Ebay UK

[Akat]

I live in the US and like to check ebay uk for bike stuff and have bought a few things. However, lately it has become an exercise in frustration as so many of the sellers will not ship to the US. Does anyone know the reason for this? A lot of times I would have paid more than the final bid but they won't ship it to me. The US was a large market for the UK bike industry, now no one wants to ship parts to us.

[murdo]

That's funny 
I'm in Australia and a lot of US sellers will not ship to here, or want to charge ten times the normal rate for the trouble. 

[mark2]

we cannot insure post to the USA , so if you say it did not arrive Paypal refund , so no more post to the USA

[mini-me]

There is some US legislation passed in the last few years that has also buggered it up. Sort of thing if you bought a gasket set from a supplier here and you fell off your  bike and died your relatives can sue the supplier, even  if you fell off your bike because you rode it over a cliff.

Ok thats an absurd summary of it, but also the reason why such clubs as the AMC club with an excellent spares scheme wil not send to the USA, blame your legislators not us; conversely we can buy from the USA trouble free apart from the customs hit and miss.

The paypal not arrived scam is also a big problem over there, and in places like Italy also.

Its sad because I regularly buy books from the USA which get here no problem, and even an oil painting which got here in 3 days.
The stuff which gets  "lost in the post" over there is legendary here among ebay sellers, I once had  a hell of a ruck with some woman over a book which she said didn't arrive, it did it was signed for,  she'd also could not comprehend that England was 3000 miles away over an ocean.

[Akat]

Some listings say ships worldwide, customs services and international tracking provided.  I bought a complete engine and within 10 days it was at my door.  The seller did not charge any extra fees so I assume if there were any they were included in the shipping cost.  It is just so rare to find someone that will ship to the US but it must not be a big deal as the seller that I bought it from stated that worldwide shipping, including the US was available. It was shipped through Parcel force with a tracking number. From Parcel Force it was transferred to the USPS and I signed for it when it arrived. No muss, no fuss, no bother.

[Rex]

Some people have a bad experience and won't do it again.
In the early days of Ebay I listed a piece of chrome tank trim with a UK postage charge of £4. Someone from Alaska of all places bought it but didn't answer any Ebay contact requests. Luckily the shipping charge of this little piece was under £4. Problem was (for him) it was surface mail, and took weeks to get there, and yet he left me bad feedback as a slow sender.
Some Americans don't quite get just how big the World is outside their own borders...

[R]

it was surface mail, and took weeks to get there,

Weeks ?
I bought something from Canada, and the postal blurb mentioned it could take up to 90 days for delivery.
90 days was approaching, and I was about ready to call out the Mounties.
Right on cue, it arrived on about the 90th day. I'm sure they'd had it sitting there waiting ... ?
Or maybe it came via the trans polar route, and they'd met some ice ?

Alas, surface mail is no more, for many destinations.
Its all expensive airmail - or no other choice.

[mini-me]

Canadian postal service is notoriously slow and expensive.