European Dealers Dissing Americans

"the Beastie Boys......" "you got to fight for the right to party!" Who says stamp collectors are stodgy?

Sorry PPG but Beastie Boys came out sooner (1986) than MC Hammer (1988) and is way more legit & respected--always ranked in top 10 of classic hip-hop albums, where as Hammer never in top 100. West Coast hip-hop did not get big nationally until NWA (1988)

Yes 5480 is a great issue, I've tried to get it at post office but they never have it

1) Obviously, but so what? They don't have any cred because of skin color, is that where you're going? and 2) 1986 is not especially late to anything.... Rubin and Simmons didn't form Def Jam until 1983, and was certainly one of the great hip-hop labels of the era.

Actually it is because "they don't have any cred" as native speakers of AAVE (African American Vernacular English) where the term in question originated before the BB converted to hip-hop and adopted the use of the slang/AAVE term.

Just because someone uses or is noted for using certain words, that does not mean they themselves produced the word or words. That is the very reason I added the Maya Angelou stamp because the words attributed to her on the stamp were not her words. They were in fact published in a book in 1967 by Joan Walsh Anglund. Maya Angelou spoke the words yes, just as the BB may have used dis/diss/disrespect but did not originate the language.




Of course, but the point was not when each started, rather it was "MC" on the stamp and linking it to an Oakland original. MC Hammer was the first hip hop performer to have a diamond album, meaning selling over 10,000,000 copies of an album in the USA (Threshold lower in other countries). LL Cool J (Bay Shore NY) was the first hip hop artist to receive a Kennedy Center Honor [See below image]. MC also beat the BB to a Grammy nomination by two years. MC won three Grammy awards in 1991 the BB took until 2008 to get a third. BB had seven non-winning nominations by 2010, MC had only six by 1993 a half dozen years before the BB won their first. BB may be a solid group but did not break new ground. Even N.W.A. is credited to the Black/white cross over of hip hop, not the BBs.

Now back to the OP question about ordering from Europe for the USA. What can I say, it is different across the pond. Now I am going to wonder how Don McLean's American Pie only hit #2 in the UK and Madonna's cover of the song hit #1 yet she never bothered to release the cover in the USA. There are things in the world one is not meant to understand.

I think this thread has gotten hopelessly lost


Peter

He thought he was a man but he was a muffin...…

There, now I've done it.

Coincidentally, I was recently alerted to the fact that a lot that I sold on ebay that was destined for the Netherlands never arrived. This is only the second time out of hundreds of sales that any of my out-going lots to Europe disappeared. The first one that "got lost?" Also to the Netherlands.

As a Briton I sometimes want to trade with the USA. I find it more difficult now than 20 years ago. I suspect it is partly that sending things abroad has always been more problematic than sending something locally, different cultures have different cultures and expectations. In this internet e bay age there is more international trading by individuals and more people are learning there are connected problems and hassles so it is an easy option to deter foreign customers or charge more to cover potential or perceived losses caused by trading abroad. I speak as someone who has only dealt as a private individual, but talking with a friend who has to take part in negotiating deals with big multi nationals he says he and his company encounters different problems trading and negotiating with different nationalities. It disappoints me me when someone sets out to makes cross border trading awkward and sometimes it is down to just ignorance but it can be that it's just not worth the trouble to trade abroad at times.
On a brighter note I recently put out a call for help on a US based discussion site because a US companies website would only allow contacts with US zipcodes and Phone numbers. Individuals helped me get the part I needed and USPS delivered it in less than a week. Unfortunately th cost of postage was very high.

Well, there is this one dealer down here in Oz who does that to Americans on a regular basis.

Will never buy from the guy again, ever.

And as far as Europe is concerned, never had a problem with them sending to Oz, but US sellers not sending to Oz is. Postage from the USA is really, really expensive

In fact, it is now cheaper to get a heavy package from Europe to Australia than from the USA.

And faster too.

And going the other way, when I was selling on ebay, the country in Europe that gave me the most problems was Germany with their huge delays in customs so I crossed them off the list.

It took over three months to finally work out the mess for a sale that was stuck in customs that the seller initially opened a 'not received' claim.

The tracking even showed it was in customs and then when the buyer did get the stamps and left positive feedback............I still couldn't get the money unfrozen.

Back and forth and back and forth between ebay and PayPal........Phone calls and emails and three months of wasted time.

Never again.

So many Japanese businesses/websites/auction sellers are reluctant to deal with foreigners that "proxy services" are a viable business. You can use them as a Japan-based intermediary who will buy things for you, but be prepared to pay dearly for the privilege. Unfortunately, the proxy service that I use the most (mainly for things like out-of-print CDs, phone cards, and entertainment memorabilia on Yahoo! Auctions Japan) for some reason has postage stamps as one of their prohibited categories.

Regarding my post on April 26 about my order from a dealer in Lisbon, Portugal, well, it arrived yesterday. Mailed on the 21st and arrived on the 27th. Six days transit time. Thank you CTT and USPS !!

I filed for a refund an got one from Yvert. Today I got this from an apparent worker there:


I'm sorry but we still don't have these sheets in stock.



I will reimburse you the sum of € 36.58



Our apologies



Théophile

Commercial.

Signed his name, same guy that blew me off earlier. I have utterly no idea where he got that amount, not gonna hurry about finding out, but I will.