Whittleberry

Shipito.com / Reshippers

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Hi Eurobricks members,

I just found out about a service called SHIPITO, and I think many people on here will find it useful.

What is it, you ask?

It will give you a US Postal Address to which you can have anything shipped to and then sent on to you, where ever you live in the world. To those in European countries who don't have contacts in the US to send them the cheaper LEGO which is available in the US, you could do this instead. This allows you to buy things from the USA S@H store, and from Amazon. Although I haven't used it, it looks promising for those living in high-cost-LEGO countries.

An example: Say I live in Germany and want to buy the 10197 Fire Brigade.

In the US this costs $150, in Germany this is €150

€150 = $220

Supposing US S@H has free shipping for orders over $75 as they do at the moment, for shipping you would pay, according to the SHIPITO shipping calculator, about $43 for USPS Priority International shipping, plus the $4.40 optional insurance and the $8.50 flat rate which Shipito charges for its service.

Therefore the total cost of the Fire Brigade would be $150+$43+$4.40+$8.50

=$205.90

=€140

OK, so that's a saving of €10. But for other countries in Europe where LEGO prices are even higher than Germany's, this saving will be bigger.

For example, a Finnish person would pay the same price, so that would mean a saving of €60.

Also, buying multiple sets at a time will increase the saving. If a German finds a friend who also wants a Fire Brigade, then by splitting the shipping the Fire Brigades will work out to be $187 (€127), saving €23.

Then you're also saving the money that would be needed to ship the sets from Germany's S@H, or the time and fuel needed to visit a LEGO Store.

The site also offers a service where you can consolidate multiple packages sent from the US, so you could receive an Amazon order, a S@H order and a Bricklink order in the same box, saving on shipping.

The only hassle with the service is that you have to fill out the customs declaration form yourself online, but this seems to be simple and straightforward.

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At first I mistook the name! :grin: I got the P and T mixed up.

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-Cough- Bulk order of Pirates advent calenders -Cough-

I guess they need to go the other way, right? :sceptic:

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Thanks for the heads up, this seems like a good option. Especially at the moment given the weakness of the USD.

I like the option of combining multiple orders. Maybe this will be the best way (cheapest) to get that new UCS Imperial Flagship.

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Here in Ireland you can buy up to €150 worth without paying customs duty, however, you still have to pay 21.5% VAT (sales tax) on the whole order *including* the postage. Also, the postal/courier services all have an administration charge for dealing with this issue. Sometimes you have to collect the delivery as well. For example, buying $100 (about €68) of Lego, say $30 (~€20) shipping, and after VAT you pay €106.92 and handling might be €15 - so a total of €121.92. Note that a Lego set priced $100 in the US is usually about €100 here.

And, if you buy more than €150, there is import duty of 20%, and the VAT is charged *after* the customs duty is applied. Nasty!

So Fire Station example - €140 (fortunately just below limit) would be €170 after VAT plus €15 handling. It is €175 on S@H for Ireland and €15 shipping... so a saving of €5.

----

Fortunately a bit of good news for Irish Lego buyers is that amazon.co.uk have just started Super Saver delivery (free postage) for Ireland for eligible orders over £28. With €1 = £0.93, this is rather good! It was already good buying *with* the shipping charges! Just a pity this isn't an option for Lego Exclusives.

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The problem though, is Lego are terrible with their packaging. I have received a couple of orders from Lego USA through another source, and the way they had packed it was woeful. 5 Hoth Rebel Bases were spread over 2 of their big cartons. I'd hate to think what the extra cost would be to on-post those to Australia. It would work with a bunch of higher priced, smaller options in theory depending on how Lego packed them

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Nice find Whittleberry. Cheers.

The problem though, is Lego are terrible with their packaging. I have received a couple of orders from Lego USA through another source, and the way they had packed it was woeful. 5 Hoth Rebel Bases were spread over 2 of their big cartons. I'd hate to think what the extra cost would be to on-post those to Australia. It would work with a bunch of higher priced, smaller options in theory depending on how Lego packed them

They would also have weight limits as well I am sure. 20 kilograms, which is a hell of a lot of lego, would be the maximum an Auspost person would deliver via parcel post services, so it makes bulk ordering a problem on the domestic front too.

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Nice find Whittleberry. Cheers.

They would also have weight limits as well I am sure. 20 kilograms, which is a hell of a lot of lego, would be the maximum an Auspost person would deliver via parcel post services, so it makes bulk ordering a problem on the domestic front too.

I'm certain there is, I just thought it was ridiculous how they sent it. Totally unviable really, but then again for their system it was only being transported across the US. I have ordered multiples of sets before from Lego directly, and they have their own box holding 3 of the set in.

There is also something with the US Postage system and box sizes, where they won't send them here if they exceed a certain size. Alot of sellers wouldn't ship the UCS Millenium Falcon here for example, citing the size of the box as opposed to the weight. They were more than happy to de-box into a smaller one, but wouldn't keep them in original condition.

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I'm considering giving this service a go with a couple of sets where the AUD price is really out of proportion with the US price, say the 10197 Fire Brigade or Winter Toy Shop. I might go for three of the same sets and hopefully Lego US will use a better sized box.

Would anyone in Australia (preferably Melbourne, to save on further Auspost costs) be interested in chipping in for one of these sets and splitting the costs exactly three ways? Most costs are fixed, the only unknown would be the size of the box Lego ship the items in, which will impact the postage that Shipito charge.

As an example, 7897+10197+10199 shipped direct from TLC is AU$585. The same sets shipped via the US would be AU$353 + Shipito costs. Even if they had to charge $150 you're still significantly in front of the direct price...

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It looks like LEGO has firseen such services... Just checked with SHIPITO the possible 10199 shipment to Russia and they can not send this via USPS - the box (even the LEGO box, without packaging) exceeds the limits - it's too wide, more than 13" (the box is 15") :(

So the number of AFOLs will have to pay european price + shipment costs + some BL premium (no S@H/LEGO store in Russia)

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well, i have used their services and they are very costly. but since 2 years i am using viaddress which are much cheaper that shipto. and they fast too. items are shipped in 2-3 days with no issue and they are always in excellent conditions.really fast and reliable. i would highly recommend viaddress this is their link

http://viaddress.com/

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Nice service. I use EU BL stores with cheap part bulk order, but I just might try this service in the future.

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The problem though, is Lego are terrible with their packaging. I have received a couple of orders from Lego USA through another source, and the way they had packed it was woeful. 5 Hoth Rebel Bases were spread over 2 of their big cartons. I'd hate to think what the extra cost would be to on-post those to Australia. It would work with a bunch of higher priced, smaller options in theory depending on how Lego packed them

When I was living abroad in Perth, I used Shipito so I know first hand about their service. When you open up an account, you can request that they reinforce the original lego box for shipping (re-packaging).

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Ive used shipto a few times and it's a really great service.

Got a lego item I won off ebay-us (seller didnt want to send to Australia) so I used shipto. Then pre-ordered some toy story sets from amazon and yea it's currently being sent to me.

Things to note:

Buying from S@H and sending it to your shipto address incures a % sales tax for CA areas (which is where the location is).

Shipto charge a "bank fee 4.3%" on the shipping cost.

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I've used shipito once for a couple of modular firesrtations, and as others have pointed out TLG's larger set box sizes are a problem. I would highly recommend you get shipito to remove the Lego box, which they will do for a small fee. The shipping to Australia for two firestations in their original boxes was US$178 because the box size meant it could only be shipped via Fedex.

I found shipito easy to use and it worked well. More frequent users on an other forum (whirlpool an Aussie telecoms forum), have compared their shipping prices and they come out pretty favourably. Be aware that TLG will charge state taxes on your order because Shipito is in a state (California) where TLG have a retail store.

Also the poster above who claims shipito is expensive, may also be lying so make sure before using them. There seems to be a lot of astroturfing going on in this industry, by which I mean people trying to appear to be grass roots users of a product actually being fakes, ie paid employees of the company they are promoting.

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Will there be problems with Lego if there's something wrong with the set and you need to deal with Lego to get replacements/refunds etc?

By using ShipTo, does it mean that Lego will be expecting a US customers and providing you with a US address to send the set back to base?

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I've used shipito once for a couple of modular firesrtations, and as others have pointed out TLG's larger set box sizes are a problem. I would highly recommend you get shipito to remove the Lego box, which they will do for a small fee. The shipping to Australia for two firestations in their original boxes was US$178 because the box size meant it could only be shipped via Fedex.

I found shipito easy to use and it worked well. More frequent users on an other forum (whirlpool an Aussie telecoms forum), have compared their shipping prices and they come out pretty favourably. Be aware that TLG will charge state taxes on your order because Shipito is in a state (California) where TLG have a retail store.

Also the poster above who claims shipito is expensive, may also be lying so make sure before using them. There seems to be a lot of astroturfing going on in this industry, by which I mean people trying to appear to be grass roots users of a product actually being fakes, ie paid employees of the company they are promoting.

BTW, always take note of things like post counts and join dates when somebody makes a post like that... Normal scheme is to google for opponent bussiness and then post contrary posts in the forum where they speak about it...

We can also assist with purchases and arrange payment if you do not own a credit card.
This sounds interesting, might save my life.

Right now I have a person that is a US resident and also this country's citizen that continuously comes back to this country. He has made a whole bussiness out of bringing stuff from US at the same time as he comes here for bussiness. But charges kind of expensive so I only use him for things that cannot be found in here. Hopefully shipit will be a good saving...

Edit: hmmn seems assisted purchase is so full of fees that only a purchase of a product worth 400 USD purchase would be worth it :/

Edited by vexorian

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Will there be problems with Lego if there's something wrong with the set and you need to deal with Lego to get replacements/refunds etc?

By using ShipTo, does it mean that Lego will be expecting a US customers and providing you with a US address to send the set back to base?

I've never had the sort of trouble that would require sending a set back, but I once had a missing piece in a MISB set I bought from bricklink. TLG doesn't care where you bought it, they just ask what was missing and send it out to you.

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I've never had the sort of trouble that would require sending a set back, but I once had a missing piece in a MISB set I bought from bricklink. TLG doesn't care where you bought it, they just ask what was missing and send it out to you.

You been lucky. I had a Cafe Corner set that was badly crushed when it got to me. Lego was really good in sending me a replacement but I had to send the crushed set back to them but luckily there's a NZ address to send it to. I'm just thinking if I use a service like ShipTo and had the same issue then I might get a US address to send the crushed set to because Lego will see me as a US customer? The product return form that comes with the set probably will have a US address to send stuff back.

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Lego are definately very bad at shipping in US!

I made an order:

Green Grocer x 3

Construct-a-Zurg x 2

It arrived at shipito as:

16.80 lbs

27"x22"x10"

+

12.10 lbs

27"x22"x10"

Two big boxes!!

Now i'll need to try and get shipito to consolidate the two packages (dont even think they can since the green grocer is larger than 26x13x13). as one and have it fedex to me here in Australia.

So annoying! :hmpf_bad: :hmpf_bad: :hmpf_bad: Pickup your game Lego!

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Two big boxes!!

Now i'll need to try and get shipito to consolidate the two packages (dont even think they can since the green grocer is larger than 26x13x13). as one and have it fedex to me here in Australia.

As long as you dont want the original green grocer boxes, you should be ok, the lego boxes are much bigger than the need to be. If you want to keep the boxes, you will probably be out of luck.

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As long as you dont want the original green grocer boxes, you should be ok, the lego boxes are much bigger than the need to be. If you want to keep the boxes, you will probably be out of luck.

Yea I defiantely do want the Green Grocer boxes. >.<

Dammit! LEGO!

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hmnn if the retail box for the green grocer is that big then it is not really LEGO's fault is it? Unless you want LEGO to use smaller boxes just so you can have shipit fees reduced... But then I think that smaller boxes will make the boxes more fragile when being transported. hmnn.

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