Need opinion(s) - purchasing climbing gear from overseas

All, I was searching for a pair of Grivel Rambo crampons the other day on the web and found a couple of websites that had fantastic prices....well below what one would pay in the US

The websites were: http://www.barrabes.com http://www.sportextreme.com

I am a bit leary of making a purchase from these companies, despite their great prices. Has anyone had any experience with these websites, or purchasing climbing gear from other countries? If so, I'd appreciate your insights.

Please e-mail me directly as I don't get to browse rec.climbing that much.

Thanks very much...

Travis

I have had good experiences with Barrabes. Three friends have also purchased from them. One of them experienced a long delay (several weeks) in receiving gear because it was out of stock (they didn't notify him that a delay was expected). The others received their gear within a week.

If they have what you want, the prices are pretty much unbeatable.

Kai

wrote:

Barrabes has given me problems. First they didn't have some of the stuff in stock that they had on their site. Then they shipped to my billing address instead of the shipping address, then once I got the gear they sent the wrong size cams.

Also, for some reason my shipment got held up in Customs. They said it was because they didn't recieve a detailed description of the goods. I had to fax a description to NY.

I contacted them and it took over 2 weeks to hear back, but they did say they'd cover the shipping back to them. Also, I got a customs bill for like $18 on the imported goods - so expect that.

By that point I had sold the cams to a friend. (no pun intended)

jason

You'll get totally hosed at customs when it comes into this country, EASILY more than the $ you saved. Since ecommerce is dicey to customs folks, they check everything now, especially from Canada. C

NOT TRUE in all cases. I just made the exact purchase he speaks of (Rambos' from Barrabes) and paid nothing more than the item cost plus DHL shipping charges. nothing more.