Hi
A short description of my issue follows. I'm curious if others have similar issues, and if/how they got around it.
I live in Norway and live close to (and work in) the capital, which is also our largest. Normally I'd think the larger the city, the easier to find any given niche store.
Now, I have not been able to find one decent place that sells traditional shaving supplies here. There was a perfumerie some years ago that had an extremely limited selection, but they discontinued that. There is a couple of web sites that sell this stuff, but the selection is a bit limited, but they carry most of the major brands.
So, one turns to web stores in other parts of the world.
I recently ordered from Bullgoose shaving. The goods were shipped in no time, with no complaints on my part.
Now for the rub. My order was about 190$, shipping an additional 30 ish$. For any goods above 34$(aprox) I have to pay VAT (25%) when they clear customs. And they take a fee for that as well. So my 190$ purchase ended up costing me a total of 330$( again aprox). So even if I only order within the 34$ limit, shipping will cost me almost as much as the goods, in the worst scenario.
If I only stick with what I can order from domestic web sites I cannot get hold of most blade types, a ton of soaps and creams, brushes etc. And it makes me feel robbed and cheated, half ye fun of shaving is the discovery of a magnificent soap, the proper blade or the extraordinary brush.
So, any fellow sufferers out there with some good ideas or suggestions?
A short description of my issue follows. I'm curious if others have similar issues, and if/how they got around it.
I live in Norway and live close to (and work in) the capital, which is also our largest. Normally I'd think the larger the city, the easier to find any given niche store.
Now, I have not been able to find one decent place that sells traditional shaving supplies here. There was a perfumerie some years ago that had an extremely limited selection, but they discontinued that. There is a couple of web sites that sell this stuff, but the selection is a bit limited, but they carry most of the major brands.
So, one turns to web stores in other parts of the world.
I recently ordered from Bullgoose shaving. The goods were shipped in no time, with no complaints on my part.
Now for the rub. My order was about 190$, shipping an additional 30 ish$. For any goods above 34$(aprox) I have to pay VAT (25%) when they clear customs. And they take a fee for that as well. So my 190$ purchase ended up costing me a total of 330$( again aprox). So even if I only order within the 34$ limit, shipping will cost me almost as much as the goods, in the worst scenario.
If I only stick with what I can order from domestic web sites I cannot get hold of most blade types, a ton of soaps and creams, brushes etc. And it makes me feel robbed and cheated, half ye fun of shaving is the discovery of a magnificent soap, the proper blade or the extraordinary brush.
So, any fellow sufferers out there with some good ideas or suggestions?