Gentlemen.
Tel”s example is quite shocking.
But I think I may of come up with a theory as to why us here in the states charge so much for overseas buyers.
I sell a lot of my own designed tooling on Ebay and I have a store where the stuff trickles out. I have on my listings no international shipping but Ebay being greedy still show my listings abroad, now most people do not fully read the listing of the item they are interested in and since there is no shipping rates on my listings they people from abroad email me for shipping costs. Now maybe the sellers response Is and I guess, think of a price multiply it by three and respond to the email with the charges.
The reason for doing this is to send an item overseas you need to go down to the post office to fill out a custom form ( this includes Canada ) and some African nations have there own special documentation, usually the forms are 4 - 5 pages long and written in a language only an English professor can decipher, because of 911 the Homeland Security service demands answers to certain questions and if answered wrong you are held liable for any mistakes with prison terms up to 10 years Federal. Also the package sizes are scrutinized for silly sizes and weights and if you are off an inch / oz. the price could double.
I use the USPS website for pricing and let me tell you when you enter in your details and it gives you an answer on the price and you go to the post office to send it they never match and usually its not in your favor. Then you can purchase the shipping documents and postage charges on line, fill in the info and pay the charge, only to find when the post office receives it and gets processed gets rejected your in the do-do.
Its not only the post office, This is a real example of what happened to me!. I had a 6 ton Chain hoist lever type for sale on Ebay, I listed the item and in the listing I stated no international buyers and sold only to the lower 48. ( lower 48 means no Hawaii and Alaska ) reason ( we here on the mainland consider these states out of the country and even though they are the United States shipping items over that distance is not the same as to send a card from Here in Maryland to lets say Pennsylvania.)
Now a guy in Alaska wanted a price for shipping the item there, ok! I thought I would give it a shot, I phoned (UPS. A private company) Not ( USPS. Federal service.) I told them the weight 87Lbs and size of the crate, Price was $97.00 7 day delivery. Which I thought was quite reasonable. I quoted the guy and he bought the item, money in Pay pall everything was Hunky-dory right?. The next day I crated the hoist and took it to the UPS depot struggled in the store the guy put in on the scale and started to do the paperwork then said “ that will be $210.00 “ What!!!!!!! You quoted me $97.00 what gives? He then explained that since the item was on a wood crate and could not be transported on a conveyor belt and a guy would have to personally handle the item from depot to depot to airplane and the like, the charges were what they were, his quote was for that item to be in a box so the conveyor would be doing all the work ( he never told me this over the phone.) Well I re-packaged it went back and was charged the $87.00. P I T A.
So really what I am saying here even small items being sold abroad is just a hassle, its designed that way. But let me say this!. I know Europe ( lived there 27 years) and I know the States ( Been here 20 years) There is a saying here “ Nickel and Dime you to death” Listen they do!. Hidden charges, small details in print unseen, making a simple process outrageously difficult, selling lost leaders only to rape you somewhere else, suing lawyers with huge bank accounts and in need of the work. Example: my phone bill is 5 pages long and illegible and I am on a fixed price per month. The Americans are masters at selling and deceiving rolled into one. ( Good example was the Bank / Lending crisis ) I went back to England this year and noticed such behavior is happening there now, and this style of business is going global.
One more thing to consider and to put in an example would be this, England is one of the highest taxed Nations on earth last time I worked there my pay was taxed to around 52% ( this included National insurance stamp which = there health care ) then you get clobbered with a 17% VAT Tax when your money hit’s the streets, Thank you Maggie!. Do the math and you are left with little.
Now here in the States My income taxes run around 30% on a $1000,000 income not bad uh? Now I have to pay my State tax = 11% on my gross income annually, then there is my state sales tax ( everything purchased inside this state ) which is 6%, then there is my property taxes at around 16% based on my property value which is set by the state not the market, then I pay around 18% of my gross income for a private health care program, the list goes on people.
Hope this helps to understand some things and the way they work here in the states. Things seem cheaper example $2.56 a gallon of gas ( petrol ) then you get stupidly highly inflated costs to send things abroad, don’t make sense uh? Its designed that way. My conclusion is which ever way you slice the cake the result is the same and that goes for Europe and Australia
Sorry to drone on so long. Anthony
