Here are a few hints for ordering things from overseas.
1. Order from Amazon Germany only if you must. The German postal rates are the highest in the world. It's at least $13 to $15 to ship to the USA.
2. If you must order from Germany, use JPC.de/ because they will pack as many items in one package as they can, which can amortize the cost of shipping (€12.99) for a large order. Their prices also have the VAT (Value Added Tax) included, which is automatically deducted when the shipping address is outside the European Community.
3. It's cheaper to order from England than France (and I don't know why); also, most French vendors don't have any English language help. I guess that's because they are French. FNAC is one of the hardest vendors to deal with as they frequently list things that take forever to arrive as well as things that never arrive. Think of them as the Caiman of France.
4. Of the English Vendors, all are easy to navigate. The easiest is HMV.uk. If you are looking for HMV US, it's the same thing as Amazon.
5. There are some overseas vendors that have more specialized inventory that are set up for delivery to the USA. The best of these are Germanmusicexpress.com (which is a Dutch company not a German company. I think the reference is to German language composers such as Mozart or Beethoven, etc.) and Musicabona.com which specializes in Czech inventory, especially Praga and Supraphon.
6. It's easier and cheaper to order from HMV Japan than Amazon Japan. Delivery is cheaper from HMV as well, but you can use any Amazon coupons and gift certificates at Amazon Japan (as well as any of their worldwide websites).
7. Searching for something is incredibly difficult at Amazon Japan or HMV Japan. I frequently have to go through pages of composer listings before I can find the particular recording I want. You are better off using an artist search (such as L'Archibudelli or Pogorelich) than a composer search if you have a specific album in mind. However is the artist is Japanese or Chinese (such as Ozawa or Oué or Lang-Lang) you cannot search by artist unless you can input the Japanese characters. You had better hope there's a picture of the album, otherwise you won't find it.
8. Keep a tab open from xe.com so that you can do some sort of currency conversion while you shop. There will be commissions taken by your credit card company on foreign currency purchases. This may take the form of a flat fee or percentage. If you have an American Express card, use that as the commissions are supposed to be less and they are also supposed to use the most favorable rate. I think that has something to do with the fact that American Express is a "world wide" travel company. Who knows? It's all a crap shoot.
Good Luck finding things and try not to break the bank.
Another UK Vendor: Castle Classics