Buy From Leboncoin. We Handle the Seller — You Just Get the Package.
Leboncoin is France's largest classifieds site — the French equivalent of Craigslist, but far more active, covering everything from vintage motorcycles to game consoles to collectible toys. Like most European classifieds sites, there's no cart or checkout: you message the seller directly, in French, and negotiate from there.
For a US buyer, that's the actual obstacle — not shipping, but getting a French seller who's never sold internationally to agree to sell to you at all. Buyers who've run into this have ended up asking strangers on forums to message a seller on their behalf, because there was no service that would do it for them. And if what you're looking for is just a French mailing address, contacting the seller, negotiating a price, and confirming they're actually willing to sell to someone overseas is still on you.
How It Works
- 1
You send us the listing.Paste the Leboncoin link and your budget.
- 2
We contact the seller in French — usually within 24–48 hours.We confirm the item's still available, ask the same questions you'd ask in person, and find out whether they're willing to sell to a US-based buyer.
- 3
We negotiate on your behalf, in French — Leboncoin listings are often open to offers.
- 4
We pay the seller in a way they'll accept.Bank transfer, PayPal, or cash in person for sellers who only want to hand it over face to face — something no forwarding address can do.
- 5
It's received locally in France.Inspection is available if you want it — just ask, and before it ships we'll confirm it's the item described and check for obvious damage. If you skip this, it goes straight to packing.
- 6
We pack it — standard protective packaging, reinforced for fragile items, or custom crating/palletizing for oversized pieces 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.
- 8
Customs duties are paid on delivery, and we provide the customs paperwork.This is charged by the carrier when your package arrives, not something we prepay or fold into our quote.
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 seller can't supply the item — full refund, including our service fee.
- Cancel after we've already purchased it on your behalf — we refund whatever the seller refunds us; 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.
What We Buy
We focus on antique, vintage, and collectible items on Leboncoin — the same categories we specialize in everywhere else, just from a French source.
Why This Works
We receive things locally in France, so we can talk to the seller in their own language before any money moves, and check the item ourselves before it starts the trip to the US, if that's something you'd like.
FAQ
That's the default on Leboncoin, not the exception. Finding out whether a seller will make an exception is exactly the conversation we have with them first.
The trust problem isn't really about Leboncoin — it's that you can't verify a listing or a seller from another country. We're on the ground in France to receive it, and you can ask us to check it against the listing before it ships if that would put you at ease.
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.
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.
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.
Shipping alone typically runs 7–14 days once we have the item — add the time it takes to reach an agreement with the seller on top of that, which varies listing to listing.
Also buying from Germany or on Vinted? See all the platforms we buy from →
Get a quote. Paste the Leboncoin link into our quote page at hobbeex.com — we'll tell you honestly whether we can get it and roughly what it'll cost.
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