I wanted to order a couple of minifigure hats from a seller in Germany to be sent to the UK. The seller told me the cheapest postage was over €10 by courier. When I suggested that they could go by Deutsche Post for only €1.70 or €3.70 depending on the packet’s thickness, I was told that those rates don’t exist to the UK, only the EU. Is that true?

The reciprocal, sending a large letter from the UK to Germany by Royal Mail for a few £s, is possible, so I’m surprised that Germany-to-UK isn’t.

Please note that this is emphatically NOT a political thread about Brexit. Please don’t go there.

43 minutes ago, AmperZand said:

I wanted to order a couple of minifigure hats from a seller in Germany to be sent to the UK. The seller told me the cheapest postage was over €10 by courier. When I suggested that they could go by Deutsche Post for only €1.70 or €3.70 depending on the packet’s thickness, I was told that those rates don’t exist to the UK, only the EU. Is that true?

The reciprocal, sending a large letter from the UK to Germany by Royal Mail for a few £s, is possible, so I’m surprised that Germany-to-UK isn’t.

Please note that this is emphatically NOT a political thread about Brexit. Please don’t go there.

Deutsche Post only allows documents to be sent by mail (would be same to EU btw), so he would have to send it with DHL, with their smallest parcel. No idea why he states it would exist in the EU though. So the only thing he could send to you with deutsche post using mail would be building instructions.

The cheapest way of getting a few minifigures from Germany to the Uk would be 8.99€ without insurance and tracking. If you want insurance and tracking, then it's 12.99€.

That's all with DHL, every other company seems to be (much) more expensive.

@Black Falcon & @Greshi210, Thank you for your replies. I think I understand now: the international rates listed here are for written or printed paper only, not for other items, correct? 

In the UK, we don’t make a distinction depending on what is being sent. The price just depends on the weight and volume.

Were they LEGO parts or custom? If LEGO someone here might be able to help.

45 minutes ago, MAB said:

Were they LEGO parts or custom? If LEGO someone here might be able to help.

LEGO parts but rare ones. No-one seems to sell them in the UK unfortunately. Only a handful of continental sellers have them and only German ones at anything approaching a reasonable price :~(

5 hours ago, AmperZand said:

@Black Falcon & @Greshi210, Thank you for your replies. I think I understand now: the international rates listed here are for written or printed paper only, not for other items, correct? 

In the UK, we don’t make a distinction depending on what is being sent. The price just depends on the weight and volume.

Exactly. Though I think they allow USB sticks and CDs aswell, as they are digital documents. As far as I know it is like that since 2019.

2 hours ago, AmperZand said:

LEGO parts but rare ones. No-one seems to sell them in the UK unfortunately. Only a handful of continental sellers have them and only German ones at anything approaching a reasonable price :~(

Well if all of those are from one seller I would check if he has other parts you are looking for so the sending costs play a smaller role in the overall order.

On 4/7/2024 at 6:41 PM, AmperZand said:

The price just depends on the weight and volume.

Well, inside the EU similar "things" (not exactly, as there are competing companies) apply. For sure, they will be totally complex and there are gazillions of rules and regulations. EU ^^, what do you expect. However, shipping is generally >much< cheaper within the EU than to GB. Brexit is Brexit, I guess.

Best,
Thorsten

 

 

On 4/7/2024 at 11:06 PM, Black Falcon said:

Exactly. Though I think they allow USB sticks and CDs aswell, as they are digital documents. As far as I know it is like that since 2019.

Well if all of those are from one seller I would check if he has other parts you are looking for so the sending costs play a smaller role in the overall order.

Quite frustrating to be honest. If Deutsche Post accepts memory sticks, why not LEGO of the same size and weight?

The seller suggested that I just add to the order to make it worthwhile, but I’m only really after those two hats. I just bought the D&D set, so I’ve already maxed out my LEGO budget for the time being. The parts I wanted plus what I was expecting P&P to be was already above my spending plan, so adding to the order plus €10 P&P is too much.

On 4/7/2024 at 8:42 PM, AmperZand said:

LEGO parts but rare ones. No-one seems to sell them in the UK unfortunately. Only a handful of continental sellers have them and only German ones at anything approaching a reasonable price :~(

Are they secret? If not, post them here. Someone might have them, just not for sale at BL.