Horrendous shipping & handling costs ...

[neveronfriday]

To get the most out of my most recent shipment (before it is soured by extra fees), I'm now going to retire to listen to the entire Blue Mitchell set in one sitting (but with several drinks). I have the rest of the day off, so ... see ya much later, guys and gals.

[BERIGAN]

deus, move to America, it just might be cheaper for you in the long run!

Please keep quiet about all these handling and VAT fees...somehow, there is no taxes on items we buy from overseas, just the shipping charge itself which is not too bad...

I am sure our politicians would dearly love to tax us on these items....

You might also want to buy your Mosaics from ebay in the future....I have sold many items(Not Mosaics) to buyers overseas and they always ask that we put the value of the item very low, and mark as a gift...big companies cannot do this, but small sellers would be glad to...check out www.usps.com and you will see that if you pay for it, the post office will gladly ship super fast...it is quite safe to do this, would you still run into the middle man issue like you did on this purchase then?????

Edited March 4, 2004 by BERIGAN

[Claude]

I have sold many items(Not Mosaics) to buyers overseas and they always ask that we put the value of the item very low, and mark as a gift

You can try that but it is not that easy. If you mark the value of a rare Mosaic 5CD set as "$30 (used CDs)" the customs may not notice the "fraud", but in doubt they can always ask the receipient for a proof of the value, which will then show that the set was auctioned for $250 ...

Marking an item as a gift does not help, because there is no customs tax exemption for gifts in the EU. Shipments between non-commercial persons benefit from a higher exemption (45 Euro instead of 22 Euro), but otherwise they are treated the same way as purchases from an shop.

[mikeweil]

To get the most out of my most recent shipment (before it is soured by extra fees), I'm now going to retire to listen to the entire Blue Mitchell set in one sitting (but with several drinks). I have the rest of the day off, so ... see ya much later, guys and gals.

I sincerely hope you had a good time doing so ... and the drinks were not giving you as much of a headache as the shipping costs.

[rockefeller center]

I have sold many items(Not Mosaics) to buyers overseas and they always ask that we put the value of the item very low, and mark as a gift

You can try that but it is not that easy. If you mark the value of a rare Mosaic 5CD set as "$30 (used CDs)" the customs may not notice the "fraud", but in doubt they can always ask the receipient for a proof of the value, which will then show that the set was auctioned for $250 ...

Not necessarily. Moral issues aside, it shouldn't be difficult to load the auction page source code into an html editor, exchange the actual item number for an item number no longer in the ebay database, alter the price...

[BERIGAN]

I have sold many items(Not Mosaics) to buyers overseas and they always ask that we put the value of the item very low, and mark as a gift

You can try that but it is not that easy. If you mark the value of a rare Mosaic 5CD set as "$30 (used CDs)" the customs may not notice the "fraud", but in doubt they can always ask the receipient for a proof of the value, which will then show that the set was auctioned for $250 ...

Not necessarily. Moral issues aside, it shouldn't be difficult to load the auction page source code into an html editor, exchange the actual item number for an item number no longer in the ebay database, alter the price...

Yep...not that I have done that...yet....I can't recall which country it was, or how long ago, but I recall one guy being kinda pissed that we forgot to mark it as a "Gift"

Moral issues aside??? Taxing Jazz is immoral! : It should be a crime!

[rockefeller center]

I can't recall which country it was, or how long ago, but I recall one guy being kinda pissed that we forgot to mark it as a "Gift"

Could have been me.

[BERIGAN]

I can't recall which country it was, or how long ago, but I recall one guy being kinda pissed that we forgot to mark it as a "Gift"

Could have been me.

Sorry!

[JohnS]

Another spin on this is that several UK couriers are now charging for a repeat delivery if the addressee is out first time round. This can vary between £3.00 and £10.00.

[porcy62]

That's my experience.

I have a great record shop two blocks from home, cheap and well stocked so I buy by mail only the stuff I don't find there.

I won several MBS on Ebay, all sent via USPS, "used cd" as content, never payed a euros, BUT, because of that, italian lazy postmans simply left the box inside the building doors, near the mail boxes, so I lost the Giuffre set.

Since then I avoid this cheap, but dangerous way of shipping.

No tracking number, no way to check the shipping, only waiting and hoping!!!

I ordered several stuff from Mosaic and Acoustic Sound and I had to pay the handling and Vat, BUT because I had to pay, the service is faster and safe.

I tend to order more items saving on shipping cost and, in case of Acoustic Sound I have a discount that is up to 10% for ordering more than 1000 $.

For example a Classic Record Lp costs 42 euros in specialized italian high end shop that is more than 51 dollars, Acoustic Sound priced it at 30 dollars, plus 20% VAT at Italian custom and let's say 2 dollar of shipping and handling per Lp on a 1000 dollars order, minus 10% AS discount. The grand total is 35 dollars, less than 29 euros.

Less shippings but concentrated!!!