Classic-Castle.com

I recently bought a bricklink order from Germany and I'm being charged 10.75 shipping for an order with around 100 smallish pieces. Am I being ripped off here? It seems high to me.

I have had to pay $22+ on shipping from countries like Germany, Belgium, Denmark, etc. It all adds up with the supplies it takes to pack it, tax, extra costs, and insurance (if you choose to use that). Maybe with more feedback we can get a better estimate, since mine were a large lots of minifigures.

Chrisladd77 wrote

10.75 shipping for an order with around 100 smallish pieces

What kind of weight? The US has one of the cheapest postal rates anywhere. Canada is ridiculously expensive in comparison, small packet costs $5.95 Airmail to USA and $7.95 rest of world last time I sent anything

I have recieved small packages from Europe ranging from 6-20USD. Usually the parts I am getting are way more reasonable than US or Canadian stores so I end up with an overall better deal. YMMV.

Depends upon the postal services selected in most cases.

Troy T. Moore wrote:Chrisladd77 wrote

10.75 shipping for an order with around 100 smallish pieces

What kind of weight?

Usually the parts I am getting are way more reasonable than US or Canadian stores so I end up with an overall better deal. YMMV.

He claims I was in 100-500 grams range. Which put me into the higher price range.

The prices were very good, in retrospect I should have bought more to actually gain the value.


Basically I just dabbled into a couple things, this wasn't a mission based buy , just doing it for some fun pieces.



for the sake of completion here is my order:

Used] Black Bar 7 x 3 with Double Clips (x1) ..... $0.04 each = $0.04
[Used] Black Brick 1 x 1 x 5 (x2) ..... $0.02 each = $0.04
[Used] Black Brick 1 x 2 x 5 (x3) ..... $0.02 each = $0.06
[Used] Black Brick 1 x 6 (x4) ..... $0.02 each = $0.08
[Used] Black Brick 1 x 8 (x3) ..... $0.03 each = $0.09
[Used] Black Halberd (x1) ..... $0.13 each = $0.13
[Used] Black Hat, Farmer's Cowl, Hood (x1) ..... $0.43 each = $0.43
[Used] Black Lance (x1) ..... $0.04 each = $0.04
[Used] Black Pike / Spear (x6) ..... $0.05 each = $0.30
[Used] Black Space Gun / Torch (x1) ..... $0.03 each = $0.03
[Used] Black Sword, Katana (x1) ..... $0.15 each = $0.15
[Used] Blue Cape Plastic (x1) ..... $0.10 each = $0.10
[Used] Blue Torso Pirate - Open Jacket over Striped Vest Pattern / Blue Arms / Yellow Hands (x1) ..... $0.19 each = $0.19
[Used] Brown Backpack Non-Opening (x1) ..... $0.23 each = $0.23
[Used] Brown Bar 7 x 3 with Double Clips (x5) ..... $0.03 each = $0.15
[Used] Brown Bow with Arrow (x1) ..... $0.15 each = $0.15
[Used] Brown Container, Barrel 2 x 2 x 2 (x6) ..... $0.06 each = $0.36
[Used] Brown Gun, Pirate Flintlock Musket (x1) ..... $0.15 each = $0.15
[Used] Brown Lance (x4) ..... $0.04 each = $0.16
[Used] Brown Pike / Spear (x3) ..... $0.05 each = $0.15
[Used] Dark Gray Armor Breastplate with Leg Protection (x1) ..... $1.25 each = $1.25
[Used] Dark Gray Lance (x2) ..... $0.04 each = $0.08
[Used] Dark Gray Sword, Cutlass (x4) ..... $0.07 each = $0.28
[Used] Dark Gray Sword, Shortsword (x4) ..... $0.10 each = $0.40
[Used] Green Hat, Forestmen's (x1) ..... $1.10 each = $1.10
[Used] Light Gray Axe (x1) ..... $0.03 each = $0.03
[Used] Light Gray Brick 1 x 2 x 5 (x2) ..... $0.04 each = $0.08
[Used] Light Gray Brick, Round 1 x 1 Open Stud (x12) ..... $0.02 each = $0.24
[Used] Light Gray Castle Turret Top 4 x 8 x 2 1/3 (x2) ..... $0.25 each = $0.50
[Used] Light Gray Shield Triangular with Blue and Yellow Dragon Pattern (x3) ..... $0.45 each = $1.35
[Used] Red Cape Plastic (x1) ..... $0.18 each = $0.18
[Used] Red Epaulette (x1) ..... $0.50 each = $0.50
[Used] Red Hips and Black Legs (x2) ..... $0.07 each = $0.14
[Used] Red Torso Riding Jacket Pattern (x1) ..... $0.35 each = $0.35
[Used] Trans-Dark Blue Helmet Visor (x2) ..... $0.02 each = $0.04
[Used] Trans-Light Blue Helmet Visor (x2) ..... $0.02 each = $0.04
[Used] Trans-Neon Green Helmet Visor (x2) ..... $0.02 each = $0.04
[Used] Trans-Orange Helmet Visor with Antenna (x1) ..... $0.03 each = $0.03
[Used] White Brick 1 x 2 x 5 (x1) ..... $0.02 each = $0.02
[Used] Yellow Minifig, Head Beard Vertical Lines with Messy Hair Black (x1) ..... $0.15 each = $0.15
[Used] Yellow Minifig, Head Moustache and Forehead Tuft Pattern (x1) ..... $0.21 each = $0.21
[Used] Yellow Minifig, Head Moustache, Stubble and Messy Hair Black - Stud Hollow (x3) ..... $0.12 each = $0.36
[Used] Yellow Minifig, Head Standard Grin - Stud Solid (x4) ..... $0.10 each = $0.40

The shipping from European countries does tend to be more expensive. As I live in Australia, I often need to purchase items from either the USA or Europe (usually UK, Germany, France and Denmark), and I have found that the European postage prices are indeed very high compared to the US prices. I don’t think that you are being ripped-off, you are just experiencing “world-wide trade”.

BTW- nice order.

Considering you did order bricks, they add up to the weight quite a bit. I think the cheapest European shipping is Holland, and the most expensive is France, so do take note of that


PS: You might want to ask him if he can break the order up into 2 packages if it isn't shipped/packed and sealed yet, usually this might lower postage if you barely exceed the 100g barrier.

g2 wrote:The shipping from European countries does tend to be more expensive. As I live in Australia, I often need to purchase items from either the USA or Europe (usually UK, Germany, France and Denmark), and I have found that the European postage prices are indeed very high compared to the US prices. I don’t think that you are being ripped-off, you are just experiencing “world-wide trade”.

BTW- nice order.

Conversely, as someone in Europe, I generally just have to ignore any US listings on ebay; postage can be huge and some sellers seem to pick random high prices. As for European postage prices, they aren't all the same. I've found Germany to sometimes be the best (depends on the carrier - I had Black Sea's Barracuda shipped for just €8 ), then Italy and UK, last is France which can be OK, but usually an expensive carrier is used. UK can be bad too though if it's a service like "International Signed For".

Buying from Ireland I am *always* buying from overseas Haven't seen an Irish ebay Lego listing yet!

Hi,

shipping in Europe can be very expensive. We live in Austria so you could think shipping from/to a neighbour country like Germany should be cheap. It isn't! For a 2kg package we pay about 16 to 20€ shipping!

Up to 100g it's 2 € (priority) or 1,50 (economy) for European countries and 3,75/2,25 worldwide but then the prices rise pretty high!

e.g. worldwide shipping for up to 500g is 10,75 (priority) or 6,25 (economy - which means you have to wait weeks for your shipping if you live overseas). For comparison the prices for european shipping: 8/5,50.

So as already mentioned: perhaps he can make 2 packages with shipping up to 100g than you could save some bucks.

For future orders: be careful when you order larger bulks: for 2kg you have to pay from 20€ to 30€ (economy/priority)!

shary wrote:Hi,

shipping in Europe can be very expensive. We live in Austria so you could think shipping from/to a neighbour country like Germany should be cheap. It isn't! For a 2kg package we pay about 16 to 20€ shipping!

That's about the same as UK shipping (small packet within Europe of 2kg is about £11/€17).

Brickzone wrote:

shary wrote:Hi,

shipping in Europe can be very expensive. We live in Austria so you could think shipping from/to a neighbour country like Germany should be cheap. It isn't! For a 2kg package we pay about 16 to 20€ shipping!

That's about the same as UK shipping (small packet within Europe of 2kg is about £11/€17).

At least UK shipping is pretty weight based and not grouped into a big weight bracket
E.g. 101g of stuff might cost significantly more expensive to ship from Germany than from UK.