Sewing Camp?

I understand your position on this. You are choosing to err on the side of caution, whereas I may be erring on the side of ...whatever...quick conclusions? You are absolutely correct about me feeling blessed -- I am and have been. Not that I have had no bad experiences in my somewhat lengthy life, not at all. But the amazing things that have happened in my life are astonishing, and I consider myself one of the luckiest people on earth. ;-) I wish I could pass it on somehow to everyone who could use a little of my luck.

Reply to
Pogonip
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You both hit on one of my mail order pet peeves--- inflated or hidden shipping charges. Just a couple days ago, I went through my sewing supplier lists and eliminated all suppliers that (1) do not post shipping rates on their web sites; (2) require that you email them for their rates or complete your order first before being told the shipping rates; (3) base their shipping cost on purchase amount; (4) have hidden or irregular charges listed only in the "fine print" or pretend like they have to make a special trip to the post office just for your package; or (5) have clearly inflated shipping rates. From experience, I have more than enough honest, candid and professional suppliers that I certainly don't need to deal with the others.

We all know why they do it. They want their merchandise prices to appear lowest in a casual web search while hiding extra margin in their shipping, handling or packaging costs. I understand completely that all those things cost something but I just want to know up front what that cost is. I favor suppliers who (1) charge shipping by actual weight of the whole package---not where they inflate the weight of each item, (2) use actual or honest rates and do not lie about them (it's easy enough to check USPS, etc); (3) give free shipping for higher purchase amounts or give volume discounts; (4) have a "shipping" category in their front page menu; (5) use USPS Priority shipping for small but heavy stuff.

One of the things I really love about eBay is that shipping charges are nearly always clearly spelled out right on the original ads. If it's not on there, I simply do not bother.

Phae

Reply to
Phaedrine

Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

okay, I'm with you on the not posting shipping rates -- or worse yet, places I have looked at (admittedly not for craft items) that don't even post their prices.

I don't have a problem with people who want you to create a shopping cart before they give you the total, because that will give them the weight and the zip code to calculate the exact postage costs.

I don't have a problem with people who based their shipping costs only on purchase amount as long as it appears that they are trying to use that as a reasonable ballpark to cover reasonable shipping expenses. In my work, I bill on a production-appearing rate, but it's only so that the client has an easy way to verify billing, as opposed to if I billed by the house.

Some Ebay sellers do it to avoid paying Ebay fees.

And I am sure that some of them have added "Nuisance fees" to their S&H charges because they really don't want to ship -- or they have made really high shipping fees for small items because they really want larger orders, not smaller ones.

I don't mind the places that have relatively small flat shipping rates or that state "Free shipping with $XX purchase." In both cases they are rewarding people for placing larger orders. If I owned a business, I would consider it a royal headache to have to pack individual items up and ship them out.

Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

A few months ago, I posted about my exciting new dishes. I bought them on-line from Dillards, and it was an adventure! The shipping charges for the two orders were very reasonable. There were two orders because I first ordered four place settings, then got convinced by a friend to buy the serving pieces while they were available, so I added a second order and included the coffee mugs that I hadn't ordered the first time.

The dishes began to arrive. With anywhere from one to three pieces per box, sizeable box, filled with good bubblewrap. It took over two months for the pieces to arrive. I felt a bit like Johnny Cash in that old song about building a car, one piece acquired at a time while he worked in the car plant, except of course, I paid for mine! Then there were three pieces not offered in the catalog, so I wrote customer service to ask if they would be available. I got a prompt reply that they would not, but that they had located those three pieces in one of their stores, and gave the phone number. I called there, and they shipped them to me.

I am certain that the shipping charges I paid did not cover the cost of sending me these dishes. They couldn't have. I now have quite a collection of good shipping boxes and bubblewrap that I want to keep for the things I need to list on eBay, but my husband wants to put in the trash immediately, today, yesterday, get them out of here! LOL!

I was so impressed with the customer service, when I found a quilt, shams, pillows on Dillard's site, I ordered them -- yes, I know I could make a quilt and shams and pillows....but these are already done and look so good!!! These, too, were shipped in several separate boxes - with -- you guessed it!! bubblewrap!!! The quality is quite good, and Dillard's has a customer for life.

Reply to
Pogonip

Well of course you need to create a cart before you can have a total, but that is not what I said. No one should have to create a cart w/o knowing the seller's basic *shipping rates*. Placing an order can sometimes be time consuming. And it's amazing how many sellers do exactly that.

When light items are already costly, it's ridiculous to have to pay an additional premium in unfair shipping fees. Not long ago, I had a $200 item that weighed under a pound and the seller's rate for standard delivery would have been $20 not including insurance. Needless to say, I took my business elsewhere.

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Reply to
Phaedrine

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