Wow! I took a hit

[Inkpaduta]

I have been hearing about the large rise in shipping costs from the UK to the US but so far things I have gotten haven't been all that bad.
Then I ordered a $15.00 rule book from the UK and was charged $27 in shipping. That one hurt. If this becomes the standard I wouldn't be buying
much from across the pond.

[has.been]

I was looking at some items on e-bay.
The price was reasonable, but the postage
from the US was FOUR times that of the item.
It is getting silly. There must be an alternative.

[Silent Invader]

I have been hearing about the large rise in shipping costs from the UK to the US but so far things I have gotten haven't been all that bad.
Then I ordered a $15.00 rule book from the UK and was charged $27 in shipping. That one hurt. If this becomes the standard I wouldn't be buying
much from across the pond.

£23-£27 is about cost price for a book-sized parcel, so if you paid about £20 then it could well have been a bargain.  IIRC, in 2020 prices from the UK to the US effectively doubled mostly due to increases in handling costs (domestic forwarding) on the US side of the pond.

[Storm Wolf]

This is why I no longer order from the good old U.S of A.

Shame as there is quite a lot I would like to get, but nevermind

Glen

[FramFramson]

ebay's shipping costs are garbage now, with their in-house shipping program often quadrupling the cost of things. I'll buy things from the US, but the markup on ebay shipments means they're dead to me.

[aircav]

It’s bad enough just buying in the U.K. £5.50 for the pack of miniatures & £5 for the p&p!

[Elbows]

This boils more down to the companies in the UK not bothering to find solutions.  I've ordered stuff from several UK stores and still received reasonable shipping, or even free international shipping.

Northstar have shipped me stuff for a very small uptick since the last year or two (this included emailing me that they were using a new shipping method, and asked me to provide feedback). Rosemary & Co. still have good shipping prices.  TTCombat and 4Ground still offer free shipping over a certain dollar/pound value (and MDF isn't cheap to ship).

So it depends entirely on who you're shopping with.  Many small businesses don't like the hassle of shipping overseas or are tied to an international shipping company (and don't explore other options).  eBay, for instance, only has shipping contracts with certain companies - so the default shipping abroad is always atrocious there.  Also they have a super ineffective/awful "global shipping program" where you send your item to a warehouse and they ship it internationally for you - often at a cost of time and money.

[Moriarty]

Would not be the first time I arranged shipping overseas instead of using the eBay service. Nor the first time I shipped to someone who would be charged a fortune for goods in their country (looking at you, GW).

Sometimes it’s a case of looking for alternatives - my local post office has saved me money before by suggesting alternative services to the one I asked for.

[Citizen Sade]

In my recent though limited experience, GSP can be competitive or even cheap e.g.

• 10 old metal figures in a large letter box, U.K. to Spain, GSP £8.93 vs. Royal Mail £9.20
• 2.5kg parcel containing a rare and OOP metal kit, U.K. to USA, GSP £45.18 vs. ParcelForce £141.75

That said, the big plus from a private seller’s perspective is that it’s a very simple and low risk shipping option.

[Doug ex-em4]

ebay's shipping costs are garbage now, with their in-house shipping program often quadrupling the cost of things. I'll buy things from the US, but the markup on ebay shipments means they're dead to me.

I don’t do much eBay buying or selling but I recently sold some magazines via eBay to a US purchaser. I paid second class, inland parcel to send the stuff to the eBay UK address which then sends the stuff to the US. So are you saying that eBay charges the recipient an inordinate amount? Because for the seller, it’s a very good way to handle overseas sales.

Doug

[Moriarty]

eBay charges for overseas are high for the buyer.

[FramFramson]

I don’t do much eBay buying or selling but I recently sold some magazines via eBay to a US purchaser. I paid second class, inland parcel to send the stuff to the eBay UK address which then sends the stuff to the US. So are you saying that eBay charges the recipient an inordinate amount? Because for the seller, it’s a very good way to handle overseas sales.

Doug

Yep. ebay pockets enormous cooked-up surcharges, amount varying based on the sending and receiving countries involved. I've tried talking to sellers about it, but they usually don't want to hear about it, and of the ones who do, it's a bother to do anything but follow the ebay-dictated process.

If I buy something from the US and it's sent via USPS, prices have gone up for that too, but they're still within some sort of reason. If it's sent via courier instead, kiss your wallet goodbye (in Canada we get a double whammy in ebay's ridiculous surcharges AND the fact that major courier companies - UPS, Fedex, etc. love adding their own surcharges to deliveries anywhere in Canada). "Brokerage fees". Bullshit! If it's not needed for regular mail, they're just making it more expensive on purpose.

[black hat miniatures]

Shipping letter or large letter parcels to the USA is still reasonably cheap.  Shipping anything larger - small parcel is not!

Mike

[beefcake]

I agree on the ebay ridiculousness. I was looking at an item about $8, then the shipping was about $30 and on top of that the import fees were $9, which is more than the item to begin with. Why am I paying taxes on the shipping fee and not just the item? I bet ebay probably doesn't count the shipping in its taxes sent to overseas companies.

[Mindenbrush]

 A well known dice company, 18 die cost U$17.40, postage to Canada U$20.....
Unfortunately no one has D8’s locally so I had to bite the bullet.