Shipping Help / Question - France?

Jeff R

Jeff R

Well-known member
Greetings friends,

I am considering an item on French eBay from a seller that will not ship outside of France. I have two questions:
  1. Is there anyone in France who would be willing to receive this item and re-ship it via airmail to me in the US? I'd of course cover all costs.
  2. Out of curiosity, is there a reason for a seller wanting to avoid international shipping from France? I'm curious if there is a tax or customs issue, or if the process is otherwise just too annoying/difficult for the average seller to want to do.

Thanks!
 
I'm German and unfortunately I can't help. But about the 2nd question, I think many people don't know how to export goods and are afraid of customs problems or problems with international buyers. But it's not just a French problem, I also know sellers who don't sell outside of Germany or the US.
 
Yes, particularly frustrating for a Canadian buying on EBay from a US seller who has adopted this policy. It is hard to understand this, when every day billions $ of goods and services cross both ways across the border non stop! Sometimes when contacted a seller will agree to ship to CN. Fortunately for me, my good friend James has helped me out on several occasions by simply buying the item for me and I pay him.
 
Roger that. It can be tricky knowing the right magic words to avoid triggering customs inspections, import duties, and other tedious stuff. As I have sadly discovered once or twice...
 
When I buy say a parts helmet from a US seller especially from Ebay, I don't expect the person to undervalue the item and most sellers will not...I don't bother to ask. I never buy complete helmets off this site, just parts or scrappers. This is the same for me at the SOS, I have never bought a complete helmet there, although I enjoy watching James, Gus and Steve spend their cash! :) I am a bottom feeder at the show...looking for parts or deals on scrappers that I know I can fix. I will buy a cyphered strap or two, maybe a photo, a wappen, a kokarde but I have only a certain amount of surplus $US to spend. However, I still have fun at the SOS.
As to CN customs...if it is sent through Fed Ex etc, you will pay full duties no matter what declared value. Generally, if things are valued at around $100 you are not charged $ by customs.
 
I did some international shipping and my tipp is always to declare the true contend of the package with materials and the true value, but to describe it as an antique. The best is to add a copy of the invoice or just the ebay-infos to the documents. Yes, it may cost taxes (sometimes I had to pay taxes, sometimes not) but you can be sure that will be no problems or delay due to questions.
However, many shy away from contact with authorities for fear of questions or doing something wrong out of ignorance.
If everything goes according to the rules, I'm willing to act as a German intermediate buyer for longer forums members and send the package internationally as I've done for other forum members a few times in the past. You just have to be aware that an overseas transport with DHL costs at least around 45€ without taxes, with Hermes it was sometimes around 20€-30€, but the last time it didn't go quite smoothly. UPS even take around 120€, but the delivery is incredibly fast.
 
Yes, if you want it that badly then you are going to have to pay the cost to get it into your collection!
 
Added to this are the risks of "disappearance, loss, misplacement" when crossing borders. And when there is a change of "carrier"... at the border...
 
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