The fun of shipping charges

[Maciek]

Here's something I love complaining about.

Why is it cheaper to get a CD sent to Poland from amazon.com (USA!) than any of the European amazon incarnations (amazon.co.uk, amazon.fr, amazon.de)? Why does JPC charge 28 euros for delivering to so many destinations?! Why does amazon marketplace ship to only 25 countries in the world (yes, that's right, twenty-five!!! unbelievable!)? Etc. etc. etc.

Tired of these absurdities? This thread is the place for you! Complainers unite!

(If you don't want to complain, want to recommend a vendor with cheap shipping, discuss shipping rates in general, etc., this thread is also for you!)

((Wow! What a great thread! It's practically for everyone! ))

[Opus106]

I hate it when the charge on a per-CD basis for boxed sets. (Even if the charge for a 15-CD box is lesser (by half-a-unit or something ) than that for 15 separate discs.) MDT and  Europadisc often have great offers; I'm a bargain hunter and primarily look for boxes to cover the basic/favourite repertoire -- the way they charge for shipping spoils all the fun. That's why I prefer Presto Classical: it's essentially $2.00 per shipment and $1.95 per item to any part of the world outside the U.K. That's the lowest I've found so far.

[Lethevich]

Postage fees can be bizarre. I have a Canadian friend who does a lot of CD trading and he is constantly complaining about the Canadian postal service's pricing. They have huge thresholds, meaning that it is possible for two CDs (stacked on top of each other, so to not be letter thickness) to cost the same as twenty to send as a parcel, and often express post is cheaper than standard. He almost didn't believe me when I mentioned that the Royal Mail's system's prices go up in 10 gramme increments.

[Drasko]

Ahh, my kind of thread

jpc.de charges 20 euros per package to Serbia, which is more than they charge for South America or South Africa.

amazon.de charges at the same time 6 euros per package.

None of the amazon marketplaces ships to me, they will take my money but not my address. I can pay for the item with my credit card, but have to address it to someone in first world countries.

French shipping rates to Serbia are obnoxious in general.
Amazon.fr starts with unbelievable 15 euros for first item and then adds 2 euros for each next.
Fnac starts with 20 euros, but I can't remember is it flat or adds something per items. Alapage is 'best' with 12 euros per package.
Abeillemusique won't ship to Serbia at all.

US amazon is relatively ok with $7 for first item plus $2.50 for each next.
Arkiv and cduniverse didn't ship here last time I checked.

hmv.jp doesn't ship here, cdjapan does and their rates are somewhat complicated (800 yen for first CD thae goes by weight) but they are fast as hell, usually arrive in under a week by regular air-mail, from amazon US usually takes 2-3 weeks (though packet from private person in US takes 7-10 days).

Vista Vera charges 5 euros flat so far, and packet from Moscow gets here in a week.
Ondine was very fast from Finland, but can't recall the rate, and so was K617 from France (and the price was surprisingly normal).

British vendors are generally my first option, both for shipping rates and delivery time (mostly under a week) 

Can't register paypal account here, so no e-bay.

Local customs are dreadful, have to pay tax for anything over 20 euros (and shipping cost gets included in packet value).

[MN Dave]

Man, Drasko. Maybe you should move.   

[Lethevich]

Local customs are dreadful, have to pay tax for anything over 20 euros (and shipping cost gets included in packet value).

Bloody hell

[Scarpia]

I hate it when the charge on a per-CD basis for boxed sets. (Even if the charge for a 15-CD box is lesser (by half-a-unit or something ) than that for 15 separate discs.) MDT and  Europadisc often have great offers; I'm a bargain hunter and primarily look for boxes to cover the basic/favourite repertoire -- the way they charge for shipping spoils all the fun. That's why I prefer Presto Classical: it's essentially $2.00 per shipment and $1.95 per item to any part of the world outside the U.K. That's the lowest I've found so far.

MDT does not charge the normal per-cd rate if a multi-CD set has compact packaging (i.e., tea-bags in a clamshell). 

About the differential in shipping prices depending on country, it is certainly evident in the US.  Shipping to the US from the UK is quite reasonable, but shipping from most locations in continental Europe (i.e., Germany) is much more expensive.  I assume it is because the US and UK postal services have some sort of sweetheart deal going.  I have never had to pay a tarif, the biggest order I've placed has been 100 bucks or so.

[The new erato]

From lots of UK suppliers it's more expensive to ship to Norway than to Sweden because we're outside the EU; even though we are midway between the UK and Sweden. This silliness applies to lots of shippers.

[Carolus]

Here in Buenos Aires, shipping is not very expensive; but in compensation, about 10 to 20% of all parcels send from abroad got "lost".

[Diletante]

I live in Bolivia. I hate shipping fees that can be more expensive than the book I'm getting, snail-slow delivery and the fact that amazon.com won't let me buy from
amazon marketplace.

Last year I had Aaron Copland's book "What to listen for in music" sent to me from amazon.com and it took it THREE MONTHS to arrive. Then again, some of my Amazon packages arrive in two weeks or so.

I feel for you, Drasko. I thought I had it difficult. 

[Maciek]

I hate it when the charge on a per-CD basis for boxed sets. (Even if the charge for a 15-CD box is lesser (by half-a-unit or something ) than that for 15 separate discs.) MDT and  Europadisc often have great offers; I'm a bargain hunter and primarily look for boxes to cover the basic/favourite repertoire -- the way they charge for shipping spoils all the fun. That's why I prefer Presto Classical: it's essentially $2.00 per shipment and $1.95 per item to any part of the world outside the U.K. That's the lowest I've found so far.

Yeah, Presto is perfect for box sets. MDT can be OK if you're buying single discs - at least the rate to Poland is low enough for it to make sense (if the disc price itself is low enough!).

Milos, I see your plight is even worse than mine , though in most cases we're in the same situation (like the ridiculous French shipping rates). But at least I can have a paypal account - never felt before that it was exceptional in any way.

Generally, I feel what really sucks is amazon marketplace. Oh, I love to hate them. When will those people wake up? I actually wrote to them once (egged on by someone on this forum) and got an irritating, machine-generated generic reply ("thank you for your feedback, we'll think about it" - well, they've been thinking about my e-mail for 2 years now, and I probably wasn't the first to tell them anyway... )...

I mean, take a look. Here's a list of the countries "supported" (and in great need of support they are, I'm sure ) [source of list]:
(broken down by continent)

Australia
New Zealand

Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales)

Brazil

Canada
Mexico
United States (including U.S. protectorates)

Hong Kong
Japan
Republic of Korea

South Africa

I mean, even Europe is under-represented (less than half the European countries are covered; a large chunk of the modern day EU is left out)! South America is practically absent, so is Asia, not to mention Africa. It's simply pathetic. I for one can't figure out the rationale for this.

I hate you, amazon!

[Que]

Generally, I feel what really sucks is amazon marketplace. Oh, I love to hate them.

I hate you, amazon!

If it's any consolation Maciek, I had to give up on the US Amazon marketplace since they introduced an outrageous shipping rate of $6.89! That outdoes any advantage of a lower dollar...

And German Amazon Marketplace wants 6 freaking euros! For a country next door!

Luckily the Britsh pound is low as well, and the Brits only ask £1,79. (€1,99). 

Q

[71 dB]

Stop whining people. If shipping is too much then just buy elsewhere. Sometimes even the outrageous $6.89 of amazon.com marketplace isn't that bad if the product itself is very cheap (like $0.50). I have bought many Tangerine Dream CD's because of that (UK Amazon has much lower shipping rates but the same CDs may be £8).

Shipping rates themselves aren't important. Product price + shipping is. That's what we pay for.

[Antoine Marchand]

jpc.de charges 20 euros per package to Serbia, which is more than they charge for South America or South Africa.

No, Drasko: JPC charges 28 euros per package to South America  . I know it very well. 

[Maciek]

71 dB, you're such a party pooper! The point of this thread is (mostly) to whine!

Shipping rates themselves aren't important. Product price + shipping is. That's what we pay for.

Oh, yeah? Tell me about the amazon marketplace shipping rate to Argentina then.

[snyprrr]

Dear friends,
         Come to the United States. Here we have great plumbing, and Amazon charges $2.98. btw- gas is only $2.50 a gallon, so bring a friend!

if we don't like a country's shipping rates,... we bomb them!

[Herman]

Stop whining people. If shipping is too much then just buy elsewhere. Sometimes even the outrageous $6.89 of amazon.com marketplace isn't that bad if the product itself is very cheap (like $0.50). I have bought many Tangerine Dream CD's because of that (UK Amazon has much lower shipping rates but the same CDs may be £8).

Shipping rates themselves aren't important. Product price + shipping is. That's what we pay for.

People often make their purchasing decisions triggered by the product price. Only then they find out about the total after s + h is added. Many a brick store would have been saved if folks had done the math beforehand.

[Harry]

Amazon UK, is cheap, like Que said, 1,99 euro's. JPCde is 3,00 euro's, so that's reasonable too. I rarely order anywhere else.
There never was any brick store in my city, unfortunately.

[Maciek]

If it's any consolation Maciek, I had to give up on the US Amazon marketplace since they introduced an outrageous shipping rate of $6.89! That outdoes any advantage of a lower dollar...

If I could, I would ban them!

[The new erato]

JPCde is 3,00 euro's, so that's reasonable too. I rarely order anywhere else.

6 Euros to Norway, even if I buy only one CD. IfI  buy for more than 25 Euros, I have to pay not only Norwegian VAT (Vat get deducted at jpc so that is OK) but also a fee for the VAT payment at about 14 Euro. So I usually buy small packages, and then a postage across the North sea for 1-2 CDs at 6 Euro is far too much.

If had lived in Sweden it would have been 3 Euro - and that is the frustrating thing about shipping charges; they are not logical and do not relate to real shipping costs in any meaningful way!