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A comment on U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in. Parent comment

Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by mikepurvis on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @02:19PM (#21073578)
I've recently become exposed to the DIY electric skateboard scene, which has a fascinating dynamic going on where people in NA and Europe design parts (motor mounts, electronics modules, enclosures, etc) and then advertise them for sale to other forum participants. See: https://www.electric-skateboard.builders/c/electric-skateboa...

What's interesting about it is that there are some users who order 50x of whatever the item is and then just sell them out of their garage, but there are others who have an arrangement with their contract manufacturer in China to actually do drop-shipping through eBay storefronts and similar. This latter group are obviously the more professionalized ones, but it's funny just to see a tiny microcosm of this issue, where the guys who are sending stuff within North America and Europe struggle to compete against dirt-cheap overseas shipping.

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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by nerdponx on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @06:45PM (#21076414)
Similar problem in the custom keyboard community. The cheapest custom aluminum keyboard cases cost something like $50-80 shipped. It's often cheaper to buy a brand new one from China than to buy used domestically in NA or Europe. It obviously helps the Chinese manufacturers, but it totally kills the entry-level resale market.
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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by rwmurrayVT on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @02:42PM (#21073830)
This might be the wildest community I have stumbled on in a long time. Have you noticed particular pricing discrepancies between similar items sold different ways?
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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by mikepurvis on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:00PM (#21074063)
Hard to say specifically, but for example I'm planning out my first build for this winter, and wheel pulleys are a big one that varies widely, even for something as relatively standard as a 5M one that fits on an ABEC11 hub. For example:

$16ea + $5 shipping to Canada from China: https://www.ebay.com/itm/302678192585

Compare this to Metroboard, an established e-commerce storefront, who currently has their similar pulley marked down to $15 from a regular $30, but when I emailed to asked about shipping to Canada I was told it would be a $55 flat rate box: https://metro-board.com/e-skate-shop/pulley-insert-for-abec-...

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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by pravda on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @05:29PM (#21075699)
>I was told it would be a $55 flat rate box

You can send that for $10.50 from USA to Canada as an International Small Package [1].

They just don't care enough about you as a customer to bother.

Thank god for China! You are not at the mercy of the douchebags.

[1] https://www.nerdylorrin.net/jerry/postages/

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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by Scoundreller on Thursday September 26, 2019 @12:17AM (#21078104)
Or too afraid to consider sending something without insurance. Even though it will have tracking.
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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by sokoloff on Thursday September 26, 2019 @05:47AM (#21079537)
Who would (have their customer) pay $40 for insurance on under $100 (retail) of product?
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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by Scoundreller on Thursday September 26, 2019 @10:47AM (#21081365)
They think everywhere outside the US is a 4th world country.

International shipping does require a bit of a knack for risk assessment. There are countries that most think are fine, but with terrible postal systems. Or annoying customs. Or people that flip out when a package takes more than 3 days to arrive.

Shipping to Sweden is fine. Shipping to Italy isn’t. German Customs will inspect a lot and send a bill, Canadian customs often doesn’t bother with American packages.

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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by mikepurvis on Thursday September 26, 2019 @10:00AM (#21080921)
Potentially a seller who a) doesn't really care about customers outside the US or b) is used to shipping $1000+ complete products and doesn't do enough volume of small spare parts to make it worth investing in a separate process for those orders.
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Re:U.N. postal union clinches deal to keep U.S. in by Scoundreller on Thursday September 26, 2019 @11:13AM (#21081617)
Probably the former. As a Canadian, I would ship anywhere and generally made enough off the extra demand to pay for any losses.

And I was happy to make some Super Nintendo collector in Sweden happy.

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