stuff older than 3 years, meaning not take them to india since wouldn't be worth half or one third the price if we sell them via craigslist now so there's no meaning in taking them to India

if we get rid of more than 3 years stuff then most of our baggage will go (bedding, furniture, tv/home theater) and will be left with about 10 or 20 boxes of photos,books, memories and other personal stuff and just the 42 inch lcd that's already 4 yrs old now (exception for the rule since my wife wants to take it !)
so we probably may go for LCL but if company is going to pay for shipping then we'd be spending dough to buy new stuff for us and family there but we don't know about that just yet :)

sammy123;282685we're going thru the same for many months now. most of the stuff we have is about 7 years old when we bought this home and they aren't highend. at one point my wife feels we should buy lot of new stuff and ship it and then if we have to spend 20k buying new stuff and shipping them for 5k more what's the point. If somebody is paying for shipping then taking everything is acceptable to me else not. just my personal op though.

this is what we decided to do.... get rid of all stuff older than 3 years, meaning not take them to india since wouldn't be worth half or one third the price if we sell them via craigslist now so there's no meaning in taking them to India

if we get rid of more than 3 years stuff then most of our baggage will go (bedding, furniture, tv/home theater) and will be left with about 10 or 20 boxes of photos,books, memories and other personal stuff and just the 42 inch lcd that's already 4 yrs old now (exception for the rule since my wife wants to take it !)
so we probably may go for LCL but if company is going to pay for shipping then we'd be spending dough to buy new stuff for us and family there but we don't know about that just yet :)

If you shipping LCL, then shipping an LCD TV will be tough. A 40-42" Samsung LCD cost 60-65k in India. And you need a TV in india when you land.. Not after 2-3 months. Add to it the cost of a step down transformer (sitting next to your TV which can be a safety hazard if you have small kids) and PAL converter, it's too much hazzle for a TV which is already reached half life. And you are just one power surge away from it blowing up.

If you've kids below 6 nd shipping LCL, then buy lot of clothes of next several sizes. It's hard to find good dresses in India for kids for routine wear and easy to wash. It's a shame considering many of the clothes that you buy here are coming from India.