Watch your freight!

Its is gouging. A lot of parts can be sent in one rate boxes or envelopes. I worked at a company that had little to no markup but charged for handling and shipping. Was hard to work on the floor as everyone had to package so many units per shift. Just bought a defroster for a fridge for $2 and was$5 for shipping as it had to have a decent box and good padding.(over glorified halogen bulb). I thought was very fair for shipping

Yeah, that's irritating when places try and make extra profit with the shipping charges. Amazon vendors do that a lot. $.01 for the item and $4.99 shipping USPS first class. I suppose most are in the dark as to what UPS and FedEx ground rates are, but the USPS Priority flat rate commercials are all over the TV. $4.25 (or whatever it is) priority envelopes, $7.99 ("""") up to 70lbs "if it fits, it ships" boxes. The "secret" is out, lol.

I buy weekly off the 'net , just have to check around first

What gets me also (related) is seemingly minimum prices for what essentially are VERY inexpensive commonly-sourced items. Example: 5AMP 220V glass barrel fuses $27.10 for qty. 2! Find them for approx. $1 or less at the autoparts, HW, or electronics store. Not the only example of this!

http://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/Enviro-Circuit-Board-5-Amp-Fuse-220V-set-of-2-p/50-834.htm

funny thing is what big places pay for shipping vs what he average customer pays. 1/5 of the total, $35 to ship overnight to MN, my work pays $7. You don't think other big shippers don't get this? Everyonemakes money on shipping.

the voltage on a fuse is the safety rating that should not be exceeded

ie: a 5 amp fuse @ 12 vdc should not be used on a 24vdc circuit
but a 5 amp fuse with a 32vdc rating can be used on that 24vdc circuit.

daffonce said:

funny thing is what big places pay for shipping vs what he average customer pays. 1/5 of the total, $35 to ship overnight to MN, my work pays $7. You don't think other big shippers don't get this? Everyonemakes money on shipping.

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I sell a Bluetooth car kit online for GM vehicles, my standard shipping and handling is $10.99. It costs me $5.35 for Priority Mail 2 day shipping, $1.48 for insurance and another $3-$4.00 for the credit card fee. I think I treat my customers pretty fairly!

P38X2 said:

Yeah, that's irritating when places try and make extra profit with the shipping charges. Amazon vendors do that a lot. $.01 for the item and $4.99 shipping USPS first class. I suppose most are in the dark as to what UPS and FedEx ground rates are, but the USPS Priority flat rate commercials are all over the TV. $4.25 (or whatever it is) priority envelopes, $7.99 ("""") up to 70lbs "if it fits, it ships" boxes. The "secret" is out, lol.

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Or vendors are smarter then customers and realize they are charged by amazon and ebay a percentage of the price and by offering it for $0.01 the vendor is charged a percentage of $0.01 (probably a mini which is still less) and offsetting that with higher shipping which vendors may not get charged a percentage.


Read fmsm's post above from a real vendor. There are more charges to shipping then just the shipping itself.

This is why I look at total price. I don't care what the shipping is I look at total price. Even if a business charges more for shipping then another business that does not mean gouging. Maybe that business has higher costs and less efficient. Even "big" businesses vary in shipping costs because everyone has different negotiated prices with UPS and Fedex. I'm sure Walmart, Target, Sears have different shipping rates.

I have been involved in negotiations with UPS, Fedex, dozens of ltl and truckload carriers. Carriers have as many tariffs as stars in the sky and every business has different total shipping costs.

It's not as simple as looking on usps website and thinking "My item would fit in that small box why don't they do that?"

Yes some use it as a profit center, I'm not that dumb, but the average bear has little understanding of how or why shipping charges are calculated. People always think it costs less then it really does. I know certain businesses that have to eat $100 per order because of the shipping method they have to use and if they tried to charge a customer the full amount the customer would think they are being gouged instead of just a pass through charge. So that vendor either eats that cost in margin or tries to make it up in price.

There is a motto in the biz, "Freight ain't free" and it's 100% true. It's not free (or miniscule cost) to the vendor or customer.

chamas said:

What gets me also (related) is seemingly minimum prices for what essentially are VERY inexpensive commonly-sourced items. Example: 5AMP 220V glass barrel fuses $27.10 for qty. 2! Find them for approx. $1 or less at the autoparts, HW, or electronics store. Not the only example of this!

http://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/Enviro-Circuit-Board-5-Amp-Fuse-220V-set-of-2-p/50-834.htm

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We don't control the prices of lot of the items we sell. A large portion of manufacturers and distribution centers have an IMAP (Internet Minimum Advertised Price) which if we sell for a price point lower than what they set they will yank our dealership and with it our ability to carry those parts. We know you can often find those parts for less elsewhere, heck we can find a lot of the OEM parts we sell for less elsewhere as well. That is why we carry aftermarket parts for a lot of what we have. However even those aftermarket sources will have an IMAP and even if they don't we have overhead to supply those parts, from the cost of bringing them in to us, to the cost of our building, electricity, shipping supplies, wages, taxes etc. It isn't cheap to maintain a full business with sales people, tech people and shipping people rather than selling stuff from a garage on a house as a side job and all of those costs have to be factored in to what we sell parts for.

As far as shipping prices goes, yes we charge more than just "flat rate box" prices but that in itself has more to do with limitations on the software we use to carry our store front than out of any desire we have to "gouge" people and if people call in orders we adjust what is charged down. Even when we adjust the shipping cost down you have to remember that shipping is more than just postage, it is the packing supplies, labels, ink, time and other overhead IE "handling".

A real shipping caveat is buying car parts from RockAuto.com. Not that they are high priced! Just the opposite. Their prices are reasonable BUT the problem comes in when you want to buy multiple items. They have a lot of warehouses and everytime I've tried to buy from them, each item came from a different warehouse and had its own shipping applied to it! It cost more in shipping than the parts cost!

Just a word of warning to check the final shipping costs.

MountainSean said:

We don't control the prices of lot of the items we sell. A large portion of manufacturers and distribution centers have an IMAP (Internet Minimum Advertised Price) which if we sell for a price point lower than what they set they will yank our dealership and with it our ability to carry those parts.

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Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't sure if the exorbinant prices were typos, system errors, or discouragements to ordering said items.
About these IMAPs: Does that mean that a phone order might get a different (lower?) price?

tjnamtiw said:

A real shipping caveat is buying car parts from RockAuto.com. Not that they are high priced! Just the opposite. Their prices are reasonable BUT the problem comes in when you want to buy multiple items. They have a lot of warehouses and everytime I've tried to buy from them, each item came from a different warehouse and had its own shipping applied to it! It cost more in shipping than the parts cost!

Just a word of warning to check the final shipping costs.

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I purchase a lot of parts from RockAuto.com and yes, sometimes the shipping leaves a little bit to be desired. The fact of the matter is, I know that going in so I take that into account when figuring out the big picture. I have yet to get a bad part or "cheap" part, unless I was trying to save $$ and purchased from their "value" line.

Sellers in eBay used to sell small items for a buck or two and charge you $12 to ship it. Ebay finally put an end to the practice after years of it going on. Back then they didn't charge their fees on the total amount the sold for and the shipping too so that was a incentive to sell an item cheap and rake you over the coals on shipping.

Harman Lover 007 said:

I purchase a lot of parts from RockAuto.com and yes, sometimes the shipping leaves a little bit to be desired. The fact of the matter is, I know that going in so I take that into account when figuring out the big picture. I have yet to get a bad part or "cheap" part, unless I was trying to save $$ and purchased from their "value" line.

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LIke I said, they do have good prices and I've bought from them several times. Only once did I get a bad part. It was a CV joint that was completely apart with all the balls rolling around in the box. They had it picked back up and AFTER they received it, they sent another one, which really threw my schedule out of wack.
To order three items of maybe $15 in value each and then get charged $8 to $12 freight for each one is crazy.

Not to turn this into a beer thread but it cost me $35.00 to ship a case of Yuengling Lager cans to a friend in Texas. The beer cost me $18.00. UPS ground.

DBCOOPER said:

Not to turn this into a beer thread but it cost me $35.00 to ship a case of Yuengling Lager cans to a friend in Texas. The beer cost me $18.00. UPS ground.

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WOW - At least spring for their lord Chesterfield

Recently ordered new side mirrors for the s-10. The R and L shipped at different rates, arrived 2 days apart.

Hey, Yuengling is GREAT BEER! Their porter is excellent as is their lager. Tastes like beer, not the coyote pee so many drink.

Here we go to the ashcan

tjnamtiw said:

Hey, Yuengling is GREAT BEER! Their porter is excellent as is their lager. Tastes like beer, not the coyote pee so many drink.

Here we go to the ashcan

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Oh, indeed ! Love all their products, since I went to SHIPpensburg U .
Back on topic!