Shipping rip-off from these UK guys

[da9000]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290033840103

Simply ridiculous... the shipping to the US is almost twice the buy-now price of the unit !!!!!! Jesus

[da9000]

LOL!

It was only $200 because it hadn't "aged" enough. I think that's what these guys are trying to "prove" with the outrageous 100pounds (about $200) shipping charges to the US!

[da9000]

Wow, that sucks ballz! (you know, the red/white checkered ones!) Imagine if you were on another continent!!! How much is that "express post" fee?

I must say: I'm really getting pissed off at hearing of people selling items they DON'T have, or "mislaid" or "can't find" (Centsisoft seems to do this often according to user feedback). WTF? Don't have it, don't freagging sell it. Some people really need to have their asses kicked..

These aren't the same blokes as the ones on the eBay link, are they?

[da9000]

@skurk:

Heh, you're right about the fees, and I can partially understand it, but the problem is when it goes overboard: for example, the CD32 at $300 is a rip-off, because if you see the prices it sells at, they are about half that and below! (I've even seen some for high $80s in the past!) So if the dorks said, look, most of these CD32s sell for around $150, so that's more or less what I'll get. Then make the shipping around $100 and let the rest be bidded or buy-now at $50. But $200 shipping + $100 buy-now. Hell no.

This is much more reasonable for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Amiga-CD32-Console-System-Mint-NIB_W0QQitemZ320071652826QQihZ011QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD4VQQcmdZViewItem

As for the pyramid schemes, I had no idea! I guess because I already got a Macbook Good luck in finding a nice one for yourself! Hint: Apple employees get 15% discount ;-) Start searching your network of friends (ahemmm) :-D

[da9000]

Woa, get a load of this:

"Postage via Parcel Force global priority for 6KG, dimensions: H=26cm W=45cm L=58cm is £95.95. That leaves £4.05 which coveres the packaging. I do not appreciate abusive messages sent to via ebay
Thank You"

There was nothing abusive in my email to this freak, unless the word "freagging" is considered abuse these days... All I wrote was:

"No offense, but your shipping price is a compelte RIP OFF! 100 freagging pounds for sending to the US? That's more than the "buy now" price of the box, and believe me the CD32 does NOT weight a ton!"

And can someone explain to me WHY sending a CD32 would require a box of dimensions big enough to fit a human being inside?? He quoted: H=26cm W=45cm L=58cm

Also, can someone just weigh a freagging CD32? There's no way in hell it's 6kg in weight, is there? If it's built like an A2000 it might be But I think it's more like an A500. Actually, let's weight my A500: 3.5-4kg and this is on a body-scale (and missing a couple trap-doors and stuff... :-D )

[da9000]

@dbrads:

Hahahaha, ok ok, you had to make me say it: I'M A MIDGET! OK? Why do the big people always assume we're all the same size? HUH?? Are you satisfied now?


As for the costs, sure England is a rip-off (why does the pound get to be twice the value of a euro or $??), but seriouls mate, I've seen other people ship stuff from the UK and it's certainly not this high. You CANNOT possibly expect me to believe that a CD32 shipped from the UK to the US costs 200, yes that's two HUNDRED, freagging dollars (95 pounds the guy said). And to look at it another way: why are plane rides from the UK to the US the cheapest of all the countries of europe? Shouldn't parcel post be similar? Most parcels also fly across the ocean, no?

Cheers

PS. I don't think I flamed the guy. Not yet anyhow.

[da9000]

@Amigakit:

That's scary if it's indeed so... Maybe it's because of the priority insured service and all the rest. But still, I remember you told me that the shipping cost wouldn't be so much from the UK, so I could order stuff online from your shop.

Will FexEx, DHL, etc have better rates or the same, you think? Which service do you use?

PS. Good idea to add the new products link in your sig! Got my attention quickly


@Akiko:
Man, from what you Brits are saying, that lady most likely was right! It's still rather hard to believe... I've seen other products shipped and it wasn't this ridiculous. Maybe they were using some other courier service or not global priority or whatnot...

[da9000]

@Oli_hd:

The dimensions are certainly not small, but so large? I bet an A1200 box is less than 58cm. And my understanding is that CD32 is certainly not as big as an A1200. But I never had one so what do I know?

Yeah, after the other guys mentioned the insanity with British parcel, I can see those prices match... Crazy, still.

Anyways, I don't know if it's worth it with any method. There are other CD32 deals that seem more approachable. I also don't think I was 'so rude' to him because the matter of fact remains that the given shipping rate _is_ a ripoff no matter how you spin it. It's just not his fault, that's the difference. I guess it'd be nice to have that explained in the post, so people don't get shocked by the sheer stupidity of parcel shipping costing almost as much as a flight to the UK and back (sorta like the trip-to-Italy-guy before)

Yes, you're right, it'd be suicidal to have such an expensive package shipped without box/padding/etc. I'm aware of it being PAL, but thank you for making sure ;-)


@Amigakit:
Gotcha. Well, I'm glad you're selling in volume. I'll be helping to keep that going :-) Maybe you wanna buy them CD32s from these guys? :-) And drop that ez-vga price about half-way :-)

Cheers guys and thanks for the "Being a Brit" lessons :-)
Now I'll be more able to make fun of my friends over in the UK (and also avoid coming to, or rather, leaving your country by parcel post :-D)

[da9000]

@dbrads:

2 CD boxes. I'd hope he'd pack it well!

BTW, I'm not a midget so no offense taken :-)



@Amigakit:

It's good to hear that! Why don't I see them on the site? :-(



@Oli_hd:
Does the second coming consist of an AGA invasion? :-D

[da9000]

Aha, coolness!

[da9000]

LOL!

Matthew's nothing like Scrouge. Very nice guy indeed!

[da9000]

@Kin-Hell:

Here in the UK, Royal Mail & Parcel Force are better known as "Royal Fail" & "Parcel Farce".  :roll:

LOL!!! :roflmao: Ingeniously constructed! I guess it's only natural with such terrible rates! If I only knew these terms to begin with! )))



@mikeymike:
You shouldn't take it offensively, because just like you "have to guess" at the rates, so did I. If the guy LIVES in the UK, just like all of you, then he SHOULD know that their shipping rates are ridiculous (assuming he's shipping worldwide, which he IS), and should have been ready to hear such things. I had no idea about the UK rates, so I didn't call him any names, all I said is that the price is a rip off. Which no matter what YOU guys say, it really is, because any sort of normalcy (meaning: when comparing with other "developed" nations) will tell you that such a price for shipping is ridiculous. And even if you don't accept that, then please tell me it's not ridiculous to be able to fly from NYC to London for $250 round trip (not in all seasons of course), while shipping a goddamned CD32 takes about the same price! Anyhow, what's done is done, and I didn't continue chastising the chap after that point


@Amigakit:
Interesting facts. Now that I think about it, part of the reason I thought the shipping was so ridiculous is that I have seen smaller packages (I guess now I know that means up to 2kg or 4.4lbs), which come off of the UK, that are quit reasonable in price!! So now I see why I thought this was ridiculous: I was assuming that the same normal rates of the "Post Office" (don't know the formal name for yours) would apply to larger/heavier packages. Obviously that was a bad assumption :-)


@Daedalus:
I just measured it: 23 x 17 x 7 inches or 58.42 x 43.18 x 17.78 cm. :rtfm: I was ON the mark, I said 58 and it's 58 and change. So Daedalus, your wings have melted... 100cm is a bit off. And once again, I don't have a CD32 but from photos I believe it's smaller than the A1200, and so I used this to guess about the shipping rates, before I complained to the guy. It certainly wasn't an impulse reaction.

Of course, little did I know about UK shipping rates...


@sdyates:
Folks in the US certainly to learn that and a whole lot more! (like where place are geographically, for example) :-) But at the same time, and this goes for all dealers on eBay, a good dealer will give as much info to the buyers, including warnings such as "hey, border-control might make this trip longer for X continent" (as pointed by alenppc for UK->Canada), or "hey, UK shipping is stupid, don't expect any less for outside the UK", etc


@alenppc:
Jesus! For a tiny A600?! Damn...
As for envy, I dunno, they might get higher wages, but if you can't go out coz it's rainy and gloomy, what's the point? :-p  Anyways, I'm half-joking here, because I'm in California, and because I know they also get sunny days too (I've seen some fantastic shots of UK scenery even at winter time), and I do want to visit my friends in the UK one day.


@pedro7:
It's not unlike California either... Prices here are absolutely horrendous. I can't find a house that's somewhat ok under < $500,000  It's really stupid :-(

[da9000]

Further on and still RE:, as Kin-Hell says:

for small packages it seems that rates are much more understandable, or so I think. I actually took some time to look at Royal Fail and found this Airmail page:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=400347&catId=400036

It seems for "small packets" (http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=3500027&catId=400036#1400039), it can be sent for under 20 pounds to the USA (Zone 1).

I'm assuming that an Amiga card (even full length), should comfortably fit in a packet that has a max girth of 90cm, with the longest side being 60m and under.

Could the Brits correct me if I made any false assumptions? Also if there's anything really wrong with Airmail, could you tell us?

[da9000]

@weirdami:

I don't think so dude. Check your facts :rtfm:   USPS with EMS (Global Express Mail) is pretty darn fast and very reasonable.

I googled for CD32's weight and got someone's package at 6kg. That's 14lbs, and here's what USPS quoted me for destination UK:

http://ircalc.usps.gov/intl_speed.asp?CID=12062&MailType=package&Pounds=14&Ounces=0

I call EMS pretty darn reasonable: 3-5 Days = $69.30

Just as a refresher, the opposite (UK->US) was quoted at $200. That's 3x the price.

----------------

ANYWAYS, I was not trying to re-open the original subject. I don't care about that anymore. I just wanted to add useful information (the link to Royal Mail's site) to the thread for those looking to ship stuff from the UK to the outside, and of course for those of us in this side of the pond that want to get stuff from the UK at "reasonable" prices.

[da9000]

@ jbuonacc:

What you described is the exact predicament I'm in. I just want a dinky little card, which I know that in the US would cost less than $10-20 to ship to Europe. Yet if I get this from the UK (coz there ain't no such cards here, arggg), then it'll cost me $60-80 or something... Thus my search for better pricing... This double-standard is annoying..