# I pit online shopping from outside the US (long, sweary, possibly incoherent) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 9, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807 "2009-08-09T03:44:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/61 "2009-08-11T11:11:26Z")
I live in Singapore and OH GOD I approve of this rant. Seriously. Charge me shipping. Charge me exorbitant shipping. BUT SELL ME THE G D GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL DAMMIT _seethe seethe seethe_ At least zappos takes my international credit card, which is more than I can say for Oakley’s. And thank goodness for freight forwarders. I try to keep shipping costs down by buying together with my colleagues and combining shipping, but not taking foreign credit cards really gets my goat. I mean seriously, what, my money not good enough for you? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/62 "2009-08-11T15:00:19Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Amazon.co.jp is great for buying goods that are already in Japan, and having them delivered within Japan. For buying from overseas it’s a piece of poo. I guess I was just lucky that everything I was looking for, they had. (Including stuff like the entire run of \*Transmetropolitan \*in TPB form.) ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/63 "2009-08-11T17:09:49Z")
Oh, lord. ThinkGeek. I bought my husband a sonic screwdriver last year from them, $10 shipping. Fine. Last Christmas, ordered another one for my BiL. Somehow the shipping for the $15 toy had doubled, and when it arrived I had to pay _20 farging stupid insane dollars_ on the Customs fee for putting it over the border. Aarrgh. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/64 "2009-08-11T21:51:38Z")
Why does the customs cost so much? Is it just a way of raising money, or is it intended to protect local merchants or what? ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/65 "2009-08-13T12:42:26Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Have you Aussies considered applying for US statehood? 😉 > Seriously, you’ve chosen (in some sense of the word) to live completely on the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD from the entity you want to buy from. Does it really surprise you that shipping items COMPLETELY to the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD costs money? Shipping was quite reasonable until the US postal service cut out surface, even airmail was a lot more reasonable however fifty bucks seems to be a very common charge nowadays, I understand some of the reason but it still sucks .I even paid forty dollars for a tiny envelope from the US which arrived with a five dollar stamp on it, needless to say no repeat business for those people. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/66 "2009-08-14T18:28:22Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Lots of us would gladly move to The Greatest Country In The World™, except the Government thereof seems to have gone out of their way to make it nearly impossible for people to do that. > > As a semi-consolation prize I think most of us would be happy to be able to order cheap stuff from the US online and not get shafted on shipping charges or told the seller doesn’t know how to spell “Australia” and therefore won’t ship to us. Come one Australia! Become the 51st state (well…maybe 51st through 58th? states) We’ll take ya. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/67 "2009-08-14T18:35:22Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Come one Australia! Become the 51st state (well…maybe 51st through 58th? states) > > We’ll take ya. 😃 I think you’d get a lot of blowback from Alaskans and Texans, because their states wouldn’t look very big any more if Australia’s states were added to the union. The state of Western Australia is about two and a half times the size of Alaska, and 5 of Australia’s 8 states/territories are larger than Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/68 "2009-08-14T18:55:40Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I think you’d get a lot of blowback from Alaskans and Texans, because their states wouldn’t look very big any more if Australia’s states were added to the union. > > The state of Western Australia is about two and a half times the size of Alaska, and 5 of Australia’s 8 states/territories are larger than Texas. Ah. That’s the real reason Canada will never be allowed to join. Ontario, Quebec, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut are larger than Texas. It’s even worse being smaller than and outnumbered by subnational entities that _speak different languages_ than you. Texas: 696,241 km[sup]2[/sup]. Ontario: land area 917,741 km[sup]2[/sup]; there’s another 158,654 km[sup]2[/sup] of water, for a total of 1,076,395 km[sup]2[/sup]. Québec: land area 1,365,128 km[sup]2[/sup]; water area 176,928 km[sup]2[/sup], for a total of 1,542,056 km[sup]2[/sup]. NWT: land area 1,140,835 km[sup]2[/sup]; water area 205,271 km[sup]2[/sup], for a total of 1,346,106 km[sup]2[/sup]. Nunavut: land area 1,932,255 km[sup]2[/sup]; water area 160,935 km[sup]2[/sup], for a total of 2,093,190 km[sup]2[/sup]. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Gnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_gnomer/32/3466_2.png) [@Miss\_Gnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Gnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/69 "2009-08-16T11:49:11Z")
I got a new one the other day … after searching around for an item that was about US$100 I found numerous places that were going to charge me over $150 for postage (I seriously don’t understand why the price of postage depended on the price of the item - surely it depends on the size/weight of the item more?) … so I have a friend in the USA who agreed to receive the package and forward it on to me (of course, free shipping within the USA) … I try to order online and it gets rejected … they wouldn’t take my credit card!! what the?! It is a VISA card … I’ve travelled the world with it and used it everywhere … I’ve ordered online using it many times … it’s VISA for crying out loud … not dodgy-backwards-country-weirdo-credit-card!!! It’s not as though they aren’t getting the money upfront either. You don’t like my money … well … you don’t get it … found somewhere else that would accept it!! Oh … and postage by friend was $20!! I used to avoid UK sites because of the exchange rate … but now with the postage from the US becoming sillier … it might be cheaper for me to order USA products from the UK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807.md?page=3)