Working out shipping size?

[steveodp]

Does anyone have a guide for how to estimate the volume of things we want shipping to N Cyprus?
I contacted one of the well-known shipping companies, this is the exchange of emails:

Me: We are planning to move from Yorkshire (UK) to TRNC and would like to know the costs for shipping. We will not be sending furniture, just small items, like clothes, tools etc, so do not believe we will need a whole container.Please can you provide costs for varying size options?

Them: Thanks for the below enquiry.. Our charges are based on cubic meters. Do you know how many cubic meters of goods you will have?

Me: I have absolutely no idea, sorry as they are not packed yet - is there any easy way of working this out - a guide we can use?

Them: The only way to work this out is to measure all the goods that you want shipped. We require the height, width and length.

Me: When you say you need height, width and length - because this will be a number of smaller boxes rather than any big items, these parameters are variable, dependent on how we stack them - we can make the overall package long and thin, short and wide, etc. - so please can you provide guidance on any limitations to the height, width, and length, that we have to work within. A guide price for the shipping would also be appreciated - for example, the amount per cubic metre?

Have not heard back from them for over a week.
So, do I have to wait until everything is boxed and ready to go, then measure it, and then contact a shipping agent? It seems a bizarre way of doing things...

[Keithcaley]

There are various tools available for estimating weight/volume of goods - either do a quick Google, or click here

[Stevechips]

We had this conundrum last year with Euromed, I made a virtual cube with masking tape in the spare room, a length of tape along carpet and up and across wall to give an idea (you can make it any size we were1.5 cu.metres, which is quite a lot for small items) then purchased Flat packing boxes from Lidl ,filled them with our stuff then place them inside your taped area.Then you can best tell accurately the total cubic area to forward the shipping agent, to save a stack of money I hired a van a delivered the goods myself to the agents office in N.London, in N.Cyptus a week or two later, customs no problem, delivered to local address.

[sophie]

When we moved Dolphin sent their own people, they did all the measuring and packing, including clothes that we were not intending to put into suitcases. We had early breakfast in the garden, having already given freezer contents and all other food to neighbours. Took gas and electricity figures. Said cheerio to 4 blokes and left them too it. 7 hours later they handed the keys to Estate Agents and that was that. Wouldn't have had a clue about measuring my own stuff.