Stupid Boy!

[bulleidboy]

That's me. I bought a sheet of V-grooved plastic sheet today - good price etc. After I'd done the transaction - which I did very quickly - I noted that it wouldn't arrive until the middle of January. Suddenly noticed that it was coming from Rockford, Illinois., USA.
As I said - "Stupid Boy"

[Walkingthedog]

Sonething to look forward to Barry.

[IanS]

I've done similar in the past, only it's usually from China. So you're not the only 'stupid boy' on here!

[Steve M]

We’ve all done it. But it’s most frustrating when you deliberately search out an item in eBay that advertises ‘UK dispatch’ only to find that they lied and it’s going to take three months on a slow boat from China.

Sometimes it pays to shop abroad (while we still can) - I regularly buy car parts from German or Belgian suppliers as they are much cheaper than the stuff UK based suppliers provide with no loss of quality. You do have to be careful with postage costs - earlier this week I was looking for a particular flexible tube to lengthen a mount for a camera. Available in the UK at a price but I was able to find a supplier in the USA. A five foot length of the tube was only $44 but they want another $90 postage!!! It would probably have attracted an additional import tax as well - if only we had a ‘free trade deal’.

[Tricky Dicky]

- if only we had a ‘free trade deal’.

It still would not get you out of paying customs duty, it just means that tariffs would not apply.

Richard

[GeoffAlan2]

Yup! Did it the other day. I bought a loco on ebay, paid, then got the order details. ETA mid-January. It's coming from Japan!
I know I searched for the loco UK only.

[IanS]

We’ve all done it. But it’s most frustrating when you deliberately search out an item in eBay that advertises ‘UK dispatch’ only to find that they lied and it’s going to take three months on a slow boat from China.

Sometimes it pays to shop abroad (while we still can) - I regularly buy car parts from German or Belgian suppliers as they are much cheaper than the stuff UK based suppliers provide with no loss of quality. You do have to be careful with postage costs - earlier this week I was looking for a particular flexible tube to lengthen a mount for a camera. Available in the UK at a price but I was able to find a supplier in the USA. A five foot length of the tube was only $44 but they want another $90 postage!!! It would probably have attracted an additional import tax as well - if only we had a ‘free trade deal’.

Apparently postage charges have gone through the roof for international postage from the US to the rest of the world. I was watching a YouTuber who sells sweatshirts etc and he's stop selling outside the US & Canada for the time being because of the changes to the system, custom and Covid19 checks required.

[RAF96]

I just looked at an encoder from Farnell. It is available from stock at their Canadian source, but on the UK site it says it will come from USA with a one-time charge per order, which in this case was five times the unit price being supplied.

I looked on Mouser UK and they have them in stock for less money and free postage.

Guess who my order went to.