Is there a shoptheuk.com?

April 9, 2006 12:18 PM

There are some UK sites I'd like to purchase from but they don't ship here to the States. Anyone know of a workaround that doesn't involve personally knowing someone over there? Something like shopthestates.com, but for UK shopping...
posted by teddymac to Shopping (4 answers total)

someone asked this earlier this week im sure.

but if you are interested i can ship it out to you. will be good to know someone in USA who can do same for me.
posted by moochoo at 12:54 PM on April 9, 2006

This is the earlier question. No good leads in it, though.
posted by zsazsa at 5:08 PM on April 9, 2006

Best answer: Have you contacted them directly? Some places won't have the option on their web site but are happy to do it by phone by credit card. Be up front and tell them that you would be willing to pay the actual shipping. If they demurr, offer to pay a handling fee.

Also, there may be (steep) custom's fees on certain products.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 5:42 PM on April 9, 2006

What PurplePorpoise said. There are legitimate reasons for not wanting to deliver outside the UK (VAT paperwork, for one), but if you call through and offer to pay whatever costs might arise, you might be in luck. This applies especially to small-scale/obscure/unique places, which (I assume) is why you're ordering from them in the first place.
posted by holgate at 4:17 AM on April 10, 2006