Doesn't Post To United States' - Any Exemptions?

I like to look at overseas ebay listings for Lighthouse products, have noticed lately a lot of these sellers make a point of exclusion on shipping here. Any ideas why? Is this some customs issue or what? Most are German dealers.

Has anyone ever asked why?

Probably because their wholesale agreement calls for it. Lighthouse ("Leuchtturm") is sold in the US through their US subsidiary.

Interesting- I am seeing some of this on items previously used; I doubt I can buy a prior owned item from Lighthouse in NJ. Perhaps its just as well...

The easy answer is to buy Leuchtturm directly from overseas retailers instead of ebay. I've bought from online retailers all over Europe and never had an issue, and if I'm smart about it, even with shipping the savings are really good.

I buy from a guy in germany who lists on delcampe and his own website. I can't buy directly from either due to shipping costs. He will ship to me, but we transact via email and have to deal with very expensive shipping from germany which is based on weight, so we have to try and fill my order up/down to the right weight for the price of shipping i'm paying. Still can be be a good value.

I'm looking at moving my Great Brtain from a Gibbons Windsor albums to Lighthouse, I think Gibbons will be closing that line out soon. I have a good collection of Victorian plate numbers but can use stock pages for those. I'd welcome any suggestion as to a new vendor..

What makes you think that SG will stop producing Windsor pages? If you change from Windsor to Lighthouse, you'll be getting what's likely to be a less detailed album, and spending hundreds of dollars in the process.

Most of the ebay dealers in Germany that I used to buy from have stopped shipping to the US because the USPS can't stop losing mail.

I'm currently waiting on a registered letter that arrived in NY on 5 June, but still hasn't arrived in TX. I'm hesitant to tell the seller because he's one of the last ones I use that will ship here, and I'm afraid he's about to stop due to the frequent losses.

That might be a reason for Leuchtturm not to do it. But as you say, they have a US subsidiary where you can order. I doubt that has any bearing on ebay sellers, especially if they sell second-hand items.

Hi Postmaster,
I hate to 'pile on' but the 'black hole' in NY port/customs/airport/USPS is a long existing issue that appears to now become the norm.

Here is the story and incredible lengths one person went to in trying to run down his missing 5 packages from Germany to US addresses that travelled the same route your parcels have taken; it is title "My USPS Saga".
https://www.phildev.net/phil/usps/german_packages/

Note his efforts started in 2015 and he was still chasing them down in 2021. He went to the extent of getting them to open investigations, writing the Vice President of the USPS, writing Kamala Harris, contacting the OIG, and even launching FOIA Requests!

Given this routing has long been a well-known issue, I am surprised that sellers in EU would not simply use an alternative shipping method. Note that FedEx, DHL, and UPS all use their own planes for shipping while USPS is the only service which uses commercial airlines to ship EU to US parcels.
Don

I just entered (Friday evening):

FedEx
Sending a package to be collected from my home on Monday
1 x 0.1 kg (0.5 kg prices are similar), 20 x 10 x 1 cm
No extra services
No date of delivery specified
Destination New York City (the one in the US of A, not the one on Jupiter that appears what I would be paying for).



A small package that can be dropped in a mail box, including track and trace sent through PostNL costs € 12.50.

That is why Europeans do not use FedEx or UPS.

Understood, but in my opinion at least giving buyers an option is better than just outright denying service. <shrugs>
Don

If you are a large or, maybe, a medium-sized stamp dealer with sufficient buyers in the USA, that might be an option.
FNMT uses FedEx for sending their coin sets. I pay € 9 p&p. My guess would be they have a contract because they generate enough business.

If you are a private person or a small business and not be able to contract FedEx, you do not want the hassle. Why would you even offer it? The time you lose preparing it might not be worth the margin you would make. With those prices, the probability anyone chooses that option will be minute. The next (local) buyer may be around the corner.

My understanding is that ebay requires shipping via the postal system. No idea if this is true as I don't sell, but that's what I've been told.

EDIT: And I can relate to that guy's saga. In the last 5-6 years, I've probably filed 2 dozen missing mail requests and opened at least 3 cases with USPIS and/or the IG. Zero resolution of any of them. I don't think anyone actually reads them.

The registered letter I'm currently waiting on was 1 of 3 sent at the same time by the same seller. All cleared customs in NY, then were incorrectly sent back to Germany. Germany sent them back to the US, where they again cleared customs (unlike most of my losses, these did show as having left customs).

2 of the 3 eventually showed up several weeks later, about a week apart. The third shows as having departed the NY Distribution Center on 10 July, but radio silence since then.