This is the second time this has happened to me - I’ve won some wheels in the US for a steal, and I pay the already exorbitant postage prices instantly on paypal, only to be refunded in full the next day with a message from the seller saying ‘Sorry, I got quoted $543 to ship to your address by fedex and USPS.’
Is that really the lowest quote for a set of wheels? I find it very hard to believe… Has anybody bought anything from the US and NOT lost out a ridiculous price on postage?
Thanks…
Stu
^ If they already quoted postage, I’d tell them to fuck off.
I always use a mail forwarding service. Even if the US seller quotes a stupid amount to send it around the US, you can get postage fairly cheap from the forwarder. Got some wheels sent for 70 odd all up if I remember correctly.
I’ve bought some wheels from Ben’s Cycles, paid for the wheels plus postage and they emailed me the next day and said the postage was wrongly quoted and refunded the difference.
The reality is international postage is expensive from the US, and FedEx is the most expensive service of all (but it’s reliable). Freight forwarding sounds like a good idea for bulky items that attract high postage prices.
It is possible to mail a 700C wheel inside USPS limits. It’ll cost you around USD$45/wheel, but it can be done if the seller is willing to put in the effort. Which, for non-business sellers, they’re often not.
From velomine it was around $65 for a wheelset. But I guess they may have deals with companies etc as they send worldwide all the time.
But over $500 is ridiculous. That’s just postage right? Wheels not included?
yeh, velomine quotes about $70 for a set…bells bike shop on ebay sends a set for about $70 as well
and its in a decent size box, not some dodgy packaging.
I got a complete bike from the US using a mail forwarding service for $120AUD
yeah just postage.
Can anyone recommend a mail forwarding service??
I shipped a frame by finding a friend of a friend that lived in the states got it posted to her and then and another friend frend etc who was flying out of the same town back to oz a few months later.
difficult to organise but in the days of fb and twitter you may line something up…
Does anybody know what type of dimensions / weight I would be looking at for 700c rims w/ suzue pro max hubs?
I did 28" x 28" x 10"
Or 70cm x 70cm x 20cm
(from BikeCalc.com - How to calculate Bicycle Wheel Size)
And it came out roughly 200 for both wheels… which I don’t think is worth it… it’s a long shot off $70 all up…
Am I doing something wrong or is it really just an impossible feat?
(I got quoted by shipito.com, i’ll try a few different sites now…)
EDIT: Think I might just give up on this set anyway… seller is a jerk. Better keep looking…!