Crazy shipping fees (USA - EUROPE)

[Chainedstream]

Shipping prices between the US / North America and Europe are running out of control. Just look at this price offered by on eBay. According to seller, this is the lowest they can ship. Be aware this is just for an old and small hasbro three-pack, not a 1:6 figure.

I have plenty of examples, mainly from eBay. Wonder if it’s specific to them or crazy high in general.

Do you know of any way on how to get better rates when shopping across the pond?

 

[Space Jockey]

I'm an expat and my folks and other family live in Britain. I no longer ship much over there because the costs are so high compared to when I first moved here over ten years ago. In fact my 8yr old niece sent me something, so I got a variety of US candy, put it in a box to send to her...shipping $50. I went ahead and sent it but wow!
I can say that paying for USPS shipping through ebay for the buyer - when I sell on ebay - is cheaper than if I were to pay for USPS shipping at the counter, so I believe the seller in your case. Even worse is the buyer then gets slammed with customs and VAT charges when it arrives in their country (looking at you Royal Mail).

 

[potato]

thanks to covid.

 

[jaztermareal]

Yep. Prices got crazy after lockdowns and instead of getting better again they just get worse. Ukraine situation messed things up for stuff coming from Asia too.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Shipping in general for everything went nuclear. To ship a print tube used to be $10 or less and now it’s almost $30

 

[choombaz]

I’m in Australia and it’s pretty bad as well, I going to sell some figures but when I saw these overseas shipping costs … wow

Courier $150AU
Express $80AU
Standard $65AU
Economy Air $62AU
Economy sea $50AU

And that’s just for 2kg!

 

[Chainedstream]

Thanks for sharing. What a crazy situation we’re in, hope it gets better but have no clue on how it may resolve the slightest.

 

[choombaz]

Thanks for sharing. What a crazy situation we’re in, hope it gets better but have no clue on how it may resolve the slightest.

I doubt it will ever go back to normal. And I constantly get emails now like “this streaming service will increase to blah blah”.

I got one for Spotify the other day.

I just want to go live in a cabin in the country now and get away from all this c#@p.

 

[Chainedstream]

I doubt it will ever go back to normal. And I constantly get emails now like “this streaming service will increase to blah blah”.

I got one for Spotify the other day.

I just want to go live in a cabin in the country now and get away from all this c#@p.

Understandable. Probably best to emigrate to a place deep deep into the woods. Ancient forest.

We’re moving towards new fu*kery with the rollout of AI, war in Europe, tension and soon probable conflict between Iran Israel, rampant inflation and inefficient political leadership.

 

[jsgord58]

I was going to ship my 1/6th scale figure-hating wife to Siberia but the cost is extremely prohibitive.

 

[potato]

right now only china can ship things out cheap. even hong kong is expensive.

guess air travelling hasnt fully recovered yet or someone forgot to lower the rates back

 

[jaztermareal]

right now only china can ship things out cheap. even hong kong is expensive.

guess air travelling hasnt fully recovered yet or someone forgot to lower the rates back

"What goes up, must come down" does not apply to prices. When it comes to prices, what goes up stays up (and continues to rise)

 

[Remembermyname]

I reckon so.

 

[potato]

"What goes up, must come down" does not apply to prices. When it comes to prices, what goes up stays up (and continues to rise)

how they regain their sales. tru cheap bulk contracts? clearly private international shipping outside china has gone down big. even japan international sales has plummeted down by at least 50%. Is registered sal is still suspended?

 

[zenonithus]

It's indeed crazy. You see a price in dollars that actually works out more in pound/euro at the checkout?! I remember years ago when you could order a bargain from the US given the differences in exchange rate.

eBay now automatically slaps you with 20% VAT tax at the checkout to import items into the UK. Also shipping costs are mostly based on their inflated Global Shipping programme prices, so it is best to avoid if you can.

If you can get it sent to someone in the US and they can post it to you via standard USPS it works out much cheaper.

 

[potato]

It's indeed crazy. You see a price in dollars that actually works out more in pound/euro at the checkout?! I remember years ago when you could order a bargain from the US given the differences in exchange rate.

eBay now automatically slaps you with 20% VAT tax at the checkout to import items into the UK. Also shipping costs are mostly based on their inflated Global Shipping programme prices, so it is best to avoid if you can.

If you can get it sent to someone in the US and they can post it to you via standard USPS it works out much cheaper.

gotta protect local vendors ya...