I bought my Aldens from Alden Shop in february, and I paid 50$ for shipping to Italy. I discovered today that the new Alden international shipping charge is... 135$!!! I fear this means one thing only: it will be impossible for me to order another pair in the future.
You might want to consider the Alden run that Marc is handling in the vendors section. Sounds to me like it would probably pan out to be about the same cost in the long run.
Yes, I also have a pair of Marc's AB Aldens. The AB Aldens are about 470 euros, including postage. Regular Aldens from Aldenshop are 350 euros, plus about 60 euros of customs: total 410 euros. The difference is "only" 60 euros, but... in both cases the price is really high, and is very difficult I can afford again in the future a similar expense. I'm lucky enough to have these 2 pairs for the moment.
If you have two pairs, I'd worry about it after you wear them down to nubbins....and even then you can get them fixed, so you won't have to worry about replacement costs for a LONG time.
Don't be so sad, my friend! You're set for quite a while!
I bought mine from Alden of Carmel and the shipping charges were much lower. There were also customs charges of course, but you have little control over that.
If you have two pairs, I'd worry about it after you wear them down to nubbins....and even then you can get them fixed
Original heals can be purchased through any authorized Alden retailer
Here's the breakdown on what a pair of reg. 405's would cost, if you'd order them from the U.S. for Germany, using today's exchange rate of 1.27$ for 1 Euro.
Retail price 320$
Shipping 135$
Customs (19%) 86,45$
Fees for the custom's paper work: round about 15,50$ Total: 556,95$
I bought my first pair of 405's when one Dollar was 1.2 Euro. The boots were round about 300$, customs only 16% and shipping only 50$ back then, but it still came up to round about 500€ - which today would be 635$ (half a year ago that would have been 800$ )