Shock pricing for the simplest items.

**Hangandy** · 01-13-2012, 11:08

Before the internet and online purchasing, if I wanted a specialty item I had to wait until the next time I was in a major center and then drive across town to the store to pick it up. And in reality we went to town more often because we "liked to go shopping." I can't imagine the hundreds of dollars I have saved in 'shopping rates' versus shipping rates. And how would I have gotten to the Eastern States just to get a pair of Tarp Flyz?

Originally Posted by Balkan boy

Regarding international shipping,

Once I added how much money I spent on shipping over two years and I nearly cried.
On the other hand, I learned to live with it. Nearly all of the things I buy from abroad I can not find locally and if I can it's much more expensive.

As mentioned, USPS is the best solution. Envelopes and small packages can cost from 5$ to 15$ but, for example, a hammock and tarp would be around 30$.
http://postcalc.usps.gov/
If I order from UK I use Royal mail.
All these 'national' services work well, albeit a little slower.
In my country UPS and FedEX are a bunch of bandits.

As Te-Wa said, labeling the package for lesser amount smooths out many things. Some vendors do it but some are stubborn and insist it's a fraud. (It isn't)

Cheers.

**Dutch** · 01-13-2012, 11:18

Originally Posted by Hangandy

. And how would I have gotten to the Eastern States just to get a pair of Tarp Flyz?

Your always welcome.

**MrClean417** · 01-13-2012, 11:53

I've got a supplier of 2 millimeter Coroplast (plastic cardboard sign material), If you use the mailbot on their website it comes up with the most un-usual shipping charges. I had one time when the bot said the shipping was going to be over 1000 bucks so I called the lady and ordered it from a human, cost of shipping was 5-6 bucks.

Then you go and live on the opposite side of the earth and I think that has some kind of Jovian Harmonic Calculus formula it has to follow. Well, it just messes things up for the normal man. I'd get a P.O. box in Sydney, sometimes its cheaper there thanks to the shorter round trip of going to Bernard's star and back.

Read that as 1st paragraph, example of how it happened to me and 2nd paragraph, just nonsense. It was a late night last night.

**mugs** · 01-14-2012, 01:56

Just for a USPS "if it fits, it ships" Document envelope to ship to PERTH, WA cost me about 40 bucks so for Dutch to ship free is outstanding.

**Caribou Bentspoke** · 01-14-2012, 02:07

I ship small items around the world on occasion, and $10 or $12 would cover most. There are tons of people in Asia selling 0.99 cent items on ebay with free shipping, and I guaranty they are not eating $31.

**Peter_pan** · 01-14-2012, 11:49

It really is best to contact the vendor in cases when something does not make sense...Many shipping calculators don't provide for the international flat rate envelope... JRB uses these envelopes whenever possible and automatically refunds any saving to customer cards.

Pan

**Caribou Bentspoke** · 01-14-2012, 14:52

I just checked USPS and ran a sample from Oregon to Perth,...$6.07 for First Class, I used 6 ounces for the estimate.

For a faster mode, $13.95 for a small priority flat rate box, and that gets you up to four pounds. And the box is free.

**mugs** · 01-15-2012, 10:59

Originally Posted by Caribou Bentspoke

I just checked USPS and ran a sample from Oregon to Perth,...$6.07 for First Class, I used 6 ounces for the estimate.

For a faster mode, $13.95 for a small priority flat rate box, and that gets you up to four pounds. And the box is free.

Yep your right...I miss spoke the first time, I was quoting a non USPS carrier, that I had previously used. My mistake, I apologize.

Cheers
Mugs