Hi again all, sorry I was offline most of the day (its late night here right now)
Like Requiem Prime, I bought Delicate Warrior off the back of Impossible Toy's abomination, so I was sold on the fact that it was waaay better than the Valkyrie - for what it is (hand made, limited production runs, etc), it is worth the money - in absence of a Hasbro / Takara version (which is the reason we are even on here discussing this!) - I'm a fan of the Animated figures, (and have Animated Arcee), but the kit for Animated Arcee's head just sticks the G1 head on an Animated figure (and, as TRU exclusives at the time, I paid about $50 - not including shipping, for Arcee and Animated Rodimus - which, last I saw on BBTS were $35 each - another example of high markup), which doesn't take away from how good Animated Arcee is, it just is not in the Classics aesthetic for me, tbh.
@Counterpunch, as I end up generally paying for shipping to Ireland anyway, from the States, Hong Kong, Japan and China - so I don't really count the shipping rates in (a topic I noticed has popped up on here time and again) - getting most stuff, I've found a general rule of thumb - most shipping, while more expensive, avoids 21% + €6.00 (about $9) tax on import.
Robotkingdom, for example, ship from Hong Kong at quite a high rate (EMS), but will arrive within 5-6 working days from ship, without 21% on top. Well worth the extra money, especially if you order multiple items.
The 2 items I have got so far from iGear are the Delicate Warrior, shipped from China, which didn't get charged duty, but took weeks to arrive, and the SG Evil Leader copy - which was shipped from Hong Kong, but shipped at a lower rate than Robotkingdoms, but which: a) took longer to get here, and b) got charged duties.
Having got items from eBay sellers in the States Hong Kong and Japan, the shipping rates for reliable, express shipping are roughly the same - HIGH! I'm not surprised you are getting charged daft prices for EMS on a Deluxe size item at a time, I just try to combine shipping by buying 3 or 4 hard-to-find-ish Deluxes at a time, or 2 Deluxes and a Voyager, and so on.
(This, incidentally, is a win for BBTS, their Pile O Loot feature is the main reason I use them, as well as getting most of my collectable items at reasonable-ish prices, without having to trawl eBay for what I can't get at the local stores too much anymore) - however, their shipping is cheap, extremely trackable, but in the 4 or 5 loads I have got from them, I've had to pay the tax on each time - but I don't really mind, as it is in bulk.
It depends entirely on the shipping your seller provides, and what they actually pay for the shipping itself - if they charge less, you end up paying for it down the line, as well as taking ages to get here. If you pay higher, you get it relatively quick.
Using USPS's general shipping rates for 4 Deluxes as a guide:
Priority International Mail (my favoured rate - quick and traceable) $25 - $35-ish.
Registered International Mail - $15 - $25, only trackable sometimes, takes 3 - 4 weeks from ship
International Mail (most sellers don't offer this, as PayPal insist on reasonable shipping times within their claiming period) $10 - $15, non-airmail, 1-3 months arrival time.
Point is, I end up paying for the shipping one way or another, and have no access to store exclusives (as the stores are not in my country), just Wave 1 and 2 (sometimes) on all collectibles.
Don't get me wrong, but I've just started getting more Takara than Hasbros since I got Takara Animated Rodimus - better than the Hasbro, weird paint and all (for the ones I REALLY want) as they generally cost me the same, either way - I have some Hasbro RTS in my PoL at BBTS, but I've also prepaid for some Takara United at Robotkingdom (cheaper than BBTS, as it's an import item for them, too) - Kup, Wreck-Gar, Cybertron Soundwave - we all use different methods to pad our collections, but shipping said stuff generally costs.
Incidentally, I've learned my lesson on ROTF (I have Hasbro Leader Prime and Jetfire, AND ended up getting the Asian Exclusive Buster Prime and Jetfire 2 pack, as they were just about worth paying extra for)-
As for DOTM - I'm gonna be hanging back for the bigger figs (good to hear Takara are gonna be doing Leader Ironhide and Sentinel Prime, I want good painted Leaders!) I've recently got the "Masterpiece" Takara Battle-Ops Bumblebee, and its way better than the vanilla Battle-Ops Bumblebees hogging shelves at my local toy stores - I can also skip that chunky Leader DOTM Bumblebee that has appeared on the web...
Oh, and I'm fully aware that China want their Wall O' Text back!!
the store I got her from sold out almost instantly while IT's Valkyrie is gathering dust. 
).
. This is not the first time they've hiked prices (to my shame, I have a $19.00 SCOUT Windcharger in my BBTS queue, as I'm in Europe, and we never get past the second wave on anything).
