Buying from the States/Facebook

Robstyley

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I've only dipped my toe in the world of SW facebook and have bought a few things but I have found myself browsing a bit more lately. It's clearly the biggest marketplace now and I've seen from the Empire and Jedi groups which are U.S based there's more good stuff comes up that I'd like that I just don't see as much over here. And prices (of the items) seem to be often better too. I'm trying to get more variety in my collection and venture into Empire Mocs and it looks like I may have to go further afield to find what I'm after and look accross the pond. I know some of you guys are far more involved in the hobby than I am and buy from all over the world. I'm curious as to peoples thoughts on buying from the States. Is it really worth the cost of postage and import fees etc? What are your experiences, what extra do you pay? Have you found things you've never found over here at an overall price you can live with? It was partly Marks Tie Bomber purchase that got me pondering.
 

coomber75

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great question mate as I was thinking exactly the same us sales I havent got a clue re customs etc
 

MarkG

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We have a lovely chap here called Iain... he lives in the US and will more than likely take delivery for you and send it over to another great chap called Neil...who will then post it to you. Minimal postage and no fees
.. worth a friendly ask. :D
 

edd_jedi

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The key to having a great collection is to look everywhere. Facebook, forums, eBay, live events, antiques shops, and as you say all around the world. I reckon about a third of my collection has come from the USA, you quite simply just have to work out if the postage and import fees make it financially viable. Factor in 33% on top of the sale price, and ask yourself if that would make it cheaper in the UK. Of course you can try and avoid the customs charges, but that is obviously risky and not above board either so I would not recommend it for high value items.

There is no rule really for good prices, I see crazy prices for Kenner stuff in some of the US groups, and I've seen some real good deals too. The same as eBay or anywhere else.
 

theforceuk

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I agree you have to search everywhere, but if like me and your collecting MOCs from a huge pool of options then I don't think you really need to buy much from America. It's changed a lot in the last year with £ sliding against the dollar so much the deals just aren't as easy to find anymore. I've still never brought anything from Facebook, think that will change soon, it's becoming harder and harder to get stuff from eBay.
 

Mini99

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I do tend to be buying more and more from FB now (Jabba's manly), still scour eBay for bargains, and they can be found still, just takes more luck than judgement these days, look at Subzero's Boba Fett MOC fir £175.00 :shock:
I have not bought from the US this time around, but did in the past and always got stung for import charges, which made the item often close to UK prices.
Another thing is that the pound/dollar exchange rate is so poor, and I have always had the thought about what if it arrives damaged, which I have had with some UK sales, it must be easier to deal with a UK return than a US?
I've read of guys asking Lian to help, never felt comfortable as I didn't know him well enough, even though I have bought a few bits and pieces from him, but is food for thought.
As Edd said, look everywhere.
Hope that helps?
 

subzero

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Iv'e bought the odd collectable here and there from the US in the past and have found one thing, if I buy on ebay.com and the item is being sold via the 'ebay global shipping program', then the customs charge ( which is automatically taken by ebay when you purchase it ) is a lot cheaper compared to the seller sending it through the normal post system via a post office. Funnily enough iv'e just bought a vintage WWF MOC figure on ebay.com this morning and the import cost through the global shipping program was only something like £15, yet if it wasn't sent through the global shipping program then Royal Mail / Parcel Force would have got hold of it and slapped on something like a £12 handling fee alone without the VAT. So I always try to buy from sellers using the ebay shipping program.

I also recently bought a Jedi Luke MOC which came up to about £240 total which included the shipping and import cost, then a week later the exact same one sold in the UK for £390 lol. Some might say that was overpriced but I still won buying mine from the US because I wouldn't have been able to bid on the UK one.
 

Snaketibe

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subzero said:
Iv'e bought the odd collectable here and there from the US in the past and have found one thing, if I buy on ebay.com and the item is being sold via the 'ebay global shipping program', then the customs charge ( which is automatically taken by ebay when you purchase it ) is a lot cheaper compared to the seller sending it through the normal post system via a post office. Funnily enough iv'e just bought a vintage WWF MOC figure on ebay.com this morning and the import cost through the global shipping program was only something like £15, yet if it wasn't sent through the global shipping program then Royal Mail / Parcel Force would have got hold of it and slapped on something like a £12 handling fee alone without the VAT. So I always try to buy from sellers using the ebay shipping program.

I also recently bought a Jedi Luke MOC which came up to about £240 total which included the shipping and import cost, then a week later the exact same one sold in the UK for £390 lol. Some might say that was overpriced but I still won buying mine from the US because I wouldn't have been able to bid on the UK one.
As someone who buys from the US on eBay all the time, yes, I completely agree that the customs charges are usually less with the Global Shipping Program since the Royal Mail can't add on their 'money for doing nothing' fee. The downside however is that the ordinary postage charge from the US to the UK is (in my experience), usually much higher than if the seller doesn't use the Global Shipping Program. As with all these things, and as said above, you need to work out the total cost to you before making the purchase and decide if it is acceptable to you.
 

subzero

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Snaketibe said:
The downside however is that the ordinary postage charge from the US to the UK is (in my experience), usually much higher than if the seller doesn't use the Global Shipping Program. As with all these things, and as said above, you need to work out the total cost to you before making the purchase and decide if it is acceptable to you.

That's true too, I have been lucky though with all my figure sales from the US so far as iv'e happened to find ones where the shipping has only cost around £15, like the WWF figure I ordered this morning was £15 shipping too. But yes like you say most / nearly all of them do have high shipping cost.

Also another cheeky way around the VAT is to ask the seller if they can ship the item as a gift and mark the value under $20, 90% of sellers won't do it for obvious reasons but you can get lucky and get a surprising "yes" from the seller, usually when they just want to get the sale for an item that's taking a while to sell. I bought a He-Man MOC figure this year for £430 with shipping and paid zero import 8)
 

edd_jedi

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Yep the GSP gets a lot of stick, but at least it's transparent and a lot quicker than Royal Mail (that's what pisses me off most about RM customs charges, not only do they sting you for about 25% extra, it also holds the package up for at least a week longer so you have to wait longer to pay more!)
 

Robstyley

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Some good info there chaps, thanks. I think it could be the case for me that if the price is good, if it's of reasonably high value, if the postage + charges are half sensible and it's something I really do want quite a lot then it will be worth it, every now and then. I know that's a lot of ifs but as people have said you need to weigh it all up and then decide if it's viable. It's prob not going to be worth buying something for a small amount only to find it'll be the same again to send it! I might give it a go with a Moc just to see how it goes.
 

Mini99

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Robstyley said:
Some good info there chaps, thanks. I think it could be the case for me that if the price is good, if it's of reasonably high value, if the postage + charges are half sensible and it's something I really do want quite a lot then it will be worth it, every now and then. I know that's a lot of ifs but as people have said you need to weigh it all up and then decide if it's viable. It's prob not going to be worth buying something for a small amount only to find it'll be the same again to send it! I might give it a go with a Moc just to see how it goes.

Sounds about right to me, good luck and enjoy what ever you chose to do.
 

theforceuk

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A good tip with expensive items in America is getting the seller to send the item to AFA for you, get it graded and pay no custom charges what so ever. :)
 

Mini99

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theforceuk said:
A good tip with expensive items in America is getting the seller to send the item to AFA for you, get it graded and pay no custom charges what so ever. :)

Now that's a clever idea!
 

peekaygee73

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subzero said:
Also another cheeky way around the VAT is to ask the seller if they can ship the item as a gift and mark the value under $20, 90% of sellers won't do it for obvious reasons but you can get lucky and get a surprising "yes" from the seller, usually when they just want to get the sale for an item that's taking a while to sell. I bought a He-Man MOC figure this year for £430 with shipping and paid zero import 8)
Risky though; if it's sent as gift you're not covered should your item disappear in the post. When you're talking about a 5% customs charge (and I know it involves a lot of red tape to claim back as they usually charge 20%) it's worth paying for the peace of mind on an expensive item.
 

subzero

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peekaygee73 said:
subzero said:
Also another cheeky way around the VAT is to ask the seller if they can ship the item as a gift and mark the value under $20, 90% of sellers won't do it for obvious reasons but you can get lucky and get a surprising "yes" from the seller, usually when they just want to get the sale for an item that's taking a while to sell. I bought a He-Man MOC figure this year for £430 with shipping and paid zero import 8)
Risky though; if it's sent as gift you're not covered should your item disappear in the post. When you're talking about a 5% customs charge (and I know it involves a lot of red tape to claim back as they usually charge 20%) it's worth paying for the peace of mind on an expensive item.

Isn't that more of a risk on the seller's part?.. I always assumed it would only affect the parcel sender if it went missing?

Because on ebay you can buy anything from the states and not have any control over how the seller ships it, so wouldn't ebay protect the purchase anyway for the buyer?, because it's down to the sender to make claims for their missing parcels.
 

Snaketibe

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subzero said:
peekaygee73 said:
subzero said:
Also another cheeky way around the VAT is to ask the seller if they can ship the item as a gift and mark the value under $20, 90% of sellers won't do it for obvious reasons but you can get lucky and get a surprising "yes" from the seller, usually when they just want to get the sale for an item that's taking a while to sell. I bought a He-Man MOC figure this year for £430 with shipping and paid zero import 8)
Risky though; if it's sent as gift you're not covered should your item disappear in the post. When you're talking about a 5% customs charge (and I know it involves a lot of red tape to claim back as they usually charge 20%) it's worth paying for the peace of mind on an expensive item.

Isn't that more of a risk on the seller's part?.. I always assumed it would only affect the parcel sender if it went missing?

Because on ebay you can buy anything from the states and not have any control over how the seller ships it, so wouldn't ebay protect the purchase anyway for the buyer?, because it's down to the sender to make claims for their missing parcels.
That is quite true. If your eBay item does not arrive, you will get your money back regardless of how it was posted. However, if your item does go missing, it's still a pain to not only have to claim your money back, but also not to have the nice and pretty thing you had your heart set on receiving :).

Having said that, it's very true that the buyer has no control at all over how the seller chooses to send your delivery. I once bought a loose Takara Vader from Canada. It certainly wasn't cheap, and I certainly did not request that the seller send it as a gift, but because the package would be small, and because it was travelling from Canada to the UK, the seller simply decided (and told me as much too!) that he was happy to mark it as a gift, and it duly arrived tax-free! :D
 

subzero

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Snaketibe said:
subzero said:
peekaygee73 said:
Risky though; if it's sent as gift you're not covered should your item disappear in the post. When you're talking about a 5% customs charge (and I know it involves a lot of red tape to claim back as they usually charge 20%) it's worth paying for the peace of mind on an expensive item.

Isn't that more of a risk on the seller's part?.. I always assumed it would only affect the parcel sender if it went missing?

Because on ebay you can buy anything from the states and not have any control over how the seller ships it, so wouldn't ebay protect the purchase anyway for the buyer?, because it's down to the sender to make claims for their missing parcels.
That is quite true. If your eBay item does not arrive, you will get your money back regardless of how it was posted. However, if your item does go missing, it's still a pain to not only have to claim your money back, but also not to have the nice and pretty thing you had your heart set on receiving :).

Having said that, it's very true that the buyer has no control at all over how the seller chooses to send your delivery. I once bought a loose Takara Vader from Canada. It certainly wasn't cheap, and I certainly did not request that the seller send it as a gift, but because the package would be small, and because it was travelling from Canada to the UK, the seller simply decided (and told me as much too!) that he was happy to mark it as a gift, and it duly arrived tax-free! :D

Only thing is though having it insured for the full value doesn't stop it from going walkies :wink:

Can't beat a bit of good old fashioned tax evasion lol, same thing happened with me with my He-Man figure which I didn't request to have it sent by gift, I sent an offer which was low because I was factoring in how much i'd have to pay with import and told the seller that's why I offered low, so he replied and said he'd send it as a gift for me if I put a $100 higher bid in, win/win situation! 8)
 

wrighty

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I have to agree that internet and FB have made the collecting world much smaller. I buy from US all the time, fortunately enough I have a good friend that take delivery in the US and every few months forward me a big parcel. You will see that some US sale postage is included within US and same with eBay, the only down side is you have to wait months for an item to arrive, for me its not a problem. Also Oz have a $1000 limit on items before you get tax. Good luck with your search around the world!! :D
 

TheJabbaWookie

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Do any of you sell to Europe and the rest of the world, and if so how do you find it works?

I've avoided selling there so far on eBay because you hear of so many stories of negative feedback for postage costs set by the global shipping programme or issues with customs. However, I've just sold my first item overseas on Jabba's Palace.

I assume that like in this country it is the buyer who would need to pay for any customs tax their end, so do you advise the buyer that they will need to factor in any customs tax before purchase, and does the tax applied differ from country to country? Would you advise using the global shipping programme or just posting through Royal Mail (and which is the most cost effective?)
 
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