Fellow Europeans - where do you mail-order from in the US?

[Lonestar]

Howdy fellow western-europeans.

Tower is a ghost town.

Amain's economy shipping option is a joke, it takes 1 month for package to come in to switzerland from the US. The second best shipping option prevents the overall delivered price to be competitive.

Stormer has a lot of stuff - but you need to request a shipping quote... talk about a modern interface.

Sheldons only sell vaterra traxxas and the likes these days

The latest AE kit available from ultimate hobbies is a T4.2 RTR

Hobbytown shipping is a outrageous

I need re-re parts... and typically small parts, hardware, etc... I know shipping fees have increased lately, but I remain hopeful. I'm happy to pay a bit more for something in stock, shipped fast, without feeling shafted when they drop it in a padded envelope...

What online places do you recommend that have a fully stocked shop, and don't kill you on shipping tiny little dinky orders?

Thanks,
Paul

[GoMachV]

as of around February they took away our ability to ship small thin items as a "thick letter" as well, so gone are the days of sub $13.30 shipments overseas (except Canada I believe).

I believe a lot of the problem is calculating how heavy the item is, with packaging, to predict the shipping cost when combined with other items. I tried to set up shipping rules and get a combined shipping added to my own items and it was a huge pita, and never worked correctly. As much of a PITA it is, I like Stormers method.

I see a lot of my items from ebay are purchased from overseas and go through "shop airlines america". I dont know what countries they cover, but maybe there is something like that for EU?

One more possibility, perhaps you could have them ship using an account? Many places allow you to ship using your fedex account, and only charge you for packaging if anything. I havent seen that at the hobby shop level but maybe that would open up some possibilities?

[Coelacanth]

Unfortunately, especially for anything small, cheap or lightweight, it's getting very cost-prohibitive to buy stuff from American sellers. On eBay and many e-tailers, the default shipping option is Priority Post, which starts out at about $25 to $30 USD, even for a single screw (pun intended). USPS First Class is usually not an option. Paying $30 or more to ship a handful of small parts costing less than $20 is asinine, there's no need for tracking and insurance for something that inexpensive...but it's just not an option to use First Class. I won't even bother to mention the Global Shipping Program, which further tacks on extra fees which jack up shipping prices on eBay. This only seems to benefit USA (not the sellers, mind you, just eBay and its affiliates) and doesn't work the other way around when Mexicans or Canadians sell to American buyers. (So much for NAFTA, eh?)

I can't comprehend how I can buy something small from China and it ships either for free, or for under $10, when the same thing will cost me $35 or more to ship from USA, just across the border on the same bloody continent.

I imagine things are even worse from USA to Switzerland/Europe.

I don't know what the solution is. Myself, I used to buy a lot from eBay and almost nothing from Amazon.ca, but now it's the reverse. I rarely find something at a reasonable price from eBay anymore, when shipping rates are unjustifiably exaggerated. Shipping on Amazon.ca is almost always fair and reasonable, or free. Unfortunately there's not much that's old or used/vintage on Amazon, mostly retail items only.

[DaveM]

Hi,

I'm starting to think we have seen the last of the Re-release parts from Team Associated.

But I hope I'm wrong!

[NomadRacer]

Hi,

I'm starting to think we have seen the last of the Re-release parts from Team Associated.

But I hope I'm wrong!

I'm seeing a fair amount of re-re plastics still out there, plus, some of the parts come in and out of stock at Associated. Gold nose plates are hard to get though. I've noticed that tub asking prices on eBay have increased of late.

Get what you can, while you can!

[Lonestar]

My question isn't "what" - it's "where"

C'mon euroguys !!!

[DaveM]

NomadRacer,

Don't worry,

I've been collecting parts for that reason!

Do you think the parts Team Associated are getting are returned stock from customers?

They suddenly had 6577 right hand stealth hubs but no 6578 lefts.

6578 not due till late October?

[broodenburg]

Guys, I bought some stuff from Kipps Hobbies. Seems like a nice guy and shipping is reasonable and fast.

[Lonestar]

thanks @GoMachV for the insight on shipping fees - what I'm not getting is, amain still has found a solution to ship very cheap. It just takes forever, and in an unpredictable way, so cost-effective solutions still exist out there. There must be other ones, for instance on the east coast, where the time variable is under better control.

Thanks @broodenburg from the NL for suggesting kipps hobbies - the (1.0...) website shows that their stock seems pretty limited though could be a decent backup plan, still! I was mostly looking for the "online-RC-supermarket" type sites

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

Paul

[sandkil]

Due to excesive postal rates from the Americas I've started searching trough European hobby shops. Earlier it was cheaper to purchase from the US, but as rates sky rockets it's now cheaper to buy in EU or if you dare eastern Europe.
Now a days you can see 100$ postal fees on big volume boxes as bodies, cars or empty car boxes from the US which is ridiculous!
This might sadly be the end of vintage Associated, traxxas, Losi builds for us europeans and the rest of the world. Might have to switch to Kyosho and Tamiya

[Lonestar]

Might have to switch to Kyosho and Tamiya

but yeah, we're getting killed here...

[RC10th]

You guys have it easy... We're on an island.

[NomadRacer]

Question for the Euro/Oz-Land guys...

Would it be cheaper if you received a package from the US with an individuals address instead of a company? For an example... I send you some parts as a "go between" instead of amain.

[Lonestar]

Question for the Euro/Oz-Land guys...

Would it be cheaper if you received a package from the US with an individuals address instead of a company? For an example... I send you some parts as a "go between" instead of amain.

I don't think it makes a difference... it's the outbound that determines the cost, not the inbound.

the thing is, not only is shipping the killer, but with the demise of tower, there's only Amain left with a proper webshop, these days...

[scr8p]

I feel for you guys when I have to ship something international. Crazy prices.... And keep getting worse.