+The SuzyQs Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Ok, I wanted to order 1 item. A single Geocaching Hiking staff emblem. A very inexpensive and small item, but I was detered from ordering it as the shipping costs were twice as much as the single item. Why does the Groundspeak store only use UPS? Dropping this emblem in the mail with a $0.37 stamp and it would get here fine. But I am not paying twice the price of an item to have it shipped here. Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Don't shop much on line do you? The best way of 'sticken it to the man' is to contact your local club and see if anyone wants to go together on an order. Link to comment
Jeremy Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 (edited) Don't shop much on line do you? Our partner, Sunrise Identity, only ships packages via UPS. UPS has a minimal cost on shipping which is around $5 (I don't know exactly since it changes often). We have been pushing them to ship via USPS but they have been working on other systems and this has been deemed low priority. Which is why on some lower cost items we have a site for shipping via USPS in-house for the calendar and for travel bugs. None of the shipping costs we have contain any "handling" fees, which BlueDeuce seems to be alluding to. Edited December 12, 2004 by Jeremy Link to comment
+BlueDeuce Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 (edited) Alluding to handling fees? I was alluding to the fact that trying to buy a low priced item on line usually means that shipping fees tend to match or exceed the cost of the item. People who haven’t often purchased products on-line tend to be surprise by these costs differences. The solution is to contact others to share shipping fees. I assume you didn’t care for my “solidarity” type comments. Edit: spelling Edited December 13, 2004 by BlueDeuce Link to comment
+hedberg Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Everyday can you read on the internet and in magazines: "It is expensive to shop on the internet. Handling charges can cost more than the item." In some cases: Yes. But compare the differences! You can shop 24/7 at an internetstore, you don't have to leave your home to drive to a store while it is open. When you get there, the item is out of stock. At the internetstore can you as a said, purchase the item at any time, it will be delivered to your home. You can never satisfy every customer. If you choose to deliver with USPS will some people complain, if you choose UPS will some people complain, and the same thing with FedEx or whatever company you want to choose. Every shop chooses the solution that works best with their business and computer systems. I was looking earlier today about purchasing an item on the internet, but it turned out that the shop wanted SEK100+SEK30 (SEK130, about USD18.60) in shipping and handling charges for one thing costing SEK29. I did order it, but not within Sweden, I ordered it from England instead. It costed me about SEK70 including shipping and handling. SEK89 cheaper than ordering within my country, but still the handling cost was much bigger than the value of the product. But I wanted the product, and the alternative should be to take my car and drive 1000 km to the store in the other end of the country So, looking at the alternatives - I wanted the product so bad so I paid those extra dimes just to get the product... Okay, perhaps I could ask someone living close to the store to go there and buy it for me, send it in a mail. But still, that person wants gas money etc... Link to comment
+The SuzyQs Posted December 13, 2004 Author Share Posted December 13, 2004 Thank you for the inhouse link Jeremy. I will use it for TB tags. I guess I will try to get a local order together to help defray the shipping costs as the item I was looking for is not available in house. Link to comment
+ValleyRat & TillyMouse Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 (edited) Many eBay sellers sell their $5 items for FIVE CENTS, then post a shipping/handling charge of $11.50. Unethical? That's a buyer call. Edited December 13, 2004 by valleyrat Link to comment
+roadway57 Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 Many eBay sellers sell their $5 items for FIVE CENTS, then post a shipping/handling charge of $11.50. Unethical? That's a buyer call. what he said. ebay does this a lot!!!! Link to comment
+Jared_and_Tanis Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 Don't blame eBay - it's the seller that chooses how he/she will ship the item. I've actually written LOTS of emails to companies asking them to ship via the US Postal Service. USPS can ship things so much cheaper. Link to comment
The Dune Doggies Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 Check out www.geocachestore.com not only do they use USPS (cheaper shipping) AND they are in Oregon so there is no tax either. They sell some of the Groundspeak items including travel bugs and window clings along with a great line of caching packs. Check them out, they have a lot to offer for the existing cacher or for new cachers. Link to comment
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