A new racket-SHIPPING!!!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Regarding shipping from the UK via Royal Mail, it is not cheap. Once I purchased a length of cloth from Ebay and was surprised at how much the merchant was charging me shipping. Fortunately I knew the approximately package weight and so I simply went onto the Royal Mail web site myself and got a shipping estimate from them to me. Yup, it really did cost that much.

I find that the Royal Mail rates tend to be reasonable with smaller packages, but jump up quite considerably when the package weight increases.

One other consideration -- sometimes I encounter those who seem to think the "shipping and handling" fees should be no more than what it actually costs to mail a parcel; the cost of the stamps, if you will. This does not take into account other cost factors, such as packing material, and the fact that it actually takes time and labor to pack an item, print a shipping label, and (for some) taking the package to the post office. That all takes work, and that's where the "handling" portion of "shipping and handling" comes into play.

[Smayniac]

I don't disagree with you Matt, my company charges a packaging fee for items we have to repackage for shipping. OTOH places that charge shipping based on the cost of goods with no regard to the size or weight of an item get my dander up, especially when they feel no compunction about charging a large item fee when things are bigger still.
Bob

[sathor]

I'll play the bad guy here, what the heck.

For a bottle of hot sauce, shipping is about 7 bucks. Now, I add a bit to cover insurance, I like them to be sent insured. But they are glass bottles, and if I had to buy a box, it would cost me between 50 cents and a dollar. If I run out of peanuts or bubble wrap.... I have the amounts tweaked to make as little as I can from shipping. (Though I have yet to deal with the 'flat rate box' from USPS, when that comes up it might alter things.) That one bottle, which might sell for $2 (or even $20, depending on the sauce) has a base charge of about $7 to ship. 2 of the bottles, and it becomes something akin to $7.5. That first 'pound' is the expensive one, it all gets better from there.

I had an order earlier this week, and I have taken to outsoucing the shipping to a place across town. They pack it for me, but they don't charge a surcharge for USPS. I collected about 7.50 for shipping, and paid them $7.38, which was the actual mailing cost. They provided the box and filler at no cost to me, but I tipped them a dollar, since they would have lost money in theory. Had the person chosen UPS for shipping, the place I went to gets a kickback.

Still, some places demand a base level for shipping, possibly for simplicity. Take SWK, for example. (I picked on Jerry since I need to reorder some tartan hangers but they are out of stock atm) If I wanted to order solid black flashes, for a kilt I bought elsewhere that didn't come with flashes, it would be $6. Shipping is also $6. They could go in an envelope and get a 44 cent stamp, I would assume. (He might allow that if I called it in, don't know, doesn't matter, if I decide I want them, I'll add them to when I get my son a replacement kilt) Granted, in the long run, most people won't order something that come up to a total under a pound, but I think it would balance out in the long run. Then again, I once paid almost $36 dollars shipping for an order that weight about 2 pounds, because it was a per item amount.

[Pleater]

One reason I do not sell large items overseas from my mini business with knitting machines is that there is both a size and weight limit on Air Mail at the Post Office, so selling something which weighs over 2 Kg when packed or is over the limit for length means I would have to use a carrier. The lowest weight limit for the carriers is in excess of what I want to ship - and the cost is several times higher too.

I can sell cables and small spare parts easily enough, though if there are several orders getting them all ready to take to the Post Office can take most of the morning and it is mid afternoon before I am back at home, but the cost per parcel is reasonable and the delivery is usually under a week.

With the convertion fees, standard PayPal fees, and sometimes errors in guessing the final weight, or not paring down everything possible and being a few grams into the next weight level I do make losses on the postage.

It is usually only pennies, so not going to put me out of business.

When I mention on the Yahoo Groups that I have made a good purchase I often get demands to know how much to ship it to the States - and then there is a shocked silence when I tell them XX amount plus the cost of a container that will get the machine to them in one piece.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Frank McGrath]

I once worked in the parts dept of a dealer for industrial equipment. I tried to keep shipping costs down for my customers. We had a sales meeting and one enterprising (read that butt kissing) mid level manager suggested to up the shipping costs by the same percentage that we charged for parts. Shipping became an income account rather than a cost account. A lot of people complained. The owner of the company gave the guy a bonus for the idea. I left the company.

[Ancienne Alliance]

These are our shipping prices from France ( Registered & Insured )

Waistcoat :US & CAN : € 25
Waistcoat :EU & UK : € 15

Kilt : US & CAN : € 38
Kilt : EU & UK : € 32

Jacket :US & CAN. : € 28
Jacket : EU & UK : € 18

Jacket + waistcoat : US, CAN : € 30
Jacket + waistcoat : EU & UK : € 20


Jabot : US & CAN : € 7
Jabot : EU & UK : € 5

Jabot & sleeves: US & CAN : € 7
Jabot & sleeves: EU & UK : € 5

Bonnet : US & CAN : € 7
Bonnet : EU & UK : € 5


Best,

Robert