Exporting Dangerous Tubes

[Richard]

Good that you and the buyer were not out of pocket then Chris. Sounds like eBay were the loser and paid up. Maybe they were opened in customs and found to be broken/crushed etc and eBay accepted the loss.

[Black Stuart]

Anyone who uses Ebay Global Shipping is a lazy fool.

The whole thing is a massive rip-off. I wanted to buy a single tube for my Dark Voice h/amp. Saw what I wanted from a UK seller then looked at the shipping price - no way. Sent a message via Ebay to suggest the seller find out the cost via Royal Mail, not known for being cheap.

It cost me £4.50. GSP would have cost me £14 + screwing the seller for another £5.50. So often French people have said that prices in the UK are far better than in France, then they look at the rip-off GSP price and find that it is cheaper to buy in France with much lower shipping costs.

Italian postal service has a reputation for being light fingered and many sellers across the world will not entertain selling to Italy. Strangely NZ also has this bad reputation.

[John Caswell]

Black Stuart wrote
"Anyone who uses Ebay Global Shipping is a lazy fool".
I have used global shipping for several pieces of test equipment from the US because that is all that was offered, and I am certainly not "A lazy fool"
Stuart If you cannot keep a civil tongue in your head be prepared to be banned. An apology would be nice!

John

[Chris]

The advantage of Global Shipping for me is that once you get it to UK processing address then it becomes I hope Ebay's problem to deliver it to its final address.
I never consider buying anything from the USA as the postage and tax is so high.. Soon buying from the EU will be the same.

Chris..

[bob orbell]

Buying from the USA is cheaper than the EU and UK and when you consider the distance involved the cost of shipping falls into insignificance and mostly the product is of much better quality. Bob

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by bob orbell

Buying from the USA is cheaper than the EU and UK and when you consider the distance involved the cost of shipping falls into insignificance and mostly the product is of much better quality. Bob

That’s not strictly true. You have to look carefully at the shipping charges. Some are very competitive, some are expensive and others are outrageous, being the ones where the seller is not interested in selling across the pond. Generally I find buying from the EU (at the moment) pretty acceptable. Some U.K. sellers, particularly on eBay have inflated and often blanket P&P charges regardless of item size.

As always, it’s a lottery and down to the buyer to check carefully before committing. Caveat emptor is the rule.

[pre65]

Originally Posted by bob orbell

Buying from the USA is cheaper than the EU and UK and when you consider the distance involved the cost of shipping falls into insignificance and mostly the product is of much better quality. Bob

One particular problem with USA items is duty and VAT, and on top of that Parcelforce (henceforth called Parcel thief) who undertake customs clearance, also add a charge of their own, often payable before delivery is effected.

So the combined effect of duty, VAT and Parcel thief charges can be considerable.