Hi Mav,
At first I thought that is indeed simple. But after a second thought that could turn out quite expensive and complex. first of all it is a bit expensive because the cabs will have double transport charges, first the national transport costs from the seller to the container location, and then the international container shipping costs. Plus not all sellers will be prepaired to pack and ship the cab ( I see a lot of E-bay cabs which are only pick-up). And there is a greater risk on transport damage (twice loading and unloading, twice transport, insufficient packing). A final disadvantage of this method is that a lot of people are dependent from each other. If one or a few people hesitate or have some problem with there cab in the US, it will effect the situation of all people. And 30+ people would have to make payment arrangements and shipping arrangements.
This would only be very simple and cost efficient if all cabs are bought from a centralized location. However, thanks for your input, you brought me on an idea which I will investigate further.
Edit: Oh, and paperwork for customs, both sides, would be much more complicated as there are more owners for the container content, the risk of differences in taric classification because of differences in supplied information by sellers, etc.
And organizing the insurance would also be more difficult because again there are multiple owners of the conatiner content.