Just a thought. If he is close to Germany he could ship from there, they have an excellent postal system as does the US and the postal rate is much lower than either UPS or FedEx.
Recently sent a sword to Germany FedEx and it was about $300 shipping with no insurance. Some country's can have custom problems that using FedEx can really expidite delivery.
Advantage of UPS is they handle it at all times and the parcel is tracked but their rates are the highest. The downside is they try to negate any possible value for responsibility if they lose something.
Can be very confusing shipping internatinally. Except on flat rate USPS boxes I usually lose money shipping every time.
Did bring a rather long jousting lance from England to US once via cargo ship to save on shipping.
Have a feeling the Seller under estimated his shipping cost here and that may be the crux of the problem. Hope you are able to settle this problem and get your merchandise.
rand
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