High cost shipping on low cost articles (was: [Elecraft] K3 #1140 For Sale on ebay)

[David Woolley (E.L)]

AD6XY wrote:
> And the effect of Ebay... But it is a real problem for us overseas people.
> Many firms will not ship abroad at all and others insist on using expensive
> couriers, even for items only costing a few $. My recent problem trying to
> get a 15-way cable for example. It would cost $10 for the cable and $60 to
> ship it, and that is before customs charges.

In that example, shipping in a jiffy bag would have avoided the customs 
and customs clearance charges as well, as you are currently allowed GBP 
18 including shipping costs (I believe this is going up to around GBP 
100 at the end of the year).

Incidentally, for someone in the UK, I have found that Germany is a good 
place to source accessories.  UK vendors seem not to advertise small 
accessories, or ones for older models.  The German vendors don't seem to 
fall into the everything gets courier prices trap.  The one downside is 
that some of them do not take plastic, but expect a Euros bank transfer. 
  That immediately adds GBP 15 to the cost.  I did find one that had the 
parts I wanted and did take plastic/Paypal.  There are no customs duties 
for imports, to the UK, from Germany.  You do have to pay VAT, but that 
is paid as part of the price to the vendor.

I believe Elecraft will ship small items by cheap methods, but it would 
help if they actually provided details on the web site, even though they 
may well not charge the international courier rates for them.  I'm 
reluctant to consider any of the small kits on add ons because I don't 
know the shipping cost (I'm also waiting for the customs exemption 
limits to rise).


-- 
David Woolley
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