Lower Postage/Shipping Costs from U.S.Dealers

[Sunshine Express]

I have bought from some British Hobby Shops,and their policy was postage at cost.
Is there any U.S.Dealers that would give you an option of this.?
$22 and $52 International Postage for a medium envelope of Decals is a bit stiff.
Any help here ?

[rogertra]

Where are you located?

[Sunshine Express]

Sorry,I was so confused last night trying to cancel an order after the postage shock,that I did not  give my address. Brisbane Queensland Australia.A friend in our train club bought a complete DCC set up and lots of Decoders from a U.S.Dealer and had the option to send the order a cheaper but slower way. He was very happy.
With England,overseas buyers get an advantage,whereby the VAT (Tax) is waived for export orders and this nearly always covers the postage(about 15%).
I have bought Locos and Building kits from the U.S.,and the UPS charge of about US$23 is not too bad,but it seems that is the minimum.
I have sold a couple of items to American buyers and had good feedback for my correct postage charges,on normal Air Mail. Thanks Owen

[Jim Banner]

Here in Canada we often have the same kind of problem - US shippers wanting $25 for shipping an item in a standard envelope.  If asked, they explain that the extra charge is for something called "handling."  I figure it this way - $1 for a stamped envelope.  $23 to write my name and address on the envelope and fill out the little green export tag.  If the seller is a little slow, that might take 5 minutes.  If my math is correct, that is about $288 per hour for monkey work.

       

[Pacific Northern]

Here in Canada we often have the same kind of problem - US shippers wanting $25 for shipping an item in a standard envelope.  If asked, they explain that the extra charge is for something called "handling."  I figure it this way - $1 for a stamped envelope.  $23 to write my name and address on the envelope and fill out the little green export tag.  If the seller is a little slow, that might take 5 minutes.  If my math is correct, that is about $288 per hour for monkey work.

       

I am really surprised by how many USA vendors have increased their S&H charges to what I consider very high amounts.

One the other hand I have contacted several vendors on e-bay who have indicated that the S&H charges shown on the e-bay calculator are in error - and they blame e-bay for the misleading charges-

Alwasy check with the vendor of any item you are interested in on e-bay especially to verify S&H charges.

[Sunshine Express]

Jim Banner hit the nail on the head. Years ago,my daughter(school teacher type) and my grand son-in law,IT Software Engineer,tried to get me an all up price for a loco from a MR 3page advertiser,and in both cases,was told $25 shipping,no mention of the loco.
My daughter finally get through to the sales office and asked why we could not get a price including shipping and the lady told her she was nowhere near the stock in her office and did not know. We gave up,I bought the loco locally where we could get some service. I am a senior citizen,learning computer operation and I hate the choice of 2 options,both not what you want,US Mail is not there .

[Ozzie21]

I buy a fair bit of gear from the US and the UK and I too live in Queensland. I have found that when ordering from the UK what you save in not paying the VAT is transferred to lousy packaging and in one instance one loco was wrapped in plan brown paper. In the US you get your locos well packed so the extra you pay I feel is well worth it. I have noticed that the shipping and handling costs have gone up. I usually only order from three dealers and in all cases I don't get charged the US taxes and in all instances I can get the items sent via US mail rather than UPS  which in my case isn't worth the effort as it doesn't get here any faster and I have to go into town to pick it up as the courier doesn't deliver out here. I have also found from the three dealers I deal with that the cost of airmail postage is usually the same whether it be one item or three. This could be because I'm a regular customer and have been dealing with these guys for the last twenty years.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

I have bought from some British Hobby Shops,and their policy was postage at cost.
Is there any U.S.Dealers that would give you an option of this.?
$22 and $52 International Postage for a medium envelope of Decals is a bit stiff.
Any help here ?

[Terry Toenges]

I hope y'all don't order anything that Billy Mays advertises on TV.
I looked into the "Awesome Auger" he sells on TV for $19.95. There are a lot of people who got really ripped off on the shipping and handling.
There's a guy named Kevin Trudeau who sells stuff on TV, too. My wife got sucked into that. They ripped us off and it took forever to get our money back.
I had to complain to the BBB and Attorney General.
One thing I learned is never, ever use a debit card to buy something off TV. People have horror stories about their bank accounts being drained and they can't get the deductions stopped.

[grumpy]

I use a credit for all my purchases . That way I have recourse should something go awry. I also deal with credible dealers to give me a headstart. I live in Alberta Canada and purchase 90% of all my model railroad items from US dealers and to date have experienced no problems. I did discover to my dismay that UPS is a rip off for cross boarder shipments to Canada.
Don

[Pacific Northern]

I use a credit for all my purchases . That way I have recourse should something go awry. I also deal with credible dealers to give me a headstart. I live in Alberta Canada and purchase 90% of all my model railroad items from US dealers and to date have experienced no problems. I did discover to my dismay that UPS is a rip off for cross boarder shipments to Canada.
Don

Yes the UPS surcharge to Canadian purchasers is a surprise to say the least. FedEx also charges Canadians as well.

[grumpy]

DHL does not surcharge Canadian customers but most hobby shops do not use them but push UPS.  USPS has been reliable but can take up to three weeks.I had an unusual experience ; I received two orders that I had placed a week apart arrive a day apart..
I sure would like to know why the dealers have preference for UPS.
Don.

[Pacific Northern]

DHL does not surcharge Canadian customers but most hobby shops do not use them but push UPS.  USPS has been reliable but can take up to three weeks.I had an unusual experience ; I received two orders that I had placed a week apart arrive a day apart..
I sure would like to know why the dealers have preference for UPS.
Don.

I was told by one of the hobby shop staff that they used UPS only as there was a significant savings in rates charged.

As in most cases the purchasers pay the shipping I can only assume the "savings" aspect is somehow a credit of sorts to the Hobby shop on the items they pay the S&H for - incoming stock I would assume.

[Pacific Northern]

Another item that I was looking at a smoke box cover has the US dealer
quoting me a S&H charge of $30.95. for delivery to Canada. I verified with the vendor that this was indeed the S&H charge.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-10-2-S-1A-STEAM-LOCO-SMOKE-BOX-COVER-AHM-RIVAROSSI_W0QQitemZ110255026771QQihZ001QQcategoryZ19129QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Must be a real smoke box cover.

[LGBfan17]

I typically order my trains from a dealer in the New York area.  They are located in New York City (specifically Brooklyn).  Base shipping charge is about $10 US for most orders, and additional shipping on larger orders should be estimated based on the size of your order and how far you live from their store.  I recently ordered a set and a bunch of extra track from them and the total shipping was around $15 US (the order came to $130 US).  And there's no sales tax if you live outside New York State.

Check it out at

http://www.trainworldonline.com/default.php

It's TrainWorld, 751 McDonald Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11218 USA

[Jim Banner]

Trainland/Trainworld is not quite as good a deal if you live in Canada.  For us, their minimum shipping and handling is $25.00.  The last train set I bought from them was $92 for S&H because they insisted on shipping foreign orders by air mail.  But at least they will ship to Canada.  Unlike the lady on Ebay who flatly refused to make overseas shipments.  When pressed, she was unable to remember the name of the sea, but she was darned and determined she wasn't making any shipments over it.

Not to be all negative, I was very, very pleased with The Favorite Spot on Ebay (who was recommended by Rich on another thread).  I purchased two On30 trains (two locomotives plus half a dozen cars) for 66% less than list and he charged me only $38 for combined shipping.