shipping to Brazil

[catnip]

I just picked a used laptop for my friend in Rio and need to ship it to him from New York. Does anyone have any advice/experience about what's involved in this? One person recommended a company called Confianca that is very established and can ship a 27" box for about $90. Are there customs charges, taxes, or other things to be aware of? Also, the computer has Windows 98 as its operating system. Is there a way to change the language of the applications without getting new software? I was looking around on the control panel and only saw a way to change the regional setting to Brazilian Portuguese. I tried that, but it seemed that nothing important changed (like the File, Edit, Help tabs in Word).

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

[trilingual]

Avoid shipping it, because there's high duty on computers and they're one of the high-profile items that Brazilian Customs looks for (along with things like TVs, DVD players and other expensive household electronic stuff).

 

If you can, I'd strongly suggest asking another M4Mer to take the laptop to Brazil for you and then hand-deliver the computer to your friend, or mail it if he lives somewhere other than Rio. The Brazilian postal system is good, and has a huge parcel post system. Given that the computer is valuable, I'd suggest mailing it using the SEDEX service (like U.S. Express Mail). It's fairly expensive, but it'll get there. It's tracked and has to be signed for upon receipt. Also it can be insured. Just give your M4M courier enough money to pay for the postage.

 

Don't worry about the software. Pirate copies of all the latest operating systems (in their Portuguese versions) are available on the streets everywhere and your friend will know where to get it, or he'll have a friend who knows.