International Shipping from the US and EU \ VOGONS

International Shipping from the US and EU

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First post, by Trashbytes

Posted on 2026-10-04, 10:22

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Not sure if any other members here in Australia have noticed but buying retro gear has suddenly become very difficult, many sellers in both the US and EU have stopped shipping to Australia or have raised shipping costs to the point of absurdity. (100+ USD shipping on a 50 USD item, EU is a little better but exchange rates to the Euro are worse than to USD).

Not sure if this is to do with Tariffs, Law changes for the EU or just generally high shipping costs due to Oil and fuel costs, whatever the cause its made buying anything internationally either impossible or extremely expensive, its rather depressing.

Thoughts ?

Reply 1 of 5, by RandomStranger

Posted on 2026-10-04, 10:28

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Maybe it's just eBay sellers?

I noticed that shipping within the EU became a lot more expensive on eBay. Not everyone raised their shipping prices, but in general they at least doubled. I don't see the same thing on Vinted. Some sellers do have high shipping prices there too, but a lot less common.

Reply 2 of 5, by jh80

Posted on 2026-10-04, 10:30

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(not in Australia but) I use a proxy shipping service from the US. The advantage is that I can combine multiple orders into a single shipment. It still costs an arm and a leg, though, and all of the proxy services that I know of will nickel-and-dime you with a million small fees.

Reply 3 of 5, by Trashbytes

Posted on 2026-10-04, 10:35

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RandomStranger wrote on 2026-10-04, 10:28:

Maybe it's just eBay sellers?

I noticed that shipping within the EU became a lot more expensive on eBay. Not everyone raised their shipping prices, but in general they at least doubled. I don't see the same thing on Vinted. Some sellers do have high shipping prices there too, but a lot less common.

Its a lot of places and stores, not just eBay, I assume its because shipping in general is stupidly expensive even locally. (Even Amazon has become crazy expensive for international shipping)

I was curious what others have seen and think, I can still get stuff from Germany and Ukraine cheaply for some reason they can ship to Australia far more cheaply.

Reply 4 of 5, by Trashbytes

Posted on 2026-10-04, 10:37

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jh80 wrote on 2026-10-04, 10:30:

(not in Australia but) I use a proxy shipping service from the US. The advantage is that I can combine multiple orders into a single shipment. It still costs an arm and a leg, though, and all of the proxy services that I know of will nickel-and-dime you with a million small fees.

Have considered it but wont go that route unless its a "Must Have" type of purchase.

Reply 5 of 5, by RandomStranger

Posted on 2026-10-04, 10:54

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jh80 wrote on 2026-10-04, 10:30:

It still costs an arm and a leg, though, and all of the proxy services that I know of will nickel-and-dime you with a million small fees.

Did this to buy stuff from Japan, but stopped. It's just dirty business. To buy from certain sellers on Yahoo auctions proxy shipping services were the only option for international shipping, but they added a fee for absolutely everything.

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