Surely it could be an option at the customer's discretion though, maybe a box to tick in the shopping cart along the lines of "[ ] Ship by First Class mail, (name of store) takes no responsibilty once it leaves our hands." It would be worth it to me, and I'm sure others, to save $30 postage on a package. With Australian Customs it seems I'm the lucky one also, the only package I've ever had held or inspected by them was one from Japan a couple of years ago. It contained a 5-pack of Japanese wood chip cars that included a plastic bag of sawdust for the wood chip load, it must have looked like 'certain substances' on the X-ray.
This too sounds good in theory but never works. We have our store policy in several locations on our site and ALWAYS have to break them to make folks happy. I am telling you it will ALWAYS be our fault. Sorry this is not what you want to hear but this is what we deal with daily for 10 years now. By the way 99% of the time we eat it unless I can prove otherwise. Now the good news , It only happens about 1 or 2 % of the time. IMHO again , Mike
An interesting point I want to make about the 'MD' distributor/e-tailer... and for that matter the 'WI' distributor/e-tailer. I don't believe they use the 'FLAT RATE' boxes from USPS. I just found two of the boxes from the 'MD' distributor which where delivered within the past few months. BOTH of the boxes were oversized for the items ordered and they were sent the 'regular' USPS Priority (I'm in zone 5). The more recent order was for 7 long freight cars that were sent in a 12.5" x 12.5" x 6" box. The total weight was 3 lbs... they charged $12.10 s/h... USPS Priority... which was the cheapest option. Those freight cars could have easily fit into one of the flat rate boxes that USPS Priority offers... but... I'm not sure if that option would have been any cheaper. The earlier order for an Athearn Big Boy was shipped in an 18" x 12" x 6" box which also weighed 3 lbs... and they charged 'only' $10.00 s/h for that order. BTW... I recently received an Athearn Challenger from a different e-tailer which used the 'white' USPS Priority box... and charge more for shipping (though... they are located farther from me)... I don't remember if it was a 'Flat Rate' box. I also checked on some earlier orders... which I don't have the packaging for... but they were in the $7.25 to $9.00 range... all were USPS Priority. I believe that the issue with my orders is the increased prices charged by USPS that went into effect a few weeks ago. Generally speaking... the cost of shipping has been consistent up to then. I actually cannot complain about the cost from this e-tailer. I can only guess that in Georges case... the distance and location where his package is going to has greatly increased the shipping charge. BTW... the other (WI) distributor/e-tailer has a very similar shopping cart and also ships in large brown boxes when USPS Priority is chosen. Both of these sources of model railroad paraphernalia seem to have similar shipping practices.
It is sad that sellers sometimes have to "eat it" when someone else screws up. I recently had this happen with $50 worth of detail parts from a small company "North-West of here". I waited and waited for them to arrive. Sometimes it takes a while, ya' know ??? I finally POLITELY asked about it, and he had sent the stuff, but it never arrived. I asked about tracking, and he said that his Postal System no longer used tracking !!! Seems some "over-paid wizard" decided they couldn't afford such services any more !!! The seller replaced the shipment, but obviously he "ate" the parts, plus the shipping. So, it's not always your fault, but it's too bad you get stuck holding the bomb sometimes !!!
I manufactured HO Slot Cars Speed Parts for years. Shipping to Canada was always a problem, the parts were small and weighted very little. You could not insure a small box going first class, they treated it like a letter. The post office told me to put a rock in the box to add weight. I gave my customers a choice, PM insured, very expensive, or First Class Mail unisured, very inexpensive, but they had to accept responsibility if lost. This worked for me as I never had a problem with hundreds of packages.
It looks like I have scored TWO MTL 50 foot express reefers from a dealer on that auction site, within 2 minutes of each other. Good price for one, great price for second one. Only thing is, I understood according to the auction description and terms, that seller would combine shipping and he seems to be shipping two little cars separately at $7.50 each. Maybe there was some way I should have checked out cart that I did wrong, or maybe seller is making some adjustment that did not show up on invoice... I have had times I sold two or three small items on that auction site and the computerized system made a combined invoice, but I could not get it any way to change from adding up the individual shipping charges. I could not lower it on invoice, so I made a small refund after receiving payment. I am not going to "demand" that , but I will probably send a note asking if I misunderstood policy and if there is a way I did not use checkout system correctly. Hint that I would like to see it cleared up, for (positive reinforcement here) FUTURE purchases.
This has probably been mentioned in one of the previous posts, but I couldn't find it. Just for grins, last night, I went on a web site of very long standing mass marketer that is in New York. They have sold Lionel and Ho and others for many years, but I have never ordered from them and most likely will not. What I did was run an order through to almost complete to see what the S&H fee would be. To my surprise, the page stated that S&H fees would be determined and added to the invoice. I emptied the cart and will not use them in future. I think a person should have 2 or 3 options on shipping companies and have the amount known before finalizing the order. Perhaps, an order, placed via telephone a person would find out the S&H costs. Also, I do not like being told, as the customer, that I have to accept the seller's UPS or USPS for shipping. UPS is very slow, sometimes a week to get an order by them. However, FedEx is quite swift. I have asked e-tailers to ship FedEx but was told no because "we have a deal with UPS" so it has to be UPS or USPS. I have found, from the east coast that USPS Priority is much faster than UPS. I believe FedEx is a tad higher than UPS. Carl
Kenneth, Quite often the smaller retailers will say “wait for an invoice with combined shipping” or “request a combined invoice” “before checking out”. I have had some that gave a refund after the items have shipped. I would e-mail this seller if you need to. The good seller’s will not mind, and the few bad ones need to be held accountable. Bob
This whole thread could have been prevented had George simply called the MD store to inquire about why the shipping was so high and if it is correct, he could have simply ordered it from Fifer in the beginning. But no, we had to have 18 pages of whining when most of the people on here don't even have a clue (only because they haven't had to do it) what it costs to package, insure and ship an item. People always complain about shipping costs on eBay. As a small seller, I simply email them with the hard facts about the costs and that eBay takes a 10% Final Value Fee on shipping as well and everything is good. I agree with Spookshow 100%. Run some trains. Talk about something productive. And moderators, please close this thread. It ran it's course pages ago.
Dave.... It seems this thread has generated a lot of interest in shipping charges in General...not only "that etailer'. BTW...the original question was was finally answered. My reason for posting on a Forum was to see if other modelers are/where having issues with the topic. I see no harm in discussing the topic further. It seems there are a few other shippers with questionable shipping charges practices. This is a "Discussion Forum"...it seems that is exactly what most of us are doing..."Discussing Shipping Charges". No need to lock it. A far as what it costs to package and ship an item...its what we are discussing. Maybe somone who ships items can enlighten us all on what it takes...discuss away And running some trains...been doing that EVERYDAY I just leave TB open and check the boards now and then when I take a break from having fun in the trainroom...thnxs
George, the intent of your original post had NOTHING to do with a civil discussion about shipping costs. The red faces, the "stick it blah blah blah" was the result of you wanting to order something and being ticked off about shipping. Don't try to convince me or anyone else that you wanted a civil discussion. As many others have said, if you don't like the shipping charges, go somewhere else.
Honestly, when this thread has run its course, it will drift away into the anals of history... I personally have had much fun reading this thread, and it certainly has been, for the most part, very informative and civil.
Yes...and I am still upset that some places charge twice as much as others for the same shipping method...arent you ? This thread has been informative enough that some people now know who NOT to order from. BTW...I did order somewhere else...for a heck of a lot less in shipping charges...and it arrived today. I will now go out to the workbench and assemble said pieces. I will be back though to check out and post again on the best danged Railroad Forum on the internet...TrainBoard. Thank you very much
Sunday there is an F1 race from Hungary and the following week, Indycar at Mid Ohio.... did we successfully hi-jack this thread yet?
