Short dovetail bar around 100mm?

[killswitch (Edison)]

Originally Posted by MortonH

With margins so thin these days I wonder if they make more profit off shipping costs than the items themselves.

It costs about $20~ to get that bar forwarded to Australia.

I buy a lot of items from Amazon that cant be shipped to Aus, so i get them forwarded from a US address instead.

[Stardrifter_WA]

Hi Morton, pm sent.

Cheers Peter

[Stardrifter_WA]

Originally Posted by killswitch

It costs about $20~ to get that bar forwarded to Australia.

I buy a lot of items from Amazon that cant be shipped to Aus, so i get them forwarded from a US address instead.

I have known a few people that do the redirect thing through a company in the US and they have had issues regarding not receiving their items.

I wouldn't involve a redirect company, as they take no responsibility. Once it is sent to them, by Amazon say, as far as Amazon is concerned it is delivered. The redirect company may have insurance, but try making a claim. Furthermore, using a friend, just adds more insurance to the item. You get insurance from the dealer until it is delivered friends place, but not beyond that, if you are resending, so you have to add a second layer of insurance.

I know of one person who lost around 3k that way, and to take legal action was going to cost more than it would have recovered.

So, beware, as it certainly isn't without risks. It is not a risk I would take.

Cheers Pete

[LewisM]

Wife and I used to do redirects to US based friends a LOT. I still do, wife won't.

She bought around $1.5K worth of baby clothes, items etc off Amazon for Bub No1. Sent them to our US friend in Florida. Said friend, who had sent items previously NO PROBLEM, suddenly decided what a wonderful gift for his new-borne nephew...

Needless to say we got the Florida Sheriff look into it, and the municipal court, and we ended up hiring a US lawyer (another friend - a Mississippi lawyer - you DON'T want to mess with one of them!). In the end, we won, it cost the guy MUCH more than the $1.5K he ripped us. My lawyer friend did the whole thing - quite a bit of fiddling around, legal demands etc for the cost of a few uncommon firearms parts I had (around $400 worth).

I still have a mate in Ohio who sends me ANYTHING He's done Orion ordering for me amongst MANY others. All he asks me for is fuel money to go to the PO extra.

[Stardrifter_WA]

Originally Posted by LewisM

Needless to say we got the Florida Sheriff look into it, and the municipal court, and we ended up hiring a US lawyer (another friend - a Mississippi lawyer - you DON'T want to mess with one of them!). In the end, we won, it cost the guy MUCH more than the $1.5K he ripped us. My lawyer friend did the whole thing - quite a bit of fiddling around, legal demands etc for the cost of a few uncommon firearms parts I had (around $400 worth).

I still have a mate in Ohio who sends me ANYTHING He's done Orion ordering for me amongst MANY others. All he asks me for is fuel money to go to the PO extra.

All well and good Lewis, it is one thing to win a judgement against someone, and have the additional costs awarded to that person, it is entirely another matter trying to actually get that money out of them. If they have no realisable assets to seize, you get squat! If they declare themselves bankrupt, you get squat! If they simply disappear, you get squat!

So, I think that giving the impression that you can just sue someone, if that happens, as being an easy solution, isn't always that easy. I sued someone and won, and they were awarded costs, but I never saw a cent. It was a long time ago, so I have long written if off.

You may have been lucky having a friend that is a lawyer, but most people don't have that luxury. Suing someone can be time consuming exercise, and I don't know about you, but my time is valuable. If it is a sizeable amount, it may be worth it, but only if you actually can get recovery, and that isn't guaranteed. Winning the court case is only the first step, recovery can be a very long process.

The more people involved in the transaction process, the more risk you run. As I found out a long time ago, trusting someone explicitly, particularly where money is concerned, isn't always a prudent thing to do.

Having friend send you stuff, is a great idea, but you still need to add insurance, in case you do not receive it, if it goes missing in transit.

Caveat Emptor still applies!