Shreddoc wrote on 2022-02-26, 22:53:

Now imagine that I win a lucky $20 ebay bargain from Backwater Ohio. (*not that I ever can, because I would be competing against […]
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cyclone3d wrote on 2022-02-26, 22:05:

I live in one of these "big populations" but retro/vintage gear is not really available locally. […]
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Shreddoc wrote on 2022-02-26, 20:36:

I only buy off ebay once or twice per year. But when I do, it's always BIN. There are many reasons why. They all boil down to: it's the best (and sometimes only) way to efficiently and reliably get what I need from there, to me on the other side of the world.

I'm not using BIN because I'm an idiot. It's because, once all factors are considered, it's the smartest option for my situation.

People who live in the midst of big populations with endless retro gear sources and cheap instant shipping, will never understand how that is.

I live in one of these "big populations" but retro/vintage gear is not really available locally.

And the parts I am generally looking for now very rarely, if ever" pop up on eBay or any other site.

I had been looking for an ATI Mach64 VLB and an AWE64D / AWE64 PCI for a few years. The Mach64 VLB would pop up every once in a while on eBay bit the prices are always absurd. Finally found one that was included with a computer and ended up bidding and winning that auction for 1/3 to 1/2 of what the card itself normally goes for. Kicker is that the system is in an XT style case which I have been wanting as well.

Sorta the same for the AWE64D. It was in a "scrap lot" auction with some other good stuff. Paid a pretty penny for that auction but I contacted the seller and asked if he could package stuff to avoid damage in shipping. Might keep one or two other items from that lot, but hoping to make back most / all of the cost by selling stuff off separately from that lot.

The lower priced stuff that is available in the US eBay is generally lower end stuff that I have no need for. Sure there is lots of it, but it is of no use to me.

I've got around 100 saved searches on eBay and the pickings of good parts that aren't extremely overpriced is becoming very slim.

Now imagine that I win a lucky $20 ebay bargain from Backwater Ohio. (*not that I ever can, because I would be competing against people like you, who have comparatively no postal + import costs).

...Then manually message the seller, to muck around figuring out shipping costs to Tinysville New Zealand. Hope they agree, or that I have specially arranged it in advance.

...Then they must packaging it up for international shipping for me, which they were not expecting to do.

...Then they must deal with $40 shipping money for a $20 sale. (side note: with 15% import duties, the final $ cost to me of this "$20 bargain" is now $69....)

...Then seller must going to the Post Office for a special trip, asking for, and filling out, the necessary Customs forms to attach to the box for me.

...And signing declaration, giving all their details, phone number, etc.

It just doesn't work like that. Most sellers aren't willing to do it, with a quick cheap sale. It is an inconvenience for them. And for me, it's a chore to spend my life looking and asking, just for the odd occasional Yes.

Generally, it's only the inflated BIN auctions that have all that taken care of already, and offer it as an option. And that is why, on the rare occasion I buy from ebay, I tend to just save myself an extended headache, and grab a simple BIN which has international shipping all ready and set up to go. It may seem like inflated prices and stupid to use BIN to some people in other circumstances, but fact is, when you're in a niche situation there is no other practical choice. Millions of us around the world live in similar niche situations.

I live in Rural nowheresville Australia I know how you feel, nearest major city to me would be Adelaide and even the postal service considers that still a rural area cause ya know not being in the Eastern States.

So when I see the 70 dollar postage costs for international items to where I live I just accept it as part of being able to actually source the items I want since there is no other option.

I also accept that it can and sometimes does take 2 - 3 months to actually get the item I bought, especially from Europe. (Germany is the worst for some reason, Ukraine 1 -2 weeks, Russia 4 weeks, Germany 2 1/2 months !)

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-26, 23:53:

I live in Rural nowheresville Australia I know how you feel, nearest major city to me would be Adelaide and even the postal serv […]
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Shreddoc wrote on 2022-02-26, 22:53:

Now imagine that I win a lucky $20 ebay bargain from Backwater Ohio. (*not that I ever can, because I would be competing against […]
Show full quote

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-02-26, 22:05:

I live in one of these "big populations" but retro/vintage gear is not really available locally. […]
Show full quote

I live in one of these "big populations" but retro/vintage gear is not really available locally.

And the parts I am generally looking for now very rarely, if ever" pop up on eBay or any other site.

I had been looking for an ATI Mach64 VLB and an AWE64D / AWE64 PCI for a few years. The Mach64 VLB would pop up every once in a while on eBay bit the prices are always absurd. Finally found one that was included with a computer and ended up bidding and winning that auction for 1/3 to 1/2 of what the card itself normally goes for. Kicker is that the system is in an XT style case which I have been wanting as well.

Sorta the same for the AWE64D. It was in a "scrap lot" auction with some other good stuff. Paid a pretty penny for that auction but I contacted the seller and asked if he could package stuff to avoid damage in shipping. Might keep one or two other items from that lot, but hoping to make back most / all of the cost by selling stuff off separately from that lot.

The lower priced stuff that is available in the US eBay is generally lower end stuff that I have no need for. Sure there is lots of it, but it is of no use to me.

I've got around 100 saved searches on eBay and the pickings of good parts that aren't extremely overpriced is becoming very slim.

Now imagine that I win a lucky $20 ebay bargain from Backwater Ohio. (*not that I ever can, because I would be competing against people like you, who have comparatively no postal + import costs).

...Then manually message the seller, to muck around figuring out shipping costs to Tinysville New Zealand. Hope they agree, or that I have specially arranged it in advance.

...Then they must packaging it up for international shipping for me, which they were not expecting to do.

...Then they must deal with $40 shipping money for a $20 sale. (side note: with 15% import duties, the final $ cost to me of this "$20 bargain" is now $69....)

...Then seller must going to the Post Office for a special trip, asking for, and filling out, the necessary Customs forms to attach to the box for me.

...And signing declaration, giving all their details, phone number, etc.

It just doesn't work like that. Most sellers aren't willing to do it, with a quick cheap sale. It is an inconvenience for them. And for me, it's a chore to spend my life looking and asking, just for the odd occasional Yes.

Generally, it's only the inflated BIN auctions that have all that taken care of already, and offer it as an option. And that is why, on the rare occasion I buy from ebay, I tend to just save myself an extended headache, and grab a simple BIN which has international shipping all ready and set up to go. It may seem like inflated prices and stupid to use BIN to some people in other circumstances, but fact is, when you're in a niche situation there is no other practical choice. Millions of us around the world live in similar niche situations.

I live in Rural nowheresville Australia I know how you feel, nearest major city to me would be Adelaide and even the postal service considers that still a rural area cause ya know not being in the Eastern States.

So when I see the 70 dollar postage costs for international items to where I live I just accept it as part of being able to actually source the items I want since there is no other option.

I also accept that it can and sometimes does take 2 - 3 months to actually get the item I bought, especially from Europe. (Germany is the worst for some reason, Ukraine 1 -2 weeks, Russia 4 weeks, Germany 2 1/2 months !)

I live in the suburbs of Montreal (about 13 Km from downtown) which is Canada's second largest city and I sometimes see astoundingly high shipping rates from US (and other) sellers . I've paid less to have stuff shipped from Japan (sometimes in a 48h to 72h window) than from the US (go figure). At the end of the day, I too often decide to bite the bullet of expensive (within reason) BIN stuff with pre-calculated shipping/duties included . Mind you, I do get sometimes get lucky locally, but life is too short to wait years in the hope of maybe eventually getting what you want at your doorstep for cheap(ish).

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-26, 23:53:

Germany is the worst for some reason

The reason being that a certain corrupt ruler of the 1980s/90s (who used to drink Margaret Thatchers bath water) privatised the German postal service, yet left them with a quasi-monopoly that eventually mutated into "Deutsche Post DHL", inc.
They still get away with any amount of incompetence and a criminal lack of service ethics, because so far, anyone over 30 here hasn't quite realized that they're not "his majesty's holy roman imperial postal service" any more. Rather, just another corporation, only worse.

Sorry, off topic rant, but that's it, in a nutshell.

Practical advice: If the seller gives you any choice, ask for shipping by "anyone but DHL", really worth a try.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-02-27, 00:44:

The reason being that a certain corrupt ruler of the 1980s/90s (who used to drink Margaret Thatchers bath water) privatised the […]
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TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-26, 23:53:

Germany is the worst for some reason

The reason being that a certain corrupt ruler of the 1980s/90s (who used to drink Margaret Thatchers bath water) privatised the German postal service, yet left them with a quasi-monopoly that eventually mutated into "Deutsche Post DHL", inc.
They still get away with any amount of incompetence and a criminal lack of service ethics, because so far, anyone over 30 here hasn't quite realized that they're not "his majesty's holy roman imperial postal service" any more. Rather, just another corporation, only worse.

Sorry, off topic rant, but that's it, in a nutshell.

Practical advice: If the seller gives you any choice, ask for shipping by "anyone but DHL", really worth a try.

I would just like to say I fucking hate DHL .. even here in Australia DHL is bloody terrible.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-27, 00:45:

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-02-27, 00:44:

The reason being that a certain corrupt ruler of the 1980s/90s (who used to drink Margaret Thatchers bath water) privatised the […]
Show full quote

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-26, 23:53:

Germany is the worst for some reason

The reason being that a certain corrupt ruler of the 1980s/90s (who used to drink Margaret Thatchers bath water) privatised the German postal service, yet left them with a quasi-monopoly that eventually mutated into "Deutsche Post DHL", inc.
They still get away with any amount of incompetence and a criminal lack of service ethics, because so far, anyone over 30 here hasn't quite realized that they're not "his majesty's holy roman imperial postal service" any more. Rather, just another corporation, only worse.

Sorry, off topic rant, but that's it, in a nutshell.

Practical advice: If the seller gives you any choice, ask for shipping by "anyone but DHL", really worth a try.

I would just like to say I fucking hate DHL .. even here in Australia DHL is bloody terrible.

DHL is horrid in the USA as well. Prices are insane.

I'm still waiting on a package to arrive from Germany... Was preparing to ship on January 27th.. still just sitting there from what I can tell.

I ordered a Cyrix Cx486SLC2-50MP chip from China, which luckily turned out to be authentic, but it took 7 weeks to get to Canada. They shipped some kind of DHL method and the package got parked in Germany for most of that 7 weeks. I took the $6 shipping option. There was also a $30 shipping option, but I'm not sure how different the result would have been. If your destination is the USA, only the $30 shipping option was available.

*dusting off a classic* Yeah it's 50 cents for the transport, $5.50 for the storage.

United Parcel Smashers. Federal Executioners. Dummies Handling Logistics.

United Parcel Smashers - there has to be some good truth to that because every computer tower I've had shipped from the US to Canada via UPS has been damaged. I won't let the ship me anything anymore. FedEx is a lot more gentle with my packages, but their brokerage fees are ridiculous. Not like UPS's brokerage fees are any better though.

If something is smashed in shipping, it wasn't packaged properly.

I don't trust any of the shipping companies to not destroy stuff.

However, I've shipped over 1,500 packages and have not had a single item damaged.

Packaging suitability and postal service handling care are both factors which can be potentially unsatisfactory, and result in breakages. It's not all down to the packaging. Service providers can be (and sometimes definitely are) negligent or careless, resulting in breakages where no amount of packaging would have saved the item.

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-02-27, 21:14:

Packaging suitability and postal service handling care are both factors which can be potentially unsatisfactory, and result in breakages. It's not all down to the packaging. Service providers can be (and sometimes definitely are) negligent or careless, resulting in breakages where no amount of packaging would have saved the item.

They should stop hiring burnt out quarterbacks as delivery guys 🤣

Shreddoc wrote on 2022-02-27, 21:14:

Packaging suitability and postal service handling care are both factors which can be potentially unsatisfactory, and result in breakages. It's not all down to the packaging. Service providers can be (and sometimes definitely are) negligent or careless, resulting in breakages where no amount of packaging would have saved the item.

If the packages are broken open or smashed, yes.

And if super fragile items that break just by being looked at, yes.

However, most items can be packaged sufficiently to survive just fine even if the carrier is negligent or careless.

These people who just throw stuff in a box with a bit of shredded paper or nothing at all are the biggest reason that items are damaged in shipping.

I've even had fragile stuff shipped to me in an unpadded mylar envelope. First one was destroyed and I specifically requested that a replacement be shipped in a box with proper packaging... Nope, another mylar envelope with no padding.

I've had stuff go half way across the world and back to me after being "lost" for months by the postal service. Was in perfect shape when I finally received the package back.

My philosophy is to package everything well enough to survive even the most horrible shipping service.

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-02-27, 15:05:

If something is smashed in shipping, it wasn't packaged properly.

I'm not so sure about that. This case was brand new and in the original manufacturers thick form-fitted styrafoam and box. The box looked like it was used in a world cup footie finale. I lived in the USA during undergrad and never had this issue with UPS packages, but for packages shipped from US to Canada, they have always had the crap beaten out of them.

EDIT: I have some speculation about why. Canadians can get hit with a $47 CAD "brokerage fee" upon arrival for an item valued at only $100 USD. It is no secret that a lot of recipients are angry and surprised by this. Many of them refuse the accept the packages and are angry, especially for the case when the shipper's eBay listing say it ships by USPS (brokerage fees are A LOT less). When the Canadian UPS sorters and drivers see that the package is international, they handle it with less care because of the abusive treatment they receive at the door and because they figure some percentage refuse to accept the packages.

This does not explain why the UPS packages I receive are more beaten up compared to the FedEx packages. Well, I've another speculation as to why. FedEx got smart. They drop off the package without collecting payment. You get a bill in the mail 3-4 weeks later. If you don't pay the brokerage bill, they don't deliver your next package.

How much of that $47 is FedEx's money, and how much goes to the Canadian goverment. The $7 goes to Canada, the $40 goes to FedEx. If shipped by USPS, $10 to Canada Post as their brokerage fee and $7 to Canada. I've often wondered how much of the $40 FedEx receives for their brokerage fee is pure profit, and which portion goes towards overhead. This is on top of the $212 they received to ship the box.

On top of that, they sometimes seem to have a scam going where they re-value your goods, even if receipt is included, plus pasted to the box, to top end BIN or Amazon type pricing, forcing sales tax payment on $400 when you paid $90 or something.... because if you dispute the value/taxes, it goes to who paid it, then you have to try to get it back out of them... I am 80% sure they file later "on your behalf" and pocket it... and that's the service your $40 brokerage fee is buying, gah.

Then US sellers are bemused when they're like "I saved you $2 shipping UPS" and you're like "NO YOU DIDN'T!!!!"

I never fully understood how Canada Customs evaluates goods coming into Canada. They don't necessarily match the receipt. Speaking of which, I had this bizaire experience crossing the border back into Canada with my vehicle some 10 years ago. I had the tyres replaced on my car in the USA. They are already on my car as I cross the border, so they are now used tyres. Customs wants to tax me on the cost of the tyres. In my mind, the tyres are part of the vehicle now and my vehicle's value hasn't changed since leaving and returning. Why are they taxing me on the tyres? They interrogated me in their border office for an hour for the tax on $230. I was scolded for not having the receipts, I was belittled and called a liar. I haven't been back to the USA since then - PTSD!

Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM T VLB sells for $199 + $10 shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275188458712
I guess these cards aren't appreciating all that well. They've been at $200 for years now.

Why "lose" the receipt, did it have a set of plugs and wires, new muffler and an oil change on it too? 😁

I didn't have receipts because I bought the items online and shipped them to a friend's house (including the tyres). The parts were installed in the USA, then I drove it back. I had left the car at his place for a few months so he could re-gear the differential. Took so long because the first set of gears was noisy, had to find a different set. I never saw the receipts, if they even existed. Sometimes I only get packaging slips in the box. Nonetheless, customs found this whole thing hard to believe. They also wanted to know how much I paid for the ring and pinion set, and I was like, "it has been several months, I don't know. I can only estimate". So the customs agent went looking up parts online to see if they could verify my prices, but I told them it has been several months and the prices probably have changed. It was a mess. It all caught me by surprised because I didn't think replacing parts in a car are something reportable. Everyone I have asked said they also didn't think these are reportable items. Maybe it was just this particular customs agent? I don't know.

Lessons learned:
going into Canada - they are looking for receipts and new looking merchandise
going into USA - they are looking for drugs

One time I was headed into the USA bringing my old wheel (rim and tyre) in the trunk to get the tyre replaced. The cost was like half of what it was in Canada. The USA customs agent stopped us for more than an hour, determine he would find drugs in my flat spare tyre. It was getting so ridiculous that after an hour, I told the guy he can just cut up the tyre if he wanted to. They were scanning my rocker panels and every vehicle cavity. All this while the real smugglers were probably getting away.

I have an 80% search rate when going through customs, thus I try to avoid travel whenever possible.

feipoa wrote on 2022-03-08, 01:32:

I never fully understood how Canada Customs evaluates goods coming into Canada. They don't necessarily match the receipt. Speak […]
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I never fully understood how Canada Customs evaluates goods coming into Canada. They don't necessarily match the receipt. Speaking of which, I had this bizaire experience crossing the border back into Canada with my vehicle some 10 years ago. I had the tyres replaced on my car in the USA. They are already on my car as I cross the border, so they are now used tyres. Customs wants to tax me on the cost of the tyres. In my mind, the tyres are part of the vehicle now and my vehicle's value hasn't changed since leaving and returning. Why are they taxing me on the tyres? They interrogated me in their border office for an hour for the tax on $230. I was scolded for not having the receipts, I was belittled and called a liar. I haven't been back to the USA since then - PTSD!

Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM T VLB sells for $199 + $10 shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275188458712
I guess these cards aren't appreciating all that well. They've been at $200 for years now.

I was under the impression the 968 series with 4MB were the ones commanding much more money. $200 for that card is a lot?

The 968 cards are slower in DOS, so perhaps the Trio64 with 2 MB balances out to the 968 with 4 MB in terms of pricing.