5 ms·

"Shipping to United Kingdom starts at $36.00 (£25.67 GBP)" More than the product!

by nasduia 11y ago

hga 11y ago
$8 to the US; I get books and CDs from the UK for $4 including S&H thought Amazon.com, granted, those outfits do it in bulk, but I wonder why it's so much more. Tron-Club, which ships kits, packets of electronics and a manual once a month from Canada, will ship to the U.K. for £3.99, or £14.99 total vs. $19.99 to the US (http://tronclub.com/subscribe http://tronclub.com/subscribe).
- CraigJPerry 11y ago
  Tron club looks awesome, I just subscribed. Thanks for sharing this
  - hga 11y ago
    You're very welcome. They make a few mistakes which they correct (on the forum and then ship with a subsequent kit), but they're otherwise totally awesome, just got my 7th kit. Here's a prior HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9889777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9889777 and per my comment, they do indeed do a moderate amount of analog.
- jrjr 11y ago
  Can't even bother to localize to the US for shipping. someone isn't telling the whole story eh ? call me when it's 0.49 to ship. jrjr
  - dang 11y ago
    From the HN guidelines: "Please don't sign comments; they're already signed with your username. If other users want to learn more about you, they can click on it to see your profile." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
cmrdporcupine 11y ago
That shipping rate also applies to Canada, so something is really messed up on their end. That's inexcusably high.
ascorbic 11y ago
They're probably sending by DHL or something. They could send something that small by USPS for under $5.
- rgbrenner 11y ago
  Maybe 20 years ago. USPS isn't sending anything in a box to the UK for less than $20 (delivered in 2-3 weeks.. unless you want to pay double for priority).
  - ascorbic 11y ago
    This is a tiny module. It'll go in an envelope.
    - rgbrenner 11y ago
      Well if that envelope is more than 3/4inch thick or has more than 1/4in variation or more than 2 inches of movement inside the envelope or cannot bend at least 1 in (because it contains a rigid object for example) Then guess what? It qualifies as a package and not an envelope and you must pay the same price as a box So again.. $20
      - ascorbic 11y ago
        If they're sending lots of these it can easily be worked-around. But yes, US postage is ridiculous. I've fulfilled packages that weren't time-sensitive directly from Hong Kong to the US as amazingly it was cheaper than sending domestically from a US warehouse. I can send a 100g "large letter" from the UK to US for about £3 (about $5), and the only size restriction is that it must fit through a 2.5cm by 25cm slot, and can't be longer than 35cm. No bending or shape restrictions. For an extra £1 I can send a small parcel, which has even looser restrictions. The main problem is that over 2kg the prices jump massively. These costs are all for 5-7 day delivery.

"Shipping to United Kingdom starts at $36.00 (£25.67 GBP)" More than the product!

by nasduia 11y ago

"Shipping to United Kingdom starts at $36.00 (£25.67 GBP)" More than the product!

hga 11y ago

$8 to the US; I get books and CDs from the UK for $4 including S&H thought Amazon.com, granted, those outfits do it in bulk, but I wonder why it's so much more. Tron-Club, which ships kits, packets of electronics and a manual once a month from Canada, will ship to the U.K. for £3.99, or £14.99 total vs. $19.99 to the US (http://tronclub.com/subscribe http://tronclub.com/subscribe).

CraigJPerry 11y ago
Tron club looks awesome, I just subscribed. Thanks for sharing this
- hga 11y ago
  You're very welcome. They make a few mistakes which they correct (on the forum and then ship with a subsequent kit), but they're otherwise totally awesome, just got my 7th kit. Here's a prior HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9889777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9889777 and per my comment, they do indeed do a moderate amount of analog.
jrjr 11y ago
Can't even bother to localize to the US for shipping. someone isn't telling the whole story eh ? call me when it's 0.49 to ship. jrjr
- dang 11y ago
  From the HN guidelines: "Please don't sign comments; they're already signed with your username. If other users want to learn more about you, they can click on it to see your profile." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

cmrdporcupine 11y ago

That shipping rate also applies to Canada, so something is really messed up on their end. That's inexcusably high.

ascorbic 11y ago

They're probably sending by DHL or something. They could send something that small by USPS for under $5.

rgbrenner 11y ago
Maybe 20 years ago. USPS isn't sending anything in a box to the UK for less than $20 (delivered in 2-3 weeks.. unless you want to pay double for priority).
- ascorbic 11y ago
  This is a tiny module. It'll go in an envelope.
  - rgbrenner 11y ago
    Well if that envelope is more than 3/4inch thick or has more than 1/4in variation or more than 2 inches of movement inside the envelope or cannot bend at least 1 in (because it contains a rigid object for example) Then guess what? It qualifies as a package and not an envelope and you must pay the same price as a box So again.. $20
    - ascorbic 11y ago
      If they're sending lots of these it can easily be worked-around. But yes, US postage is ridiculous. I've fulfilled packages that weren't time-sensitive directly from Hong Kong to the US as amazingly it was cheaper than sending domestically from a US warehouse. I can send a 100g "large letter" from the UK to US for about £3 (about $5), and the only size restriction is that it must fit through a 2.5cm by 25cm slot, and can't be longer than 35cm. No bending or shape restrictions. For an extra £1 I can send a small parcel, which has even looser restrictions. The main problem is that over 2kg the prices jump massively. These costs are all for 5-7 day delivery.