Subject:
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Re: 'Will ship to United States only - Oi!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general, lugnet.people
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Date:
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Sat, 27 Jan 2001 20:32:21 GMT
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Viewed:
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815 times
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This isn't a reply to Ronan as much as to the thread in general. I've never
restricted any of my sales or auctions to the US only, but I can certainly see
why one would want to. It does take extra time and effort to sell
internationally; receiving the money and messing with shipping are a bit of a
pain.
I really don't consider international shipping, at least for smaller packages,
to be such a huge pain, though. I have a couple of postal scales at home
($10-15 for a 16 oz. scale at Staples--WELL worth the investment!!), and it's
easy enough to find out what something's going to cost by looking it up on the
USPS web site. The green forms are a pain, yes, but I usually keep a stack at
home and can fill them out but fast :-) My only real problem with the green
forms is that many buyers ask me to fill them out essentially dishonestly--to
undervalue things, or to call something a gift that they're paying cold hard
cash for. I find it frustrating that many governments want a piece of the
action on a $25 or $50 sale of toys between private collectors, but I also
think international buyers should either write it off as an unfortunate cost of
doing business or else take it up with their governments (well, OK, taking it
up with the government is unlikely to have any effect--but you get the
picture). Of course, we Americans are ones to talk--we can import $500 (or
more) worth of Lego without paying a red cent to the customs folks, as compared
to 15% or so on merchandise items valued above DM50 sent to Germany, and
whatever the costs are in Canada (equally painful, if I recall
correctly--especially with the automatic CND5 "service charge" or whatever they
call it just to look at your package).
I'll also point out that US sellers aren't the only ones who won't ship
internationally. Having bought stuff from ebay.de a number of times, I know
there are sellers there who only want to ship to Germany. Same problem for
them as for us--it's not a German-centric view of the universe that makes them
want to only sell their goods in Germany, but rather their desire not to deal
with the extra trouble and risk of international transactions. I've found that
contacting sellers before bidding and then following through by making sure to
pay promptly and include plenty of money to cover currency changing costs,
international banking fees, shipping costs etc. usually makes sellers much more
willing to sell to us "ugly Americans" ;-) On the flip side, I've usually had
very good experiences with international buyers--they usually realize it takes
a little extra work on my part and put in the extra effort to match.
Alan
In lugnet.general, Ronan Webb writes:
> I'm fed up with this on ebay/brickbay.
>
> What is it with you people ? Is your postal service that unsafe ?
> Or are just (backward) children in a play-pen? Duh !
> Grow up. You're not that fr*%^n central to the cosmos.
> Each time I see 'Will ship to United States only'' ...
> <censored>
> </censored>
>
> R. Webb
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: 'Will ship to United States only - Oi!
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| In lugnet.general, Alan Demlow writes: <snip. (...) Indeed. As a German-based Lego fan, I cannot comprehend what can possibly so difficult in packing a box, putting it on a scales and looking up the postage in a booklet or on the website? Or is (...) (24 years ago, 28-Jan-01, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: 'Will ship to United States only - Oi!
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| In lugnet.general, Alan Demlow writes: <snip. (...) Indeed. As a German-based Lego fan, I cannot comprehend what can possibly so difficult in packing a box, putting it on a scales and looking up the postage in a booklet or on the website? Or is (...) (24 years ago, 28-Jan-01, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | 'Will ship to United States only - Oi!
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| I'm fed up with this on ebay/brickbay. What is it with you people ? Is your postal service that unsafe ? Or are just (backward) children in a play-pen? Duh ! Grow up. You're not that fr*%^n central to the cosmos. Each time I see 'Will ship to United (...) (24 years ago, 27-Jan-01, to lugnet.general, lugnet.people)
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