I was going to hijack Smeagols too many kites thread, but decided to go it alone...

Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob

I just bought a like new 12m shipped from Finland for under $300.

Hey Bob,

Could you elaborate on the shipping process and costs?
There are many good kite deals across the pond.
There is a P.L. Kitecat an the uk ebay site that I would LOVE! ,LOVE!!, LOVE!!! to have if I could figure out the logistics... I can't even message the seller (about whether he'd be willing to crate it up) until after I hit the purchase button.
I think I saw it listed on facebook this summer, but I've searched to the best of my limited ability, to no avail

Quote: Originally posted by ColinW

There is a P.L. Kitecat an the uk ebay site that I would LOVE! ,LOVE!!, LOVE!!! to have if I could figure out the logistics... I can't even message the seller (about whether he'd be willing to crate it up) until after I hit the purchase button.(

That's simply balderdash. You can send pre-sales questions to the seller before making a bid or purchase by clicking on the "Contact Seller" link.

You need to be logged in, but no financial commitments needs to be made to ask questions.



ATB,
Sam

Without casting aspersions upon your usually impeccable internet savvy...
I have tried that. After clicking on the contact seller, It says that I am not able to communicate. This is what appears:
Once you buy this item, you can share contact details to arrange collection.

If this is not how it works for your profile, then I would greatly appreciate you establishing a dialogue with the seller, including my email (which I am sure you are aware, is available in my profile).
Thanks,
colin

Getting a kite shipped is way simpler than a kitecat would be. It's not cheap but was still a deal after currency conversion and shipping. Seller has to be willing to fill out customs forms. It's a little extra hassle but not prohibitive. The last 5 kites I've bought were from UK or Europe.

Colin, getting anything shipped to Canada is going to cost you more than it would to the US to begin with. The kite cat would be a huge amount of work for anyone to disassemble and build a crate around the 15 ft hulls to ship it would cost you more than what the cats price was new.
There were a couple for sale years back in the US that ere sitting in San Diego and the seller had some good shipping contacts that made those nicely priced.
There was (and probably still is) the one sitting in Wisconsin that was a steal of a price with trailer going back about 5 years from Aaron
There is a kite cat sitting just outsides Ottawa that was one of the early models and Eric still gets out doing some winter kiting and stand up paddle boarding but hasn't used the cat in a few years and he would sell it - but shipping even within Canada would cost a good chunk - and it's the prep the protect the relatively fragile hulls from shipping handling. One kite cat arrived in the US with a nice puncture through the hull from a forklift moving the large crate around.
The cat is fun, i think it's better for lighter riders. I keep thinking a foil version would be awesome but so many technical things to work out that it really needs to be a different craft in terms of hulls and how the foils work in conjunction etc but here is something that starts to come damn close: https://vimeo.com/115193997

Quote: Originally posted by ColinW

Without casting aspersions upon your usually impeccable internet savvy... I have tried that. After clicking on the contact seller, It says that I am not able to communicate. This is what appears: Once you buy this item, you can share contact details to arrange collection. If this is not how it works for your profile, then I would greatly appreciate you establishing a dialogue with the seller, including my email (which I am sure you are aware, is available in my profile). Thanks, colin

I collect aspersions... I find they go well with French Toast.

This is truly bizzare, when I click "Contact Seller", I get this.



Which shows me the most postage related responses for this sale.

If I decide to persist, and click the "Contact the seller" button on this screen, I get:



Mom always said I was special, but I didn't she had any influence with eBay.

It looks VERY much like this person doesn't even want to ship within the UK, just local pickups. Which probably explains why it's still for sale.

I can contact him if you want, but most sellers (UK or otherwise) tend to get surly when you try to push them on this kind of stuff.

Basically if something goes wrong in transit, eBay will most likely side with you and force a refund, and then he had to deal with the hassle of insurance claims. Most aren't down for that.

Let me know.

ATB,
Sam

Thanks guys!

Maybe I should try shipping a kite from the UK and see how it goes.

Bob, have you been using the local postal service, or one of the mega package corporations?

Mark, I think you're right about getting stuff to Canada being more expensive.
I used the Dutch post office website to calculate the shipping to Victoria for a 10 Kg box 12"x12"x24" and it was, as I recall close to $250.00 CAD. (more than the kite cost).

We have friends that live in the UK, and we've been planning to do a trip over there, so maybe long a long term plan could be to have them receive them and then to pay for an extra bag on the flight home.

As to the kitecat, I am no lightweight, so maybe I should be dreaming elsewhere.
BUT, if one where available on this side of the pond, it would be a great road trip to go and get it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvKs2VLmVnY

My heart says get out on the water and kiteboard instead, but my knees aren't so sure.

colin

UK sucks to ship things from -- very expensive for a decent service, and the cheap ones aren't worth it. My first kite came from the UK, took 5 months -- two months longer than I'd paid for, and when I emailed asking WTF was basically told: if it turns up it turns up otherwise tough luck :o

Japan Post uses the international EMS service and a kite is about US$100 for tracked, insured, and guaranteed less than 2 weeks, although it often turns up within 5 days.

If you've family in the UK, get it sent to them, then get them to box it up and send it via a moving company or some sort of cargo. I did that with my 15kg foil and board from Oz -- took 3 weeks and cost $300, which was actually a WHOLE lot cheaper any other service.

Sadly, shipping from foreign countries into the US seems often to be a story of "You get what you pay for" though I'm sure even that falls flat at times. Heading the other way may well be that way too.

I've had very good experience using DHL's "Premium" service for getting kites shipped to me from Germany to Utah. Fortunately, these have all been single skins so their packaging size and weight have been kept to a minimum. :D

I have had far worse luck with DHL's standard and less expensive service. Such packages would seemingly go into a black hole (Bermuda Triangle?) for weeks only to finally spit out at home looking as if they had lost a 10-round bout with a Mountain Guerilla.

Sadly, the "get what you pay for" phenomenon seems to apply the other way around too. I unsuccessfully attempted to ship via USPS my (former) 9.5m LS2 to Born-Kite for some bridle work and it never made it. I put in formal inquires and could track it into German customs but then it went 'poof'.

Colin - I fear your desire to get such a large object over to Canada from Europe may be a bridge too far... Shame, it looks like a great toy! :karate:

All my shipments seem to get handed off to USPS.

Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob

All my shipments seem to get handed off to USPS.

Yipskippity. A good number of carriers us USPS inbound for "last mile" or "last leg". Never had a problem with that, just that once with the outbound heading to Germany.

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob   All my shipments seem to get handed off to USPS. Yipskippity. A good number of carriers us USPS inbound for "last mile" or "last leg". Never had a problem with that, just that once with the outbound heading to Germany.

Same here -- USPS hands off to Japan Post, and it all works perfectly.

PISS on DHL and FedEx etc -- those scumbags either make you pay through the nose for their postage or low-ball everyone, and THEN send you a bill for "import duties".

USPS is great. Except for their insistence that it takes exactly two weeks :D

What I find really odd is how much it costs to mail any from Europe compared to how cheap is to mail anything from Asia. While both are slow, the stuff I have had mailed from Asia take less time. That may have to do with where they arrive and go through US Customs though.

It took 2.5 months to arrive but I received a like new PL Phantom II today from Finland. I paid a fourth of what retail used to be. This is one of the best kites I've ever owned and had sellers remorse. Lots of deals over across the pond.

for the ebay listing, check the "other" box and it should then let you contact the buyer without the canned question responses.

Quote: Originally posted by BeamerBob

It took 2.5 months to arrive but I received a like new PL Phantom II today from Finland. I paid a fourth of what retail used to be. This is one of the best kites I've ever owned and had sellers remorse. Lots of deals over across the pond.

Let me assure you I have had no buyer's remorse on that transaction. ;-)

I'm glad you got it PBC! It shows up in several of my YouTube videos. Got over 58 mph with it but had my hands full trying to slow down or turn. It was like a chimney fire. Couldn't shut it down. Now I'm back in the saddle again!