Wanted: Pee Wee Backplate

Hi,

Yes the crazy eBay international postage is a personal gripe of mine too, and I believe affects most European members of this forum. Whenever I have sold on eBay I have put in the extra effort to set up specific postage rates for as many countries as I can. That way the items don't go via eBay global shipping which I hope provides international buyers better value and more transparent pricing. For larger items that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive to post I think eBay global shipping sometimes makes sense.

Anyway, back on topic, I'd really rather not add to the motley collection of engines bought to scavenge parts hence the specific request.

EDIT: Just sold the engine this was meant for so I no longer require the backplate. Thank you.

Thanks.

I'm no authority on postal rates worldwide but I have bought model engines from China, France, Sweden, and even Australia shipped here at very reasonable rates. An engine from Sweden was a recent purchase shipped for $12.00 USD and received within two weeks. Items from China are shipped free or at very reasonable rates.

That said, somehow the US subsidizes products shipped into this country through our postal system making it very attractive for foreign exporters and no doubt negatively affecting our trade balance with the rest of the world. Which begs the question, why are postal rates from Canada to the USA so high?

Bob

It's not the postage but the eBay fees. I have received two packages from USA (Thanks guys, you know who you are ), one was slightly bigger containing IIRC two or three Bee-type engines and a bunch of parts, and in the other there was a Tee Dee .010 and a couple of parts. Postage was $22.50 for the first one and around $12 for the other. Not bad at all. A bubble-wrap envelope should go for less than $10.

The customs fees depend on the policy of the recipient's country. Not sure how it works for other countries, but in Finland you can do the customs declaration online with no additional fees and pay the customs and VAT online too. In Finland there is no customs for "die cast and other metal toys and parts" or some such, and model engines go into that category. There is the 24% VAT that one has to pay for the declared value of the item PLUS postage. Things listed as gifts with value + postage totaling less than 45 Euros are free of VAT and customs.

Strange thing was that the first package arrived "duty+VAT free" directly to my nearest post office while the latter got stuck in customs and I had to do the online thing.

But anyway, eBay fees have other charges besides postage, a lot of it must be "overhead" since they sometimes confiscate stuff and refund both the buyer and seller (I think Eric "getback" has had this happen a few times). The fact that eBay service is expensive and unreliable is the cause I avoid eBay and sometimes pester you guys, trying to get you to ship stuff outside CONUS