Another not so bargain from overseas

[IchBautAuto]

Been doing this for more than 20 years now and for 15 of those, buying from the US was both an access to stuff we couldn't get here and in many cases a huge saving on local prices, if they were available at all. I've put up a few posts in recent years about the declining benefits of shopping OS. On occasion you can get a great buy, and I have on specific items, but overall, it's hard to balance the books lately across all purchases.

Took the plunge after days of a total price check across all US vendors on some specific RS6 parts. Great source as this was THE RS6 the US received so plenty of parts and many vendors. I bought from the lowest quote from a known vendor in the US. Anyway, freight and Australian taxes were $550. That's with a 20% discount on the book rate for freight. OUCH, it is a little heavy though.

I'd done an Australian search and on that day, virtually none of the parts were available. The one that was, was 100% more expensive than the US part in AU$ on the shelf.

Anyway, I'm due the parts tomorrow, paid up the taxes and I can say that you can get the parts in 5-6 days on your doorstep from the US which beats getting a post pack from Sydney by nearly a week.

The downside, a quick check today sees all the parts I needed available from Australia, apparently, and delivered to my door, AU$100 less than the US total cost. Swings and roundabouts of course and I wouldn't jump off the Harbour Bridge over the difference, if I could get there. But yet again, for the dedicated US purchasers, it isn't always a pot of gold at the end of the purchase rainbow. Keep checking your local vendors for good prices.

[Muckman]

There is no argument about buying over seas is a good idear or not. If it’s cheeper then it’s cheeper no matter where it’s coming from. I don’t deliberately buy my parts from the US, but most the time it is commonly more cheeper to shop there because of the competitive market they have. Other places you can score a bargain is Russia and Poland.
Audi Parts Direct for some reason have the cheapest brake rotors and pads you can find in the world I kid you not. Australia will have a bargain here now and then. I just bought all Bosch rotors and pads for my A1 for under $300 that’s a bargain.

[julianwhitta]

Same experience for me, Ich. I guess the bottom line is, “your mileage may vary”. Still, under the current circumstances, a parcel turning up on my doorstep (wherever it’s from and however long it took to get there), instantly becomes the highlight of my week!

[broke90]

UK is also a good place for used parts because of RHD and their postage charges are still reasonable. I've bought various car and power tool parts on eBay and direct from suppliers from France, GB, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Finland (who would've thought!?), Poland, etc. and they've all charged modest postage like AUD10-15 for a small/medium parcel. In the US it seems everyone goes through eBay's Global Shipping so even though their buy prices are good and the range is good, their landed prices are no longer competitive. Very disappointing.

[IchBautAuto]

Not crying poor over this, more a heads up that the myths that appear on here from time to time about the huge bargains from the US are hit and miss. Over the 7 years I've been on here, there have been members who have come and gone, who look at the US price, compare it to the AU price and proclaim that a bargain is to be had. Trouble is it's only part of the story and hard to believe that some don't seem to tally up all the additional costs for a final "delivered" cost.

No doubt I've had some bargains myself, and very happy too. Shopped all over the world where Audi parts are available and there are a few points to note there too. The various local equivalents of GST are around 20% in UK / Europe so a vendor that sells tax exempt makes a big difference when orders are in the thousands. I've never had a tax exempt sale from the US and choosing the state can sometimes make a difference where a significant state tax isn't applicable in some areas.

Over the last few years freight in particular has gone up hugely and also the changed tax and import situation here has added it's own impost on top of the price, currency conversion and freight. Now I'm finding that Australian companies can be competitive (and sometimes ridiculously not). A bit of flag waving, but where it's close, I'd buy local as the taxes go towards all of us rather than a foreign country. If the Gov doesn't get the money from those purchases it'll raise it some other way so we'll pay twice.

[IchBautAuto]

Same experience for me, Ich. I guess the bottom line is, “your mileage may vary”. Still, under the current circumstances, a parcel turning up on my doorstep (wherever it’s from and however long it took to get there), instantly becomes the highlight of my week!

That sounds like something that applies to us all. I did find the changed FEDEX process a bit tedious though, with an Asbestos declaration now required to enable customs clearance.

[broke90]

Another thing is the airfreight restrictions at the moment. I was looking at an item on eBay from Bulgaria. The vendor was helpful and posted a link from Bulgaria Post of what countries they're shipping to at the moment because of general air traffic restrictions. They are still shipping to places like Congo, Nigeria, Ukraine, even North Korea, but not Australia. NK? Seriously??

[Muckman]

Now and then you will snap a bargain
I scored a steal sale on these RS5 rear caliper cover plates. Normally go for $104 USD each
Got them for $53.24 for the pair
Wasn’t gonna pay $60 for the shipping on its own so I thought I’d may aswell get something iv had my eye on for a while on so I got a set of H&R spacers
Worked out well

[IchBautAuto]

Absolutely. I ordered some parts on EBay from a German company last week, order taken and paid then next morning a swag of emails cancelling the order and refunding the payment. Reason given was a problem with the delivery address??? Contacted the German company directly and they elaborated, Deutsche Post isn't sending to Australia atm. Conversely you can order on-line and it can be shipped via a carrier like DHL no problems, just cannot order through the EBay portal.

To make matters worse, I received an email from EBay saying the items have been dispatched?? Click on check my order and it says cancelled. Does that mean that EBay send out "order sent" emails that do not reflect actuality? Confused.

Interesting everything that has been sent either by USPS or Royal mail has taken exactly 4 weeks to arrive. Almost like it is sat on until a release date. Carriers are very much quicker 5 days by DHL from UK to my door. What can you say, better than a week from Syd to Canberra.

[julianwhitta]

Unless you’re relying on DHL from the US, it would seem. I ordered a non-car thing (Yes, I know. Herself was just as shocked) early this month (the 5th) from a company just down the road from Atlanta, Georgia. After eventually being picked up by DHL, it took six days to wend it’s way to New Jersey (on the 11th), and is now allegedly “loaded for transport” somewhere in Illinois (the 17th). The damned thing has done more travel in the US in the last 2 weeks than I’ve done in 30 years!