Lower Postage/Shipping Costs from U.S.Dealers

[faraway]

I'm shopping virtual all of my model railroad from Germany in the USA.
Some (a lot of) persons selling via ebay refuse to ship oversea. I assume they simply don't know how to do so. But that the same here in Germany. A lot of people don't sell anything out of country via ebay.
The shops I'm using all charge the USPS fee. It's around $30 for a parcel with up to two locomotives and takes 2-4 weeks to arrive. The last week is most time Germany internal transfer for custom reasons. I do not buy if UPS is the only choice. It's most time far above $75.
A simple envelope with decals from Microscale cost ony a few bugs and arrives within one week.
A larger envelope with employee time tables varies from $3 to $15 and arrives within 1-2 weeks.
In any case I need to know the cost and method of shipment before I make the deal final.

[Jake]

Here in Canada we often have the same kind of problem - US shippers wanting $25 for shipping an item in a standard envelope.  If asked, they explain that the extra charge is for something called "handling."  I figure it this way - $1 for a stamped envelope.  $23 to write my name and address on the envelope and fill out the little green export tag.  If the seller is a little slow, that might take 5 minutes.  If my math is correct, that is about $288 per hour for monkey work.

       

Where do I sign up?!

[hindmarch]

Hi Jake,i get most of my trains etc from The Favorite Shop, i think they are very fair with the postage costs,The post costs from UK to Germany are also very high,its cheaper to fly over with the cheap fares and pick it up yourself,Regards Bryan