Better Way to Ship

[+bob1200xl]

I was shipping some 1200XL pieces to Canada and was appalled at what it cost. A 1200XL was $60. A transformer was $47. In addition, a 1200XL keyboard was $11 to Southern California. (I am in Northern California).

 

My granddaughter just started working for a company called "PirateShip" that ships items at lower cost. You go to their website and print a shipping label that works just like USPS or UPS. Take your package down to a Post Office or UPS store and give them your shipment. Done. I saved $17 on the 1200XL and $16 on the transformer. (UPS) Saved $2.50 on the keyboard.

 

All arrived in a day or two. Looks like a good deal - save 20%.

 

Bob

[reifsnyderb]

International shipping from the US to anywhere outside the US is awful.  Then add the customs forms into the equation. 

 

For people receiving the item it can be worse.  I once shipped an item to Germany for free as I was working with this guy testing something.  Even though I didn't charge anything for the item, because of the shipping cost it got flagged by customs.  He told me he had to go to the customs office an hour's drive away to pick it up.  Then he had to wait an hour at customs to get the item.  If memory serves, they charged him a VAT on the shipping, too.

 

There's another country in the EU where people not only get charged a VAT but also get charged a fee because the postal service had to handle it so they could charge a VAT.

 

Don't get me started on shipping to South America.   lol

 

It's like somebody doesn't want people in the US shipping to other countries.

[+David_P]

UPS charges fees for just about everything when shipping to Canada from the US.  Their brokerage fees on Standard shipping are, um, "significant". https://www.ups.com/ca/en/shipping/zones-and-rates/customs-clearance.page

 

And the Canadian Post office charges a fee for collecting sales tax.

[+DjayBee]

2 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

It's like somebody doesn't want people in the US shipping to other countries.

Besides the Uber-greedy US carriers, the problem persists throughout the world. It's the same i.e. when shipping from the UK to any country in the EU.

 

1 hour ago, David_P said:

UPS charges fees for just about everything when shipping to Canada from the US.  Their brokerage fees on Standard shipping are, um, "significant". https://www.ups.com/ca/en/shipping/zones-and-rates/customs-clearance.page

 

And the Canadian Post office charges a fee for collecting sales tax.

This is the same here in Germany.

 

UPS charges some €18 service fee for handling taxes and customs (independent of the actual amount of taxes to be paid) - on top of the import tax and the customs.

German DHL only charges €6 for the same task.

 

But there is a solution for the problem of handling fees:

The seller can pay the import taxes upfront after registering with the the local tax authorities.

 

Btw.: Computer parts from the US to the EU are customs-free, you only have to pay the import (a.k.a.) sales tax.

[+KlasO]

2 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

There's another country in the EU where people not only get charged a VAT but also get charged a fee because the postal service had to handle it so they could charge a VAT.

You may have had another country in mind, but this describes how it's handled in Sweden. It was even worse in 2018 (the postal company could not cope with volumes) and I had a shipment from AtariMax sent by Steve in February that I received in May. Sorry for O/T venting.

[TGB1718]

It's just another way for delivery companies to rip people off, they've never had it so good

so much being bought on-line and having to be shipped, you would think prices would go down (sorry that's a pipe dream  )

 

Taxes you can't always do much about, but again, handling charges are a joke, what does that even mean ?

surely the price you paid for delivery is the "handling" 

[Mclaneinc]

C'mon, putting an item on a shelf and then picking it up again later is seriously tough and challenging work...And the cost of a sticky bit of paper...I don't know how they do it so cheap..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[youxia]

Shipping within EU is reasonable I'd say, though it of course depends on a carrier. You need to shop around, but there are many options so it's really not that bad.

 

Since Brexit buying from UK has become a joke, but that's mostly because of customs and taxes, the cost of shipping itself is still okay. About USA, I wouldn't dream of ordering from there - even though I'd love to get some items which are rare here but common in the States.

 

China of course wins the day, since somehow I pay less for delivery from there than within my own country.

[Ricky Spanish]

8 hours ago, David_P said:

UPS charges fees for just about everything when shipping to Canada from the US.  Their brokerage fees on Standard shipping are, um, "significant". https://www.ups.com/ca/en/shipping/zones-and-rates/customs-clearance.page

 

And the Canadian Post office charges a fee for collecting sales tax.

Yep. I had to fairly small packages delivered to me from California total fees was $101.25 with a "$5 off" if I pay now option ?

[reifsnyderb]

2 hours ago, youxia said:

Shipping within EU is reasonable I'd say, though it of course depends on a carrier. You need to shop around, but there are many options so it's really not that bad.

 

Since Brexit buying from UK has become a joke, but that's mostly because of customs and taxes, the cost of shipping itself is still okay. About USA, I wouldn't dream of ordering from there - even though I'd love to get some items which are rare here but common in the States.

 

China of course wins the day, since somehow I pay less for delivery from there than within my own country.

China is considered a "developing country" for some reason.  As a result, there is some sort of agreement whereby they get really, really, cheap shipping.  The same problem exists in the US as the shipping is cheaper from China to the US than from somewhere within the US.  This alone hurts vendors within the US if (when) China copies and sells their product.

[TGB1718]

I recently returned a faulty item from the UK to Czechoslovakia  and it only cost me about £6 which I thought was reasonable

obviously no taxes/customs stuff as it was a return.

[+mytek]

And then there is the shipping price hikes in the name of increased fuel prices. I remember possibly a decade ago this happened. But then about 5 years later and for a stretch of probably 3 years following that fuel prices had dropped considerably (probably less than 1/3 of the current price). So you'd expect the likes of UPS and FedEx to also have reduced the shipping costs in concert with the lower fuel costs, after all they had previously raised them with higher fuel costs as the justification. Did it happen? NO!

 

12 hours ago, bob1200xl said:

My granddaughter just started working for a company called "PirateShip" that ships items at lower cost. You go to their website and print a shipping label that works just like USPS or UPS. Take your package down to a Post Office or UPS store and give them your shipment. Done. I saved $17 on the 1200XL and $16 on the transformer. (UPS) Saved $2.50 on the keyboard.

Nice ?

 

On a slightly different topic. It's also absurd that scarcity warrants an increased price tag on an item, even when your cost to manufacture or procure said item hadn't yet increased. A prime example of this can be seen on eBay, and then indirectly through Thrift stores that use eBay listings as their pricing guide for almost anything.

 

Greed is a universal thing, and is the stuff that inflation is made of  

[Atari8guy]

It really burns me when I have stuff shipped from abroad and the customs or brokerage fee is nominal, like under 10 bucks and then the carrier charges a 10 fee to collect.  You're charging me 10 dollars to collect 7...   P&^&//! off!   On the other hand, proper labelling can sometimes save you the brokerage fee, I had items clearly marked "for repair and return" avoid the fee altogether!  (they actually were for repair and return)

 

 

[BillC]

15 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

There's another country in the EU where people not only get charged a VAT but also get charged a fee because the postal service had to handle it so they could charge a VAT.

Canada Post also charges a small fee when an international shipment has taxes charged(most are received without taxes being added), but it is only a $5 fee to collect/forward the taxes. This is much lower than the fee most courier companies charge(~$30) to act as Customs Broker for every international shipment(except expensive premium services which already have the brokerage fee included).

[tmp]

6 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

I recently returned a faulty item from the UK to Czechoslovakia

the time must fly for you

[+x=usr(1536)]

18 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

There's another country in the EU where people not only get charged a VAT but also get charged a fee because the postal service had to handle it so they could charge a VAT.

At the very least, that would be Ireland.  Others probably do it as well.

 

See the section, "Why is there an An Post fee included in the charges?" in that page for more details.

 

Incidentally, since adding the fee adds value to the overall shipment, VAT is also levied on the fee.  For anyone wondering how this is possible, take a look at this article which explains it reasonably well.  The one part of it I do take exception with is its linking of VAT to income taxes, which have remained in effect and independent of VAT pretty much everywhere that it has been implemented.

[+mytek]

2 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

The one part of it I do take exception with is its linking of VAT to income taxes, which have remained in effect and independent of VAT pretty much everywhere that it has been implemented.

 

 

[Mr Robot]

23 hours ago, bob1200xl said:

I was shipping some 1200XL pieces to Canada and was appalled at what it cost. A 1200XL was $60. A transformer was $47. In addition, a 1200XL keyboard was $11 to Southern California. (I am in Northern California).

 

My granddaughter just started working for a company called "PirateShip" that ships items at lower cost. You go to their website and print a shipping label that works just like USPS or UPS. Take your package down to a Post Office or UPS store and give them your shipment. Done. I saved $17 on the 1200XL and $16 on the transformer. (UPS) Saved $2.50 on the keyboard.

 

All arrived in a day or two. Looks like a good deal - save 20%.

 

Bob

I’ve been using Pirate Ship as my shipping method for a few years now (ever since  I got a recommendation from @mozzwald). Great service and the cheapest international shipping around as well (even if you do have to ship to one location and have them forward it on)

[manterola]

Same here. After PayPal switched they shipping and labels platform to other company I don't remember the name, I discovered Pirate Ship. Not that I ship a lot, but when needed it works great.

[+slx]

On 8/3/2022 at 1:21 AM, manterola said:

Same here. After PayPal switched they shipping and labels platform to other company I don't remember the name, I discovered Pirate Ship. Not that I ship a lot, but when needed it works great.

With PayPal shipping from the US to Europe varies wildly. Sometimes small items cost 40$, sometimes similar items are just 15. I suspect it depends a lot on the size stated by the seller rather than the actual item dimensions.