High Shipping Cost

The last time I ordered something from overseas it was a small padded envelope that sat in customs for 1 1/2 weeks before being released to the post office. Then the post office had it for 4 days before they sent it on.
 
chips&more said:
I do all the boxing and running to the PO for my wifes ebay sales. She charges only the cost of shipping. I don’t get a cent for my time, packing materials, gas for the car and all the other nonsense. And my wife will still get complaints for buyers about the cost of shipping! I say to them, get into car and drive all over town and buy it that way. And by the way, eBay charges their sellers fees on shipping costs as well!!! So if you sell on eBay you get charged a finial value fee for the item and the same percentage fee for the shipping costs!!!
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They had to start doing that, because there were some goobers that were selling expensive items for $.01 and making up the difference with the shipping charge, to avoid eBay fees. So they just charge on the total. Makes it a bit uneconomical to sell cheap things that are expensive to ship, but those don't tend to be very popular for online sales, anyway. As for high shipping, there are many times that I paid more for shipping than I did for the item, but it all depends on how bad you want/need the item. It also depends on where you live. If you live in a large city you can probably just go somewhere and buy the item. I live in a small town in the desert, with the nearest medium sized city 80 miles away. It costs about $35 in fuel to drive the car there, double that for the truck, so you can spend a quite a bit on shipping before it becomes cheaper to drive somewhere and pick an item up (assuming it can be found there).
 
RJSakowski said:
A good friend is making an around-the -world voyage via container ship. He is on the last leg of his journey back to the states from Southeast Asia and will be at sea for 8 weeks. Add to that waiting to get space in a container, going through customs, potential dockworker's strikes, and shipping to the final destination and 6-8 weeks sounds very reasonable.
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That would be the case but I've never had anything ship via 'ship'. Everything gets marked airmail, usually the longest part is waiting for it to get on jet and then through customs.
 
SE18 said:
I was going to purchase an ER32 collet (MT3) chuck and 19 collets for my SB9A lathe. The cost was very reasonable, totalling about $76 for everything. I was about to purchase it but was floored by the shipping charge of $46 for surface shipping which takes 6-8 weeks, the cheapest.

I know the parts are not lightweight but with the price of shipping being over 50% of the cost of the items, it just seemed a bit excess? Maybe not?
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You don't mention the vendor which is a vital piece of information. However I have a good alternative to supply your tooling. The company is in China and their products are very good quality and price plus their delivery is cheap and fairly fast considering. I've been dealing with them for a while and they beat local suppliers for the same or better products.
Look for CTC Tools in the web.
 
scrdmgl said:
You don't mention the vendor which is a vital piece of information. However I have a good alternative to supply your tooling. The company is in China and their products are very good quality and price plus their delivery is cheap and fairly fast considering. I've been dealing with them for a while and they beat local suppliers for the same or better products.
Look for CTC Tools in the web.
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Apparently, the company was CTC Tools. (post # 21)
 
brino said:
Yep I'm with "great white".

I have stopped ordering from a number of US suppliers (Wholesale Tool, Reid tool supply, etc.)
Some don't tell you how they'll ship and how your package will be held hostage; if you don't pay another $40 on delivery you don't get it.
Even online; why does amazon.com have sooo many tools, but amazon.ca is soooo useless!

You guys have no idea how lucky you are to be in the continental US.
Shipping from there to anywhere else is prohibitively expensive.
The next time I hear a sales rep say the Canada is "over-seas" I'm gonna scream "Check a freaking map!!"

It's always been a sore spot with me, but I don't know who to blame.

-brino
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Unless I need something asap I have a shopping list and when we go to Florida for our annual visit I get everything shipped there. You'd think Canada was on some outer space planet and it had to be sent by rocket ship the way we get ripped off!! I have some friends with maildrop stores they use because of the proximity to the border. It is inexpensive to use and it gives them the cheap or free US shipping option.

Mike from Canada
 
I have purchased a number of items from the US and had them shipped to Canada. I search out the item I want then I do a search for that particular item by brand name or description. Then I start comparing price AND shipping cost then buy from the cheapest vender regardless of where they are.Now the big problem is Ebays Global Shipping Program. They charge import/customs fees on everything even if it does not apply. AND they do not guarantee that you will not have to pay additional fees when received. This is a scam pure and simple.
I can count the number of times I have had to pay import and customs on purchased things from the US and overseas on 3 fingers!! As a rule anything under $100 is duty free. But I have purchased many items for twice that and more that came in customs and duty free!! Of all the things I have had shipped from outside Canada from the US worst. It takes the longest to come through customs from the US then it does from China!! I just don't get it!
I have a friend in Arcade NY who I have things sent to when I can only get from a seller with ridicules shipping fees. And most are shipped free to him where they will ask over $200 dollars to ship to me just over the border. And it's a good excuse to go down and visit!! " Honey I have to go see Bob in Arcade my parts are in!! " . I noticed more and more US sellers doing this and these are not legitimate shipping fees they just don't want to ship outside the US but will if your desperate enough to pay it.
 
SE18 said:
I was going to purchase an ER32 collet (MT3) chuck and 19 collets for my SB9A lathe. The cost was very reasonable, totalling about $76 for everything. I was about to purchase it but was floored by the shipping charge of $46 for surface shipping which takes 6-8 weeks, the cheapest.

I know the parts are not lightweight but with the price of shipping being over 50% of the cost of the items, it just seemed a bit excess? Maybe not?
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I agree with all the others. Shipping at some places are outrages. Some use shipping as a way to make money. Other have a system they follow. I don't know how many time I received a small item in a gigantic box. Others I think just don't give a rip. I've ordered items that would fit in a USPS first class envelope but it comes in a large box. As the others, I shop around looking at the total price. It is apparent that many businesses don't realize how much business they loose out by not being smart about shipping.
 
ctc tools hasn't responded to my email. Even with high shipping cost, their price seems to be competitive. If they would have at least responded, I'd probably purchase it. I'll give them a few more days.
 
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