Needed a new rear bumper filler for my 1987 Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon. Found a company selling them on Ebay, but they didn't ship outside the states. So searched the internet and found a company in Coral Springs, Florida (won't name the company as that could violate some forum policy of some kind) and looked on their site to see if they had the stuff I need. They didn't specify my car but they had for other GM station wagons 80-90 so I thought I send them an email ask for a price including shipping to Europe. Just keep in mind that the listed price for a 1980-90 GM Station Wagon was 189 USD. So an hour after I sent my email I got a reply saying the total cost would be 443 USD! That's 254 USD for shipping some plastic pieces from Florida to Europe. They also sent me a PayPal invoice at the same time. I had only asked for a price, didn't order anything. I guess they hoped I would be stupid and accept the invoice. I order a lot of parts for my american cars. Usually through Ebay, Summit and Rockauto. I even ordered a complete exhaust system and it was sent by air and the freight was less than 150USD. So 254 USD is just a complete rip-off.
Here in Germany, they have broker agencies for Swiss citizens receiving ordered products on the German side of the border, I'm sure, there has to be such agencies, in the U.S., specializing in similar services. I have been having the same problem trying to order trunk paint. It's not available, in Europe, and even Amazon won't arrange delivery. When anything from overseas gets delivered, the shipping charges are quite expensive, regardless from what overseas country the item is getting shipped from. Your best bet would be either to search out an agencey performing these services or to arrange a forum member owning a similar vehicle to ship it to you, of course rewarding him or her with a thank you fee of some sort. I myself, haven't bothered locating one myself, for only one can of trunk paint. Have the items shipped as gifts, since anything having a company name on its package will arouse suspicion and add even more unnecessary costs. As far as disclosing company names, I wouldn't worry, because we do it all the time, here. There are no such stupid laws, in the U.S. (yet?), protecting dishonest companies
I used to use a Swedish import company based in Alabama. Unfortunately the owner decided to retire. Even if I would pay the 443 USD I still would have to pay import charges to Sweden. And Trump is correct, import fees from the US are higher than the custom fees american pays on their imports. So the american people have been buying stuff cheaply from other countries, but the other countries has been having high customs fees on american products. Who will loose on that deal? The American workers of course.
Customs up to 20% depending on what type of import. And on top of that VAT 25% is added. So in worst case you have to pay 45% of the total value. So lets say you buy a used spare part on Ebay for 100USD. Shipping is 45USD. Total cost when arriving at the border is 145USD. Then they add 4,5% (customs on spare parts) + 25% VAT = 44 USD in import charges. Then you have to pay the postal handling fee which is 10-20USD depending on value. So the used spare part that had a value of 100USD in the states does now cost 209USD when delivered at my door step. Send the same part from Sweden to the States and it will be a lot less. In the end the American workers are loosing on this deal.
I see it the other way around. The Swedes are the ones losing, because of the illigitimate government you have there, taking into account how they are wasting tax money. Especially, when they use that money for the ethnic cleansing of the Swedish people. Thereby, endangering Swedish women and everything else that goes with it. This is much like how fuel tax is levied in Germany. They levy fuel tax mostly for departments which have nothing to do with fuel consumption. After those taxes are added, 19% sales tax is added to the fuel and to the previously levied taxes. In other words, they tax the other taxes which are paid with money which is already taxed. What I would do, in your position, would be to organize some sort of American car club or to join an already existing one. Then, organize a shopping list between members. For example, your bumper fillers, Sven's seat covers, Ole's engine and Björn's transmission parts. Then, have these items sent to an adress in Luxembourg where taxation is the lowest, in continental Europe. Taxes might be lower in Poland. But, I wouldn't have anything sent there. The adress could be an agent, a resident car club or somebody you know who lives there. Since Sweden is now a member E.U. country, they cannot tax items which were already taxed in an other E.U. member country. If they still could levy other taxes, I would load all of the parts into a small van or lorry and simply transport everything through the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, before crossing the bridge to Sweden
Hungary or Russia. A large German family just moved to Russia. If I could speak that difficult language, I'd move to Hungary. It has no relation to the three basic European language groups. This following video has been censored:
I also contacted another re-seller company. They said 839 USD for the (219 USD) parts AND shipping. But they are now working on a way to lower the shipping cost of the 5 pound plastic.
I didn't read the entire thread as it seemed to have gotten off track a bit... I think the high shipping price is more related to the protection they need in the packaging to ensure the bumper fillers aren't damaged during transport. I'm not defending the company, just adding an alternate perspective. I once ordered some inner cardboard trunk liners for my Electra 225 Convertible, which were priced at $90 and they would have be shipped from New Jersey to California where I was going to be. The company I ordered from called me to say it would be $200 in shipping as they had to build a wood grate to protect the liners from damage during shipping. Needless to say I cancelled the order. I think in your case it is a combination of the distance and extra protective packaging that explains the high shipping costs
I'll hammer together a crate for $200, all day long. That story, as justification, is hard to buy. When I got my headlight shipped, there was way more packaging than headlight, in the carton. You wouldn't believe how overdone it was. Even if the headlight were to be made out of glass, the packaging would still have been way over the top over-protected. They did this, at no extra listed cost. Since these fillers are flexible rubbery plastc objects, the only overhead to even get pricey should be the insurance only
I think you’re kind of missing the point. These items I’m talking about (bumper fillers trunk lining cardboard) require large packaging. When you combine the fragility and the fact that the items have to survive a long transport with many transfers, you end up with a large package. Large size packages made larger and heavier are more expensive to ship. Should they build that cost into their price? Maybe but then people would complain about that. I’m simply offering a different perspective to the problem. I would have loved to get my new cardboard liners, but in the end I couldn’t justify the cost once shipping was factored in.
Around 10 years ago I sold a peace of Pacer door chrome for $5.00 plus shipping. I made a box for it, went to the post office and was told that's not a standard size it will be $40.00, UPS the same thing. My wife worked for a machine shop, and the trucking company they use shipped it for $7.36.this is what I sent.
