Buying gear from other countries

[Steve Goldstein]

In both my cases the selling prices were the same regardless of location. The only difference on the second item was a $5 higher shipping cost to the US. This was less than 5% of the item cost, which I believe to be less than the tariff percentage for the UK.

I don’t know what to make about the appparent lack of tariff in the purchases, but I’m not going to waste any effort trying to understand it. I’m just reporting my recent experiences.

 

[gbroadbridge]

In both my cases the selling prices were the same regardless of location. The only difference on the second item was a $5 higher shipping cost to the US. This was less than 5% of the item cost, which I believe to be less than the tariff percentage for the UK.

I don’t know what to make about the appparent lack of tariff in the purchases, but I’m not going to waste any effort trying to understand it. I’m just reporting my recent experiences.

Did you buy it pretending to be somewhere else as well? If not, how do you know what adjustment would have been made after the purchase?

Sellers I know on various platforms are providing discount at checkout after the sale for buyers outside the US.

 

[Steve Goldstein]

Did you buy it pretending to be somewhere else as well? If not, how do you know what adjustment would have been made after the purchase?

Nope, no tricks, bought as me from actual companies and shipped to my US address. The amounts billed to my credit card matched those shown at checkout.

I'd need a VPN to know if my US location was detected and the price displayed to me adjusted.

 

[loccdor]

I have a VPN that can be set to just about any country. If someone wants me to test a site let me know.

 

[Richard Lawson]

One more data point: purchased Sinar compendium shade from a US vendor on eBay (the camera outlet - a branch of KEH) on 2nd March. All taxes, duties, tariffs etc paid as part of the eBay purchase.

Arrived this morning, 1st April. Nothing to do with the vendor who shipped it the next business day, just endless shipping delays.

 

[Marcelo Paniagua]

Pretty sure I've bought from this seller before. Don't remember any bad experiences with that seller. Hopefully that was an exception.

 

[Richard Lawson]

Pretty sure I've bought from this seller before. Don't remember any bad experiences with that seller. Hopefully that was an exception.

Definitely nothing to do with the vendor. They shipped next business day and everything was labelled and documented correctly. Packed really well too.

It reached the eBay international shipping hub within the USA fine too (2 days). Just DHL international being incredibly slow.

 

[ags2mikon]

DHL you say? They are the worst. DHL= Damaged, hijacked or lost. Japan to NM, USA 11-15 days. Fedex 3 days. I ask the seller who they ship with and if they say DHL I don't buy. They have managed to break stuff and loose stuff for me in the past. I trust the USPS befor them.

 

[ChrisGalway]

DHL you say? They are the worst. DHL= Damaged, hijacked or lost. Japan to NM, USA 11-15 days. Fedex 3 days. I ask the seller who they ship with and if they say DHL I don't buy. They have managed to break stuff and loose stuff for me in the past. I trust the USPS befor them.

I think it depends where you are located, and where the parcel is being shipped from/to. DHL are excellent (and inexpensive) in the EU in my experience, especially when shipping from Germany (often the cheapest place for new photo stuff). In contrast, FedEx are usually very very expensive. For shipping stuff from Ireland, I've used an intermediary like Parcel2Go who provide several quotes.

Shipping rates from the US are just silly, even via USPS.