Grrrrrrr!

[Osi Osgood]

Ok, first, a well deserved praise!

Many kudo's to the film seller who goes by the name of BARRY ATTWOOD, for his very nice scope copy of "Swashbuckler" which I just bought from him! He even paid the shipping on it as a favor to me! Many kudo's for his generosity!

Now, the "GRRRR!"

I know that i have mentioned this a number of times, but ...

It cost Barry 6 pounds and 80 pence to mail this nice and full 400ft reel to me, from the UK ...

So, folks, please tell me ...

Why, on ebay, film sellers are charging 18 POUNDS to ship to the U.S. for 200ft cartoons or even a 400ft reel?

sincerely, if there is aa very good reason, I would like to know. I have been really scared off of many an auction for things i would have really liked to have, and the items being bargains, but those excessively high shipping charges have kept me away and I am betting that those who have these (in my opinion, and it's only my opinion) rediculously high shipping chanrges are just shooting themselves in the foot as, just like me, I'm betting that they are loosing out on a lot of things selling.

So, the floor is open, what is the justification for charging 10 pounds for a 400ft that will cost 6 pounds 80 pence to ship?

I can't help but believe that SOMEONE out there, (not necessarily the seller) is making a rediculous profit off of these excessive shipping amounts!

OSI

[Trevor Adams]

So true.I was tempted to bid on an old gun brochure(size of a glossy A4 sheet)..until I saw the auction site postage from the USA to NZ was $US154!!!!!!!!

[Osi Osgood]

So surprised that people haven't commented on this post. Could it possibly be, that UK sellers are very comfortable charging excessive amounts of money? (or, is this just a problem with ebay and it's shipping program?)

[Dave Groves]

It isn't only a one way problem. I paid $86 for two trailers from the states last year with highly inflated shipping costs. The problem is that everything is a one off and you either pay what's demanded or someone else will. I suspect some folk just don't play the game fairly.

[Melvin England]

Osi…… Apart from the odd money grabbers that exist in any community, I think it would be fairer to lay the blame on the Ebay UK GSP overseas postage service. Some of the charges they make to, for example, you guys in the States is just staggering.
I have an ongoing issue at the moment where someone in the States has bought a UK dvd via this system and is now complaining that it doesn't work on their machine (can't think why !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). They will be in for a shock if they try to recover the postage charges from Ebay. The words "blood" and "stone" come to mind.

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

The few times I have bought UK dvd's on eBay, the seller either in the listing or by email notified me that it would not play on a domestic player unless it was modified for all regions, so I would no what I was getting before it shipped. As I have an all region Bluray/dvd player, it was not an issue.

[Terry Sills]

I have a 400' film 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ' on eBay at the moment and shipping is through the EBay GSP. It has a bid from the U.S and Shipping is quoted as a ridiculous £34.90. I have tried to warn the bidder of this but no response yet. I would happily cancel the transaction if they requested. I'm hoping they don't win! The film has only been bid up to £15 but the Shipping cost makes it a crazy total. I wonder how EBay calculate this cost?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333503678729

[Trevor Adams]

Hi Terry.46 pounds postage to NZ plus 15 pounds 'service' charge.Money not going to you-going to the auction site.The winner will get a pleasant surprise when you let him/her know the real handling cost!Trev

[Osi Osgood]

So, when do we, as sellers, finally catch up to the truth that we would sell more films if we simply will go down to the post, ship it ourselves, save the buyer a "butt load" of money (I actually found out that this is actually a kind of measurement and not just something funny) and sell a lot more stuff?!

Obviously, sellers would sell MORE stuff. I mean, isn't that what we want to do?

Now, granted, there are those who are, for instance, disabled in some way, shape or form, and so, having the film picked up at they're house, for instance, is the only way to get something shipped out, (see, I'm sensitive), but i would be willing to bet that it's mostly down to laziness on the part of most sellers.

[Terry Sills]

Osi - it maybe construed as laziness, but for me it's more like 'peace of mind'. What I mean is that I much prefer to sell to U.K. Only, but of course if I sell worldwide I reach a much larger market. By selling through the GSP I don't have to worry about import/custom charges or filling in extra customs forms, that's all taken care of. In fact it seems that eBay avoid any custom charges. More important for me is that I don't have to worry about the item going missing in transit - that's the responsibility of eBay. However, when I'm selling an item for £15 and EBay are charging nearly £35 for shipping I think it's only fair to warn a potential buyer, even though they can easily see for themselves by changing the destination on the listing.
Luckily the purchaser of my film ( a U.S. resident) wanted the film posted to a U.K. adress, but was appreciative of my warning - so a happy ending!

[Osi Osgood]

I've actually heard of a few U.S. seller that have done that, asked a fellow UK film collector to either locally collect the film from a seller in person (by permission of the seller, of course), or have it shipped to them and then, that person ships it for a lot less to the U.S. Even with the wait to get it, and the post to the UK address, it still ends up being less, at times, then that ebay program.