Dumb as you look?

good on ya, Polly. i hope ya also told them you'd be telling all of your online int'l quilting guild aka rctq. now who was it so we dont shop there either. j.

"Polly Esther" wrote ... Not OT. There's no LQS here, not even a WalMart with sleazy FQs. We have to drive many miles to shop for quilting needs and have to buy online most of the time. It just makes me angry enough to pop when an online shop gouges me with postage charges. I can read. I can weigh. I have access to the USPS postage calculator. A quilt shop just charged me $3 to put postage on one very small and very brief quilt pattern. The USPS chart for zip code to and from says 88 cents. In the light of problems in the world, it's really not a big deal - but to me it truly is. That's deceptive and indecent. I won't shop there again and I did send them a note telling them about my surprise and disappointment. I hope you are not as dumb as I look, and just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm dumb. Easy?maybe. Polly

Occasionally if I'm looking for Laurel Burch out-of-print stuff, I have to resort to e-bay. It's not my favorite method to purchase fabric either. I've been gouged something awful on postage buying fabric on e-bay. Some e-bay sellers seem to expect you to pay for their boxes, tape, address labels, gas to the post office, and a hefty tip for the bother. But an online fabric store ought to know better. They need repeat business. I think it *is* a big deal. They're padding the postage charge just to milk the customer out of a few extra bucks. It actually makes them look a little...desperate.

Sherry

Well, and of course the only way possible in this entire universe to send anything up to Alaska is UPS 2nd day air for $22. So many places must have some sort of contract with them because when I try to ship USPS, websites won't let me, and if I call, the rep insists that it is the only way possible. I waste my breath continually trying to explain that for $4.95 there is such a thing as a flat rate mailer through the post office. I even laughed at one place that could send items overseas but "did not have the capabilities at this time" to ship to Alaska. Let's see, China, Japan, England, India, but not Alaska or Hawaii. The fact of the matter is that as a major cargo hub, their items are probably stopping here, literally, for the planes to gas up before continuing on. It is still often cheaper for me to have something sent to a relative in the lower 48, only to have it restamped and sent on its way here.

Give 'em hell Polly.

Steven Alaska

HA! I can beat that! One shop wanted $13.95 shipping and handling for one- I repeat ONE- spool of 500 yards of thread. It wasn't even a big ol' cone of thread. I did not order from them- duh! How do these folks ever stay in business???

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

It is no better living here in Northern BC. I have ordered things from US websites only to have them ship them UPS after I repeatedly tell them WE DON'T HAVE UPS HERE, PLEASE USE THE POSTAL SERVICE. I ordered my husband's gift for Christmas and paid for expedited shipping, (3 days they said...) and the cost was a tad unreal and even worse after conversion to Canadian dollars. It arrived here 2 weeks and 3 days after it was shipped THE FAST way with UPS. Needless to say, they got a very un happy customer letter from me and I will never shop there again. (oh and the reply from them was that the ONLY way they can ship things is UPS, they do not deal with the postal service) ARGH. I as well will have things sent to someone we know in the USA and then have them re-envelope it to mail it to us here and guess what? Usually it arrives within 3 - 4 days IN THE MAIL! lol

~KK in BC~

I have to wonder what is wrong with paying for packaging materials, and travel and time expenses of the folk who do the work. It is work. It takes time. They need to be paid for their work. If I have to go to the PO that's at least an hour round trip, for which I need to be paid somehow...

Either I charge my time and the packing materials up front or I disguise it as part of the cost of the goods. Most ebay sellers are not big companies and don't live next door to the PO, so it is time and money out of their day, and packing materials cost. I make a direct at cost charge for P&P when I have to post things out to customers, especially if I need to invest in special packing materials (like pin-proof acid free boxes for posting out toiles).

A store sending out volumes of stuff does their P&P on a contract and gets a god deal from their carriers. Sometimes they can absorb this part of their overheads: it's allowed for in their mark-up. If they are selling huge volumes of stuff, the price per package becomes so low that it's not worth the extra time and money to invest in organizing and collecting charges. Smaller operations can't do this.

If I send out a customer package that costs me an hour of time to get to the PO, that's £10 I can't earn putting some needle time in. If I also spend a fiver on packaging and another £3 in postage, that's a whole £17 I'm subbing the customer.

I hear you, Kate and understand. Tuesday, we spent almost all day packing and hauling boxes to the post office for Afghanistan, Scotland, the Needy babies and one little hug block. Our home 'shipping' department is unskilled and ill-equipped. That does indeed eat up a heap of stitching time. I was just growling about one little paper pattern. Polly

"Kate XXXXXX" I have to wonder what is wrong with paying for packaging materials, and

LOL, Sherry. I think it was the 'hefty tip for the bother' that stung me. Crating a live gator for shipping could be a little problem but I don't see how putting a pattern in an envelope was such a burden. Polly

"Sherry" < Occasionally if I'm looking for Laurel Burch out-of-print stuff, I have to resort to e-bay. It's not my favorite method to purchase fabric either. I've been gouged something awful on postage buying fabric on e-bay. Some e-bay sellers seem to expect you to pay for their boxes, tape, address labels, gas to the post office, and a hefty tip for the bother. But an online fabric store ought to know better. They need repeat business. I think it *is* a big deal. They're padding the postage charge just to milk the customer out of a few extra bucks. It actually makes them look a little...desperate.

Sherry

Yes, this exactly! I've sold a couple of things on Etsy and I charged the postage plus a couple bucks for the packaging and my one hour trip to the post office. I still lost on the deal, but a person just looking at the postage would probably think I was making money on it.

Iris

An interesting thing happened to me this morning, just at the same time as this thread was going on. I ordered a small plaster plaque (to cover something on a ceiling!). I ordered it from a proper plaster mouldings place. It was very reasonably priced; but the postage was more than the cost of the plaque. The total wasn't crippling so I went ahead (I really wanted the plaque!). In the post today was the little plaque. The postage on the envelope was minuscule! and compared with the postage charged was just ludicrous. So, I thought, I'm going to ring them and say I think it was a bit unreasonable. They were very apologetic and said they had had to standardise postage, and they hardly ever had to send out just one, tiny piece. She said she would refund me just about three-quarters of the postage I paid. I was very pleased, and she had had a little for 'packing'. The first figure she suggested for refund, I thought was unfair to her, so I suggested a lower price! So, we ended up both very happy. I wasn't aggressive, just said that I thought she should know about the discrepancy. I wish I thought I would have future need for more little plaques, so that I could use them again! . In message , Roberta writes

But on eBay -- you know before you ever place a bid what it is going to cost you for shipping. At that point -- you either suck it up and plan to pay it -- or you keep looking for another seller.

I don't like it when someone overcharges on shipping -- but usually you see that happening when you know you are getting the item at well below retail. They basically are using S/H to help bump their take on the item.

I have sometimes queried postage for something like a single pattern or a couple of reels of thread. Usually if they have some sort of carrier deal, I try to make the order worth the postage, but most place will shove something tiny in the mail for a lot less than their standard P&P. I never begrudge them the P&P.

Some of the places I deal with have a standard rate of £10. They are the sort that send out miles of silk carefully wound on rolls for me so it doesn't crease, and sealed up like the Bank of England! Mind you, I don't grudge that either when I'm ordering £500 worth of silk for a wedding dress. :)

I have a friend who sells online for bicycle products, and he has told me that when people charge a credit card for a small item say, $3., it costs him more in credit card service fees that the credit card company charges him for the sale than any profit he makes on the sale even if he charges for the shipping and mailing of the item. Every time you process a credit card, the merchant pays the c.c. company a fee for doing so. I think the most appropriate way to deal with that sort of thing, is for the vendor to have a minimum c.c. purchase limit and clearly state that on the website, then everybody will be advised of the rules and chose to either go ahead with the purchase or look elsewhere. Another bicycle parts vendor I deal with has a clearly stated in bold face disclaimer; "I only use UPS for shipment". "If you require shipment by the postal service, then you will incur the dreaded $20.00 waiting inline at the Post office Fee". I always laugh when I see that disclaimer as I know what he means.

John

John wrote: Another bicycle parts vendor I deal with has a clearly

Guess that vendor is not aware of some of the services offered by USPS, such as "Click'n'Ship". The USPS will deliver free priority mail boxes. You can weigh and calculate postage using the charts on the USPS website, print the postage label, and request pickup. "Click'n'Ship" actually costs less in postage than mailing at the post office.

Julia in MN