Shipping costs?

geeza · 11 Nov 2007 at 20:59

Why do shipping charges vary so much from company to company? I have been quoted from one website that from US it would cost me $25 to send something thats about 3 grams (and costs $10)

Another US site i have recently bought something thats $25 and got free shipping :confused:

UK companies charge anything between £2.50 and £10. (and free) Wouldnt it be more fair to pay the Actual cost of it being shipped, having the cost on the package and giving you the option to specify recorded, signed for, special etc

This way we wont be paying £10 for an item that sometimes will cost 50p to send. I dont mind paying £10 or £15 for a heavy item

mame · 11 Nov 2007 at 21:05

Its just a silly way to make the item look cheaper

1. £95 + 12.99 p+p
2. £102 + 5.99 p+p

Lopéz · 11 Nov 2007 at 21:16

It all depends on what courier they use, what rate they get with that courier, and how much (if any) profit they wan't to make on top of the cost of shipping.

Citylink might charge OcUK £5 for up to 30kg (for example) as they are a huge customer, but a smaller company who doesn't ship so much may pay £40 for the same deliveries with the same company.

Werewolf · 11 Nov 2007 at 21:17

It can also vary depending on the shipping service used, where they are, and how much they ship to the destination in question.

For example one of the DVD retailers I use offers the option of
USPS ground ($3 a disk)
USPS Airmail
Swedish ground
Swedish Airmail
DHL ($21 for the first disk)

DHL being much more expensive, but the other two comparable services cost about $1 difference per package to each other.

Some companies will also swallow part or all of the cost of postage in their goods pricing, especially when they ship enough to be able to negotiate very favourable rates (if you're moving 10,000 packages a month you will pay a lot less per item than if you are moving 1000).

As mame says, it also works towards making the goods look cheaper in some cases.

Greenlizard0 · 11 Nov 2007 at 21:27

mame said:
Its just a silly way to make the item look cheaper

1. £95 + 12.99 p+p
2. £102 + 5.99 p+p

Yeap ebay is a good one for that. They put on a very low starting price so the selling cost is reduced, but then you still pay for it on postage.

E.g. I was looking at flash drives earlier and saw 16GB ones going for peanuts technically - but then you pay something ridiculous like £20 postage.

jas72 · 11 Nov 2007 at 21:41

It is weird you should try living abroad I regularly buy from the UK and the prices vary so much that even a company 5-10 quid cheaper can't match the low shipping costs of others.

On the topic of shipping since when did we have to pay VAT on postage. Packing is a service and I can understand paying VAT but several times companies have tried to charge VAT on the stamp? What gives? If you buy a stamp from post office you don't pay VAT so why when you buy it from a retailer? Isn't VAT already included in the stamp price?

Dave M · 11 Nov 2007 at 22:21

jas72 said:
On the topic of shipping since when did we have to pay VAT on postage. Packing is a service and I can understand paying VAT but several times companies have tried to charge VAT on the stamp? What gives? If you buy a stamp from post office you don't pay VAT so why when you buy it from a retailer? Isn't VAT already included in the stamp price?

Depends what is being shipped, VAT on postage should be charged at the same rate pro-rata as the items being posted.

Try it with some major UK shop, checkout with a book and postage is zero rated, but check out with a dvd and it's 17.5%, if I remember correctly putting one dvd and one book ends up with half of the postage being charged vat.

jas72 · 11 Nov 2007 at 22:28

thanks for the info still seems strange to me though as some e-tailors can send DVD's "free" I admit they are all based in Jersey though and I have heard rumour that there will be a clamp down on those e-tailors as that loophole will soon be closed.

ste_bla · 11 Nov 2007 at 22:32

jas72 said:
thanks for the info still seems strange to me though as some e-tailors can send DVD's "free" I admit they are all based in Jersey though and I have heard rumour that there will be a clamp down on those e-tailors as that loophole will soon be closed.

Although you could see it as free things are never free and are built into the asking price

jas72 · 11 Nov 2007 at 22:35

but the asking price is cheaper than elsewhere

Dave M · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:00

jas72 said:
but the asking price is cheaper than elsewhere

Helped by cheap RM postage and saving 17.5% on most things

UK based stores that manage it are just cutting it to the bone, I'm sure the success of jersey based stores forces their hand in this respect as they surely wouldn't choose to make next to no money if they could charge more?