Does anyone have any idea why these German eBayers will not ship to the USA? I would say that the majority of the ones I contact say they will not ship to the US. Is this a customs thing or something? Or, is it how low the dollar is to the Euro right now?

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'85 300D 190K miles
running on B100 Biodiesel since 156K, SCRATCH THAT! I can only find Biodiesel at 1 location in Houston! (not very convenient)

I believe it is extremely expensive to ship from Germany to USA...and most sellers do not want to deal with it.

how many feedbacks do you have? It takes about 45 minutes to fill out all the customs forms if you do not use UPS world ship. Ups is very easy, but its also very expensive and puts that wasted time on the recipients hands.

If buy it now is 80 euro, its 80 euros, the exchange rate just means your perceptions of 80 euros changes.

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Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.

If you need something (small) let me know, I have relatives over there. Whenever I need something I can't get here (mostly parts for my Vanagon), my father buys it on ebay and then sends it to me as a gift. No customs form required. It is quite expensive, though, you might really want to do this only if you can't get it here, which is rare.

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'99 S420, 155k
'91 VW Vanagon GL, 150k
'85 VW Vanagon GL, 120k
'82 VW Westy, aircooled, 165k

I think it's a PITA for them with the fees and the customs forms. Also, there's the large increase in risk - if you, the Buyer, cancels out of the deal after he sells it, it's much more complicated dealing with that between two far away countries. Why should a Seller take the risks when he can sell it locally and avoid the risks?

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

I won an auction on German Ebay for a set of AMG wheels and I ended up not wanting. I asked the guy if he would let me back out and pay him fifty euros for his trouble which he accepted and sold them to the next highest bidder because the shipping fees and import duties were very high. I think it was about seven hundred bucks to New York, where I could pick them up at the JFK cargo terminal, or eleven fifty delivered to my house in Philly. Ocean freight was about a grand, though I could have had them delivered to Port Richmond, a twenty minute drive. It's just too much. And if you can persuade the seller to put an artificially low price on the customs forms, then you can end up with the things stuck in customs and needing an appraisal.

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I never go far without a little Big Star

1994 E500 199/Gray 82k
84 300D (Salty) Orient Red/Palomino 141k
88 300CE (Ersatzhammer) 904/Java 163k -- Turbo Technics twin turbo kit, AMG Gen I body kit, Sportline steering box and steering wheel, Sportline/Eibach /Bilstein Sport/500E suspension, Quaife LSD in 210 mm diff case, Silver Arrow brakes.
88 300CE Brabus 3.6 199 on Black 44k