Why when you buy Internationally do they not listen?

[MarknotaMack]

Hi everyone, some great news for others to learn from, especially us in the UK.
I recently brought 3 items from kevin Nascarfan from the Take5aday site who went to the SDCC 2012. I was really pleased to hear a fellow collector would be able to get items for others who would not be able to attend or get, due to the fact it was in the USA.
So I asked for 2x Maters and 1x Knight Rider car. Thinking they were reasonably priced the maters were $42.00 each and the Knight Rider a rather expensive $52.00 but without hesitation I paid promptly for all 3 over a month in advance with shipping to follow. Seemed pretty fair so looked forward to hearing about my new items.
SDCC finished and by Wednesday 18th of July I had heard nothing and when I asked kevin "have you got my items", you can imagine my thoughts when I got this response, "I will let you know about the drama".
Thinking the worst and starting to see items selling for less on ebay than I had paid I was getting concerned. Then on the Friday 21st I got the shipping cost. $58.50. Wow for 3 items this seemed alot and I queried this but after checking I believed this was the price I would have to pay to have these items here in a reasonable time. Not to be funny, but I just had 2 cases of 24 cars (that's 48) sent for $80 in 4 days from the US. So for 3 cars $58.50 is a lot.
I paid for the shipping on the 21st of July asking to be sent as a GIFT and at a low cost so I don't get slammed by customs. Of course thinking this fellow collector would obviously help others everything was looking ok until nothing arrived, then I get a message about customs charges today. Not only have I waited 2 weeks I now have a bill for £33.73.
To make matters worse the items were valued at $150 and sent as merchandise. I only paid $136.00 and kevin wants to know why I'm now trying to claim back my shipping charge as he basically told me he will not give me nothing back because he will not lie on the customs forms. Well from what I can see he has lied by putting more than I paid.
Would just like to point out I will not be buying from a reliable source ever again and stick to ebay because as far as I can see kevin is not there to help fellow collectors.
Fellow collectors, those in the UK and the USA and around the world collecting theses items is supposed to be fun and for most a cheap hobby, unfortunately there are some who ruin it.
I respect all comments whether they be good or bad, but for all of us whatever country you live in, its bad enough the government take most of our hard earned money please don't make it harder.

[MarknotaMack]

Unfortunately I cannot get nothing back and he has got away with it. So this clearly means anyone out there can put as much as they want on your package and its just tuff luck. Also I have a Mater up for sale and will ship Internationally. Its £50 plus shipping at $50 plus ill value at $500 so you have to pay loads to get it from the post office and you'll not have a leg to stand on. Good luck

[madbob]

Just a note for everyone on this board, this info might help and some already know about it. Customs in the UK take into consideration the cost marked on the customs label AND the postage. So as an example on Marks package customs will be looking at $150 and $58.50. Total $208.50

In my experience trading and buying from the US you want to keep the combined custom label costs and postage to around $80-90 I have had higher amounts get through customs with no charges but I have had some at $92-95 dollars get given charges (I think its luck of the draw of who takes care of your parcel when it arrives in the UK). The main thing that bumps the charge up is the initial handling fee that parcel force put on it. I think its something like £10-£15 which I think is a joke, isn't this there job and what they get paid for.

I cannot comment about Kevin as I have not traded or bought from him in the past, sorry to hear about this though as we do know there are some very kind and helpful US friends that help us out in the UK.

[MarknotaMack]

Thankyou madbob, I totally agree our customs is one big joke and Parcel force charge for sticking a charge notice on is like printing free money. Why they charge us also for the shipping cost on top I will never know as tax is already paid on this and this has nothing to do with the contents

[wintermelon]

You have to be aware that some of the USA seller will not declare the value you want. Asking them prior purchase is always a must.
If you are buying things via EBAY then you have to ask the seller whether they are printing the label from EBAY/PAYPAL and ship through them.
It is because if they are doing this then they can't put any amount you like.

I won't blame the seller on the price of the item. As long is not crazily jacked up like some resellers on EBAY...
Someone got to pay the price for whatever he was doing and of course making some cash.

I am not sure the size and weight of the Knight Rider Car.
However shipping 2 maters at that price is seems very high regardless he is using priority.
Why not check the postage label. See whether the label shows the postage fee or not.
If the postage fee is 40 USD and he is charging you close to 60 USD for it then drop him a negative feedbacks on the board he patrols.
If it was around 5+ USD than maybe he is charging you the extra for the packing materials which seems to be fair..

No matter what buying things internationally can be a pain but the experience can be fun too..
I have had some very bad experience from Europe sellers being dishonest.
It taught me some very good lessons which now i apply when trading internationally.

I have no idea who is this Kevin dude.. However, i only see him show up on those SDCC and Kmart threads.
Everyone seems to give him good ratings (maybe 99% of his buyers are from USA) but if he did charge you extra on the shipping then you should feedback
Let other international buyers know he might overcharge.

Once again thanks for your info. Due to value declaration I will try to avoid to deal with him in future.

[MarknotaMack]

Unfortunately this wasn't an ebay seller as I've been down that path before and learnt if Im buying alot of items that they must low value and send as a GIFT. To make matters worse I have a cousin in the US that deals with 99% of my brought items in the USA, I send to him and he boxes up 20 items at a time and ships to me as a GIFT and low value with no problems.
The SDCC items I brought were from a reliable and trustworthy source, directly from a big well known collector from the Take5aday site so I had no doubt I would get my items with no hassle, fast reliable shipping and a great service as I paid over a month in advance. Not only that, I paid more than what they are selling on ebay now for so that makes me feel a little disappointed as I won't be buying from them again.
I wouldn't dream of sending items abroad to a fellow collector and making them pay unnecessary costs. This collecting Cars is hard enough. We all know that, I expect it from ebay sellers as some of them are out to make money but fellow collectors shafting each other isn't on.
The shipping seems correct and the items were packed well, but I expect that, it's not like I got these items for free with free shipping.
I can only say a lot of the members on here know who I'm on about and without doubt he has helped a lot of collectors. Unfortunately he has not helped me. I do advise anyone who wants these items from future SDCC's or any other event not in your country to be patient and buy via other methods as these so called collectors are here to make that little bit of money because they are going to these events. And because they only have a guide price they charge what they think. I've never brought on pre sale before because once you've paid your locked in, I now know why.

[GotFrank]

Sorry to hear about all this.
Learn lessons as they come & good communication, is (sadly) the best input I can give ya.

[cac1959]

Sorry to hear that your experience wasn't as positive as you'd hoped... I've heard both sides of the story... I know that I paid a $12 premium per item for the seller's efforts in obtaining the 2 SDCC Mater that I got... Some people don't ship internationally using anythinig but Priority Mail or another service such as FedEx or UPS... some don't ship to Italy or other countries due to problems.

Perhaps next time you should send money to your cousin in the US and have him place the order for your SDCC items through MattyCollector.com or another seller... I wasn't sure I'd be able to get this Mater on Matty this year so I decided to use Kevin (a friend that had helped me before didn't go to SDCC this year) and I paid a little extra but got my items.

And as far as shipping is concerned... it is strange sometimes... I am working on getting a large (16 pound) package ready to go to a friend in Canada... If I send it Parcel Post to a US address it's a little over $26.00... if I send it to the same US address via Priority Mail it's over $96.00... if I send it to the Canada address via Priority it's a little over $61.00... Less to ship to Canada than the US? I don't get it... no wonder the US Postal Service is in a world of financial hurt.

There are some sellers who put items on pre-sale 6 months or more before the item ends up being released... and sometimes it ends up not being released... Mattel case assortment and distribution is crazy much of the time, and not in a good way.

I'll be glad to help you out in the future as I can, MarknotaMack... and I'm sure there are others who will... sadly, we don't have many members close to San Diego and getting into SDCC to purchase the items isn't easy... the 2013 SDCC may already be sold out.

[Bumper Save]

Sorry to hear that. I always try to mark international packages as gifts and make the value as cheap as possible. $1 per car