Planning your move to Australia? Check out all of the services in the Move to Australia Directory!

When we moved from the UK to Australia, we shipped a 20-foot container filled to the brim with our belongings (you can read more about the shipping process here or get up to five free shipping quotes by filling in this quick and easy little form). But that certainly isn’t for everybody. I have lots of friends who sold and gave away most of their things before moving and came armed with a suitcase each and some excess baggage sent through a luggage transfer company like SendMyBag.com to send luggage to Australia.

If you’re wondering: ‘should I ship my bag to Australia instead of shipping a big container?’ read on to find out about how to send suitcases abroad, check out some SendMyBag.com reviews and find out why door to door luggage delivery services might be a good option for you. Also, if you decide shipping luggage to Australia is the right choice for you, I have links that give you a Send MyBag discount code – the SendMyBag discount code is automatically applied when you click through any of the SendMyBag.com links on this page.

Alternately, if you’re thinking: ‘I’m already sending a shipping container, why would I need to send my bags to Australia, too?’ read on! Even if you’re shipping a container to Australia, it’s so handy to send a bag to Australia (or two) because it reduces so much stress at the airport. I wish I’d known more about baggage shipping to Australia and my options back when we were moving as it would have made the experience much easier.

Find Send My Bag in the Move to Australia Directory!

This post about Send My Bag Reviews contains affiliate links which means the site earns a commission if you buy through these links at no extra cost to you. The full disclosure is available in the footer. 

What does an excess baggage shipping company do?

Call it what you like – an excess baggage company, a door to door luggage service or a luggage delivery service – there are companies out there that collect your suitcases, boxes or bags from your home and send your luggage abroad to your chosen address without any stress. (Yes, you can use a send my luggage service like Send My Bag to send boxes – it doesn’t have to only be a suitcase!)

I partner with Send My Bag and have a discount link that gives you 5% off their luggage transfer services when you click through any of the links on this page.

Claim your 5% discount from Send My Bag by booking to send a bag through this link

Many of my Facebook group members have used Send My Bag to ship their luggage to Australia and I often get told what an amazing service they offer by my readers as they send me their Send My Bag reviews and endorsements.

If you’d like to check out more Sendmybag reviews, or you’re still wondering ‘is Send My Bag reliable?’, then check out Send My Bag on Trustpilot here to see their 4.7-star rating from 8822 reviews (this data is correct as of the date I’m updating this post on 5/10/21).

When is shipping bags internationally a good idea?

Reasons to send my bags to Australia

Check out these reasons why you might want to send your luggage forward through a door to door luggage service instead of (or as well as) shipping a container full of belongings to Australia.

Use luggage shipping to Australia to send your suitcase overseas if you want to travel light

Many airlines allow you to travel with a larger luggage allowance if you’re activating a PR visa (Singapore Airlines are just one of the airlines that do this – ask at the point of booking your tickets) but just because you CAN take an awful lot of luggage on your flight to Australia doesn’t mean you actually want to try to juggle that much through the airport. Trust me, we arrived with 13 pieces of luggage and three kids under five and it was such a challenge! Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if I could go back I’d try to cut the luggage we brought on the flight in half (at least!) by decluttering and rethinking what we really needed + using a sending luggage abroad service like Send My Bag because it was such a juggle and it just added so much stress to our journey to Australia. 

If I’d realised how difficult it was going to be to manage that much luggage with three little kids, I’d have happily paid to have some of it sent on ahead to our temporary rental through a luggage forward service. We even paid the porters at Heathrow to help us get from the taxi drop off point to the check in desk (we realised there was physically no way we could do it on our own with three little kids without either leaving some kids or luggage alone in one place!) – so we could have put that money towards sending some of it on through a door to door luggage service and totally removed that stress from our lives. When we landed in Brisbane, there was no luggage assistance service and I literally have no idea how we eventually made it out of the airport pulling multiple luggage trolleys between us and with three exhausted kids that all wanted carrying. It wasn’t the happy arrival I had hoped for – we were stressed and on the edge by the time we made it out to finally meet our friend in arrivals!

Honestly, that journey from baggage claim to arrivals was the longest, most stressful journey of my life and it’s the main reason we didn’t get an arrival photo of us all as we were just so happy to get out of the airport and get to our temporary accommodation and stop juggling bags! (If you follow me on social you might have seen me say before that not getting an arrival photo is one of my big regrets as I think it would be lovely reminder of a pivotal moment in our lives and the start of this great adventure! And now you know the reason for it – it was all down to us not shipping some of suitcases overseas before our flight!)

My advice for people wanting to take lots of luggage to Australia is to send luggage ahead to reduce your stress levels (especially if you have multiple young kids)! You don’t want your arrival into Australia to be a stressful one like ours was. 

Shipping luggage to Australia because you’re worried about losing precious things

We’ve all met people who’ve had their suitcase lost in transit. Imagine if that case was full of your wedding photos or irreplaceable baby memories.

We travelled with five full hand luggage rucksacks crammed with our precious things like hard drives, certificates, paperwork and irreplaceable things as we didn’t want to risk sending our most precious things in the container or in checked suitcases which can easily get lost. This meant that our hand luggage was pretty full (and on the border of being too heavy) before we even added in the things we wanted to take on the flight (we even stuffed our kids’ hand luggage with these things as well as some toys!)

With a send luggage service, your bags are clearly labelled ahead of time and are tracked (check out the Send My Bag label video below to see how you prepare your luggage for travel). There is far less chance of your luggage disappearing with a service like Send My Bag. To send a suitcase internationally using a luggage service means your belongings are safer as they are clearly tagged and transferred as if they are in the postal system. This means you can send suitcases abroad safe in the knowledge they are going to arrive and it gives you your hand luggage back for actual flight hand luggage! I would still choose to keep my most precious belongings on me along with any breakables (like hard drives), but there are lots of other important-ish things we put in our hand luggage that I’d have been happy to have put in a suitcase to send with a luggage delivery service. 

>> Don’t forget to click this link to automatically get 5% off Send My Bag services <<

Send bags to Australia when you don’t want to risk any last-minute airline fees for excess baggage

Airlines weigh your bags – you can’t get away with going over the baggage allowance and if you only realise when you arrive at the airport this could result in hefty excess luggage fees. I always use baggage scales before I leave for the airport to check but, to be honest, my scales at home aren’t always totally accurate!

There was one occasion when we arrived for our first holiday abroad with baby twins and found our bags were a few kg over. It meant my hubby and I opening our cases at the side of the check in line and repacking things into our hand luggage bags, putting on a few extra layers and filling our pockets to get away with paying a fee! I can safely say that is an experience I never want to have to replay.

Shipping luggage to Australia allows you to send the extra kg without that stress!

Send a bag to Australia when you aren’t taking enough for a shipping container, but you have too much to take on the flight

Maybe you’ve decided you don’t need a shipping container but your luggage allowance isn’t enough to cope with the extra cases or boxes that you want to bring. Paying the airline’s excess luggage fees can be really expensive (plus you still have to juggle it all when you land). A luggage delivery service like Send My Bag gives you an in-between option and provides door to door luggage delivery. Choosing the best luggage shipping service for your needs means you can have the bags or boxes collected before you move and send suitcases overseas so they arrive just after you do. A shipping container takes weeks to arrive, but a luggage sending service is very fast so you won’t need to be without your important belongings for long!

Get 5% off with Send My Bag by using this link

Send luggage to Australia if you want to either hire a car or hop in a cab when you arrive in Australia

If you’re getting a taxi from the airport (or to the airport in your home country), or you want to collect a hire a car at the airport when you land, then travelling with loads of travel luggage makes it tricky.

Our 13 pieces of luggage when we moved to Brisbane meant that we had to pre-book large maxi cabs with luggage trailers ahead of time to get us to and from the airport at both ends. We weren’t able to just jump off the plane and get in a taxi at the taxi rank as there likely would have been quite a wait for one large enough, and we couldn’t hire a car as there was no way our things would fit in the boot. All of that luggage also meant nobody could drive us to the airport in the UK too. If we’d shipped most of our luggage (and decluttered it a bit!), we could have used the funds from our two taxi rides to pay for it so it wouldn’t have actually cost us any more money than we already spent!

Send bags to Australia when you don’t want the stress

Moving to the other side of the world is hard. The day you travel is the most stressful, emotional day of your life. If you can do anything to reduce that stress, I think it’s a good idea – try to make the experience as easy as possible! If you send your bags via a luggage delivery company, it means you can focus on the adventure and the new life you’ve got to look forward to and stop fretting about how you’re going to carry all of your cases at the airport. It also means you don’t have to get sweaty dragging far too much luggage around the airport. Send a suitcase via SendMyBag.com and you’ll feel like a big weight has been taken off your shoulders.

>> Get a 5% Send My Bag discount by booking through this link <<

Send My Bag Reviews for shipping luggage to Australia

I asked my readers to share their luggage shipping to Australia experience with Send My Bag and here are a few of their SendMyBag reviews:

‘The process was so simple! It really was very easy to navigate.’

‘It was a very easy process.’

‘[The bags] arrived quickly and by the estimated day. I was very impressed. They arrived in very good condition.’

‘Yes I would use it again and found it good value, I would recommend to others.’

‘I had a great experience with Send My Bag. I’d definitely use it again. Their customer service is excellent and very fast.’

Having had discussions with readers who’ve used Send My Bag in my Facebook group, and heard about their Send My Bag reviews first hand, the overall feeling from every member that I’ve spoken to has been extremely positive from the initial order process right through to receipt of the bag in Australia.

Also, I can offer a SendMyBag review from the perspective of an affiliate of Send My Bag. I partner with a lot of different affiliates for this site, and I choose them very carefully. I can see from the other side that not all affiliates are equal – some go above and beyond to help their customers. While I haven’t personally sent unaccompanied baggage through them so can’t give them my own SendMyBag review, I have contacted them a number of times if a reader has a question that wasn’t covered on their website or if I have a question as an affiliate. They have a 24/7 live chat system which is amazing, as well as a comprehensive help section.

The SendMyBag.com website says they’re ‘the best value luggage shipping service in the UK’. Having looked at the prices of a few other luggage shipping companies when I was selecting an affiliate to partner with, I have to agree that the others I researched were more expensive. When you’re moving abroad, you want to keep costs down as much as possible so the fact Send My Bag allows you to send luggage cheap is a total bonus!

Get a Send My Bag quote and claim your 5% discount from Send My Bag here

Still not convinced Send My Bag is the best luggage delivery service to ship suitcases internationally? Read these Send My Bag reviews on Trust Pilot. 

Sending your unaccompanied baggage with Send My Bag to Australia

Booking your unaccompanied baggage in for collection with Send My Bag is simple and it only takes a few minutes to organise to send luggage abroad.

1 Use this link >> Send My Bag << to place your order and automatically get a 5% discount applied.

2 Choose a pickup day to send a bag – this can be from your home, place of work or a neighbour if you can’t be at home to wait for the pickup.

3 Print out your Send My Bag labels and attach them. If there is enough time between your booking and your collection, you can order some Send My Bag label holders / luggage label holders for free when you place your order. Send My Bag will email you your labels to print out, and these need to be attached to your baggage, it is also advisable that you place one inside the case too.

4 Take care not to pack anything that is prohibited (Send My Bag has advice on their site about what not to send and they have a really helpful FAQ section that can answer all of your questions including important info about customs).

5 Have your bags collected by SendMyBag.

6 Track your bags in your SendMyBay account as they are transported to your destination. You’ll also receive an email update when your bag has been collected and again when it has been loaded for delivery. 

7 Take receipt of your bags at your end destination (or have them arrive before you so they’re waiting for you when you land – somebody just needs to be there to sign for it but it doesn’t need to be you!)

That’s it – it’s bag shipping overseas made easy!

Get started and claim your 5% discount now.

Need to open your bank account in Australia before you move? Learn about Commonwealth Bank of Australia here. 

I have a few top tips to avoid any problems later too. Unaccompanied luggage does occasionally still get lost, so it pays to do what you can to protect yourself. 

Send My Bag tips to protect yourself and your luggage

1) Take a photo and/or video of what you’re including in your bag, just in case the worst were to happen and it went missing. This means you’ve got a clear record of what was in the bag.

2) Make sure you include a back up Send My Bag luggage label inside the suitcase. If your case were to lose its labels on the outside of the case in transit, this means you can hopefully still be reunited with it. 

3) Take a photo of the case with the luggage labels attached and ready to go. This is in case the labels become disconnected later so you can show Send My Bag they were properly attached in the first place which is an important condition of claiming on the insurance for lost luggage. 

4) NEVER let the driver attach the Send My Bag labels for you. This invalidates your insurance totally. The bags should never be handed over without labels. Even if they say they’re able to attach them for you, the fact they did it instantly means you aren’t able to claim insurance if the worst were to happen. 

The chances are that you won’t have any problems with your luggage shipping to Australia but it pays to be prepared by following these luggage sending service tips. 

Send My Bag: Prepare bag to send luggage overseas

You’ve seen the Send My Bag.com reviews. Now it’s time to prepare your bag for international delivery!

In case you’re a visual person, you can check out this Send My Bag label video below about how to pack and label your bag when you’re going to send luggage ahead with Send My Bag UK.

Send My Bag discount code for your luggage delivery service

You don’t need a Send My Bag discount code to claim 5% off the SendMyBag service – just click through the link below to place your order and you will automatically have a 5% discount applied.

Get a www.SendMyBag.com quote here >> And claim your 5% discount.

Send My Bag UK on Dragons Den

Send My Bag was formed after founder Adam Ewart was charged excess baggage fees when helping his girlfriend travel home from university. He researched the options for luggage transport and shipping suitcases and when he found the service didn’t exist, he created it with a simple booking system. In 2012, Ewart appeared with his idea for Send My Bag on Dragons’ Den looking for funding for his service shipping bags doo to door. Although that investment didn’t come off, Send My Bag received funding elsewhere and was able to expand into a courier luggage service for shipping suitcases worldwide. It’s now one of the most popular bag shipping services in the UK and you can use it to send luggage all over the world!

Why I think it’s a no brainer to send suitcases abroad: Keep things simple!

The thing I’ve learnt since moving to Australia is that it doesn’t have to be hard. We get to choose how we experience things and for us, the journey to Australia felt like a huge struggle and juggling act. It would have been such a different story if I’d decided to send my suitcase as unaccompanied baggage with a luggage shipping service. Now that I’m here in Australia, I’ve realised that it’s worth making investments in things that make things smoother, easier and more fun (have you seen my Moving to Australia Checklist? It’s all about keeping things simple!).

Of course, it costs money to send suitcases abroad but the whole process of moving to Australia wasn’t exactly cheap (find out how much it costs here) so adding an extra item to our moving budget for shipping suitcases overseas wouldn’t really have hurt us too much. 

Send my suitcase to Australia with Send My Bag!

If you’re looking to send luggage overseas and would like a 5% discount off Send My Bag services, use my affiliate link below. Send suitcases overseas in just a few clicks!

> Get started and claim your 5% discount now <<