Questions on Shipping

[Aquila D'oro]

I feel your pain as there isnt a very strong lego presence here in Australia (at least not vintage pirate sets) i've found ebay UK to be far cheaper with a huge range of pirate sets (about 14-15 pages of items/bids on any given day compared Aust which scrapes in at 3-4 pages) that and postage from the UK is safe/reliable and quite cheap even for larger items.

i tried germany once.... very pricey for postage, having said that DHL is apparently improving its worldwide services with a flat rate of some sort - not sure when it comes into effect though (does any one else know about this??)

Its also a good idea to cross reference prices/bids with those on the bricklink site, as some items/sets can be dirt cheap on ebay and very pricey on bricklink or vice-versa

so far i haven't bid on anything on ebay USA - as the postal costs are generally quite high even for small items - thats not to say i have been tempted on a few occasions

[Captain Zuloo]

It could be that the eBay seller doesn't think anyone will WANT to pay shipping to outside the US. So perhaps it might not hurt to drop the seller a message just letting them know you are happy to pay international shipping, and would they consider posting the item to you.

[Jack Bricker]

Being here in the US I can say that the reasons are probably that it costs more for shipping, there is a higher risk of losing the package in the mail or something being damaged, and it takes longer to receive the package. Since obviously the US has such a large market people in the US don't usually buy things internationally and so they don't have a lot of experience in shipping items internationally. Also they probably don't relate to your problem of not being able to get something in your country (except for advent callendars ). I would think that would be the main problem. As being a Lego collector before wide use of the internet I can sempathize with you problem. Hope that this answers you question.

[buffy]

Thanks for all the replies.

I've tried dropping message to the seller, even telling them I'll bear the shipping cost, but again fruitless. I do not wish to trouble my friend all the time by using his address to receive the items which he'll resend them to me thru Fedex.

So far only one seller willingly and had shipped my BSB to me direct from US. He used USPS service and cost me US$28+, got my BSB within a week.

By the way, I paid US $40+ for the shipping of 10210 from US to Singapore. It reached me within a week. Is it consider expensive/cheap, and fast/slow?

[Captain Zuloo]

Perhaps this website might help. I've never used it, but I know a number of EB members have.

[martinsuper]

I will not buy or sell to the UK because the shipping is so high that most times I find the shipping is more than the item! Also, as has been said before, security is a major concern that people do not want to ship worldwide.

[Big Cam]

Thanks for the fast reply.

I do not think the cost of shipping is an issue as it is normally paid by the buyer, furthermore, I'm always ready to pay the shipping.

As for your bad experiences, I'm sorry. Rightfully it should not happen, could it be the custom over there in U.S opened it to verify the content as the security there is a bit more tight compare to other countries?

Although you are very willing to pay what it costs to get your product, alot of ebay members are not. unfortunetaly ebay had had many years to accumilate bad members who don't ship, or don't pay, adn this has caused alot of sellers to just make it easy on themselves and only ship to their Country which makes things much easier to track and is generally less of a headache for the seller.

I would recommend emailing the seller of an item and ask if they would consider shipping to singapore, explain you are willing to pay all shipping costs. Alot of times they will make that exception.

[Ratshot]

Rightfully it should not happen, could it be the custom over there in U.S opened it to verify the content as the security there is a bit more tight compare to other countries?

Maybe but I'm in Canada so the air mail service might have bypassed the states. I'd take the other guys advice and e-mail the seller and tell him that your interested.