On the subject of postage; would it seem reasonable to be asked to pay $200 for regular postage of 4 x radiator shrouds and 2 x sideplates from Indianna to QLD, Australia with US Postal Service? I thought it was a bit rich at the time as the parts were only valued at $270 even though the value of the parts has no bearing on postage costs unless insurance is included. I didn't even bother getting the parts, even though they were quite well priced. One always seems to come back to the same question; are sellers making money out of postage as well as bike parts?
I've found that in many cases the eBay seller is inexperienced at shipping overseas so they use the USPS online shipping calculator to find out the shipping costs. The calculator is notoriously inaccurate (
on the high side naturally) but the sellers don't know that and go by what it tells them. When you question the high shipping fees, mentioning that the calculator is way out of whack, many sellers will take the item to the post office and get the correct fee. Of course you often get the arrogant wanker who refuses to play fair but in my 964 transactions over 10 years I've found the majority of American sellers are prepared to get the best deal for you. You just have to ask.
I had a radiator for a Cadillac Fedexed out to me in 4 days for $150. I think I got screwed $50 on the postage as it was marked $100 on the box, but was happy that I got it so quick.
I buy most of my Jeep parts from the USA because of the extraordinarily high mark up on parts from my 'friendly' local Jeep dealer. I recently stuffed an electric window winder and rather than pay $400+ here paid $39.95 from a dealer in California who Fed-Exed it for $80 and I had it in three days. I was still way in front and got it quicker than through my local dealer (
"on back order, it'll take a week or so"...yeah right ). If you need something as soon as possible and don't mind paying double for shipping, Fed-Ex is brilliant.