Dirk wrote:
The "ship only to Germany" is the default setting in the german eBay and I doubt that most sellers would really refuse to send their items abroad if you ask them directly and offer to pay the addional shipping costs. Shipping parts to the US is not more work then shipping to another town in Germany. But it's pretty expensive. Airmail with arrival confirmation for a 1kg package costs around 20EUR. It's different with complete bikes. Usually the eBay sellers use the german "Hermes Versand" which offers a dedicated bike shipping. Very attractive for the seller is that they pick up the bike at the sellers location directly as it is, unpacked without any box. They cover it with a large plastic bag and the seller has no hassle with packing or even cleaning the bike. That this approach is often not the best one for the buyer is another story - but from the seller's point of view this can't be beaten. Therefore it probably requires some effort to convince the seller to find a box, pack the bike and ship it to the US. But try it, most people here understand english, at least the message "Hello, would you sell your bicycle also to America, if I pay all costs?" should be deciphered, and a "Yes" or "No" managable. I would prefer this instead of a babelfish translation.
Besides I'd be glad if I can be of any help, dealing with german eBay sellers, (if my schedule permits). I mean translating a desription or asking more specific questions, maybe even trying to convince sellers to ship abroad. But what I won't do is buying stuff I'm not interested in myself and forwarding it to list members. I've done this before and get such a request from time to time, but if something goes wrong, and this seems to happen more often recently, I don't want to be in the middle of it.
Any interest in a standard german text like "Lieber eBayer wuerden Sie auch,..." ("Dear seller would you....")
I CAN CONFIRM THAT IT IS INDEED THE DEFAULT SETTING IN GERMANY. I HAVE NEVER HAD ANYBODY EVER TURN DOWN SHIPPING ABROAD FOR THE PURCHASE OF ITEMS IN GERMANY. I TOO DON'T MIND HELPING WITH SOME BASIC TRANSLATIONS (EVEN THOUGH MY GERMAN IS FAR FROM PERFECT AS CAN BE ATTESTED BY DIRK). DIFFICULTIES IN FINDING SHIPPING BOXES IN GERMANY ARE VERY REAL, AS ARE THE DIFFICULTIES IN BRINGING A BIKE TO THE POST OFFICE OR SHIPPER. THE AVERAGE CAR IN GERMANY CANNOT TAKE A BIKE IN A BIKE BOX, NOR IS IT GENERALLY EASY TO FIND PARKING NEAR MANY CITY POST OFFICES, SO THIS IS TRULY A PROBLEM.
LASTLY, DIRK'S NOTE ABOUT GETTING STUCK IN THE MIDDLE IS VERY REAL. I TOO HAVE 'HELPED' A NUMBER OF PEOPLE ONLY TO GET STUNG WHEN THEY CHANGED THEIR MINDS OR FOUND SOMETHING WRONG. LUCKILY, NEVER WITH A LIST MEMBER. ACTUALLY, ALDO ROSS WAS GREAT AT HELPING ME OUT OF JUST SUCH A BIND WITH A BIANCHI THAT I BROUGHT IN TO THE COUNTRY, I BELIEVE TO OUR MUTUAL BENEFIT.
STEVEN MAASLAND
MOORESTOWN, NJ