Thread: does this seem right

Guys, I have a question/concern. I recently won this lot of razors:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...DME:L:RTQ:CA:1

When I requested a total, they quoted me a price for UPS shipping of $14.51, saying it was the cheapest shipping option they could find, even compared to USPS. I live in Canada and after hearing all of the horror stories about buyers being charged ridiculous brokerage fees, I asked if they could ship the package via USPS First-Class Mail International as that's the cheapest method I know of (the replacement for USPS Airmail Letter Post). A quick check with the Postage Rate Calculator on the USPS website, with Saskatchewan, Canada used as the destination, and a weight of 4 lbs (the max weight for First-Class Mail International) says that the shipping should be no more than $15.46. I'll assume that shipping 6 razors for under 4 lbs is not unreasonable.

Today I get an email saying:

"looks like this will run 18.91 for the postage; so please update the invoice and add that to the total 15.53. I print my postage right from the computer and the lowest price was not available...total is 34.44 I believe. Sorry for any hassle."

At first glance from the website, shipping doesn't seem to be affected by distance. Is this incorrect? Are there additional fees added to what the postage rate calculator tells me? I was expecting shipping to be in the area of $8.00, not $18.00. Something seems terribly wrong with this picture. I've received razors from other sellers who had shipping prices low enough to ship 6 razors to me individually for less than what this seller is asking.

Hoping someone with experience with shipping can chime in, either to point out if the shipping price is not unreasonable or to validify my concerns.

After a minute of investigation, I found out perhaps the cause of my concerns. The seller prints postage on the computer. I'm guessing this is most easily done using the Click-N-Ship feature offered on the USPS website. The problem is that this feature only offers the ability to do international postage via Express Mail International and Priority Mail International, which would account for the high cost of shipping I've been quoted.

Express Mail International starts at $22.00 while Priority Mail International starts at $16.00. So logic tells me the seller is using Priority Mail International.

Is it unreasonable of me to ask the seller to physically drive to the post office to get a quote for shipping via First-Class Mail International?

Originally Posted by edk442

Is it unreasonable of me to ask the seller to physically drive to the post office to get a quote for shipping via First-Class Mail International?

How much $ are you talking about saving?
What's the price of gas there?

After more investigation, I used google to find an address and zip code for North Carolina and plugged it into the online postage print feature. The only way I could get the shipping price she quoted me was by using a perfect 4lb shipping weight. Should shipping 6 razors in their boxes really be that heavy?

Now I'm more confused. Is NC close to Canada?

Trying to remember geography class....


LOL, J.

I can't even really say how much I'd save on shipping. I'm positive the seller is using a 4lb shipping weight (which seems excessive to me) in which case it's only saving $3.45 (18.91 for online shipping vs 15.46 to ship from the post office) - not worth the hassle considering they were decent enough to use USPS at my wish. But I have a feeling that once they got to the post office and the package gets weighed, by someone other than the seller. it's going to have a significantly lighter weight (I could be wrong, they might very well have packed it with 3 pounds of bubble wrap and boxing) in which the savings might be around $10.00.

One of my main thoughts though is that that extra $10 is pushing the listing into the area where I probably wouldn't have bid on it. Getting a tad expensive when theres only one razor I'd keep

I understand what you mean.

I'd hate to see how big the package would have to be to be 3lbs of bubble wrap though, LOL. J.

ya...thats my thinking, 4lb shipping is just not feasable.

I get a bad vibe from this seller for some reason; I just don't trust them all that much.

I get the feeling that even if I had them go to the post office to get it mailed, and it infact turned out to be less than 4lb, I'd still get an invoice for $15.46 shipping. Packing their wallets more than the box.

Dont worry about it ,just pay it,and forget it

That's why you always check the shipping rates out before bidding. UPS will rip you off on brokerage fees, so USPS is still the way to go but if USPS airmail is still available, it will be significantly cheaper, just takes longer.