Melodeon.net Forums

Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: John MacKenzie (Cugiok) on December 02, 2015, 01:10:16 PM

Title: Buying from Germany
Post by: John MacKenzie (Cugiok) on December 02, 2015, 01:10:16 PM
What have other Melnetters done, where there is an item on German EBay, with the endorsement, won't ship to Great Britain?

John
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Helena Handcart on December 02, 2015, 01:12:18 PM
Sometimes if you contact the seller directly and ask nicely (with the help of Google translate) they will change their minds - that's how I got my lovely Liliput.
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Theo on December 02, 2015, 02:01:58 PM
Same here.

Admin
Moving this to general discussion as its not an item for sale.
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Graham Spencer on December 02, 2015, 02:32:26 PM
That tactic has certainly worked for me buying on UK eBay when shipping to Cyprus has not been a listed option; usually a friendly enquiry results in an all-round satisfactory outcome.

Graham
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Sandy Flett on December 02, 2015, 02:35:35 PM
Sometimes if you contact the seller directly and ask nicely (with the help of Google translate) they will change their minds - that's how I got my lovely Liliput.

I did exactly that the other day and from one seller got a price for delivery to UK and a concession that I could use PayPal, and a second seller conceded to UK delivery (but not PayPal). Interestingly, the postage prices on the box I was looking at ranged from 11-24 euros which is something to take into account when deciding on your maximum bid.
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: benammiswift on December 02, 2015, 07:39:18 PM
I just asked if the seller would ship to the UK.
He did and gave me a price for the postage afterwards.

I usually bid in euros even through the UK ebay

Benammi
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Broadland Boy on December 03, 2015, 12:01:36 AM
Similar experience here John on happily agreeing to ship to UK if asked, although not all sellers (wider items than just melodeons) have agreed to accept Paypal as well (there appear to be variations to 'normal' ebay practice in Germany !) there have been other threads discussing alternative payment methods more economic than bank transfers.

NB I don't entirely trust Google translate and always paste the English text into a message as well as the translation, just in case, embarrasingly all bar one German vendor contacted so far have had excellent command of English - far in advance of my lamentable German  :|bl sods law, the exception was when I was looking for an expensive, oddball, turbo core for the car, pleased to say Google didn't let me down  ;D

Oooops, had meant to say 'steer clear of ebay.de, its a minefield, especially for Preciosa's or Liliputs, bound to loose your shirt'  ;)

Richard
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Rog on December 05, 2015, 12:40:00 AM
A lot of German sellers won't accept PayPal (which I completely understand - PayPal is iniquitous) and will only accept a bank transfer. I've used a service called Transferwise, which works very well and is a fraction of the cost of doing it via your bank. I'm sure there are other similar services out there too.
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: John MacKenzie (Cugiok) on December 05, 2015, 10:11:09 AM
I did message the seller, and he was willing to ship to UK. The box went for £72.81, but I didn't bid. I just can't buy any more boxes, until I get rid of some :(
Pity though.


John
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Rog on December 05, 2015, 07:04:28 PM
And what was this box that went for £71?
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: John MacKenzie (Cugiok) on December 05, 2015, 08:00:39 PM
A Lilliput


John
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: george garside on December 06, 2015, 11:27:16 AM
I bought a liliput from Germany 12 months ago & paid by paypal . The box is great aand a small box of chocolates was included as a thankyou for buying it!

george
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Prestidigitator on December 06, 2015, 05:34:21 PM
I've bought several boxes from Germany over the years, without problems. The sellers have always been straight, helpful and polite.

Where they want to be paid by transfer,rather than Paypal, I've used one or two of the reputable independent services, where the cost is minimal.UK banks will trim you out to the tune of at least £10 plus pocketable exchange rate differences.

The other notable thing is that it costs not a lot to have something sent by tracked DHL, which arrives on time. Try sending something from the UK by the same service, and magically it's twice as difficult and four times the cost. I think it's called "Ripoff Britain".
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Theo on December 06, 2015, 06:16:24 PM
Deliveries from uk to Germany by UPS booked through Interparcel.com are only marginally more expensive than DHL deliveries in the opposite direction.
Title: Re: Buying from Germany
Post by: Helena Handcart on December 06, 2015, 11:09:14 PM
Deliveries from uk to Germany by UPS booked through Interparcel.com are only marginally more expensive than DHL deliveries in the opposite direction.

I've had similar experiences with Parcel Monkey -very reasonable rates not only to mainland Europe but further afield, notably when I sold an A/D Erica to Gary Chapin of this parish and got a very reasonable rate to the States, including insurance. You just need to shop around.
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal