Ebay woes: International shipping

[SingleStrk]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd ask for your advice on this matter. I bought a bass drum on eBay from a guy in California. I am in Finland, Europe. I paid for the drum over a month ago. I have been waiting for the drum to arrive for a while now and it just turned out that this guy has not even shipped the drum yet.

The drum is 22"x16" and the problem seems to be that it is too big for airmail parcel post. He said he has contacted UPS and Fedex and they would be too expensive. The last thing he tried was Bax Global and it took two weeks for him to find out that they only ship for companies. I have paid $185 for the shipping and I think this guy wants to do it as cheap as possible and keep the rest.

Is there a resonable way to settle this? Are there any shipping options that could work if the size really is an issue? Or should I just cancel the payment and start looking for a new drum? On the other hand, this is just the kind of drum I have been looking for and I would like to have it. I'm starting to worry that this is a scam...

[starclassic123]

hi!

in general shipping to europe is very expensive. a friend of mine has bought a gretsch kit for the states and he paid 500 $ for the shipping.

the next problem is the declaration (custom duty) in austria we have to pay 23% taxes and duties on musical instruments.

just try to check the shipping cost on your own. try the homepages of dhl, ups, fedex and try to calculate the shipping costs.
and if you've found something that works send him a e-mail!

all the best

[SingleStrk]

Thanks for the reply.

I have already given him some options and I feel like I'm doing his work here. He is actually asking me to do that again. I am aware of the customs etc. They are about the same here in Finland.

Do you know what service your friend used? Did he get 22" bass drum with his kit? I find it hard to believe that it's impossible to ship this size.

[jimi]

I buy from ebay quite a bit, but things that are big, and/or heavy tend to end up not being a bargain. And like starclassic123 we can get charged about 20% on the marked shipping price from customs too. I normally explain this to the seller when i win an auction and most of the time they dont mind marking the parcel $40 or something like that to save me the cash.
Its not impossible to ship the bass drum, the seller just means it will cost more than you paid to ship it via fedex or UPS

[WecklsMechanic]

Hey Singlestroke....

I have a cousin in France that I sent some car parts to via U.S. mail. Pretty big box that I had to cut down to get under the maximum size so I could save some money. My cousin was going to get ripped off by this guy from Ebay if I didn't step in and help him. Email me the specifics and I can communicate with him for you if you'd like. Is the Bass Drum in a hard case, or does it just need to be packaged in a box??

Lemmie know.

[email protected]

John