Shipping in general from online shops

[silentsvn]

The price of shipping has gotten to be a bit astronomical.

I just ordered a $2.85 petcock gasket from BikeBandit.com and the shipping was $7.00. They could shove it in a envelope for $0.65. Or even flat rate it with USPS for $5.15.

i just don't get it.

 

[carnivorous chicken]

That's pretty ridiculous. From an online seller's point of view, a lot of folks will simply use one box (USPS flat rate priority, for example) which means one flat rate, no calculations necessary. Most add a little $ for "handling" -- to (partly) cover fees for Paypal, gas, time, etc. But you're right, that's too much. Did you ask if they could ship it another way?

 

[Sonreir]

Yup. I went to go order an oil pump last week. $60 pump and not big or heavy, either. Seller wanted $20 for shipping. I ended up with the $90 pump that cost $9 to ship. Screw that first guy.

 

[SONICJK]

Yup. I went to go order an oil pump last week. $60 pump and not big or heavy, either. Seller wanted $20 for shipping. I ended up with the $90 pump that cost $9 to ship. Screw that first guy.

So what you're saying is you paid more?.....

I agree shipping sucks. Mostly on little stuff.
But from the business owner standpoint, shipping something out costs money. You have to pay someone to put it into inventory, then pay someone to take it out of inventory, then pay someone to put it in a box, then pay for the tape, then pay for the printer ink to print the label...etc it adds up.
Theres no way to make money on a 2.35 petcock gasket, so all you can do is stock it for convenience sake and make sure you don't lose money on it.

But you're right, they should have envelopes and stamps on hand for things that will fit in them.

What I don't get is when they ship a small box UPS or FedEx. USPS flat rate is faster, cheaper, and insured and they give you the boxes for free, and they pick it up for free. Why anyone would ship something that will fit in a flat rate by UPS or FedEx I'll never know.

 

[Sonreir]

So what you're saying is you paid more?.....

Yup. I went with a better part just to ensure the money I was paying went toward the product and not the shipping. It's the principle of the thing...

 

[SONICJK]

Yup. I went with a better part just to ensure the money I was paying went toward the product and not the shipping. It's the principle of the thing...

Ah as long as theres a better part involved 8)
I thought you were paying extra for the same thing, just to "stick it to" the guy who was charging 20 for shipping haha.

 

[Maritime]

With bikebandit, they have a minimum shipping of 7, if you had of thrown in 3-4 other things it still would have been 7, they want you to order more items.

 

[buckaroo]

When they ship to Canada it really gets even more ridiculous! A small $16 relay ( not very big or heavy) , shipped to a US address just south of where I live costs $4, but to ship it to my Canadian address the same item costs $22, or items shipped FREE within the US costs $20 or more to Canada it is very frustrating and it really feels like being royally screwed over by our friends to the south. It isn't time consuming or difficult to fill out a customs declaration. Oh yes, and now ebay has a shipper that will do everything for the seller, all the seller does is ship an item to their warehouse then they forward it to the Canadian address, but charge import duties even though they mail it USPS even though I have never paid import duties on anything mailed to me by USPS, again getting screwed over!!

 

[Sonreir]

I thought you were paying extra for the same thing, just to "stick it to" the guy who was charging 20 for shipping haha.

I would never do that. :

 

[silentsvn]

With bikebandit, they have a minimum shipping of 7, if you had of thrown in 3-4 other things it still would have been 7, they want you to order more items.

Ya I saw that after the fact - I have never made an order from them for less than $20 - Also their return policy is crap. 15 days after the purchase date. It takes them almost a week sometimes to send out your items.

I'm cool to pay shipping handling etc.. what ever it takes - just don't gouge me - and Ill come back and buy more shit.

 

[SONICJK]

When they ship to Canada it really gets even more ridiculous! A small $16 relay ( not very big or heavy) , shipped to a US address just south of where I live costs $4, but to ship it to my Canadian address the same item costs $22, or items shipped FREE within the US costs $20 or more to Canada it is very frustrating and it really feels like being royally screwed over by our friends to the south. It isn't time consuming or difficult to fill out a customs declaration. Oh yes, and now ebay has a shipper that will do everything for the seller, all the seller does is ship an item to their warehouse then they forward it to the Canadian address, but charge import duties even though they mail it USPS even though I have never paid import duties on anything mailed to me by USPS, again getting screwed over!!

It works both ways amigo. Try ordering something from Canada here in the US.
I could drive up and swim it across the border cheaper

 

[silentsvn]

That's pretty ridiculous. From an online seller's point of view, a lot of folks will simply use one box (USPS flat rate priority, for example) which means one flat rate, no calculations necessary. Most add a little $ for "handling" -- to (partly) cover fees for Paypal, gas, time, etc. But you're right, that's too much. Did you ask if they could ship it another way?

No there was FedEx for like twice as much. I think i'm also spoiled a bit since i'm a Amazon Prime junkie.

 

[J-Rod10]

It is time consuming to fill out customs declarations when you do 20+ of them a day.

All of my eBay items, I charge a flat rate $15, or for the antique out outboard tools I build, $7.40.

Some fits a medium flat rate, some I have to have big boxes for. The outboard tools, a small flat rate.

Had a guy complain the other day that he paid $15 for a box that only cost $11.30 in postage. I guess my tape, box, packing material, time, gas, etc is all free.

If I remember correctly, a small flat rate to Canada is about $20.

 

[SONICJK]

It is time consuming to fill out customs declarations when you do 20+ of them a day.

All of my eBay items, I charge a flat rate $15, or for the antique out outboard tools I build, $7.40.

Some fits a medium flat rate, some I have to have big boxes for. The outboard tools, a small flat rate.

Had a guy complain the other day that he paid $15 for a box that only cost $11.30 in postage. I guess my tape, box, packing material, time, gas, etc is all free.

If I remember correctly, a small flat rate to Canada is about $20.

J,
I recently switched to flat rate padded envelopes for small things that aren't particularly breakable. At 5.95 they really can't be beat, and you can order 100 at a time for free, no tape, and they pick up for free. The only thing you have to spend money on is Ink to write the label 8)

 

[J-Rod10]

If I shipped anything that was small enough, or not so heavy it'd bust through the first time it caught up on something, I'd be using those as well.

 

[xb33bsa]

a business cannot use stamps,no tracking,no delivery confirmation
that said they could have gone 1st class and charged less,i would have called them and asked why

 

[silentsvn]

a business cannot use stamps,no tracking,no delivery confirmation
that said they could have gone 1st class and charged less,i would have called them and asked why

They can still use metered mail, which is what I was referring to. Priority mail gives you a tracking # so they would be all square.

 

[xb33bsa]

ahso metered mail
1st class now has the same tracking and delivery confirmation as priority and only takes a day or 2 longer if any
i ship daily and use 1st class whenever 13oz or less

 

[Islandstar]

Yup. I went with a better part just to ensure the money I was paying went toward the product and not the shipping. It's the principle of the thing...

Someone else who thinks like me....

 

[J-Rod10]

A lot of you guys forget the insurance portion of a package. I'm not sending out $175-$200 parts without insurance. Priority now has $50 built in, but that doesn't cover a lot.