 | Home > Off Topic > Suppliers who rip off customers with postage |
 
|
|
|
| gilarion Member Since: 05 Dec 2013 Location: Wales Posts: 5109   
|
What is it with some suppliers that charge way over the top for postage for small items which then take an age to be delivered?
I ordered from a well-known sixty thousand parts on line Land Rover parts supplier a small item in a box about the size of a packet of twenty cigarettes and weighs next to nothing, I was charged £7.00 postage and the item took eight days to arrive from just over forty miles away. Now I did try to phone to query if they could send the item first class postage any cheaper given its size, no one picked up the phone just a message saying ‘we want your business’ or some such tripe ‘leave your name and number and we will get back to you’, yeah! Well they didn’t. I sent emails not one of them replied to. In the end because I needed the part and no one else seemed to have the part in stock I ordered it from the above. The Item was sent via Royal mail and from ordering it took eight days to arrive. I weighed it and the postage should have been £1.20 the little jiffy bag it was sent in probably about 20p, so by my reckoning the company has made a £5.60 extra profit from postage, not a bad little earner when you consider how many items this supplier posts. Will I ever use this supplier again never? Sometimes I wonder at the sheer nerve of some companies and the way they rip off customers. For those who like Welsh Mountains and narrow boats have a look at my videos and photos at.. http://www.youtube.com/user/conwy1 |
||
5th Jun 2017 2:59pm |
|
| davew Member Since: 02 Jan 2012 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 888  
|
I suspect one of the problems is that it's so difficult to calculate postage on the fly when taking an order via a web site. The simplest way to do it is to work out an average cost and charge that with reductions based on the total value of the order.
Sometimes you win on postage but most of the time you don't. I have a customer who runs a small business that sells a very diverse range of specialist products and for years I've tried to persuade him to let the web site calculate postage but he won't. As a result I've had to build a custom shopping cart for him that takes an order but doesn't charge. The order goes to him, he calculates the postage manually then adds that amount to the order before marking it ready to pay. The customer then receives an email asking them to pay the final amount before the goods can be shipped. That's OK for a small business with a handful of orders a day but trying to scale that up is near impossible. In theory you can enter the size and weight of every item you stock and have the web site calculate how many boxes are needed, what size and what weight is for each box and calculate postage accordingly. Postage ends up a bit like insurance, they go for an average value for most orders and then increase it slightly to make sure they always "win" overall. If you really want revenge then order their bulkiest, heaviest item and beat the average 
The real upside of average high postal charges from the suppliers point of view is that people will try and increase their order to either meet "free postage" limits or to get better value from the postage. In short, the seller will often sell more goods due to postage ! http://www.yorkshireoffroadclub.net/ |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 3:46pm |
|
| Swine&Small Member Since: 20 Mar 2017 Location: Norfolk Posts: 1223 
|
Well I ordered a part and paid the extra for fast delivery i.e. 1st class Royal Mail delivery. When I complained a week later that it had not arrived, I was told it was actually out of stock but they would send it 1st Class, as I had requested, when they got it in stock. Their website said nothing about it being out of stock when I ordered it.
It arrived 1st class a week later, 18 days in total. I think the fast delivery option was lost on them as the person I spoke to could not see my point Pay nails get planks maybe? 1983 Series 3 Pick up in Marine Blue 1967 Morris Traveller 1966 Morris Convertible 2012 VW T5 Camper Quod Abundat Non Obstat. |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 4:23pm |
|
| gilarion Member Since: 05 Dec 2013 Location: Wales Posts: 5109
|
I am well aware that I did not have to purchase the item, however, that is not the point the point was the company sent the item via the cheapest postage possible, which because of this it took eight days to arrive, I feel this dispatch is calculated to maximise the companies’ profits, for seven pounds it should have been sent next day delivery especially given its size. As some members on this forum can testify I have posted items to them weighing between six and ten kilograms for less postage than £7.00 and each and every one of these members has received the parcel the next day after posting often before 1pm. For those who like Welsh Mountains and narrow boats have a look at my videos and photos at.. http://www.youtube.com/user/conwy1 |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 4:25pm |
|
| proloForêt Member Since: 16 Mar 2017 Location: Montereau Posts: 248  
|
I try to buy some bushes for my defender. Just 2 and must be small packet. One company who is specialist Land Rover in UK and comes up on google offer me these small things for £18 - this is good price because not easy order her in France. I go to buy and then they ask me for £35 to post to France! I telephone them to be sure and they say it is how it is so is correct because they have minimum for post international. I say why, is more or less work involved, and they say it is how it is take or leave. I leave. I understand not correct in UK forum to put their name.
Finally I get on eBay for £23 including posting to me here in France, same brand of bush from same place I take wing mirror arms at fair price and postage - UK company. |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 5:15pm |
|
| scotty38 Member Since: 21 May 2011 Location: Lincolnshire Posts: 571 
|
I get that and I'm not trying to say it couldn't be done more cheaply or more quickly BUT they had what you wanted and nobody else did so you take your choice.... I'm guessing it was *addocks that your bit came from and I'd be curious to know what it was that nobody else had. I accept I could be wide of the mark here... |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 7:17pm |
|
| Rashers Member Since: 21 Jun 2015 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3484 
|
Does anyone on here play roulette with Amazon postage.
I don't have Prime so I always elect where possible to go for the free or cheapest postage. I have found that in a percentage of cases the stuff turns up within a couple of days and well before the due date. Obviously, I get caught out, but that's the chance I take. |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 7:33pm |
|
| gilarion Member Since: 05 Dec 2013 Location: Wales Posts: 5109
|
No to be fair it was not Craddocks or Paddocks both are very good when it comes to small lightweight items a quick phone call and they sort it out re postage, sometimes the cost is just a first class stamp. Perhaps both companies value their customers. No this company is of the newer flasher ones that have entered the Land Rover parts market with an all singing dancing web site (well they are not that new) The clue is in my first post as to who they are. For those who like Welsh Mountains and narrow boats have a look at my videos and photos at.. http://www.youtube.com/user/conwy1 |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 8:46pm |
|
| Sulisuli Member Since: 30 Oct 2016 Location: South west Posts: 4795 
|
Not like you not to name and shame......why dont you just state who it is!!M
 2015 HT XS 90
2008 SVX 90 2000 XS TD5 90 |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 9:16pm |
|
| Chopperone Member Since: 13 Nov 2016 Location: Derbyshire Posts: 396
|
I,too, can't understand why they are not named & shamed.
You are merely stating a fact : package A was charged at amount X. IF the company concerned are embarrassed about it OR they want to defend their position so be it. Let's have an open debate. Guy May your life be like toilet paper ; long & useful. |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 9:47pm |
|
| mse Member Since: 06 Apr 2008 Location: UK Posts: 5035 
|
Amazon prime is awesome...next day, I play the how late can you still get things game. I hear you on postage, why can some do it for free and others not. Mike |
||
|
5th Jun 2017 11:32pm |
|
| Martin Site Admin Member Since: 02 Apr 2007 Location: Hook Norton Posts: 6604 
|
For the site shop I have it set up for UK and international postage by weight, so the postage rate is fair, so anyone can
 1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW |
||
|
6th Jun 2017 8:11am |
|
| Riverboy Member Since: 16 May 2016 Location: French sector, Earth Posts: 1288 
|
Amazon Prime isn't much use to me because I mostly buy from Amazon UK because even with postage to France its usually a lot cheaper than buying the same product from Amazon France with free postage. Amazons international postage costs are very reasonable anyway. Stuff usually gets here within four days and always a day before they say it will.
|
||
|
6th Jun 2017 9:00am |
|
| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8580
|
Companies which are VAT registered have to charge VAT on carriage. So of the £7 in the original post the government will get about £1.17.
For us to post things out means a trip to the local post office which is time, fuel and running costs on a vehicle, who pays for that? It is not just a simple matter of weight to work out postage/courier costs as size is important. Large letter, small parcel or medium parcel size for Royal Mail. What is length of parcel? Under 1m, between 1 and 1.2 metres or up to 2.7m long with combined length and girth of less then 3.3m? One courier we use charges £15 surcharge on items over 1m long. Another courier it s 1.2m for additional handling charge of about £7.50 Delivery to a residential address rather then a business address can attract a residential fee of about £3 Overseas delivery? Costs can vary by up to 300% dependent on courier/broker used Barbara and I work on te basis we win some on carriage costs and lose on other carriage costs. As for free delivery, I have not yet met a delivery driver who will work for nothing. As for the GSP on ebay for customers overseas especially out of the EU 
Brendan |
||
|
6th Jun 2017 10:30am |
|
|
|
| All times are GMT |
< Previous Topic | Next Topic > |
Posting Rules
|
Site Copyright © 2006-2024 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis
