No wonder the US don't do many exports

[RWAP]

What is it with ordering items from American firms when you are overseas. Is it some sort of language barrier?
Do they not want to export items? Plain stupidity? Or am I just asking the most incredibly weird questions?

I have been trying to order some of the small plastic pegs that hold a ZX80 motherboard in position.

It might have been easier to ask China to send me to the moon...

I am just not sure why this is such a big issue. I have dealt with several companies, all to no avail.

a) Company A (one of my usual suppliers in the UK) - it was no problem for them, they get a quote but come back with the news that the minimum order quantity (MOQ) is 40,000 !!
b) Company B (US manufacturer) - sent me a sample to check. That was fine, but for ordering I have to contact my nearest distributor who they list as their French Office - no of course, there is no website / email details and they can't pass my details onto the French office...
c) Company C (USA) -

I can offer:

MOQ: 200 pcs @ USD xxx ea in stock

FOB: USA

Subject to unsold!

Sorry, we ship only FOB USA .

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

- Hmm not sure what they mean by FOB: USA (wikipedia has several suggestions), but maybe if I am lucky it means free of charge carriage within the USA. Of course I would not expect it to be free of charge to the UK, but of course, they can't ship overseas (no idea why this is - anyone?)

d) Company D (USA) - I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this exchange of emails...

Good morning,
Please see pricing below.
Thanks- Nicole

You can supply us with you carrier collect # for shipping.

Initially I was pleased:

Hi Nicole,

That sounds a good price - however, I should have thought the simplest way would be for you to send them through the mail system as the only carrier I know of in the UK that collects would charge £60 to collect!

They are not exactly bulky or heavy, so would be fine in a large padded envelope.

My address for you to calculate the postage is:

xxx
xxx

If you can send by US mail, then please advise the total to pay and the best way to make payment.

Alas, their reply:

I cannot mail parts needs to go through a carrier.
Please advise.
Thanks- Nicole

I try to be helpful, with items sent via an intermediary:

Hi,

In that case, do you have a carrier that can deliver to an address in the USA?

What would be the cost of shipping to California?

Rich

Can anyone guess the response?

We can ship UPS/FEDX
Please advise with your carrier collect number.
Thanks- Nicole

Now I can see we are going around in circles, so I think keep it simple and send them an email to head this off..

Hi Nicole,

I am sorry - I don't understand what you mean by a carrier collect number ?

Can't you provide a quote for you booking a courier - as I have no idea on weight / size of parcel etc...

You could provide a price for sending 100 of the clips to (a) the UK and (b) the USA - California

I can then see which is the easiest and cheapest way of importing these..

Rich

Their response is as helpful as ever:

I NEED YOUR NUMBER FROM THE CARRIER YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE.

Argghhh....

What is this number they want? My phone number (as that is the only number a courier might have for me)? My account number with the courier (not on your life!) ?
A phone number for a courier (not sure they want a phone number for a UK courier - maybe they can't use the internet to find a Fedex phone number?)

What to do next?

[1024MAK]

c) Company C (USA) -

I can offer:

MOQ: 200 pcs @ USD xxx ea in stock

FOB: USA

Subject to unsold!

Sorry, we ship only FOB USA .

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

- Hmm not sure what they mean by FOB: USA (wikipedia has several suggestions), but maybe if I am lucky it means free of charge carriage within the USA. Of course I would not expect it to be free of charge to the UK, but of course, they can't ship overseas (no idea why this is - anyone?)

Maybe they mean that the buyer pays for and takes the risk of any shipping/transport costs and loss beyond the USA border...

Mark

[1024MAK]

d) Company D (USA) - I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this exchange of emails...

<snip>

We can ship UPS/FEDX
Please advise with your carrier collect number.
Thanks- Nicole

<snip>

Their response is as helpful as ever:

I NEED YOUR NUMBER FROM THE CARRIER YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE.

<snip>

I think that they want you to arrange carriage and shipping. Then they want the carrier details and the carrier reference number...

Some USA companies are happy to ship items to the UK, but you seem to have found some that either are used to dealing with bigger organisations (who have a contract with a carrier company) or who do not normally export items...
Mark

[RWAP]

It just seems a real pain, and their poor use of English does not help.

The firm that used "FOB USA" knew I was based in the UK, so if they ship abroad, why tell me about a shipping method for within the US ?

As for the other company - OK they might be used to their customers having shipping contracts, but it is obviously beyond their intellect or ability to be able to arrange a carrier themselves - maybe they are only used to sending out truck sized orders and having to sell a few plastic bits is well outside of their normal operation?

With the forthcoming increases in UK postal rates (talk of a second class stamp going up from 40p to 55p, and first class from 46p to 70p!), maybe I should adopt this approach and whenever someone orders something, I just ask them to send me a carrier, or maybe just the envelope and right postage (of course, I won't tell them how much the item weighs or size envelope they need - so they will have to send a fixed amount of postage, say £15 should cover most things I sell)....

Oh well, someone I know in the USA has now phoned around and got me a better quote and is having the items shipped to them, for onward transmission through the post

[yerzmyey]

I know they're fatherland of Timex 1000 and 1500 but that's...
That's a very sad story.

[PokeMon]

It just seems a real pain, and their poor use of English does not help.

Hmmm - if you think they are talking (or writing) poor english then I am suprised to get any answers here at the board at all. If US guys talk poor english what about the rest of the world.

Okay - I am just kidding.

But I think the reason for your problems are the bargains you try. People in US (my experience long time ago) are not flexible. They have some strict orders what they can and should do and if you ask any which is not an their list what to do they have a problem. If you are personally in front of them they just smile and say something like "you are welcome". If you are lucky they know somebody they can ask. But can be more simple, just a smile with "Sorry I can't help you".

This a really bad culture in the US, maybe caused through fire and hire principles. I think they are afraid to do something wrong. And to avoid to do something wrong you better do nothing.

In Germany many distributors located in US have well translated websites in german language and a very small office (maybe one people sub company) but operate from US. I avoid to order from these companies but sometime if you need something special you maybe have no choice. In one case I made a good experience with Mouser Electronics. Odered from their website a few chips, payed the amount to the account (was an EU bank account but would be possible with credit card same way) and a few days later I had what I wanted. But I never tried to ask for a discount, special price or something because I know how this ends with people from the "other end of the world".

Anyway good luck.

[RWAP]

If I had been asking for a discount or a bargain, then I could understand some of the issues - however, all I wanted to do was to place an order for items advertised on their websites !!

Maybe it just goes to show that they don't pay their staff enough to care..

[angus]

I have generally found that companies in the USA are unaware that there exists a world outside their own.

This is especially annoying as I am a limey married to a yank, living in the UK. Sometimes we wish to buy presents for family in the USA, and even this can be difficult. Try ordering something from a US department store, to be posted to a US address....but with a credit/debit card registered in the UK. They simply cannot do it!

Try paying an American student loan from the UK, and logging into their new web system.....the tech guys actually ended up recommending making up an address because their program cannot handle foreign addresses.

On the few occasions we've asked American companies to mail something to us in the UK we've usually just given up. "Sorry, we only ship within the United States". I used to patiently explain that with the world shrinking due to the internet, they might make more money if they offer their goods worldwide. After all I can buy stuff from all over Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, China...and have done so via email. But America...pretty much forget it.

The exception was a pack of 8 light bubls for an American car which I managed to buy via Amazon.com and have posted to the UK for about half the cost of buying via a UK supplier.

I can only imagine that dealing with distributors and manufacturers is even more difficult than retailers. I think they're quite late in getting onto the web selling bandwagon.

[PokeMon]

I have been trying to order some of the small plastic pegs that hold a ZX80 motherboard in position.

Maybe you can use a 3D printing service for small amounts.
As ZX80 originally as sold for a few hundred GBP aus I found out last time.

It is not easy to directly deal with manufacturers but same issue in Europe or Germany. Small companies have sometimes no infrastructure, no credit card acceptance, no website at all (sometimes). And sometimes have contracts with distributors to exclusively sell components, that doesn't help either. Of course they not want to have concurrent sales from manufacturer. The world can be complicate for buyers.

[RWAP]

I have a ZX80 here which is most definitely not worth £100s...

When I get chance I need to retest it and list it for sale.

I have ordered the pegs now (thanks to Jegs2 I think....) and will be offering them as a pack of 3 for £5 plus postage.

I am surprised by how well the case rivets sold