| Archive for Freesteam For collectors and enthusiasts of all steam engines |
| Ministeam |
http://www.ministeam.comGreat prices for your steaming needs!Link? (Admin) |
| old_timer |
Certainly lots of nice items there, but I'm not so sure about the 'great prices' claim. 
I'm not too familiar with the prices in the US, but certainly exporting to the UK would be prohibitively expensive for any items costing more than £18.00 (about $36.00) including shipping & handling ... and I guess on those low price items it wouldn't be cost effective anyway. Anything over £18.00 imported into the UK incurs import VAT at 17.5% As for the bigger items, lets look at a couple of well known products. The Mamod SR1a Steam Roller. You claim a 'Retail Price' for this item is $299.95 
and you are currently selling this for a limited period for $215.95 (no indication of what the 'limited' period is) As I say, I don't really know the prices in the US, but according to Forest Classics, this item has a Recommended Retail Price of £119.70 Forest sells them himself for £99.00 http://www.forest-classics.co.uk/mamod_steamroller_sr1a.htm (Forest often sells even cheaper on eBay) Note that the UK prices all include VAT. VAT is not charged on items supplied from the UK to outside the EU. Therefore the equivilent prices excluding VAT would be £101.87 (RRP) and £84.25 actual sale price. It may interest you to note that the use of comparison prices (such as RRP, MRP, usual price, typical price, etc) is strictly controlled in the UK by legislation. e.g. a Recommended Retail Price must be one that is actually recommeded by the manufacturer and can be shown to be the usual sale price of the item. More information in the use of comparison prices for UK traders, together with details of why they are frowned upon, is available here: http://www.consumereducation.org.uk/money/english/prices/01.htm Lets look next at the Wilesco D405 Traction Engine You claim this has a 'Retail Price' of $389.95
and you are currently selling this for a limited period for $283.86 (again, no indication of what this 'limited' period is) We are all aware of station500 who is probably one of the best and most competitive Wilesco suppliers, and he will supply this same item with free shipping & handling to the US (and allegedly without any import tax) for just $264.99 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230177681716 The station500 offer also includes 2 boxes of Esbit and a bottle of steam oil in the price - something you would charge an extra $18.65 for! Station500 will often negotiate to an even lower price outside of eBay 
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| Ministeam |
Phil at Forest is a great person, promoting steam. I would buy from him any day. You are right it does not make sense to pay shipping and custom fees to the US and then shipping and custom fees back to England. |