European Shipping Costs??

[Hanspleasure]

So I've considered purchasing a few items from Europe (mainly London and France) and have been quoted vastly different prices for similar items (in weight and size). One quote would be reasonable.. 5 - 7 Euro, and others will quote 20 Euro.. equivalent to $30 plus dollars! ????
Has anyone else come across this problem when trying to have something shipped across the pond (like a vintage razor)? Of course I've seen sellers listing some horribly high shipping prices here in the US on Ebay also..

[Aevum]

theres several factors to put in to this,

the first being that there is no uniform shipping company across europe, there is no EU postal service like there is a US postal service, so each country has its own tariffs on shipping, here in spain its expencive, i get smacked 7-10 euros to ship stuff inside europe, i havent checked US rates, but the spanish postal service is expencive,

the second is that we also see alot of people from the US or China that abuse the shipping, offering objects at ridiculously low prices, and then smacking you with 20-40 dollars worth of shipping, its kind of a trap, they hope people wont check shipping untill after they bid, and they also save on ebay fees since the fee is on main sum only, not shipping,

[FaPat5]

Depending on what it is you are getting, you may be better off having someone in Europe purchasing these things for you, and then sending them out to you themselves. Often internet seller offer ridiculous prices.

[fatpig]

It depends on the class of service,from Italy a priority letter of up to .8 pounds will cost 7.30 euro (so about 12$) and this is the price for the most inexpensive shipment (no tracking,no insurance,nothing just hope to be lucky), if one needs insurance it should ship EMS and the price gets to 46 euro for the same 0.8 pounds packet. This is the reason why having proraso or floyd shipped from Italy is not as a good idea as one could hope.

[Cigar Dan]

France is the on EU country that I have found that has ridiculous postal rates. Because of that, I avoid buying items in France if I can at all help it.

[AFG]

I just bought a razor from the English Shaving Co and was surprised at the low shipping cost, about $8. That's about the same as any vendor in the US would charge.

[lamina]

Here in Portugal until 2 kilos it costs a merely 12 € on registered mail, the simple box taped.

[letterk]

Shipping from Europe is hit or miss, depending on the vendor. While it certainly is true that shipping from Europe to the US is higher than shipping from the US to Europe, some vendors charge insane amounts that do not reflect actual postage rates. On a side note, I find the weight restrictions to be the most annoying. In many cases, it's cheaper to send to packages than one that weighs more. From the US, it's almost always more cost effective to put everything in one box.

[LX_Emergency]

I've had the same things going the other way.... But yeah, prices can vary a lot. I've had someone send me a razor from the stated for $4 and I've had someone sending me a pocketknife (about the same size and weight) for $20.

So just check ahead of ordering to make sure you don't get any surprises.