I never had any trouble buying from ebay france or chambrier/macadem deux roues or the otehr one I can't remember, and still occasionally use one or other for parts like vintage handlebar rubbers.
Several problems here, sending large parcels from france is a real hassle for the sender, the french post has several price ranges, and post offices over there seem to be miserable gits who set their own prices according to whim, system is set in the napoleon era,and often post office staff don't understand it.
However once inthe system it always got here, surprisingly fast some times.
Sellers in france don't like using paypal, especially private sellers, and unlike here they are not forced to offer it on ebay.
finally, people here who buy french bikes fail to comprehend that there is not the supply of vintage stuff /backup as there is here in UK, its all very thin on the ground so if its something scarce you cannot really blame them for exporting it.
An awful lot went to the austrian corporal for scrap, regardless. Its amazing just how anything escaped the melting pot.
It is pointless talking to french ebay sellers without speaking basic french, favourite these days is ...quand est le prochain canoë en Angleterre s'il vous plaît
