In case you didn't already, their
shipping policy is outlined on their website - for the north american market, shipping comes directly from China, and you have to deal with customs. As far as I know, they have no local distributors. For the european market, they ship from the Netherlands, so within the EU, which is relatively hassle free. In any case, delivery can take a few days, or it can take a few weeks depending on stock (I had to wait for my stuff for about two weeks to ship, and another three days for DHL to ship). If you want the VKB stuff (and I highly recommend it), there's no way around a bit of patience and hassle.
That being said, in my opinion there is nothing remotely as good in the price bracket of the EVO line. They are not exactly cheap, but they are not exactly expensive either. Don't be put of by their "plastic" construction - the housing is fiberglass reinforced, and the gimbal has ball bearings, so it's not cheap plastic on plastic. The metal construction of brands like Virpil may be much more high quality (VKB has higher tier stuff, too), but the VKB EVO line is definitely the bang for the buck.
I'm not so convinced about the STECS throttle, at least if you fly spacesim primarily (I do). I fly twin sticks with a normal stick for the right hand and an Omni Throttle for the left. These sticks are very good, and very precise - the only deadzone I need is on the Omni Throttle to counter my left hand's weight when at rest. If you want to program the sticks - which you don't have to, they work out of the box - it's quite a steep curve, the software is somewhat complex. But everything, including curves, is stored in the sticks rather than in some kind of calibration in Windows.
Bottom line: The VKB EVOs are worth every bit of hassle to get them.