any idea who is MSL could it be Modell shop Lippe ?

John

Yep, their logo is MSL, and yes, a good shop to deal with.

It bites the other way too. I used to keep coral reef fish tanks and some of the best lighting systems etc. then could only be sourced in the US. I can still feel the postage/shipping pain.
Jabez.

I agree that it is excessive. But the last package I shipped to Canada using the US Postal Service cost almost $50 USD!

In general FedEx is the cheapest overseas shipper available to individual consumers in the US, although as Tom has pointed out there are third party shippers who claim to ship for less. However that may not be taking the volume of the package into consideration on those estimates. The FedEx website showed about $40 based on just weight for my ESU loco, but once they measured the dimensions of the box it soared to $235 USD. I don't know that it would really be cheaper to use a third party shipper, but it could hardly cost more. If my ESU loco breaks again I guess I will have to spend more time seeing if there are any better options out there for me. Several friends have told me that they never pay the shipping cost to Europe if the parts to fix a loco are less than $100 USD or so.

Just remember to be thankful that you are so close to the heart of model railroading and enjoy way cheaper shipping than some of us do. I also pay a 3% out of country charge on my MasterCard every time I make a purchase outside of the US.

First world problems, I know - but it does cut into the old model railroad budget.

Cheers.

Well, I can't really explain it Ray and I wish I could.

When I bought the ESU loco from MSL they charged me 30,89€ for shipping, so I was totally unprepared for what I found when I needed to ship it back to Germany. The FedEx counter agent told me he never buys from outside the US because that even with his employee discount the shipping costs too much if he needs to return something. The next time I need to ship internationally I guess I will have to drive around the metro area here in central Ohio and see if I can turn up a better rate, but I have already tried the US Postal Service, UPS and FedEx without finding anything less expensive.

Believe me, I would love to find a cheaper shipping solution but so far I have not been able to.

I put the ESU box in an outer box for protection and that box was about 45x35x15 cm. Not small but then not huge either. It might have cost less at the US Post Office but I decided to send it to my friend here in Ohio for $14, and I didn't bother shopping around more.

And no, not expedited shipping at all - I specifically asked for their best rate and told the guy I didn't really care when it got there.

It seems that shipping rates have soared. I got a heavy jacket from California and had to exchange it. I put it in the UPS bag it came in (for free) and took it to the local UPS office. After they measured it the cost was $75 USD for ground to freaking California. I laughed and told her I would donate it to charity and buy another one rather than pay that. The counter agent took it out of the bag and shoved it into the smallest box she could get it to fit into. That slashed the price th $33 - again, ground to California. My Insider VT 95.9 cost me $45 just to ship it to British Columbia. The last large order I got from British Columbia (in January) cost me over $75, which normally would be $35-$40.

I don't claim that any of the prices that I have been quoted or paid make any sense to me, but there are only so many shipping venues available to me and I have not found one to be vastly cheaper than another. I am not some troll making wild claims about shipping costs to get attention, just a poor sod who bought too much crap from outside his country.

I talked to a friend who's wife sells stuff overseas. He said that they best prices they could get were using US Postal Service, printing out the labels themselves and then lying about the contents and their value. I guess that is one option although not my first choice.