To avoid high shipping in the US, don’t buy from an individual selling a kit ( You pay the full jacked up shipping rate with absolutely no discount. ). Buy from a large hobby shop and place a large order for multiple kits and supplies so that you are paying postage per item equivalent to a first class stamp.
Now the economics of that may not work for you but it is the only way I know how to save on shipping. I have 3 kits ordered so that shipping is $3.33 per kit. That is from New Hampshire. If I mailed one kit back to him it would be $19 for the one kit. Thats not knocking members selling to one another it is just a perspective focused only on shipping costs not kit availability or discounted kits.
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The item shown is not available elsewhere and I don’t need that much…
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Interesting to read the US perspective on international shipping.
TO the UK From elsewhere, generally, anything Airmail is “always” checked by customs, UKP £8.00-£12.00 handling charge, + whatever Dick Turpin* at the PO wants to charge.
Surface rates were cheap & 3-8 weeks.
To UK from:
Poland: generally good rates & delivery times.
France/Germany: now generally prohibitive, even in ebay.
Italy, Direct vendor, fast & reasonable
Italy Amazon, fast & only cheap while I had a student Amazon Prime, otherwise prohibitive.
US: uneconomic to prohibitive.
HongKong: Lucky Model: If shipping from European warehouse, very good & quick, if direct from HK, prohibitive.
Other Vendor once took exactly 100 days, as it was on the ship stuck in the Suez canal
China: UK ebay, ok, long dispatch times,
Ali Express, very cheap, high risk of rip off though!
Your Mileage may vary.
*Dick Turpin, well known Highway Robbery Specialist. He once he argued he couldn’t have robbed someone in London as he was in the Cock Inn, Sibson, Leicestershire/Warwickshire border lands, some 100 miles from London.
They Hung him anyway.
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Never let technicalities get in the way of good old hanging …
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Exactly. I do this with Accurate -Armour every two years or so. I’ll be doing the same with MMD.
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