Shipping the tv series "gossip girl" to germany??! please help!?

Question

so i actually live in the usa, but i have a friend who lives in germany and she wants to have the tv series "GOSSIP GIRL" that just came out. i was wondering if i should just buy it and ship it to her (and how much that would cost??) or just buy it online and have it ship directly to her (and what internet sites can ship that to germany??)! please let me know!! thanks!!

Answer 1

You'll need to find out a few things first.

DVDs have region encoding.  Each geographic region is assigned a specific number.  The DVDs are encoded for their region, and will only play in players from that region.  For example, the US and Canada are Region 1.  Most of Western Europe, including Germany (I'm pretty sure) is Region 2.  Region 1 discs won't play in Region 2 players, unless she has a region-free player.  Even then it can be dicey - Region 1 discs tend to have higher security.  Still, it's a TV show so odds are good it will play in a region free player.  The second issue is PAL vs NTSC.  These govern how the image is displayed on the TV.  It specifies the frame rate and number of lines on the screen.  The US uses NTSC.  Most of Europe uses PAL, although I'm not sure about Germany (I believe it uses PAL).  There's more detail on all of this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_...

The bottom line is:  Make sure she can play Region 1 NTSC discs.  You can check and see if a site like Amazon ships overseas.  I live in the US and have purchased from Amazon.uk and Amazon.jp and had stuff shipped to me, but I don't remember details.  You can also check with Amazon to find the weight of the package, then check the US Post Office site to see how much it costs to mail that weight to Germany.  It will depend upon how quickly you want it to get there.

Answer 2

Here is a better solution.  Have your friend set up her own US address with a company like Bongo International http://www.BongoUS.com

Once she does this, she can buy the tv series online and have it shipped to her Bongo address.  Bongo will consolidate the purchase with any other purchases she may make in the US.  Then, they will ship the goods for 50% off DHL's rates.  This way, you don't have to do a thing and the shipping will actually be less expensive than if you did it yourself.