I have been known to complain bitterly about the price of exhorbitant shipping cost from the USA and Europe for relatively small and or light items. I have now had two shipments from SLS Hamburg using the Euro 3,45 prepaid pakets (not tracked). These are a pretty good size and I believe you can stuff up to 3 kg into them. Of course it takes longer (about 3 weeks) and is not tracked but I'm happy with that for items up to say Euro 30. The paket also has a return address on it.
On another note NZ Post now has a hub in Portland, USA; and one in the UK so that I can get stuff shipped to these hubs and then freight forwarded by NZ Post. Some Ebay sellers won't ship outside the USA or Europe.
I got some items from Authentic Classics, it was going to cost $US90 for shipping to NZ (UPS was the only option). It cost $US12 tracked to the NZ post hub in Portland and $NZ 30 to have it shipped to NZ from there (say $US20). The NZ Post service emailed me at every step ie when it arrived in the USA, when it left, when it arrived in NZ customs and when it was going to be couriered to me. Tracked all the way too.
