Help out a fellow book-geek

[Enkidu of Abydos]

People who read books for pleasure are a threatened minority today, a bit like Jews in Germany in the '30s (except we're not going to get killed but are just dying out on our own like the dinosaurs), so we need to stick together !
So I would like one of you (a brave and kind volunteer) to do a fellow book-geek (little old me that is) a small favour.
I need a couple of small items from the US I am finding too difficult to acquire on my own, because although these particular items are relatively easy to find all the webshops (and eBay listings) I've found so far that have them either don't ship worldwide or they ship by UPS / FedEx only (with insane shipping costs several times higher than the price of the items) or the items simply cost too much (in comparison to other stores).
The items in question are an AC to USB adapter and a DC to USB adapter :
http://www.buy.com/prod/lenmar-4-por...209685955.html
http://www.buy.com/prod/eforcity-whi...205878826.html
What I need from you



is to act as an intermediary and buy them for me (I will send you payment by PayPal in advance if necessary) from the links above (because that store is one of the best known and cheapest stores which have these items) and once you finally get them to ship them to me by USPS (using the cheapest international shipping option preferably including online tracking and insurance) at my cost of course (I will reimburse you for the shipping cost once I know how much exactly it is).
I'd offer a small percentile reward but at these item values it doesn't make much sense so just do it for the reasons mentioned in the beginning of this post. And if you come for a visit you get a free beer on me...
The volunteer candidates should fulfill 3 criteria :
1. living in the USA (obviously)
2. having a PayPal account (you could order the items and pay by credit card but I know of no other cheap and simple way for me to pay you other than PayPal)
3. preferably having posted a significant number of posts on MobileRead and / or had a friendly interaction with myself (so a reasonable measure of trust has been established)
If you wish to help out just send me a PM (you can give your PayPal e-mail adress)...

P.S.
Some time in the near future, if I decide to buy a Sony Reader PRS-950 (which I'm not yet entirely sure of) and I can not find it anywhere with worldwide shipping (which may be the case thanks to stupid Sony), I may require the same kind of intermediation, in which case I may offer a small reward, say 10% of value (which would be the easiest 30 bucks you ever made !).
But in that case I would require a little more assurance (from the volunteer) than just a MobileRead account, such as a history as a successfull eBay seller, a history which I could then ruin by negative reviews on eBay (and all over the Internet) in case I got cheated.

P.P.S.
I know package forwarding companies exist, but according to my online research they are all either not very reliable or pure hoaxes, so don't bother suggesting that solution.

[Enkidu of Abydos]

Well, it seems that for some reason applicants are not exactly pounding down the door (maybe I overestimated the helpfullness and social cohesion of MobileRead's book geeks)...
So let's say I'll add 10 e-books from my huge personal collection to the lucky helpfull volunteer...
Damn, if I was only a hot voluptous girl people would be falling all over themselves to help me out...

[phenomshel]

I suggest you talk to Stitchawl. He's been in Japan for umpteen years and has a system worked out to get things from the U.S. that he needs/wants with little hassle. Why don't you PM him and see if he'll share his ideas with you?

[Enkidu of Abydos]

He probably knows someone... Well no harm in trying.
Though I don't understand why no one has come forward, it's not like there's any risk to them and it take about a half a minute of work...

P.S.
Dang, I wish I had relatives in the US instead of Canada...
No offense, Canucks...

[SneakySnake]

I would help enks! but I live in OZ!

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Enkidu of Abydos

{SNIP}
P.P.S.
I know package forwarding companies exist, but according to my online research they are all either not very reliable or pure hoaxes, so don't bother suggesting that solution.

It seems that more and more companies are refusing to ship abroad. A good 50% of everything I want from Amazon these days will not ship to Japan! But it's not a problem.

I have been using two different forwarding companies for the past 25 years, and never had any difficulties. Most of the ex-pats I know, residing all over Asia use them regularly. I have never had any problems, nor know of anyone who has.

There are famous chain companies such as "Mailbox Etc.," "The UPS Store," "Pak-N-Ship," and many others, each with hundreds of outlet stores in US cities. They are honest, reliable, dependable, but not cheap...

You need to establish an account with one by renting a mail box. You can do this for a month, 6 months, or by the year. Just be sure that you use a chain that will forward packages. Not all will. Ask before you sign up. I have one shop that I use that will even open packages for me and repack several into one parcel to reduce my costs, but I have had my account with them for many years.

Besides a yearly rental, I maintain a postage account to pay for forwarding costs. One shop is maintained as my permanent US address, and gets only mail. With my instruction, they throw away everything except 1st class mail and forward that to me once a month. (If I wanted it sent every day they would do that as well.) I give them about $150 a year for my postage account. The other shop gets only packages for forwarding, and gets about $200 a year for my postage account with that shop. Obviously this postage money only gets spent if there are things to forward, but the yearly box rental needs to be maintained regardless.

Frankly, although it's expensive, it makes living easy. I never have to deal with companies telling me they won't ship abroad. I couldn't get along without this sort of service.

Stitchawl

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by Enkidu of Abydos

The volunteer candidates should fulfill 3 criteria :

3. preferably having posted a significant number of posts on MobileRead and / or had a friendly interaction with myself (so a reasonable measure of trust has been established)

This part seems to make it difficult to find volunteers, don't you think?

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

This part seems to make it difficult to find volunteers, don't you think?

"self-serving"

[Poppaea]

Enki, see if you can find your stuff here and I'll go and get it for you.

[wannabee]

You've certainly done your homework. The double USB cigarette lighter charger for US$6.95 was about AU$20-30 in Oz. AU and US dollars are about the same at the moment.
The other item looks like it's 110v. Our stuff here is 240v.
Just a thought.....if you already have a charger with a single USB outlet, couldn't you use a USB hub to charge multiple devices? They must be readily available in your home town surely.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

This part seems to make it difficult to find volunteers, don't you think?

Exactly.

[feenix1363]

Or else have a look at www.dealextreme.com shipping is inclusive on all listings, and they are competitive on most items.

[Enkidu of Abydos]

Originally Posted by wannabee

You've certainly done your homework.

Well I usually do. I'm a plan-ahead kind of guy.

Originally Posted by wannabee

The double USB cigarette lighter charger for US$6.95 was about AU$20-30 in Oz. AU and US dollars are about the same at the moment.

Yeah you can find huge price differences for some items online sometimes. The thing that puzzles me is that this device doesn't exactly have spotless reviews, some people report them breaking or not functioning, but it's the same for every other gadget of it's kind. It seems you can't get quality in such cheap & simple gadgets.

Originally Posted by wannabee

The other item looks like it's 110v. Our stuff here is 240v.

The other item takes a 12V DC input (car lighter), you must have meant the first. It takes a 110/220 V AC input, and most chargers / power bricks / devices these days take varying voltages, you usually don't have to worry about that when traveling to or shopping from another continent. You do have to worry about the shape of power plugs (US / EU / UK / AU).
For those who may need to know the AC -> USB charger mentioned includes all the 4 types of plugs (which can be attached to it), so it's ideal for travelers.
Also, the most compact power plug adapters I've managed to find (there are lots of them online and mostly the shape and size is the only difference) are the ones by Semsons :
http://www.semsons.com/eutousplad.html
http://www.semsons.com/eurplugad9.html
http://www.semsons.com/eutoukplad.html
while you can get a a pretty compact AC -> USB charger here :
http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=0947
http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=1294

Originally Posted by wannabee

Just a thought.....if you already have a charger with a single USB outlet, couldn't you use a USB hub to charge multiple devices? They must be readily available in your home town surely.

1. The hub and the additional cables are an additional bother.
2. The hub and the cables all consume electricity (a small amount).
3. That solution would provide 0.625 W to 2.5 W (1/4 to 1 USB) power to each gadget (as hubs share out the power, unless they're powered additionally), while the Lenmar charger provides 2.5 W to 10 W to each gadget (1 USB to 4 USB power on one port, 2A at 5V)
It's a simple and powerfull solution for charging almost all gadgets...

[Enkidu of Abydos]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Enki, see if you can find your stuff here and I'll go and get it for you.

Well thanks for the offer but what I've decided to do is to order the stuff (and one more piece of photo equipment) from Buy.com via Shipito.com, they have a mostly reliable reputation and charge only 8$ per shipment for package forwarding, so I'm going to try them out. If they work out maybe I'll use them in the future for more valuable shipments.

[Who are you?]

If you want that kind of electronics cheap you could use www.dealextreme.com or any similar site, they tend to have free shipping to anywhere in the world, even for < 1$ items and large items.