Yourbitterpill | 15 Apr 2014 1:17 p.m. PST |
I've never ordered from Gamecraft and decided to place an order for 3 small buildings and 1 medium building and their webcart wants to charge me nearly $14 USD for USPS Priority Mail! I know postage can get pricey but these are flat-packed pieces of MDF that can't weigh more than 1/2 lb each, and that's being generous. I sent them an inquiry about it possibly being mistake but have yet to hear back. Anyone ordered from them before can tell me if those costs sound right? |
Extra Crispy | 15 Apr 2014 1:28 p.m. PST |
MDF can be wicked heavy. $14 USD does not sound out of the question to me. |
Splintered Light Miniatures | 15 Apr 2014 1:49 p.m. PST |
I am not familiar with the product but pricing for shipping is not just based on weight but on the size of the box they have to ship it in. I think medium flat rate boxes are now $11 USD and large flat rate might be up to $14. USD |
Brian Smaller | 15 Apr 2014 1:53 p.m. PST |
Postage always rips me. I have just ordered two different lots from suppliers in Australia. One order is 48 x 28mm cavalry and 24 infantry figures – Airmail postage $30.00 AUD. The other is two mounted and four foot figures and postage was $16.00 AUD. Work that one out. Most of the time I just bite the bullet but excessive postage is definitely one thing that is stopping me ordering some of the great new stuff coming out of mainland Europe at the moment. |
Striker | 15 Apr 2014 2:06 p.m. PST |
If they're the MDF buildings in 28mm then they can be heavy. I've ordered a lot of their stuff (sci fi buildings and microarmor storage boxes) and it is heavy. I usually grab things when sales are going on to try and reduce the overall costs. |
morrigan | 15 Apr 2014 2:09 p.m. PST |
I don't really order from the US anymore for the same reason. I have a particular dislike for manufacturers flat rates that are higher than the USPS flat rates. I find rates from the UK to Canada to be better. |
Ewan Hoosami | 15 Apr 2014 3:31 p.m. PST |
Postage from Australia to anywhere else is very expensive now. I used to make a line of resin terrain for gaming and it's the OS shipping costs that stop me from restarting the venture. I recently sold some items on eBay and strictly said no international buyers in the item description. It didn't stop some from attempting to purchase anyway. A 1/144 Dragon Hind D kit listed to sell for. 8 Aud was going to cost nearly 40 Aud to send to Sweden with signature varification. 6-7 years ago that's what it cost to send a 10kg order of terrain to Portugal. |
Brian Smaller | 15 Apr 2014 4:17 p.m. PST |
@Ewan – For me here in NZ it is part of the hobby spend I have to take into account. |
Space Monkey | 15 Apr 2014 4:42 p.m. PST |
I was about to put in an order with Noble Knight just now until I noticed the shipping costs
which were as much as the books I wanted
which might not even seem like that much to me if I didn't buy similar stuff off Amazon all the time and pay MUCH lower shipping costs. I'm guessing the big fish can arrange lower rates? Even the 'used' sellers on Amazon who will sell me a book for a penny plus 4 bucks shipping? |
Extra Crispy | 15 Apr 2014 6:43 p.m. PST |
Well, US overseas the first ounce is about $7. USD A book costs at least $10 USD to send unless it's a small mass market. I charge actual postage on all orders. I just quoted to send a single 54mm figure to the UK from the US. $9.45 USD. 3 ounces. Have you seen the price of jet fuel? Frankly I think it's amazing we can get a box half way round he world for $10 USD, but I guess that's just me
. |
Extra Crispy | 15 Apr 2014 6:44 p.m. PST |
By the way you can check price at USPS.com if you're interested
|
Yourbitterpill | 15 Apr 2014 7:23 p.m. PST |
Looks like Splintered had the right idea. Postage is the Flat Rate Box price, not on a per-pound basis like I thought. |
Brian Smaller | 15 Apr 2014 8:51 p.m. PST |
@Extra Crispy – Ha ha. You are right of course. Postal and courier services are pretty good on the whole. I do a lot of ordering and have had few problems. Funnily enough, the ones that never arrived have been small 1-2 figure orders. Just a few months ago I had one package sent twice and never got it either time (from Germany). Gave up in the end. |
Etranger | 16 Apr 2014 5:29 a.m. PST |
Sounds about right. MDF is heavy & the 'flat rate' soon adds up. I've ordered from Gamecraft several times & their P & P isn't exorbitant. I allow around 30% as a ballpark figure on postage from the UK or USA to Oz. |
CPBelt | 16 Apr 2014 11:04 a.m. PST |
Looks like Splintered had the right idea. Postage is the Flat Rate Box price, not on a per-pound basis like I thought. Because you can squeeze a lot of tiny 15mm figures into one small flat rate box. :-) BTW my platoon of 20mm soldiers from Eureka/AB fit into a small flat rate box. I would assume most of their orders can fit in such a box. BTW you want to see ripoff shipping prices? Just head over to shopgoodwill.com and check out their auctions. Most are a total ripoff. I've passed on many auctions since they redid their postage rates. (We need a "ticked off angry" emoticon!) |
Tyler326 | 16 Apr 2014 11:55 a.m. PST |
Please check the shipping rates. A medium Flat rate priotiy mail( 50 lbs or less) is 59.95/USD to ship to UK.Small of same runs 23.95/USD. The rates have gone up quite a bit. |
Splintered Light Miniatures | 16 Apr 2014 12:44 p.m. PST |
Tyler326, Yes, overseas shipping has gotten crazy expensive. From December 2012 to January 2013 the cost of shipping from the USA overseas doubled! I had to go from $8 USD flat rate shipping to $12 USD and I still eat a little $ on most international orders. David splinteredlightminis@gmail.com |
Munster | 16 Apr 2014 11:37 p.m. PST |
How else do governments 'legitimately' shut down global small trade :P |
Micman | 23 Apr 2014 8:29 p.m. PST |
It is not the government's fault so much as global economy. The price of everything has gone up. Including the thing that effect the costs of shipping. Fuel, wages, vehicle maintenance and replacement. The software to track our goodies around the country. Pretty much put up with the oosts or stop buying. It is not going to get better. (unless someone really has a wormhole delivery system). |
KenofYork | 24 Apr 2014 8:05 a.m. PST |
I blame a lot of it on the cost of fuel. About 5 years ago gas prices doubled- and then stayed there. It is having a domino effect on every area of our lives that are subject to fuel costs. Farming, trucking, and just about everything in between has gotten very expensive. And the cost always rolls down to the end user.
I have pretty much lost most overseas orders. I sold $9 USD worth of product and the shipping was $16 USD the other week. I get a lot of abandoned shopping carts and figure they were overseas and simply saw the shipping and clicked out. |