Theakerr Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 I live in Canada but I see the same thing in reverse and it also appears to apply to some direct sellers (Accurascale) who seem to use the same postage mechanism. I have found there are a couple of ways around the problem and one ultimate way, I don't buy from e-bay anymore unless I have no option. The options I use are 1) try to find a supplier using a 'friendly' postage system who sells the the part as an agent 2) try to use an e-bay supplier who has a real shop and then deal with the shop directly. In the end though I now use e-bay as a search for UK stuff but do not buy. For different reasons but the same end result I and others in Canada tend not to buy from the US at all. Global Economy Anyone? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold McC Posted June 14, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2020 3 hours ago, Theakerr said: I live in Canada but I see the same thing in reverse and it also appears to apply to some direct sellers (Accurascale) who seem to use the same postage mechanism. Curious if this is something we can help with? Orders for anywhere else in the world (outside the UK and EU) are charged at £15 and free over £300 of order value. We tend to use Royal Mail on all shipments but can also use DHL where needed. What issues are you seeing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 5 minutes ago, McC said: Curious if this is something we can help with? Orders for anywhere else in the world (outside the UK and EU) are charged at £15 and free over £300 of order value. We tend to use Royal Mail on all shipments but can also use DHL where needed. What issues are you seeing? Wish we could get locos sent to us form the US for £15 excellent rates and again over £300 free most US retailers do this for domestic purchase for $150 now and then normally on a holiday weekend, you set a good example 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdvle Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 When I last did any international shopping the rule of thumb seemed to be that shipping to Canada was generally equivalent to the VAT that was eliminated from the price - so I could view a UK price and consider that my price including shipping. A quick check on Hattons and I see for a non-sound diesel the shipping is now slightly more (£31) than the eliminated VAT, so still close, shipping a Hornby Hawksworth coach came in at £3.50 so slightly less than the VAT that was removed. So the rule of thumb I used still hasn't changed. From the posting by McC it would appear ordering direct from Accurascale can be considered a bargain, but as long as you are ordering more than £90 worth of product. If you really only want 1 or 2 items lower priced items, then if they are offered through other retailers then consider using a retailer. But there is a simplicity to the flat rate costs that I can understand why companies like Accurascale use it - it is simply up to the consumer to take advantage of where that flat rate works best. But considering for example ScaleTrains charges £40 to mail a loco to the UK I don't think those of us buying in the UK and shipping to North America have much to complain about. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 On 13/06/2020 at 02:44, Lovemymodelling said: I did a google search for the address of the shipping agent a pretty large modern warehouse in Hawthorne CA Completely off topic, but I driven past that building many times. It's sandwiched between SpaceX's Rocket manufacturing facilities. The railroad crossing is used to access the SpaceX facility and assembled rocket parts are moved from their factory by train. John P 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 (edited) UPDATE!!! My 2 eel river box cars arrived at Shipito yesterday afternoon, I had and email today Informing me they were there and I’ve got 7 days to arrange my shipping via them and complete my own customs declaration! I completed correctly to correct value , they then offer some more optional services like fragile sticker, extra bubble wrap, they will consolidate several small packages into one box, (for those on the dark side remove any internal invoice and price tags!) Personally I don’t think not worth the risk, then the final bill,, including economy airmail to the U.K. and their services $29 so I’ve saved about £22 by using this method as the seller wanted £52 for both cars to be shipped to the U.K. I did have to pay the $10 postage from him to the shipper in CA, ok not a great deal but there are sellers WHO won’t ship out the US and this enables you to purchase Edited June 15, 2020 by Lovemymodelling 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 (edited) Re the last comment, remember that seller’s quoted post isn’t an eBay figure, it’s THEIR figure. The seller defines it and enters it in the description. Some sellers quote figures considerably in excess of the actual cost of postage, either because they have allocated costs against time and packaging, or because they want a minimum return on low-value items. There is also a pitfall which particularly affects Royal Mail and Parcel Force, that their cost structure is particularly complex and it is important to know which box you intend to use, and price accordingly. Its also true that not all sellers price at economy postage, although you may get the option to specify; again, it depends what they have put on their description. eBay isn’t a free service, nor is PayPal. If you routinely buy and sell lower value items, the costs mount up; often to the point where the actual sum received at the end of the transaction, is largely consumed. Regular sellers are well aware of this. Theres also the issue, which IS an eBay issue, that Buy It Now usually excludes consolidation of packages, or charging actual postage, and the seller may be reluctant to include this because THEIR eBay fees are assessed on the sale, and everything is a single transaction. There’s one seller I know that flags this up on their website, directing the buyer to their cart function, but it isn’t usual. Another issue is that some sellers use subcontract packing and mailing services themselves. I can think of at least one seller I deal with occasionally, who won’t accept an order from outside US without quoting transaction value and adding these costs - I assume this is to protect themselves against some sort of liability to ensure that relevant charges are included? Edited June 16, 2020 by rockershovel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium z4driver Posted June 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 16, 2020 Would using this be an option to get ProtoThrottle here in the UK? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 3 hours ago, rockershovel said: Theres also the issue, which IS an eBay issue, that Buy It Now usually excludes consolidation of packages, or charging actual postage, and the seller may be reluctant to include this because THEIR eBay fees are assessed on the sale, and everything is a single transaction. There’s one seller I know that flags this up on their website, directing the buyer to their cart function, but it isn’t usual. A fundamental point, there. This particular instance for the OP seems to have saved money because of 'combined shipping' which wasn't available on Ebay itself. I've put some 'theoretical' figures into the Shipito Calculator for typical O Scale packages in terms of size and value, and the cheapest shipping options shown have been no different to those usually shown on Ebay.com for single parcels. I'm not rich enough to buy multiple O Scale items all at once from across The Pond!! Plus - a typical O Scale-sized parcel is difficult enough to sneak in the house as it is, never mind something even bigger!!! 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said: A fundamental point, there. This particular instance for the OP seems to have saved money because of 'combined shipping' which wasn't available on Ebay itself. I've put some 'theoretical' figures into the Shipito Calculator for typical O Scale packages in terms of size and value, and the cheapest shipping options shown have been no different to those usually shown on Ebay.com for single parcels. I'm not rich enough to buy multiple O Scale items all at once from across The Pond!! Plus - a typical O Scale-sized parcel is difficult enough to sneak in the house as it is, never mind something even bigger!!! If for example you had 3 O scale models sent to them from 3 separate sales they will then combine the 3 into one larger parcel ,I think it was $7 for consolidation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 I regularly but Woodland Scenics figures from Express Hobbies in Hauppauge, NY. The generally charge $3 for 1st Class international on small items. I always buy as separate items to avoid VAT and handling. Normally take about two weeks to leave the US, yes, USPS are that slow, and another three days to get to my home. have most of the ones I need now and should have them all by the time our Government rips us off with the new duty levels.* *Yet I can still bring in £390 worth of goods without charge when flying in to UK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, JZ said: I regularly but Woodland Scenics figures from Express Hobbies in Hauppauge, NY. The generally charge $3 for 1st Class international on small items. I always buy as separate items to avoid VAT and handling. Normally take about two weeks to leave the US, yes, USPS are that slow, and another three days to get to my home. have most of the ones I need now and should have them all by the time our Government rips us off with the new duty levels.* *Yet I can still bring in £390 worth of goods without charge when flying in to UK. I ordered 2 intermountain ES44 from Springcreek on April 25th they were pretty good and dispatched on 28th, I followed the tracking then all came to a stop early May no movement so I dropped them a mail and the contacted USPS last week and see it’s on the move again, they said there were above 5 packages at this same location that didn’t move, my Shipito parcel was dispatched yesterday see how long it takes , I bought some Chooch tunnels of eBay other week with low postage they asked me if I wanted to combine and I said no that’s and as will attract duty as came in at £12 landed each so 2 combined would have cost me an extra £12 duty n admin fee Edited June 16, 2020 by Lovemymodelling Photo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Hi, My wife mailed a present to our Grandson in the UK and it spent more than two weeks in USPS limbo between San Francisco and Detroit June 11, 2020, 5:56 pm Departed DETROIT, UNITED STATES May 26, 2020, 11:34 am Departed SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES May 26, 2020, 3:37 am Arrived SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES May 25, 2020, 10:09 pm Processed Through Regional Facility SAN FRANCISCO CA INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER Regards, John P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted June 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 16, 2020 (edited) On 12/06/2020 at 19:44, mikjd said: How does this work with the 'Delivery address must be the same as Billing address' which is often a requirement? IMO - most of the extortionate charges are Ebay's GSP fees. Never had a problem in getting US stuff shipped to two different US addresses for onward transit in luggage as a relative returns home between college semesters or friends visit for work purposes. I don't use it very often, as they don't travel over much. I also have had up to three UK addresses as well. (Buying stuff for work/direct to home/avoiding the Mrs seeing it) No problems whatsoever. If I'm buying stuff in the US via ebay, all I do is change the "ship to" and add a US ZIP code to calculate postage. I do take a reasonable risk is if the item shipped to my US address is faulty or incorrect. Most US traders are quite happy to ship to the UK fro direct sales. Not cheap, but cheaper than ebay GSP. Edited June 16, 2020 by newbryford Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted June 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 16, 2020 12 minutes ago, jpendle said: Hi, My wife mailed a present to our Grandson in the UK and it spent more than two weeks in USPS limbo between San Francisco and Detroit June 11, 2020, 5:56 pm Departed DETROIT, UNITED STATES May 26, 2020, 11:34 am Departed SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES May 26, 2020, 3:37 am Arrived SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES May 25, 2020, 10:09 pm Processed Through Regional Facility SAN FRANCISCO CA INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER Regards, John P It may have been sitting in Detroit for most of that time. Anything requiring long distance air travel is simply being consolidated until the next available space - especially if it is "normal" post. We have had work packages waiting at the Royal Mail International hub near Heathrow for a 3-4 weeks for onward travel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 6 hours ago, newbryford said: IMO - most of the extortionate charges are Ebay's GSP fees. Agree with that. It's often 50% more than if you pay VAT and Royal Mail handling. On this Item, it works out about the same. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOn3-BLACKSTONE-B340706W-EAST-BROAD-TOP-3-BAY-HOPPER40s-LETTERING-ROCK-CAR/133413597246?hash=item1f1011f03e:g:d8AAAOSwitFdAfz6. But once the price starts creeping up, the GSP rockets. Like this, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tenshodo-167-HO-Scale-Brass-Southern-Pacific-AC-12-4-8-8-2-Steam-Locomotive-427/293558102370?hash=item44596d2962:g:oRcAAOSwn7Zeoxts . VAT + handling works out at $166 against the GSP of $229.40, almost 40% on this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covkid Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 11 hours ago, newbryford said: It may have been sitting in Detroit for most of that time. Anything requiring long distance air travel is simply being consolidated until the next available space - especially if it is "normal" post. We have had work packages waiting at the Royal Mail International hub near Heathrow for a 3-4 weeks for onward travel. Yes. My package eventually arrived yesterday. According to the tracker It appeared to linger at Melrose Park from May 29th then reappeared at Langley UK on June 14th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 4 hours ago, Covkid said: According to the tracker It appeared to linger at Melrose Park The Black Hole of Chicago. So far had two items disappear there. Got scanned into container and that's the last anyone ever saw of them. Had to get both replaced by the sellers. I presume they claimed against DHL. More recently I ordered a t-shirt for my daughter's boyfriend. Because of a delay printing it, the sender sent it Priority for no extra charge. It took 8 days to get from Texas to Melrose Park. It was scanned into container next day and then....................................................everything went quiet for more than two weeks. Finally appeared at Heathrow and delivered next day. But sometimes DHL can get it right. When my son was 21, I bought him a top of the range Pentax DSLR. It was cheaper to buy it from the SLR Hut in New York with UK duty paid, than it was from the best UK shop, delivery was cheaper too. Ordered before I went to work on a Wednesday, had a phone call from the shop at 5pm to check if I needed extra batteries. Text from DHL an hour later saying it was with them. Texts all the way to my door and arrived at noon on the Friday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 Trainworld use UPS I’ve had 3 deliveries from them during lockdown each one took 4 days to reach my front door, alas they don’t sell everything I want Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted July 3, 2020 Author Share Posted July 3, 2020 (edited) UPDATE My parcel from Shipito has arrived this morning with my 2 eel river Golden West Beer cars, a knock on the door and handed by the postman correctly completed customs declaration with price and stated merchandise and no duty, this was Royal Mail not Parcel Force so happy got through the net, the shipping price alone would have attracted duty without the models, photos to follow so highly recommend getting them FOB I have saved about £38! if I’d gone via global program They charge fees upfront so I still would have saved about £22 and start to finish has taken 18 days from my eBay,com purchase to getting here ok not UPS at trainworld but I’ve had other items recently like 9 weeks for some intermountain GEVOs from spring creek (not their fault USPS sluggishness spring creek always good service) so happy all round Edited July 3, 2020 by Lovemymodelling Spelling 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 I inboxed the models today and all is good, even better is I won a scale trains KCS hopper for €40 on June 24th again wanted $43 and duty’s to ship to the U.K. so paid $8 and had it shipped to Shipito, arrived there on 26th and 27th was on the way to me for $12 this morning Hermes knocked on the door and the model is here too,,,,,next arrivals will be Wheels of time bulkhead flat and Tangent airslide going to have a go at combining the two in one box next time. PS the Scale Trains KCS hopper is pretty amazing 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold daveyb Posted July 7, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 7, 2020 On 16/06/2020 at 15:54, Lovemymodelling said: I ordered 2 intermountain ES44 from Springcreek on April 25th they were pretty good and dispatched on 28th, I followed the tracking then all came to a stop early May no movement so I dropped them a mail and the contacted USPS last week and see it’s on the move again, they said there were above 5 packages at this same location that didn’t move, my Shipito parcel was dispatched yesterday see how long it takes , I bought some Chooch tunnels of eBay other week with low postage they asked me if I wanted to combine and I said no that’s and as will attract duty as came in at £12 landed each so 2 combined would have cost me an extra £12 duty n admin fee If you used the ebay link to track it, it is next to useless. I ordered an item from Nevada which was tracked as far as Vancouver BC on 4 July where it apparently scanned 4 times. It hasn't changed since. I checked on the USPS site and on a third party tracking site called Hot-tracking.com and not only was it in Vancouver a day earlier, it moved to Calgary on 4 July and is listed for delivery tomorrow or Wednesday. Still hasn't moved according to ebay. I too despair of the ebay fleecing over shipping and have complained to them directly. That was a waste of time as you will well imagine. Some dealers specifically say they will not help with the shipping/customs charges as it is against ebay policy, but some will respond to an email. I had excellent dealing with a number of sellers where they agreed to take it directly to a shipper as a 'collected' item. I paid only US$18 to ship 6 HO hoppers from NYC to Alberta where as I have seen figures of over US$60 to ship one hopper from other ebay sites. Choose well and try to circumnavigate ebay! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium z4driver Posted July 7, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 7, 2020 @Lovemymodelling How did you set it up on ebay to use the Shipito address? Did you set up a separate account. I've added the Shipito address to my normal account but it still shows the shipping charges and custom duty for shipping to the UK. Lee Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted July 7, 2020 Author Share Posted July 7, 2020 4 minutes ago, z4driver said: @Lovemymodelling How did you set it up on ebay to use the Shipito address? Did you set up a separate account. I've added the Shipito address to my normal account but it still shows the shipping charges and custom duty for shipping to the UK. Lee When you check out under the U.K. address there is an arrow on right of address to change, then your postal address appear and change is in blue obviously change to the US address you have on the account ,when you change to the Shipito address in US the page reboots and changes the postage fees according in some cases to “free” most freight cars are between $7-10 to ship domestically in the US see the example below If is used my U.K. address the box car and the shipping will attract 20% and fees payable upfront, it doesn’t cost £48 to send a HO box car that that landed would cost about £79 for one box car,,, 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemymodelling Posted July 7, 2020 Author Share Posted July 7, 2020 7 hours ago, daveyb said: If you used the ebay link to track it, it is next to useless. I ordered an item from Nevada which was tracked as far as Vancouver BC on 4 July where it apparently scanned 4 times. It hasn't changed since. I checked on the USPS site and on a third party tracking site called Hot-tracking.com and not only was it in Vancouver a day earlier, it moved to Calgary on 4 July and is listed for delivery tomorrow or Wednesday. Still hasn't moved according to ebay. I too despair of the ebay fleecing over shipping and have complained to them directly. That was a waste of time as you will well imagine. Some dealers specifically say they will not help with the shipping/customs charges as it is against ebay policy, but some will respond to an email. I had excellent dealing with a number of sellers where they agreed to take it directly to a shipper as a 'collected' item. I paid only US$18 to ship 6 HO hoppers from NYC to Alberta where as I have seen figures of over US$60 to ship one hopper from other ebay sites. Choose well and try to circumnavigate ebay! So even though the have a land border you still have to pay the international shipping Fees that would hurt more than posting across the pond! Do many modellers who live near the border take a drive over to the US? The company i use have a storage and address facility in Washington state also I’m guessing people who live in BC may drive over and pick their items up from there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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