Is there a Finnish (or scandinavian) Ebay type site?

[AsaSmith]

Hi I was hoping to find a Finnish site, either auction or adverts that sell computers, computer bits, consoles and other electronic goods in or/and around Finland but I have no idea where to find them as I'm not a native speaker so any help would be wonderful and most appreciated

Infact any site selling electronic goods on the continent would be a good start if any one has any pearls of wisdom?

I come from Britain so all my stuff is no good over there!

Thank you in advance

[riku2]

there is huuto.net but it's not quite the same as ebay since I think the bids are non binding and there are also stories (even on this board) of unreliable sellers. getting bad feedback in huuto.net is hardly the same as bad feedback on ebay.

are you from the UK and moving to finland and buying stuff or selling?

I live in finland and buy from ebay and amazon uk. amazon do free shipping to finland. ebay sellers will either ship to finland (if they are from china then the postage is the same) or I get it sent to relatives in the UK and collect it myself.

finnish prices are so high that it's not worth buying books, CDs, DVD's and countless other personal items and food items in finland. buy them mail order or pick them up in the uk. Once you have seen aspirin at 3 pounds a pack in Finland when tesco do the same thing for 30p then you will start to check prices and buy plenty from abroad.

[Jukka Aho]

Hi I was hoping to find a Finnish site, either auction or adverts that sell computers, computer bits, consoles and other electronic goods in or/and around Finland but I have no idea where to find them as I'm not a native speaker so any help would be wonderful and most appreciated

Infact any site selling electronic goods on the continent would be a good start if any one has any pearls of wisdom?

Buy/sell/auction sites:

• MuroBBS: Muropaketin kauppa: myydään / ostetaan
• Afterdawn.com: Keskustelualueet: myydään / ostetaan
• sfnet.tori.atk.* (Usenet [sfnet] newsgroups; this site is only one way to access them)
• huuto.net
• tori.fi
• Keltainen pörssi

ATK = automaattinen tietojenkäsittely, “automatic data processing”, a bit old-fashioned term for everything computer-related
huuto = shout, call, cry
kauppa = store, shop; also deal; the (trans)action of buying, selling
huutokauppa = “shout deal”, auction
keskustelu = conversation, discussion
alue = area, zone
keskustelualue = conversation area
myydään = for sale
ostetaan = wanted for buying
tori = marketplace, market square
Muropaketti = Cereal Box (as in “I found it in a cereal box”), a name for a website
Keltainen pörssi = The Yellow Exchange (as in stock exchange but rather meaning a structured marketplace), a name for a website and a related ads paper

You might want to try using Google Translate to your advantage. Or disadvantage. ;)

For price comparison see also:

• vertaa.fi
• hintaseuranta.fi

And some stores just to get you started (you’ll find more via the price comparison sites):

• jimms.fi
• verkkokauppa.com

Large consumer electronics chains include Expert, Gigantti, Musta Pörssi, Tekniset, Markantalo. You can find something in Citymarkets, Prismas and Anttilas as well. There might be other depending on your locality. They all have web sites as well, listing some products and offers, but they’re not exactly online stores, at least not primarily.

Last but not least, you can easily order stuff from the larger and smaller online retailers in Germany, paying directly in euros either with a credit card or to a bank account, with no fuss about duties as there’s none within EU. You need to account for shipping but you can get pretty sweet deals anyway. There’s a similar thread to this one here, with some links to German price comparison sites.

(And, of course, why not use ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk and DealExtreme as well...)

[Pursuivant]

I come from Britain so all my stuff is no good over there!

What stuff? All you need to do is change the leads or just plug adapters (or get a few UK leads you plug the three pronged stuff in and you just need an adapter for a wall lead). If you buy new stuff - German ebay but stuff in UK is cheaper, in any case it all comes from China

[DaveyBoy]

You could do a lot worse than play.com they have good prices (new and used items) and free delivery on everything. I use them all the time, have done for years in every country I've lived in.

[riku2]

You could do a lot worse than play.com they have good prices (new and used items) and free delivery on everything. I use them all the time, have done for years in every country I've lived in.

I found the problem with play.com is that they force you to buy in euros for non UK addresses and their exchange rate was far from the real one, so it made amazon uk much cheaper. But now the change rate is pushing 1.27 then play might be competitive again.

Play won't ship electronics and non book/DVD items outside of the UK though. Amazon do that (for free if the order is over 25 pounds)

[DaveyBoy]

You could do a lot worse than play.com they have good prices (new and used items) and free delivery on everything. I use them all the time, have done for years in every country I've lived in.

I found the problem with play.com is that they force you to buy in euros for non UK addresses and their exchange rate was far from the real one, so it made amazon uk much cheaper. But now the change rate is pushing 1.27 then play might be competitive again.

Play won't ship electronics and non book/DVD items outside of the UK though. Amazon do that (for free if the order is over 25 pounds)

Thanks for the heads up! I didn't realise that about non-book/DVD items. I've always bought books from them. I've had my eye on an iPod dock and had just about reached a decision until you said that, so I'll have a look on amazon as well. I've bought a few things from there in the past and can also recommend it.

[AsaSmith]

Wow some wonderful replys there thanks a million guys thats really good stuff especially Jukka Aho!

I have so much stuff to take to Finland I cant take it all due to the cost of shipping it there, dont suppose anybody has any good (and cheap) ideas on who to use with reagrds to shipping?

Riku2: Thanks for that tip buddy, I will be checking out the huuto.net but will keep my wallet next to my chest when it comes to purchasing, thank you for that top suggestion on dodgy transactions I will most deinitley be keeping an eye out for that.
Yes very perceptive my friend! I will be buying broken computers, computer bits, consoles and all that kind of stuff as thats what I'll be fixing but its a bit of a nightmare nobody I know thats Finnish even uses Ebay and I couldnt find anything remotley similar based in Finland and ordering stuff from the UK just didnt make sense and would eventually leave me broke with P+P costs so your tip may have saved my merry behind! Much grattitude, and if you have anything broken you know where to come

Juuka Aho: Thats the best answer I've ever had on a forum! Perfect! Thanks for that great deal of info there, much appreciated, exacly what I was after. I will be checking them out intensley over the coming weeks so thank you for taking the time out to share those pearls with me and for the rundown of the Finnish language! Most kind. Yes gooogle translate is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard I know what you mean, again if you have any computery bits or console that are in need of repair that need software or hardware amending please dont hesitate to get in touch I would be happy to help, its the least I could do

Pursuivant: Yea I know what you mean but the problem is getting it over there in the 1st place and I have to buy and sell a bit whilst I'm there otherwise I'll be homless, drinking Karhu 24 / 7 and sleeping on a metro before I know it! Yea if I know what you mean but its the price of postage that has been scaring me lately, who do you use yourself it you dont mind me asking?

DaveyBoy: I do buy a bit from Play.com myself so I will keep them in mind thank you Daveyboy! Ah just read Riku2's comment, maybe Amazon for that Ipod station after all eh mate

Thank you for the replys guys most informative, I'm eager to find out who you use for postage for general items from ebay and such as I'm looking for the cheapest possible, also if there are any companys that take large parcels from the UK to Finland, I found this at parcelmonkey.com I think this is phenominally cheap in comparison to the others I've seen, for your reference http://www.parcelmonkey.co.uk/internati ... ernational its 24.79 for upto 20kg! Hope you get some use out of this, if you've got something cheaper I'm all ears! Speak soon

[wayne1978]

Hi
Is it possible to buy Indian food or spices from the UK or an EU country. There is no restriction in buying food ingredients such as packed spices and rice bags of 10 and 20 KG, pickles etc.Is there?

Any good websites in the UK or EU for buying Indian food stuff?

[zetorpilot]

...
I have so much stuff to take to Finland I cant take it all due to the cost of shipping it there, dont suppose anybody has any good (and cheap) ideas on who to use with reagrds to shipping?

...

Thank you for the replys guys most informative, I'm eager to find out who you use for postage for general items from ebay and such as I'm looking for the cheapest possible, also if there are any companys that take large parcels from the UK to Finland, I found this at parcelmonkey.com I think this is phenominally cheap in comparison to the others I've seen, for your reference http://www.parcelmonkey.co.uk/internati ... ernational its 24.79 for upto 20kg! Hope you get some use out of this, if you've got something cheaper I'm all ears! Speak soon

Removal companies (such as the one I work for ) will often take smaller, part loads. If you have, say, over a cubic metre or so of stuff then that is almost certainly the most economical solution. It does depend a bit where you are, though.

[riku2]

one tip if you are moving to finland from the uk and brining lots of electrical items: bring some four way adapters with you from the uk, when you get to finland cut off the plug and fit a european one. Then you don't have to change all the plugs on your items at once or invest a small fortune in individual adapters.

I do the reverse from finland -> uk and usa, I have some european 8 way adapters with a uk or usa plug fitted. Then I can use many things with european plugs but without the need for a lot of individual adapters.

[AsaSmith]

Apologies for the delay in replying my computer has bust and I'm using another, may I ask who you work for zetorpilot or would you like to give me a quote on a pallet sized load? If the price is right I could order one every 2 weeks so long as it was really economically viable in comparison to shipping costs. I would be most appreciative if you could help me out on that one.

I didnt realize you could just cut off the end of a UK plug and attach a 2 pin plug! Is that totally safe due to the fluctuations of voltage from the UK to the continent?

Thank you for the replys, looking forward you yours zetorpilot!

[riku2]

I didnt realize you could just cut off the end of a UK plug and attach a 2 pin plug! Is that totally safe due to the fluctuations of voltage from the UK to the continent?

The UK and europe use the same voltage (230v) and frequency (50Hz) so there is no difference there. You will be surprised to find no fuse in a european plug but that's how things are here, neither do 4 way or 8 way adapters in europe have a fuse fitted. You can also rotate the plug 180deg and insert it the other way around, so swapping live and neutral. This also seems bizarre from a UK point of view but is also just how things are in most of europe (France notably different since their euro socket is a slightly different design to the Finnish/German style and this live/neutral swapping is not possible).

The "2 pin" plug does have two pins, but the round ones also have an earth which in Germany/Finland is two metal strips on either side of the round plug. So you should fit one of these kind to your UK four way adapter. The flatter two pin plug does not have an earth. This is different to the UK since there all plugs have an earth pin although on some plugs it's made of plastic. In europe there are earthed plugs and not-earthed two pin plugs depending if the device needs an earth or not.

You will find finnish bathrooms have power sockets and normal light switches - again things forbidden in the UK. Finns are afraid of flooding but not being electrocuted! So the washing machine can be in the bathroom and must have it's own tap but there will be power sockets there for it and your toothbrush and hairdryer.

Just about the only electrical thing I have from the UK that doesn't work in finland are clocks that set themselves via a radio signal from frankfurt/rugby. Finland is too far from both for the signal to reach and you must set them manually. Otherwise digiboxes, satellite tuners, tv's, radios, computer stuff all work ok. There is no DVB radio in finland though - so no point in bringing one of those.

[AsaSmith]

Great answer Riku2 most inforative. I didnt realise we were on the same frequency, thats great news for my electrical items- So what happens if you get an electrical surge with no fuse in France? Everything goes pop? Is there a way to protect your electical items from that if so? I travel a bit so that would be handy to know.

Have a good one!

[Rip]

I didnt realize you could just cut off the end of a UK plug and attach a 2 pin plug!

Fairly many electrical appliances have cords that you can simply pull out from main body - and get a new local cord.