New thread about European themes made by popular demand.
First topic is buying PE-stuff when you are in Europe.
Most PE stuff are either produced in US or cheap knockoffs from china. In both cases we have a series of problems:
1) Time to get - postal services from oversea is usually 4-6 weeks
2) Customs & tax - i pays (as i expect most EU-citizens do) both tax/customs AND extra post-handling when the package finally arrive in my country. Most handling adds about 10 euros, and customs is a crap shoot of either nothing or 10/20 euros. Tried once to buy 2 similar packages from same Chinese vendor at about 2 euros. One got handling 10 euros + custom 10 euros, the other with same content got 10 euros handling only. And the 'handling' often add a couple of weeks to the transport, and the goods are only released when you have paid the transporters extra handling fee - all in all extends the time and adds anything to the known price.
3) Privacy - buying stuff from outside EU will always have to go through customs, and when it is PE-stuff, you don't want anybody to know and associate your name and the stuff - besides the thought of some oaf playing with your gear is annoying or even worse.
So personally, i always try to find the stuff inside EU, for instance through amazon.uk or ebay.de, and that limits the availability and adds to price. Sometimes it is frustrating to se all the amazing PE-gear on this site and knowing that if you want it you will have to plan/wait for at least 6 weeks, and perhaps end up paying double the price they pay in US.
And don't get me started on Brexit
So how do you chose to buy?
First topic is buying PE-stuff when you are in Europe.
Most PE stuff are either produced in US or cheap knockoffs from china. In both cases we have a series of problems:
1) Time to get - postal services from oversea is usually 4-6 weeks
2) Customs & tax - i pays (as i expect most EU-citizens do) both tax/customs AND extra post-handling when the package finally arrive in my country. Most handling adds about 10 euros, and customs is a crap shoot of either nothing or 10/20 euros. Tried once to buy 2 similar packages from same Chinese vendor at about 2 euros. One got handling 10 euros + custom 10 euros, the other with same content got 10 euros handling only. And the 'handling' often add a couple of weeks to the transport, and the goods are only released when you have paid the transporters extra handling fee - all in all extends the time and adds anything to the known price.
3) Privacy - buying stuff from outside EU will always have to go through customs, and when it is PE-stuff, you don't want anybody to know and associate your name and the stuff - besides the thought of some oaf playing with your gear is annoying or even worse.
So personally, i always try to find the stuff inside EU, for instance through amazon.uk or ebay.de, and that limits the availability and adds to price. Sometimes it is frustrating to se all the amazing PE-gear on this site and knowing that if you want it you will have to plan/wait for at least 6 weeks, and perhaps end up paying double the price they pay in US.
And don't get me started on Brexit
So how do you chose to buy?
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