Shipping Prices!!!

[scrapperjade]

Ugh. Sometimes I hate living in Canada. I am trying to get some items from a US site, who ship to Canada, but the price is astronomical.

This company ships has a flatate option to the US for $5.00 - but the same package to Canada will cost me:

FedEx International Priority: $71.21
FedEx International Economy: $69.51
USPS International Express: $52.54
USPS International Priority: $41.93

It makes me SICK! I am trying to get a business off the ground, and if I pay that much for shipping, I am literally LOSING money. I've looked into shipping companies like myUS.com, but all of them charge just as much. It's so frustrating!!! I have ordered a TON of stuff from Etsy, and I know that USPS shipping is nowhere close to that...

[kristijoy]

Yep. I used to work in retail and alot of the profit was slowly being eaten up by shipping costs. And BTW: USPS is subsidized by the government.

[Freckles]

I hear you. Try living in Europe and ordering sth from the States. On top of the outrageous shipping costs we also have to pay taxes. I used to order paper scrapbook supplies from the States and often the costs for shipping + taxes were as high as my order!

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Freckles

I hear you. Try living in Europe and ordering sth from the States. On top of the outrageous shipping costs we also have to pay taxes. I used to order paper scrapbook supplies from the States and often the costs for shipping + taxes were as high as my order!

Amen. I almost did an order at Papertrey yesterday, but I refuse to pay 41 USD for shipping when the actual goods cost about 20 USD! (I might add the order included 50 sheets of paper, so of course it can't be cheap, but come on). I only did an order with them once and the costs for shipping were slightly higher than the goods even though it was a very light package. But I knew that I wanted the goods, so I went for it.

[cardinalskate]

Oh man, that's horrible! You need someone who lives close to the Canadian border to get the stuff at their house, hop over the border and mail it to you (sounds easy, huh? Yeah right....)

[jacinda]

I hear ya. Try living in New Zealand - shipping prices to here are horrendous.

[Jennilyn]

Yep, I hear ya! There's a certain iPhone case I want that I can only get on the products website but shipping is $21! I don't mind paying the $37 for the case, but I'm not paying that much for shipping.

What is it you are ordering? If it's promotional stuff like letterheads, business cards, car magnets, etc. try Vistaprint.ca!

[scrapperjade]

Originally Posted by Jennilyn

Yep, I hear ya! There's a certain iPhone case I want that I can only get on the products website but shipping is $21! I don't mind paying the $37 for the case, but I'm not paying that much for shipping.

What is it you are ordering? If it's promotional stuff like letterheads, business cards, car magnets, etc. try Vistaprint.ca!

I love Vistaprint. But I am trying to order cupcake wrappers, lol. I have a girl who wants to order some for her brothers wedding, and that is how much shipping I would have to pay to get them. I would literally make a whopping $8 on her order, even with my wholesaler discount. Ridiculous.

Mari - do you happen to have cupcake wrapper templates for Silhouttes?? LOL. No, really! That would solve a lot of my problems!

[MamaBee]

Heather does... it was the first... and only thing I've ever cut with my Silhouette... haha

[mummytothree]

oh wow!!! That is seriously ridiculous!!!

[Andrea Gourley]

I feel your pain, it's the same here in the UK and then we have taxes to add on - which I completely don't mind paying. But what I do object to paying is the £8 fee added on by the post office for administration charges. We buy a lot of our stock for our ribbon shop from outside of the UK and some companies charge ridiculous amounts of postage.

Adrianka Papertrey are the worst! I did a group order last month with some friends and the postage was almost like making a payment on my mortgage! The thing that really annoyed me was that they missed out one of the dies from my order so had to send it on to me - it arrived in a small envelope and cost them $5 yet if I'd ordered that one die from the store they would have charged me $30+

[Arual]

Originally Posted by scrapperjade

I love Vistaprint. But I am trying to order cupcake wrappers, lol. I have a girl who wants to order some for her brothers wedding, and that is how much shipping I would have to pay to get them. I would literally make a whopping $8 on her order, even with my wholesaler discount. Ridiculous.

Mari - do you happen to have cupcake wrapper templates for Silhouttes?? LOL. No, really! That would solve a lot of my problems!

Ohhhh the cupcake template would be soooo smart!! You could use it for all sorts of orders! Smart thinkin!

[Jenn Barrette]

I totally feel your pain!! I don't know how many times I get a cart full of goodies ready to order and the shipping is so ridiculous I end up not ordering.

I order a lot of my ingredient and decorating supplies at www.vanillafoodcompany.ca, they have $7 flat shipping and I usually get my order in like 3-4 days. Another place that has reasonable shipping (but a bit longer for ship times) is www.layercakeshop.com

HTH!

[marnel]

Ouch and I gripe about 5.95 shipping...
Those prices are CRAZZZY!!

[joelsgirl]

That is insane! It's really unreasonable.

I ordered some PL supplies from the SE Asian supplier in Singapore...which is a TWO HOUR plane ride from me, and I paid $35 just to have the page protecters shipped. I wanted to puke. I could have ordered them from the States cheaper, had them shipped to my mom and had her ship them to me for about what shipping cost from Singapore.

If I ever decide I want to get rich, I'm gonna get into the international shipping scene.

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Andrea Gourley

Adrianka Papertrey are the worst! I did a group order last month with some friends and the postage was almost like making a payment on my mortgage! The thing that really annoyed me was that they missed out one of the dies from my order so had to send it on to me - it arrived in a small envelope and cost them $5 yet if I'd ordered that one die from the store they would have charged me $30+

I did some hocus-pocus with my cart and it turns out that there is actually not much difference in postage for one set of stamps (cca 32 USD!!!!!), 12 sheet of paper (cca 36 USD) or 50 sheets of paper (cca 46 USD).

I have to say I don't believe that's the REAL shipping cost (I've ordered things from the US and the prices were acceptable even for big items). Also, it was USPS priority shipping and it's taken three weeks to ship (normally parcels arrive in a week or under). And from the tracking code I'm 99% sure the reason was that Papertrey actually didn't give it over to USPS before 2 weeks were over; I might be OK with that but when I asked to change my order right away after I did it they were very quick to reply that they can't because they ship so quickly. Indeed.

Also, I asked them a question about the unavailability of some epoxy stickers and the answer that arrived was a) uninformative, b) totally ready-made (not really written to me) and talked about "dies" even though I never asked them anything about dies. They basically replied they don't know, they don't care and I should keep checking the store. I keep doing so and the goods I asked about are still unavailable after 6 months. Neat.

I really want their kraft papers and the Signature Christmas stamps, but that shipping is really scary.

Sorry for the rant. It's no end of the world, I'm just fascinated ya know.

[Megan Turnidge]

That is so outrageous!!! I'm sorry so many of you have to deal with that.

[Yvette]

Originally Posted by adrianka

I did some hocus-pocus with my cart and it turns out that there is actually not much difference in postage for one set of stamps (cca 32 USD!!!!!), 12 sheet of paper (cca 36 USD) or 50 sheets of paper (cca 46 USD).

I have to say I don't believe that's the REAL shipping cost (I've ordered things from the US and the prices were acceptable even for big items). Also, it was USPS priority shipping and it's taken three weeks to ship (normally parcels arrive in a week or under). And from the tracking code I'm 99% sure the reason was that Papertrey actually didn't give it over to USPS before 2 weeks were over; I might be OK with that but when I asked to change my order right away after I did it they were very quick to reply that they can't because they ship so quickly. Indeed.

Also, I asked them a question about the unavailability of some epoxy stickers and the answer that arrived was a) uninformative, b) totally ready-made (not really written to me) and talked about "dies" even though I never asked them anything about dies. They basically replied they don't know, they don't care and I should keep checking the store. I keep doing so and the goods I asked about are still unavailable after 6 months. Neat.

I really want their kraft papers and the Signature Christmas stamps, but that shipping is really scary.

Sorry for the rant. It's no end of the world, I'm just fascinated ya know.

I saw this the other day and I did ask in their forum about the epoxy stickers, one of the owners replied that the manufacturer had gone out of business and that they were looking for another supplier. There are many people in the forum who have "shipping buddies" in the US, who repackage and reship the items to customers overseas.

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by Yvette

I saw this the other day and I did ask in their forum about the epoxy stickers, one of the owners replied that the manufacturer had gone out of business and that they were looking for another supplier. There are many people in the forum who have "shipping buddies" in the US, who repackage and reship the items to customers overseas.

Thanks so much for this info! I thought that there *must* be some issue with the product; but I would have appreciated a clear answer to a clear question. I must have reached the wrong person (or someone who wasn't in the mood) that day when I wrote to them.

I was playing with the idea of asking someone here to buy and send those papers for me, but I'm still not sure. I love Papertrey products, they're lovely and the quality is high; but their postage sure sucks.

[scrapperjade]

I totally need a shipping buddy. Anyone willing to do it for me, if I bribe them with GC's to SSD for the postage paid plus an extra couple bucks?

[kscwgirl]

Psst.. Jade.. there's cupcake wrappers up there.. with cutting files.....

[scrappurple]

Holy cow! I am soooo sorry. I have no advice, just sympathy.

[scrapperjade]

Originally Posted by kscwgirl

Psst.. Jade.. there's cupcake wrappers up there.. with cutting files.....

LOL - I know! That will solve SOME trouble, but the wholesaler has other stuff that can't be made!

[hollydolly70]

I feel your pain - we have a retail business here in Ontario Canada - and a lot of my stock is from the U.S. I use UPS or FedEx - and it runs a lot - because the boxes are heavy. I do know that the more I order the cheaper the shipping. Also - border duty and taxes can eat even more... we have our own customs broker - and they are about 50% cheaper than having the shipping agent process the goods. Hope it woks out for you!
Holly