Shipping costs

[pschlosser]

My least favorite is not knowing what the shipping cost will be until you bought the item and checked out. I guess you can always cancel the order and get a refund but who knows if you'll get hit with a restocking charge. Yeah, even before it's shipped.

Shipping costs are up, all carriers, and going up still, despite the cooling 2023 inflation.  And I agree with you 100%, many websites require to enter the checkout process to see what the shipping costs will be.  That stinks.  Other sites charge you a $10 minimum.  When buying a small dollar item, $10 shipping is a deal killer.

While some ebay sellers may pad their shipping fees for added profit, at least we can see, up front, what the shipping fees will be.

There is a new skill I'm developing.  As I hunt for bargains, I hunt for those with the least shipping costs.   

[chargerdon]

We are an Amazon Prime customer.   For the $120 annual fee i get FREE shipping an no processing fees on just about anything.   I used to be an exclusive Rock Auto customer for auto parts, as with many rebuilt parts there is a core charge and the shipping of an alternator back to Amazon Or the Rock just doesnt make sense.  Amazon with Prime is cheaper by far !!   

If it were only for auto parts it might not be worth the cost of Prime, but, in addition my wife uses it for just about everything...things like even our dogs Dog Food is priced with the free shipping at about HALF of what we could buy it at the local stores.  Of course like anything else you have to compare the prices and Amazon isnt always the cheapest...but...with no shipping charges it usually is. 

Oh, and then there is the side benefit that with Amazon Prime you get their streaming service included free.  It is a good source of advertisement free tv viewing. 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I know I'm late to the party here but..... Shipping is out of whack by a long shot! Let me explain. The thing w shipping (to a seller/shipper) is all the added fee's that the world NEVER see's. WE have things like fuel surcharge, weekly pickup charge and fee's for "oversize" ect ect ect. We get this added to our bill monthly. This does not include our supply of packing materials/tape ect. We recently went though our shipping protocol. HOLY CRAP BATMAN ! WE WERE HEMORRHAGING MONEY BUY THE BUCKET FULL. Due to shear volume, places like AMAZON most likely negotiate these rates. But for the million small companies without that volume WE PAY !   

[7E-Bodies]

Tell me about it. My son that just made it possible to get our club shirts a simple process with more options, is getting a lesson in shipping costs as well as who all has their fingers in the bowl. Fact of the matter is there's no such thing as free shipping. I'm a prime member too, @chargerdon and have done some research. Example, I see a $20 tool on Amazon Prime, it says "free shipping". I go to the manufacturer's site and it's for sale for say $14 + $6 shipping. It's all a shell game that I hope people start seeing.

[70vert]

I assume most companies have a shipping account and get better rates than joe-blow, but that doesn't have to be the case. My wife stumbled across an online app called Pirate Ship where you can get discounted shipping rates for free (just sign up). Here is an example of a package I just sent to my brother, from Houston to Tampa, you can see the box size and the savings vs the walk-up rate you would pay at USPS and UPS. Generally you get the biggest discount on UPS, makes them competitive to USPS.

And it is a pretty good app, just need a scale and a printer. You can estimate, pick a shipping option, buy the postage and print it on your printer, then just drop it off (I take ours to a local Post Net store). You can even track the package in the app.

Sorry for the small size pic, its a screenshot and poor resolution.   

[chargerdon]

Tell me about it. My son that just made it possible to get our club shirts a simple process with more options, is getting a lesson in shipping costs as well as who all has their fingers in the bowl. Fact of the matter is there's no such thing as free shipping. I'm a prime member too, @chargerdon and have done some research. Example, I see a $20 tool on Amazon Prime, it says "free shipping". I go to the manufacturer's site and it's for sale for say $14 + $6 shipping. It's all a shell game that I hope people start seeing.

That's one NON explicit example, but, i could give several examples where the price from Amazon is cheaper than the price at the store, and with the shipping being free ...its free.  !!   Here is another actual example.   Walmart Online services is now competing with Amazon and one of their services is for Automobile tires.   With Walmart anything over $35 is free shipping.    Recently i purchased a set of Dunlop brand tires online from Walmart.   The shipping was free and the tires shipped to our home not the store, and once i got the 4 Dunlop tires I simply called Walmart Automotive and scheduled the installation which was at the same price for mounting and balancing as tho i had bought the tires there at the store.   The difference is that Walmart doesnt even sell Dunlop brand of tires in its tire department in the store.   However, if i compared the price that i paid which was $62 per tire with other name brands such as Good Year or BF Goodrich or their own brand name Douglas with the same tread mileage rating the price would have been around $90 per tire plus the mounting and balancing.   Also, i compared that price to the price of the same Dunlop tire sold by Tire Rack and throw in their shipping charges i would have spent over $100 per tire with Tire Rack and then paid more for the mounting and balancing at their participating garages.   Now, is you want to call that a Shell game...be my guest.   

[tparker]

Another example from today for small block hose clamps
Year One: $19.91.  Shipping: $21.95 (In Same state)
Ebay: $13.87         Shipping: Free (Across US) The one I picked
Ebay 2: $16.95.     Shipping: $5.65
Ebay 3: $23.99.     Shipping: $9.15
Ebay 4: $29.98.     Shipping: Free

They all seem to be selling the exact same parts. Year One is the type of thing I started this thread for. $21 dollars for shipping is extreme. And that is their cheapest. The most expensive was $130 for next day. Honestly, I could get a round trip flight to there for cheaper than that.  $5-$7 seems like a reasonable price for standard cheap shipping. The parts price range quite a bit but some obvious accounts for shipping one way or the other. A couple of the Ebay shipping pricess are fairly high. Ebay 2 seems to be the right spot for a set of hose clamps.

the google search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=1970+challenger+hose+clamps&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS1005US1005&oq=1970+challenger+hose+clamps&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60.5763j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[pschlosser]

For a given website or business to have a minimum shipping cost of $10 or more, it may seem a deal killer to order one 50-cent bolt, but there is a business incentive for such a policy.  It encourages the customer to buy more, and amortize the $10 fee over several items.  I will sometimes but multiple quantities just to save on the shipping cost.  How nutty is that?

I recently needed a throttle spring and chose the Bill Rolik site.  After seeing it was $10 to ship, I bought a few more items.  I was happy to do it.  I got a whole horde of little things all under the same $10 shipping fee.

[Jay Bee]

Canada Post is increasing their rates September 11, 2023. As if it wasn't already pricey enough.

• A 3.4% increase in the weighted average price for business customers using domestic parcel services.
• A 2.5% increase in the weighted average price for business customers using U.S. or International Parcel services.

Other hikes - insurance, oversized & unpackaged handling and during Peak Season for oversized/unpackaged and out-of-spec.

[Deezel]

Canada Post is increasing their rates September 11, 2023. As if it wasn't already pricey enough.

• A 3.4% increase in the weighted average price for business customers using domestic parcel services.
• A 2.5% increase in the weighted average price for business customers using U.S. or International Parcel services.

Other hikes - insurance, oversized & unpackaged handling and during Peak Season for oversized/unpackaged and out-of-spec.

Put a price on carbon and this is the trickle down effect of it....

[anlauto]

I ordered front and rear suspension from RMS back in April....Bill just called said it was ready to ship, but I owe an additional $147 dollars because that's how much UPS shipping has increased since April....that's on top of the $491 I already paid.

[blown motor]

I just got a new Summit catalog. This might help some Canadians.

[anlauto]

They've had that FREE shipping offer for years !

[71GranCoupe]

They've had that FREE shipping offer for years !

Maybe it is a hint that free shipping may go away. 

[anlauto]

They've had that FREE shipping offer for years !

Maybe it is a hint that free shipping may go away. 

Likely