You American folk should buy stuff on ebay uk. 4 times more tiger items than the US version and with Sterling being so weak against the Dollar.... you'll get twice as much for your dollar compared with a year or so ago.
Any savings is lost in the astronomical shipping charges.
yeah, the shipping's a bitch, but you guy's do have a ton of stuff on ebay.
You have to sell the sheep station to get parts sent to Australia from Britain or US.
A set of panniers was going to cost me $200 US to ship. A fairing was going to cost me $100 to ship.
I shop eBayUK every day and take a kick to the lower regions when I seen an item I'm lusting over great price but get canceled out by shipping fees.
If it's about the size of a VHS tape it's about $10, but goes up exponentially after that.
And another problem. Even if an item is small / light enough to ship to the USA economically, probably 50% of UK and EUR sellers won't even sell to bidders to the USA.
I went to place a bid on this and got a message that I was blocked from bidding because I didn't mean the posters bidding requirements "Country of Bidder" or something like that.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0340697156 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=230340697156)
I emailed him and he didn't want to jack with international shipping. Can't blame him I usually refuse non US bidders too just cause of the shipping hassle.
Would have maybe been able to pick it up for under $60 plus shipping... oh well...
I don't understand the fuss with shipping. From the US just use the regular postal service, they make it easy. All the reliance on courier services has made people lazy, and the services are very expensive cross-border. I get parts from UK dealers because it is so much cheaper and faster than buying locally and have always found the postage cost on an international buy less than local freight. Makes me shake my head in wonder. When I bought accessories from Thunderbike in N.Z. the airfreight was cheap and quick. I realize that rates are constantly rising but most ebay freight rates are away over the top. I think that more profit is made from the freight than the sale!
Quote from: "rainycoastguy"I think that more profit is made from the freight than the sale!
Oh, no doubt. Sometimes it seems as if the guy is charging you by the hour for his time to go out and buy the box, bring it home and pack it, and then off the the post office or UPS etc.
I've sent and received items from overseas via US mail, Royal Mail, etc., and it is cheaper than UPS and FedEx by a wide margin, but to send something bulky like one of my fender kits to Australia is still about 60 USD, and it only weighs 5 pounds.
I've been getting around that problem by having the buyer source their own fender locally, and I send the remaining parts in a much smaller box, usually costing about 20 USD.
For overseas shipping charges, the volume of the box is frequently even more detrimental than the weight.
Last time I tried to price something to ship from UK to US, Royal Mail was higher than FedEx. Was for a windshield and a fairing if I remember right.
Yes, the volume definitely kills you.
I've bought on eBay UK. Rule one is shipping post is way cheaper than ups/fedex/dhl. It also tends to have less customs hassles. It is usually cheaper when you buy from businesses instead of individuals--I guess the businesses can get better shipping rates.
Right now it is about $1.50 to a pound, but a few months ago, it was as low as $1.25/pound. That made things very cheap.
Geof
If there is no rush, I would be quite happy to post on stuff from e bay UK if the muppet wont sell to the states. Offer is there but I can't guarantee the turnaround times.
Quote from: "rainycoastguy"I think that more profit is made from the freight than the sale!
That's a deffinite on eBay because eBay takes a cut of the price of the item excluding postage. I've seen stuff where the postage is more than the item. It's a way to lose less to eBay.