Need USA help and fast!

Bit of a big favour to ask of someone I know, but needs must...

There's a frame ending in half an hour on ebay.com and the seller won't accept bids from outside the US - can anyone help me out?

Thanks in advance!

Try Dookie, though he's not logged on?

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... t=shipping

I did think of that, but he says he's happy to help with shipping and I need somone to actually bid on it for me as the seller's set those damn bidder requirements...

Worth a shot though, might PM him...

Damnit, too late...

Seller said he'd lift the buyer restrictions and I still couldn't bid... Arse.

I hate eBay right now!

Still don't understand why some americans are so reluctant to sell abroad...

I think it's because shipping abroad is so much more hassle for them, what with having to fill out customs forms etc - it's not as easy as it is here. That said, I'm annoyed as I would have been having it shipped to my company's office in CA anyway!

<sigh>

There goes another perfect frame...

Can't speak for all Americans (as no one has elected me the big dick), but if I had to guess...

1.) It's a bit of a pain in the arse to calculate estimated shipping costs
2.) It's a real pain in the arse to fill out the documentation forms
3.) Most are too lazy to help a guy out

Anyhoooo, seems a bit silly to advertise on a global market place like Ebay and then to limit your customer base with buying restrictions. A number of auctions of late would not have gone as high without international participation even though the items stayed in the US...a benefit to the sellers for sure.

Just my opinion though, as I luv you guys...

rody

and we love you internationalists too!

i think the main problem is the fraud that's going on with international bidders and limited or no experience with international selling/buying on both the buyers and sellers side. yeah, and lazyness..

large frames can require building a proper box as standard frame boxes might be too small and bike boxes too large for the USPS size limit. more of a problem are complete bikes but do-able too.

it cannot (shouldn't) be the customs form as it is really simple and only one sheet to be filled out. estimating postage is not a biggy too with the USPS rate calculator and UPS/FedEx offer that tool too. i usually weigh the parts incl. box before i put them on ebay and calculate the postage. that's the basic shipping price and any extra goes on top of it. if it is less in the end i refund it, if it is more i swallow the pill...

Carsten

Yeah, I can understand that - just annoying when the frame ended up going for a lot less than I was willing to bid! Tiny Bontrager frames don't come up all that often...