Shipping from Europe to the States....

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Qckslvr

Qckslvr

Fiercely mediocre
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I am really starting to regret buying my Genius XR4.... But I am not sure if parts for a FG or a Mecatech would be any easier in this current climate.

When I first got my XR4 I had some parts from Genius that only Genius carried. I got those items from Italy in 2 days. I was pretty surprised to get them so fast. My second order was to a vendor in France. Three weeks later and they shipped my order, I get it, they had to order some items in.

It has now been a week, and the tracking number shows no movement. Another vendor I was planning to buy a 70's Ford 3000 body from says France has shut down all international postal services :(

With any luck I will see my order..... some day

-end rant
 
From what I understood from my recent purchase from Australia. Not all packages come on designated "cargo/postal " planes. Shipping packages relies on commercial flights to help packages along their way across vast distances. So if a commercial airline carrying passengers has room for a package in the country its starting from and ending in the destination country it will go on that plane "logistics" . Since Europe is locked down there's nothing in or out at the moment to lock down the virus
 
You can take solace in the fact that it's one bad ass car and prob outperforms any FG on American streets!... Besides it's like buying a fancy Ferrari or McLaren, when those need work they go on a plane back home until they're in shape to come back. The luxury of a European sports car, gotta love it!
 
In our current state of the world,to order anything outside of usa is risky at best. I've ordered from many countries and shipping used to be pretty good shockingly. I had orders canceled when the world shutdown. Id give plenty of time if you did order anything. As stated some countries are shutdown or headed that way. Only time will tell but I've stopped ordering out of country for now. Shoot even in country has become spotty,I'm missing a bunch of stuff that fell off the tracking radar. Good luck,hopefully it'll turn up sooner or later.?
 
I recently ordered a Hilantronics servo from RC Max in the UK, didn’t think it would show up till after the holidays. To my surprise it showed up in 3 days. I live in Canada and can’t quite comprehend how the shipping is faster than most of the stuff I order from the U.S. and this is the first time I have paid any duty. Having said that it was relatively negligible.

I purchased a new steel raw gas tank for my old Triumph Bonneville from the UK a couple years ago. It was roughly 350.00 Canadian dollars, no tax, no duty sorta blew my mind. In the long run it was cheaper than finding a used one after figuring in the cost of having it refinished and painted to match.

Other than eBay shipping which is complete piracy, but at least you know what you are going to pay I always get hit hard on duties and sometimes even brokerage fees from the States. Makes me shake my head and makes something’s cost prohibitive. I refuse to pay more for shipping than the product is worth!
 
Shipping from a different country is a shite show sometimes. Each country has it's own import rules, and regulations. The guy I deal with up in canada for my saw parts can sell me parts all year long, shipping is slow once it hits state side, but I typically don't have to pay tariffs unless I hit a certain money value number. (Which from what I understand is cumulative for the colander year.) He can sell me complete saws, but I get wailed on tariffs, amd fees. Great guy to deal with, but I decided it wasnt worth getting a complete product because of the bull associated with it. There arw also deals some countries broker between each other as to what kind of products can get import or export duties on them. All of this is typically on a business level, but you need to remember in most countries eyes, the common person is the importer when recieving goods from another country, and is responsible for any, and all tariffs, taxes, and duties that are applicable for the product crossing the border. Then you have customs to deal with. They can be a pain at times to deal with. Couple all of this with the "pandemic" stalling shipping to snail speeds and you have the perfect storm of shite to deal with. Heck I can get stuff from china faster and cheaper then canada, and canada is literally right above the state I live in.
 
@Seandonato73 I know what you mean and it makes no sense. I’m 20 minutes from the U.S. border. I typically use a U.S. post office box, but thanks to the “Rona” we can’t cross. If I pick stuff on the U.S. and cross myself I usually don’t get dinged if the value is within reason.

The bonus is if you do it that way there is never a brokerage fee.
 
Screw them, make them work for it! Stuff that chit under the seats and don't give them a dime if you can! You guys really get the short end of the stick up there. IDK who or why this is a reality for you guys. There could be soo much more trade between us if you guys didn't have to pay so damn much for everything.
 
@ MonsterAir, I see your local. Use the Peace Bridge, officers @ Rainbow Bridge are pricks they freakin pull me over every time.
Plus we are paying ~ 1.5 times on the dollar.
Sorry Monster air I thought you were Grand Island, not Long Island. Definitely not local, my bad.
 
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I'm local enough lol. I have fam up in Rochester that cross over now and then. So good info to know! Fookin boarder cops had a dog jump on my truck and scrtch the chit outta it. Had a few stems in an ashtray and it was either get arrested or not push the issue. Wasn't even at the boarder!!!!
 
MonsterAir said:
Anything under $800 should be no fees for us Americans. That's at least how it is when dealing with China.
Click to expand...
It depends on the type of goods, purchase price, and quantity. As far as I know there is also no fixed rate to assign a tariff. It more or less left up to the customs agent. I don't do it much anymore as shipping is a giant cluster, but I got charged the same rate for a locked up parts saw, as a running used saw. All thing being the same, the parts saw was much less valuable, but got similarly taxed. I believe this is because it was still together. Where the smaller parts I've got don't count toward that same class of goods. It's a nightmare to try to understand how it all works.
 
Ok well this is how it works. The customs agents look up value to your goods and even if it's not brand new they will charge you based off MSRP. They have complete control over your packages, these agents. If they are busy they let you slide, if not then they will look up value but that's how it's done. I had a decent wholesale vape biz before vapegate hit. Literally a full UPS truck twice a week. When I first started we'd label the boxes 'metal tubes'. These guys had no idea where or what they really were so I got passes on fees but as it became mainstream they started finding the products and charging me accordingly.
 
Here’s one I sorta forgot, bought a pretty high end radar detector in Michigan a long time ago. They are illegal in Ontario but because the border is federal and not provincial there’s nothing they can do about it. Had it for years and kept the receipt in the glove box of my truck with no issues.

One day I was crossing back over to Canada an agent had a little hard on for me, I had declared what I had purchased, only about 40 bucks worth ( 20 years ago). Frustrated they couldn’t find anything in my truck the lady points at my radar detector In the glove compartment and says where did you buy that. I said Michigan and produce the receipt which is about 4 years old. She asked if I paid duty on it to which I reply I was over for 4 days and it was within my exemption limit. She then proceeds to write me up and make me pay tax and duty on it.

Man I was steaming by the time I got out of there!
 
That just plain sucks. There is no winning when the government wants a piece of you. It's just wrong in every way. In your case it came down to a doooch that wanted to cause a bad day for a stranger, that's all. Just think how many people get shafted worse for really no good reason. 50k says these same people will cover each others backs when they make runs across, again just wrong in every way.
 
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