Author: Mike Byrne
Date: 18:34:30 04/19/05
Go up one level in this thread
On April 19, 2005 at 18:15:04, Steve B wrote: >well this is certainly a detailed auditor like question >:) >i will attmept to answer all parts from my own personal experience >here goes: > > >>I have yet to purchase a chess computer from a European seller, but there have >>been several I have been interested in. Much of my reluctance is because I have >> Stuff like, did you use surface or air >>shipping? Any problems with either, as far as damage goes? > >ALWAYS use Air NEVER surface > >surface although cheaper can take up to two months to arrive from countries like >Germany or Italy >Air will take less then two weeks >Air is very reliable and i have never had an item go lost on me >Surface was also pretty reliable but i have had a few items never show up > >the shipping costs vary wildy from country to country with the UK being far and >away the most expensive for overseas shipping >Germany is pretty reasonable and about the same as here in the US and the same >for Canada and Austrailia > > > Is insurance>available and is it available to a level high enough to cover >the more expensive>items? Have you ever had to file a claim? > >insurance is available but must be requested by the buyer >the seller will then insure it when he ships >it can be as high as you like and you will pay for it > >but personally i never take out insurance >i went through the process once of filing a claim and it literally took more >then a year and in the end i got less then half of my purchase price >i think if a seller knows you have insurance he is less likely to come to an >agreeable resolution of a lost item then if you dont have insurance >the few times a computer was lost on me the sellers eventually agreed to refund >a good part of the price and it was settled in a matter of a few months and not >years > whereas the one time i i lost an item that was insured the seller sat back and >let the insurance company go at it > >my advice for whats its worth to you.. >skip the insurance > > > Does PayPal take care of all of the >>exchange rates? > >yes they do >when you pay with Paypal you simply indicate Euros (for example) >then the seller will receive this exact amount and you will be charged the US >Dollar equivilant > > >> What do you do when the seller does not use PayPal? > >this is much more of a pain >if the seller wont take Paypal then he will take a direct transfer into his >bank account >you can go to your bank to make the transfer but its a time consuming process >and the bank fees are pretty hefty > >the best thing here is to have someone you know in Europe who will take Paypal >make the transfer for you > >it dosent have to be a person from the same country >so for example if you win a computer from Germany it will not be very hard for a >person from the UK to make the transfer >then you can reimburse them with Paypal >just yesterday i won a rare Yeno from France and the seller will only accept a >direct transfer >so i asked a friend and fellow collector from Europe to pay for me and he did >of course i arranged this with my friend well before i bid on the auction > >All in All my acquisitions from abroad have gone pretty much smoothly >it just takes a bit longer to finally receive the computer >no immediate gratification when buying from abroad >:) > >International Regards >Steve Very good advice Steve B -- just to add my $.02 on the insurance, I echo Steve's comments and to add a few of my own -- as a seller, I always throw in the insurance -- to Steve's point - it takes me out of the loop at minimum expense if there is an issue (Although in the US, title transfer typically at time of shipping so as a seller I do not have to pay for the insurance -- I do it as a gesture of goodwill). As a buyer, the insurance deal is just bad deal if you ever really need to collect. They are never going to fork over $500 or more easily. A tracking number is sufficient for me as buyer.
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