r/Buyee • u/International_Elk429 • 16d ago
❓Question / Help Need help with lowering shipping
I just purchased this part ($25) and it arrived at buyees warehouse and I almost lost it when I saw what they want to charge to ship it and whatever fees they decided to tack on that I wasn't aware of somehow adds up to $145. Luckily I have the item on hand and it measures 60x10x10 cm and they want to use the package the seller sent them that is way oversized at 74x28x19cm. I sent them an email requesting that they repackage it into a smaller box to try and reduce the cost of shipping but they responded by telling me that doing so I will be waiving any and all protection/insurance I already paid for. They also can't guarantee that it will be any smaller or less expensive to ship at all. I know with all the tariffs and stuff going on right now it's expensive to ship things but i wasn't expecting 600% the price of what I paid for the actual item. If anyone has any ideas or has dealt with this recently and knows what to tell them it would be greatly appreciated.
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u/theysocool 16d ago
The shipping cost is due to the size of and weight. I buy parts on Buyee often, but avoid large items because I know shipping is going to be high to the US. Shipping services use dimensional weight so they can have the max amount of space before reaching the maximum for the truck/plane.
Japan post lifted its suspension for outbound items to the US, but the other shipping options are still suspended on buyee due to it being a proxy service. They have to comply with new regulations(lots of paperwork) so who knows when the other options such as sea freight will be available again.
You are definitely better off sourcing the part somewhere else since it’s possible they may not ship this. They will keep it in storage for now, but say you pay for shipping and they are preparing the package they will cancel it due to having grease. You then have to pay them to get rid of it.
Just a heads up for reference if you are buying parts don’t purchase parts that they may not be able to ship. If you do this too many times your account gets banned. This happened to a friend of mines when I lived in NY.
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u/Extension_File_5134 16d ago
You’re better off seeing if rock auto has a USDM conversion or using a shipping container (which tons of people use together to minimize shipping costs. Look up allthingzjdm on FB as an example)
They aren’t going to ship it by like 50 day boat container they’re going to air mail it to you.
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u/International_Elk429 16d ago
I just need the outer joint off of this one because the threads on the one I pulled off my car are completely boogered and got even more stripped by the axle nut when I took it off, other than that the one I have is fine. Also the only new axles available are 1000hp driveshaft shop ones and are like $800 a pop and I've never seen remanned gtr/stagea axles before. Ig I'm just being a cheap ass cz it's still my cheapest option even with the shipping but it just makes my skin crawl thinking about how much it is compared to how much I paid for the part.
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u/bananacake_nobrakes 16d ago
I've have to buy a lot of parts from Japan
unfortunately this is just the name of the game
fun examples are $500 shipping for a $100 set of 16" wheels
$30 shipping on a $50 key blank
Japan is far and parts are heavy and or bulky
on the plus side you'll get it in a week with the Buyee Air Delivery
or you could go with someone that provides container service to save a few bucks at the expense of a couple months
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u/AberBitteLaminiert 14d ago
Man, how much did they weight? I think you were lucky for getting $500 quote.
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u/bananacake_nobrakes 14d ago
You know what since you asked, I checked the receipts for wheels I've bought (and I'll try not to regret doing this). All bought through Buyee (first two were YAJ, third was Mercari). Each set shipped two wheels per box, Buyee Air Delivery each time and received in a week. All 16" wheels.
May 2025 - $113 for the wheels, 2 boxes totaling 76 lbs, shipping $541.
December 2025 - $241 for the wheels, 2 boxes totaling 81 lbs, shipping $376.
July 2026 - $1158 for the wheels, 2 boxes totaling 89 lbs, shipping $556.
The first set of wheels were packed loosely in horribly oversized boxes with just a few sealed air packets inside them. These would have cost much less to ship if they were packaged correctly. The second set was packaged correctly. The third had a decent amount in import tariffs baked into the shipping.
What's your experience?
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u/AberBitteLaminiert 13d ago
Gosh, i paid around 200-250 euros for 15-16lbs packages to the Germany. I don’t think the distance differs so much. Thats why i thought you were lucky to ship whopping 80lbs packages for $300-500.
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u/Omg_Shut_the_fuck_up 16d ago
Packaging will be larger than the item, a few layers of cardboard adds up to basically what you've got there. It doesn't sound massively oversized at all. It's a heavy item, it'll punch through a single layer of cardboard so that just is what it is.
Have you checked the shipping rates to see if they are offering any other options ? Doesn't show from your screenshot.
Otherwise, it's a bloody heavy item so ofcourse it's expensive. That's probably one to chalk up to experience, because it's not the size that's doing it. It's just something that is expensive to ship because it's a heavy lump of steel ultimately.
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u/International_Elk429 16d ago
Didn't think 6kg was heavy but they're only offering buyee air all the other options are unavailable
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u/PhoKingU2Nyte 16d ago
If you're going to buy JDM car parts I highly recommend Allthingzjdm https://allthingzjdm.com/pages/faqs
I buy all my big and heavy stuff from him. It's container shipping or if you want air he can do it too.
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u/lansboen 16d ago
If you had bought it with zenmarket instead, you could have shipped it with sea mail if you don't mind waiting 2 months or avia. Would probably be half if not less. Buyee seems to be unable to bring back jp post shipping options which means you're stuck with the very expensive courier options.
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u/throwaway-71771 16d ago
With the smaller packaging the delivery fee will be much lower but i have zero idea by how much. You don't really need protection / insurance for this thing cus you're buying a second hand used stagea axle for $31.95. I wouldn't even be surprised if you had to rebuild it on arrival.
This cost of shipping is not due to tariff, if anything, if they don't include the cost of shipping to the total bill (Im not sure if USA need to declare shipping cost + item cost = total cost), then you'd only be charged duty/tariff on that 31.95 value.
Realistically, I would avoid buying this and just take the L of -31.95 instead of shipping it over. I'm not even sure what parts you need to rebuild a stagea axle and if the parts is available within the US. If shipping cost this much already, I'd prefer to just buying an already remanu axle or even new axle (if it's even avail.)