mark tucker
Samba Member
Joined: April 08, 2009
Posts: 23945
Location: SHALIMAR ,FLORIDA
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 Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 9:15 am Post subject: |
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| irvanm wrote: |
| The ones I hate the most are the places that base shipping cost on the amount spent. |
Some of those are a great deal compared to some others and what you are buying. I take into account what where and when and whoo. Most of the time I deal with just a few venders.they have what I want and the quality I want.and cant get any where else.so....you have to pay top play. I was screwed badly by a vw company in socal  on shipping long ago.they have lost out on thousands of $$$$ due to it.
it's reedickulass to screw somebopdy over shipping. add $1.25 per order ansd if that guy can pick, throw in a box 15-20-25 orders a hour he can make some good $$ for almost brainless task..... |
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Busdepot
Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2004
Posts: 1359
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| Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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In the end what matters is total delivered cost for like items. Free shipping is of course a gimmick. Shipping costs the retailer a lot and if they really made it free without building it into the price somehow they'd go out of business. I always advise comparing final delivered cost on "apples to apples" items, regardless of alleged sales, discounts, etc.
Getting shipping costs right, from the standpoint of a small retailer, is incredibly difficult. The carriers charge not only by weight but also by dimensions. If someone buys two long thin items they can be combined into one long thin box and shipped relatively cheaply. But if he buys one long thin item and one cube shaped one, the box has to be several times larger to fit them both (or two packages must be sent, even costlier), which jacks the shipping cost way up. Algorithms that can accurately predict this sort of thing (especially if 5 or 10 items are involved and some have special packing requirements) are way beyond the financial reach of smaller retailers like us and others on the Samba. As a result shipping charges are at best an approximation. Sometimes we make a little sometimes we lose a little, but overall (speaking for the Bus Depot) our goal is to break even on average, not make or lose money on shipping. Sometimes the shopping cart is way, way off and we either have to requote (i.e. on large or heavy items. or remote or international addresses) or other times manually reduce the charge when we process the order. If your website shipping charge seems way too high (which sometimes happens, often on very lightweight items or to international or remote destinations), feel free to email Fred at [email protected] and he can check it and requote you. (However we do have a $4.95 minimum to offset the high cost of processing orders for $3 worth of parts that we only make 50 cents on.)
Our answer to "free shipping" is to offer a percentage discount on larger orders, which largely offsets your shipping cost. For most customers it's 5% off orders over $500, but active Samba members (12+ posts over 3 months or more) get the discount at only $50 instead of $500. At $1000 the discount doubles to 10%. (if you're ready to place an order PM me for the codes - don't post them here!) Both have some exclusions (most notably sale items, special order or made to order items, tires/wheels, and engines/transmissions). The advantage of this scheme is everyone gets the same discount whether you live in the next state over or in Canada or Europe.
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- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot
www.busdepot.com |
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