Buying parts from America

I have used a chap on facebook who brings in containers 3 times a year. He shipped a carpet for me.

There are bigger companies who do the same thing, at more of a premium.

Some American businesses never shipped to the UK. Some did but now don't. The main standard for credit card processing is PCI not GDPR but that does apply as well, but sort of not, but anyway... Long/short version, I have never had a problem paying with a UK credit card in the US, in person or over the phone or online.

The issue with shipping is more that since Brexit it has been a lot more complex for US companies to ship direct to the UK because we are now not covered by the EU trade agreement with the US and we haven't yet got the same level of deal in place. There was an initial deal done in 2020 but the full thing isn't even up to be negotiated until 2025. Part of this complexity is because some forms of sales taxes are managed on a state by state basis not a national one in the US. Effectively for some US businesses it means a lot more paperwork which they can't be bothered with. Some US companies can ship to the UK again now, but "proving" it to the IRS or whoever is more trouble than its worth, so they don't. Some just think they can't even though they can.

Anyway

There are a few ways round this.

1. Buy on eBay - the Global Shipping Programme handles everything. Several companies I know "do not ship to UK" if you buy direct but will ship worldwide on their eBay store. This is the easiest all round

2. Get a mate in the USA. This I have actually found the worst because you just end up falling out with your mate when he is a slack bastad at sending your parts on for you.

3. Use a service like MyUS. www.myus.com - this is good for small items, to medium size, they handle everything for you, but be aware you need a subscription so you pay every month and do you order parts every month? hmm. They also add fees on top for EVERYTHING so it gets super expensive.

4. Ship to someone who imports parts. I find this better for larger items as smaller items sometimes get lost in containers. You probably won't get your stuff very quick if its coming via sea freight but its usually cheap. I have a chap I'd recommend, there are a few out there.

5. Take a holiday in the US. You have to ensure your stuff will arrive at your hotel while you are actually there, but....

6. Courier services. I have used one which was super good when I bought some headers from the US. Damned if I can recall the name of them now, they popped in an picked up just fine. Similar to using Parcel2go here. EDIT: they are called Netparcel and I was super impressed with them.

Does anybody know how Ebay GSP can be so much cheaper? Do You have to wait months for the parts?

I did wonder why a Escort RS Turbo clock sold well to someone abroad. Like you say, even with the fees, it worked out brilliantly for shipping outside of the UK.

In the UK, I was faced with folks saying:

-You can't guarantee it came out of an RST - "It's Shark Grey, and I owned the car, pretty conclusive" - But you can't
-That much? I paid £5 back in the day for one - "Move on? Don't like the price, jog on"

After 3 weeks of messers on Marketplace, the clock sold abroad within 2 days on eBay.

Yup that’s pretty much my experience. I tend to buy locally on marketplace then clean the parts/bikes, write a good description and list on eBay. Everything always sells for considerably more than uk buyers are usually willing to pay.

The other thing about GSP is their insurance/liability is really fair. Much more so than any courier service.

I bought a ww2 bomber oxygen tank on US eBay through GSP. When it turned up the end was dented- it had obviously been dropped on end and knocked the threaded fitting in, denting it. I complained and eBay held their hands up and said ‘it’s our fault’. They refunded me the whole amount plus shipping and didn’t take a penny back off the seller (because I messaged them and asked them). I ended up making a slide hammer fitting up on the lathe to extract the dent in the end which worked out ok, so I got that one gratis (well, the price of my time and skill to fix it) thanks to eBay.

A friend also had an odd experience recently posting a vintage r/c car. They sold it though GSP, off to the US. At no point during the shipping process was he asked if it had batteries in it. When it got to the shipping hub somehow they found out it did (I guess they X-ray stuff?) and because they said ‘we didn’t ask you if it had a batteries in it so that’s our fault’. They refused to send it on or return it, but compensated the buyer fully and let the seller keep the proceeds too.