I haven't ordered anything from overseas in a long time...well, to clarify, I haven't ordered from an overseas retailer for a long time. I get a lot of stuff shipped from Asia but puchased from a US company. Some countries such as Singapore and Taiwan aren't charged the same duties as the UK and much of Europe. Why? Because. I honestly can't fathom why we charge a small fortune to ship from the UK, but stuff can be sent from Asia with little to no added cost.

Also, shipping costs do vary from location to location. When I was in the navy I shipped two swords home from Dubai(a no-no, I know), and it cost less than it did to ship two shirts from San Diego to Nebraska for my Dad's birthday. A friend of mine shipped a hefty brass Buddha home to San Diego from Singapore for about 12 dollars, which surprised the heck out of us. Ironically, after we got back he opened the box and noticed a tag on the bottom that read "Hecho en Tijuana, BC, Mexico," which means the ten dollars he paid for it was more than the cost to make it and ship it to Singapore, and the twenty two dollars he spent to buy it and ship it home was more than it would have cost to drive to TJ, buy it, have a few beers and drive back. I quit thinking about this stuff and just look for the bargains. It gives me headaches.