We Buy From Local Marketplaces Abroad. You Get It in the US.
Some of the best places to find what you're looking for — vintage gear, one-of-a-kind pieces, deep secondhand inventory — aren't on eBay or Amazon. They're on local marketplaces around the world, where individual sellers never expected a buyer outside their own country, and we're adding new platforms as we go. None of them were built with a US buyer in mind — the listings are often in another language, sellers usually only expect to ship locally, and there's no single checkout that gets an item from a stranger's doorstep abroad to yours in America.
That gap is what we handle. We're the ones who deal with the seller, receive the item locally, and get it to you — so where the marketplace happens to be isn't the reason you can't have it.
Platforms We Buy From
- KleinanzeigenGermany
Individual sellers who default to local pickup and won't reply to an English message. We talk to them in German and get it done.
- LeboncoinFrance
Same problem, French sellers. We negotiate and confirm they'll sell to someone overseas before you pay anything.
- VintedEurope-wide
Deeper inventory than the newer US site, but most individual sellers only ship within their own country or the EU. We're the buyer they can actually ship to.
How It Works
- 1
You send us the listing.From Kleinanzeigen, Leboncoin, Vinted, or wherever it is — paste the link and tell us what matters (budget, size, condition).
- 2
We get it.Exactly how depends on the platform — sometimes that means contacting an individual seller directly (usually within 24–48 hours) and negotiating in their language, sometimes it means completing a purchase through the platform's own checkout. We pay sellers however they'll actually accept — bank transfer, PayPal, or cash in person for the ones who only want to hand it over face to face.
- 3
It's received wherever that platform's sellers actually are — our own facility in Hannover, Germany, locally in France, or elsewhere, depending on the platform.
- 4
Inspection is available if you want it.Just ask, and we'll confirm it's the item described and check for obvious damage before it ships — a match-and-condition check, not a functional test. If you skip this, it goes straight to packing.
- 5
If you're buying more than one thing, even from sellers in different countries, we'll try to bring it all together into one shipment — usually by routing everything toward our Germany facility once that's practical. We can't guarantee it, since items land at different times from different sellers, and we won't hold anything that's ready to ship just to wait on the rest — we ship what's ready and consolidate what we can.
- 6
We pack it — standard protective packaging, reinforced for fragile items, or custom crating/palletizing on request (may cost more) — then weigh it and send you a separate invoice for shipping.That's billed separately from your original quote, since it depends on the actual weight and size once it's packed.
- 7
Once that's paid, we ship it to your US address, usually via DHL, in about 7–14 days.That's a typical range, not a guarantee. Customs duties are paid on delivery and we provide the customs paperwork — that charge comes from the carrier when it arrives, not something we collect upfront.
Pricing
Our service fee is 8–15% of the item's price, with a $20 minimum, on top of what you pay the seller — the exact rate depends on the specifics, so you'll see the real number on your quote. Shipping and packaging are billed separately once we know the actual weight and size (see step 6) — they're not part of this quote.
If it doesn't go through:
- Cancel before we've placed the order with the seller, or the purchase can't go through — full refund, including our service fee.
- Cancel after we've already purchased it on your behalf — we refund whatever we can recover from the sale; our service fee isn't refunded, since the sourcing work is already done.
- The item turns out to be un-exportable, or customs rejects it — we refund the purchase price minus any costs already incurred, and tell you exactly what those were.
Refunds go back through Stripe to your original payment method, typically 5–10 business days. Shipping and packaging fees are refundable until the parcel is dispatched — once it's with the carrier, they're not.
FAQ
Because most of these sellers and platforms aren't set up for an international buyer — wrong language, no international shipping, or (on Vinted) inventory that simply isn't on the US site yet. We're the part that makes it reachable.
We specialize in antique, vintage, and collectible items — audio gear, cameras, vinyl, sports memorabilia, and similar categories where our sourcing and shipping process is built to handle age and condition properly. If you're not sure whether something qualifies, send us the listing and we'll tell you honestly.
No — even when you request inspection, we confirm the item matches the listing and check for obvious damage, but we don't power things on or run a functional test. For electronics especially, that's worth knowing going in.
If it turns out to be significantly not as described, we'll step in and communicate with the original seller on your behalf. Any return depends on that seller's own policies — sales are considered final once we've purchased on your behalf, return shipping is your responsibility, and we can't guarantee the outcome.
Full refund, including our service fee.
Credit or debit card, Alipay, or WeChat Pay, all through Stripe's hosted checkout. For large or unusual orders, we may arrange a wire transfer instead.
Shipping alone typically runs 7–14 days once we have the item in hand — add the time it takes to reach an agreement with a seller on top of that, where that step applies.
Get a quote. Paste the listing link into our quote page at hobbeex.com — we'll tell you honestly whether we can get it and roughly what it'll cost, before you commit to anything.
GET A QUOTE