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How do?

Spinning off from my thread about Scalpers in a very loose way, I keep seeing hobbyists in NZ, Australia and Japan not unjustifiably complaining about their prices being way higher than elsewhere.

And it's got me thinking. Would there be any interest in a FB trading group that matches peeps in the UK happy to pick up and post out goodies, with those in far flung corners of the world wanting to buy the goodies?

If so, is there any thing you'd like to see included in group rules (beyond 'all prices are At Cost including postage, PayPal must be used' etc)?

Just out of curiosity, what's in it for those on our end beyond the milk of human kindness? Because if you're any good at it, you'll end up with aussies and kiwis wanting hundreds of packages a week sent out. And that sounds like considerable hassle. It's alright for one or two if you already visit the post office weekly, but any more than that would be problematic.

I'd agree that it sounds very nice and kind and whilst I'm sure many people would start out of the best of intentions but then after weeks of packaging up boxes and heading down to the post office to send stuff on two or three times a week, possibly then using petrol to get there etc the UK volunteer is losing time and money to save an international gamer money. Its all the work on the UK gamer for all the benefit of the recipient.

It is pretty much just a 'milk of human kindness' thing, same as my group trying to tackle scalping on WW and Event exclusives.

The same broad rules would supply - namely that whilst a procurer in the UK shouldn't be soliciting tips, if the buyer wants to tip their procurer, that's strictly a matter between them, lest it all devolve into back-door scalping.

It would also be for the individuals to volunteer services, rather than being a standing 'ask us and it gets done' affair. So if someone doesn't much fancy redirecting a massive bundle of goodies, they simply decline to offer services.

I got to thinking about this when I worked out (roughly on the postage, because weights and dimension wouldn't be known until the goods were in hand) that buying from Darksphere, and having it posted to my house, someone in Japan could get the new Lord of Change for the UK RRP, which is a significant saving - and being posted from Darksphere, I wouldn't need to overly worry about packaging. Just open the box to check contents, send a snap via FB to the buyer, seal it up, re-address and whizz it down to the Post Office.

Its a nice thought but I do wonder how practical it would be in effect. For limited edition and event specials I could certainly see it working as it would be very infrequent and small packages, which would not be the case for regular day to day purchases.

Furthermore, no matter how much we in NZ and OZ love to moan about our pricing, that policy only holds if the company one is buying from deals directly with GW. Any company that gets their stock through a distributer can sell abroad and at their own set discount. I regularly get stuff from the States at 25% off US price with flat rate shipping, this roughly equates to buying two tactical squads and getting a third free, from the NZ price. This info is not secret, anyone who is paying full retail price locally just hasn't tried looking into it.

Well, fair enough

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If you do it for free, that sort of thing will start going wrong. People will have greater priorities and forget to post out parcels. Other parcels and their intermediaries will mysteriously go 'missing' after pleading family emergencies. People will get bored after doing it a few times. You'd probably be doing those abroad a greater service by setting up an unofficial paid distribution network where you charge a set percentage.

Which is why I'd have PayPal proper payments as the golden rule - then the buyer has protections and can get their money back, for a small price premium.

But as illustrated, seems such a group isn't actually needed

The real risk is what happens to lost or damaged packages.

Someone protests on PayPal and the money that paid for the models is lost. The person who sends the packages now has a problem. It happens enough times, they lose interest.

Totally appreciate the idea, but it's not sustainable in the long run without some kind of incentive. Perhaps there is a way to build that into the group. For instance, you get 'points' for sending packages, and the person with the highest number of points get some form of recognition.

In effect you're suggesting becoming a distributor.

Now it's likely that GW would have a hard time proving this, but it opens cans of worms that I'm quite happy to leave sealed.