Talk about mixed emotions

[CustomCreator]

So, I FINALLY secure one of my Grails; The Muppets Backstage Playset from a seller "across the pond" for the grand amount of about 46 GBP which comes to about $92 USD. AWESOME! I am psyched.

I then send him an e-mail(before the end of the auction) as to how much he would be shipping it for to the US. He comes back with approx 50 GBP which if you do the math is $100 USD!

HOLY CRAP!

I tell him that I want to retract my bid, and he only gets the e-mail after the auction closes. Luckily, this guy is WAY cool and agrees with no hard feelings that he will cancel my bid.

We then get talking via e-mail in reguards to the shipping. I calculate through the US post office website that a package weighing 10lbs(WAY overestimate, it only technically weighs 4lbs) shipping from my zip code to the UK for 6-10 days is around $37 USD. I tell him that, and he states that it's not really the weight, but the size that is killing the price.

So now we stand at him trying to get a better estimate from the "Royal Post" or whatever it's called tomorrow.

I offered him $130 USD shipped for the thing. Funny thing is, he only had one other bid on it for $80 USD, so even if he didn't sell it to me, he'd still be somewhat losing out.

I am happy and sad all in the same auction......

 

[Beauregard]

Yes, they recently changed the postage system here in the UK. It is now gaged by size more than weight. A small envelope with 5 or six pages can be sent cheaper than a large postcard. Bizare, but true.

 

[Mistersuperstar]

It shouldn't cost as much as that to send to be honest. According to the Royal Mail website, shipping that from UK to USA should cost a maximum of £33 as it weighs around 2.8kg altogether. The guy will obviously want to add a little for his time and postage & packing but £46 is a little steep.

 

[karamazov80]

I was really interested in getting a backstage set about a month ago, and there was an eBay seller from France who was selling a couple at a buy it now for around 50 pounds sterling or so, if I remember correctly. So, a great deal. But the shipping was 20 pounds, and that seemed real steep to me (its not 100 dollars, but 40 is still a lot), so the total came to be roughly 140 dollars. Ultimately, given the potential problems with ordering something from overseas, I ended up paying more than that to get one from the U.S. (about 155 dollars, when all was said and done), but now they are going for even more, so I'm glad that I paid what I did when I did. I hope that you can get a hold of one. I'm really glad that I got mine.

 

[KermieBaby47]

We'll be moving into our first house soon, and I've decided to cut way back on my action figure displays. So since the Muppets are my 2nd biggest collection (first being Star Wars), they are going to suffer, but only a little.

The Backstage Playset is definitely staying though, that was never up for deletion! It's one of my favorite pieces, I couldn't ever imagine not having it in my collection, so I really feel for you man.

Ah, I remember when I preordered it, it was a time of many future Muppet figures to be released. Someday I'll have time to make my own Sal, Bean, and MTI Fozzie & Piggy.

 

[CustomCreator]

We ended up parting on this deal with no animosity. I definatley should have asked him first how much shipping was. He seemed really genuine in his sympathy for me, and had no problems letting me off the hook.

*sigh*

Here I thought I had gotten my Grail. Well, the search continues.

 

[Telly]

I was lucky enought to get my Backstage playset from an actual webstore about 2 years ago. I think I payed $100 total.

 

[karamazov80]

Here I thought I had gotten my Grail. Well, the search continues.

Good luck to you, I definitely know how it feels to covet these kinds of things.

 

[rexcrk]

Boy... I'm so glad that I pre-ordered mine from the EB Games website a few years ago and got it for regular retail price.

And the best part was that it showed up to my house when I wasn't even expecting it!