Exorbitant shipping costs !

[srtiwari]

I was excited to discover some B+W film sold by an Amazon affiliate. The prices were truly tempting - $ .48 to $1.89 for very popular traditional films. Assuming these giveaway prices were the remaining stock from a seller no longer planning film sales, I decided to buy a "few".
Of course, I should have known. Once my cart was loaded with all these goodies, the total cost came to $176. As I proceeded on towards completion of the transaction, on the last page, I was quoted the shipping cost of ...$324 !!
Naturally, I backed away from the whole thing, and cancelled the order. But it made me wonder- does anyone actually end up buying from them, and paying those bizarre shipping costs ? And if not, what is the point of this kind of marketing ??

 

[Ranchu]

As the world economy continues it's trainwreck, fraud and graft will become more common. Amazon is ok with it, as long as they get their cut. http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Health/2010/12/88470/

 

[pgeobc]

Many sellers have extremely attractive merchandise prices, but get well on the shipping and handling; it pays to look before you leap.

Try www.freestylephoto.biz

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

I've run across a few items that had great prices on Amazon "Affiliates", the prices were too good to be true but the shipping was out of this world.

 

[peterm1]

I often experience this with ebay sellers when quoting for shipping to Australia from USA. (And only USA - Canada is fine) I have even had sellers abuse me when I queried the high shipping cost quoted. So much so that if possible I prefer to buy in places like Hong Kong where this is an option. As I said to one abusive seller they seem to understand the meaning of understand service (and competition) there.

 

[LeicaFan]

Many sellers have extremely attractive merchandise prices, but get well on the shipping and handling; it pays to look before you leap.

Try www.freestylephoto.biz

Luckily for me, I can drive to Freestyle whenever I want. 😀

 

[CameraQuest]

I was excited to discover some B+W film sold by an Amazon affiliate. The prices were truly tempting - $ .48 to $1.89 for very popular traditional films. Assuming these giveaway prices were the remaining stock from a seller no longer planning film sales, I decided to buy a "few".
Of course, I should have known. Once my cart was loaded with all these goodies, the total cost came to $176. As I proceeded on towards completion of the transaction, on the last page, I was quoted the shipping cost of ...$324 !!
Naturally, I backed away from the whole thing, and cancelled the order. But it made me wonder- does anyone actually end up buying from them, and paying those bizarre shipping costs ? And if not, what is the point of this kind of marketing ??

Where are they located?
What shipper and by what class service?
Did you have a choice of shipping methods?
Fed Ex or UPS internationally can be quite expensive.

Stephen

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Same with the vintage Russian Cavalry Sabers you can buy through Ebay, $1 a piece, but shipping is a $100 from China 🙂

 

[greyelm]

What you need to look at is the total cost. Customs duty is paid on the item cost, not the delivery. In the uk anything over £19 (outside the EU) is duty payable so sometimes it is better to pay the higher delivery cost to get a low unit cost.

 

[sevo]

First of all, ask the seller - I have encountered quite a few that simply forgot to enter charges for cumulative shipping, so that ordering a multiple items made the shop system bill for shipping each in a separate parcel. I doubt anybody will do that intentionally on Amazon or ebay, as both forbid overcharging on shipping, so that they'd have to refund if they'd bill for a gazillion parcels and ship in one.

 

[Frontman]

It is nothing but a method for unscrupulous sellers to pad their profits. A year or so ago there were some Hong Kong sellers on eBay with great deals on CV rangefinder lenses, but they were charging up to $100 for priority shipping. eBay has recently prohibited this practice. I sell a lot of cameras and lenses on eBay, and from time to time I sell a really heavy item, so I raise the shipping price to compensate. eBay usually sends me a notice telling me that I am charging more than what I normally charge for shipping, and they warn me that over-charging for shipping is a violation of eBay policy.

 

[Gumby]

Same with the vintage Russian Cavalry Sabers you can buy through Ebay, $1 a piece, but shipping is a $100 from China 🙂

This is a different scheme - one to avoid paying ebay fees.

 

[Gumby]

First of all, ask the seller - I have encountered quite a few that simply forgot to enter charges for cumulative shipping, so that ordering a multiple items made the shop system bill for shipping each in a separate parcel. I doubt anybody will do that intentionally on Amazon or ebay, as both forbid overcharging on shipping, so that they'd have to refund if they'd bill for a gazillion parcels and ship in one.

Once this was the situation I encountered - failure of seller to invoke "combined shipping", and another time I suspect the seller hastly misplaced a decimal point. It is possible tha error is the reason rather than an intent to commit fraud.

 

[srtiwari]

Where are they located?
What shipper and by what class service?
Did you have a choice of shipping methods?
Fed Ex or UPS internationally can be quite expensive.

Stephen

Here are a couple of paragraphs from the affiliate's storefront-

"Marketplace Shipping Overview

When you purchase a new, refurbished, used, or collectible item from a seller at Amazon Marketplace, you pay immediately, online. Included in your payment is a precalculated fee for shipping. A rate chart is included below, and you can also read more about how we calculate those rates.


Your shipping fees when buying items at Amazon Marketplace are fixed according to the type of product you purchase.

Rates are based on shipping a single item. Purchasing multiple items results in multiple shipping charges--there are no "per shipment" and "per item" charges, as there are when you buy directly from Amazon.com."

 

[Arjay]

Doesn't the vendor offer film by the brick? This way, multiple films would be available under one item number, in which case, the vendor would only be able to charge S&H once.

Otherwise, this policy would be a clear deal breaker for me.

 

[srtiwari]

...Otherwise, this policy would be a clear deal breaker for me.

Absolutely ! Its hard to imagine paying $324 shipping for items totaling $176. And this, when, both, Seller and Buyer, are in the CONUS !

 

[Arjay]

Absolutely ! Its hard to imagine paying $324 shipping for items totaling $176. And this, when, both, Seller and Buyer, are in the CONUS !

Hm - it appears thet there are still enough careless people around who place an order irrespective of shipping charges. Ortherwise, this would not be a viable business model any more.

There's a new fool born every day - you just have to find him/her. 🙁

 

[srtiwari]

Hm - it appears thet there are still enough careless people around who place an order irrespective of shipping charges. 🙁

Must be nice ! Unfortunately, I'm not one with such deep pockets, that a shipping charge of $324 would go unnoticed 😱

 

[panerai]

One store wanted $33 for s/h to Canada on a $17.00 order, but free s/h to the US

All the items fit into a padded mailer and would have cost no more than $3.00 to ship

Items are down in the US at my parents place and my cousin will bring them back along with a camera and lens I bought to avoid excessive s/h costs the sellers wanted.

DON

 

[ampguy]

Hi Subhash, this is a common trick on ebay too. Often a seller will list the same item, usually batteries, filters, adapters, etc. at different price points, with the lowest prices having high shipping rates, and the higher prices might include free shipping.

Good thing you saw their shipping scheme before placing the order. If the product is only available from them, you might be able to contact them and see if they'll be more reasonable with a bulk order.