Alternatives to McMasterCarr?

[Feanorelf]

Hallo. sometimes I need plastic raw materials for my projects. The problem is that in Italy they're difficult to procure in small quantities (an example: I'd rather not purchasing 20 sqft garolite for my router mounting plate!).

So sometimes I found McMasterCarr a convenient way: the problem with them is they are insanely in love with DHL, which (both for direct cost and income taxes) makes it much less convenient.

So I wonder If you can suggest alternative online retailers dealing this kind of stuff (and, may be, they will be more willing to ship by USPS or even surface mail)... or, if I am going too far OT, readdress me to a more proper NG.

Thank you, Luciano

[KS]

Try these

[Rumpty]

The dollar has declined about 40% against the Euro, just how bad can the freight be???

[bridger]

ebay?

[Mark and Kim Smith]

[Feanorelf]

Well: there is a strange fact: small value packets, when sent by mail, are not subject to income taxes (probably they're not worth the cost for the customs to check). This kind of exemption does not exist whent they're sent by courier, so that let's imagine I have a 15 US$ value item to be shipped. Probably, by USPS I could pay about 20 US$ shipment, for a total of 35 US$, and annoyancess. On the other hand, by DHL I could pay, maybe, also 20 US$. Then I will have a (probably) 15% income tax the whole value plus 20% income tax over the new total, so I end up spending 50 bucks, and WHAT IS WORSE, with the annoyance of forms to compile, declarations to make and whatever...

Bye, Luciano

[patriarch]

Feanorelf wrote in news:EtAod.7068$ [e-mail]:

I suspect our friend means Value Added Tax, rather than income tax.

Although why, in a country with manufacturing as sophisticated as Italy's obviously is, there is no source for such materials locally, is beyond me.

Patriarch

[Bob]

For international shipments, you are most likely to be stuck with duties, if its shipped by a U. S. based shipper. I don't know if it will work any better for you, but you might try

Bob Davis Houston, Texas

[Feanorelf]

Sorry... I meant VAT and custom duties

Surely they exist, but not in a B2C market. Unfortunately hobbyists are not considered a valuable target here, so raw materials are hard to find in small quantities and, in general, for individuals. Actually the same holds also for wood essences, veneers and whatever you like.

Bye, Luciano

[Feanorelf]

You're right, but I experienced that using USPS or, in any case, a mail service instead of a courier, there are high chances the item passes unnoticed through the customs. On the other side, couriers provide themselves to deal with custom duties, so that, as custom duties are applied to an amount = to declared values + shipping:

1) You pay custom duties+VAT >= 100% of item value 2) You have to pick up the packet yourself, in order to pay duties.

Hallo, Luciano

[Charles Erskine]

Some of the advertisers in the Home Shop Machinist Magazine sell small pieces of various kinds of materials. They appear to be small businesses which might be willing to ship by your preferred method. I didn't see any links to them in the web site,

so you may have to order a back issue if you can't find one in a library. Or you could write or email the magazine and see if they will recommend a supplier.

[bridger]

got any friends either in industry or the supply chain?