The shipping cost is for USPS Priority mail which is expensive. Seller would have to use something else for out of country and would probably be willing to ship by other methods if asked. UPS is rather hard on heavy items that have external parts that break so packing is an issue here as well. Bubble wrap and plastic peanuts are not going to catch it as these things are just like espresso machines, they break or bend real easy.

These are auto transformers and that current rating is for the full output voltage only. The cheap red ones must have that rating reduced to account for the lower output voltage. What that boils down to is if you need 15A @ 120vAC the you will have to buy at least a 25 amp rated red one to have a chance it does not melt down while in use. The old General Radio Variacs will maintain rated current at lower voltages without failure, this is why they are expensive and hard to find in the higher capacities.

Based on my experience buying a used American made variac is no guarantee that you won't have problems. I'm sure that the Chinese made variacs aren't built to the same standards as a 20-30 year old American unit but they also don't have 20-30 years of use on them. The Staco 22A variac I bought off Ebay worked fine for awhile & then started randomly popping the breaker in the middle of a roast. The Chinese 20A variac I bought new for $110 has worked flawlessly for over a year with no roasts ruined.