Well my street address is 18118 Widcombe, in Houston, so maybe the stuff has been dispensed to 78778 Widcombe, which would be about half way to San Antonio. I bought a couple of Mavic skewers from collalbo in Belgium. The auction made it appear he was located in the US, and didn't state the shipping cost, but then he invoiced for a high shipping cost, and when I questionned it he replied that shipping from Europe is expensive. He also couldn't resist complaining about the fall of the $ vs the Euro and blaming it on the US invasion of Iraq. It took a couple of weeks to receive the skewers, which after shipping weren't the good deal they first appeared. I will say he warned me about PayPal looting users' accounts, which motivated me to change all my accounts so that the PayPal-linked account is isolated from all others and only has a minimum balance. This guy has an opinion on everything, which maybe is what you meant by "interesting". I still have not left feedback on this transaction, as I don't know quite what to say. Not really a Negative experience but not exactly Positive either. They don't have a category for Interesting and Neutral always seems like a wimpy entry for those who can't make up their minds.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
> Hi Jerry:
>
> I buy semi-regularly from non-US-based eBay sites/sellers, and it can
indeed
> take a very long time to receive the goods, unless they send via someone
like
> Fed-X, which can zoom stuff here in three or four days from darn near
anywhere
> on the planet!
>
> It regularly takes 1-3 months to receive goods from Europe, and most of
those
> are air shipments! Since about last October, it seems to be even slower
than
> it used to be.
> Another issue with packages from Germany is how many Europeans write the
> numeral "1" vs "7" - it doesn't ever confuse me, but USPS has sent stuff
of mine
> to 48703 instead of 48103 because they thought that's what they read, and
that
> added weeks to the shipment time, from the various date stamps that I saw
on
> the box, while they figured things out here Stateside.
>
> I track stuff received vs. not received with my Feedback page, but that
only
> lasts for 90 days, so occasionally something hasn't arrived yet when it is
> about to scroll off of my FB page. That's a signal to me to get on that
item with
> the seller.
>
> Thus far, I have never failed to receive any item, but sometimes it takes
a
> whole lot of follow-up and hand-holding, and the shipping costs can easily
> exceed the item price. I try to go for something on eBay that is located
outside
> the US only if it is really cool/rare or seems like a screaming deal
(which
> isn't very often!), or when I know and trust the seller. Otherwise, the
time and
> shipping costs just become too large and end up making a "good" deal into
a
> "poor" one....
>
> Charlys-auktionen is Klaus Jeworowski. No relation to Carsten as far as I
> know. His auctions look like Carsten's IMO because Carsten's success (as
cyclo24)
> has created a bit of a micro-sized cottage industry on German eBay of
folks
> trying to cash in by selling "junky old bike parts" to us rich Amurricans.
You
> may well receive those items from Klaus a month or more from now....
>
> Being also of German descent myself (about 25%), I like the typical
> thoroughness of German sellers (their packing prowess in general is
awesome!), but as
> always, check their FB - it will tell you most everything you want to
know, or
> at least enough to decide if it's worth dealing with them. My personal
> "cut-off point" is 99% positive, and in general, I believe German eBayers
have a
> higher rating than your average American seller. There is of course that
1%
> globally that just seems to enjoy having a hassle in everything they do,
and Germany
> is not significantly different from the US in that respect. Check
> Belgium-based "collalbo" if you want to see an "interesting" non-US
seller. His stuff
> always seems to "get lost in the mail - twice" - must be a statistical
aberration
> I guess...! ;-)
>
> I also try to deal with International sellers in their native language
> whenever possible, which generally delights them, so that may help some
too in my
> particular case. Your actual litres/km may vary!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Greg Parker
> Bicycle Classics
> Ann Arbor, Michigan
>
>
> > Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 21:52:13 -0600
> > From: "jerrymoos" <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
> > To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> > Subject: [CR]PayPal and German eBay Purchases
> >
> >
> > Well, the eBay saga continues. After the previously posted problems
with
> > Cyclo_Network, I also failed to receive any goods 5 weeks after paying
> > another German seller, charley's-auktionen. The seller claimed no
> > responsibility because I had not paid for insured shipping, and stated
he
> > had shipped on Dec29, but offered no proof. I again filed eBay and
PayPal
> > complaints just before the 30 day PayPal deadline. I received notice
today
> > that PayPal had determined the seller was at fault and had obtained a
refund
> > of $153 of the $160 price. This seller was offering goods very similar
to
> > Cyclo-Network and the format of the auction pages was also similar, so
> > perhaps this is just another Cyclo-Network alias. The mail from Germany
is
> > very slow just now - it took me a month to receive a Peugeot from list
> > member Kim Klakow. But apparently PayPal found there was something more
> > than slow mail involved in the charly's-auktionen case.
> >
> > Being of German descent myself, it pains me, but I have concluded to
avoid
> > German eBay sellers in general, except for CR list members like Kim.
The
> > deals seem great, but the goods never arrive. I never had any doubts,
on
> > the other hand, that the bike from Kim would arrive. I've never been
> > stiffed on a deal by a CR member, so I have a lot of trust in anyone who
is
> > an established list member.
> >
> > By the way, I still resent the way PayPal manipulates members into
linking
> > in bank accounts, but I have to admit, they are 2 for 2 in recovering
all or
> > most of my money in eBay fraud cases. Credit where credit is due.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jerry Moos
> > Houston, TX