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Author Topic: Postage Costs  (Read 9836 times)

Peter Fitness

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Postage Costs
« on: August 03, 2010, 11:32:55 pm »

I have dealt with Crafty Computer Paper on several occasions, and have found their water slide decal paper to be an excellent product. I recently ordered 10 sheets of their white decal paper and was horrified to find that I had been charged UK12.99 for air mail postage to Australia, more than the cost of the paper. Previous orders of a similar weight have cost about 4 pounds to post, and a 2 sheet model boat plan sent to me a couple of months ago cost a similar amount.

When I complained, I was told that Crafty Computer Paper had recently changed hands, and "as the new owners we have simplified the charges to make it easier for us and for our customers"  :o
I am at a loss to understand how increasing the cost of postage by a factor of 3 makes it "easier" for me. All UK businesses I have ever dealt with, over many years of modelling, simply state that postage will be charged "at cost". This is a fair and equitable method for all concerned.

Needless to say, I have made my feelings on the matter quite clear to Crafty Computer Paper, telling them that, unless they review their postage costs, I will not be dealing with them again.

I am awaiting further communication from them.

Peter.
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The long Build

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2010, 11:54:30 pm »

Sounds a Bit suspect Regarding the prices..what is the weight?

Have you checked out the postal costs using the price finder on the Royal Mail site

http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/PriceFinderResults?pageId=pc_sltc_rm_product&productCarrier=RM&catId=23500532&keyname=3&index=5
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dodgy geezer

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2010, 12:21:06 am »

The first message I get from Opera when I connect to their Web site is a pop-up informing me that the site uses outdated security settings which are no longer suitable for protecting sensitive data. They are using a short Public Encryption Key - 128bit AES - issued by UTN-USERFirst-Hardware. God knows who they are, but they're not Verisign or anyone well-known.

I would not want to do any business with them involving sending them my credit card details until they knock their technical security up a notch.
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Barry

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2010, 01:11:38 am »

I was going to order a 1:72 scale BTK Spitfire kit from Airfix UK 4.99 for the kit, UK 30.00 for P&P. Needless to say they didn't get my business bought it else where. Must think we're stupid down here.
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RaaArtyGunner

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2010, 02:59:35 am »


To be fair  O0 I have had suppliers tell me that postage was prohibitive and whilst they would like to make the sale it wasn't in my interest.
If you ask, some will even find alternative means of getting the item to OZ.
emodels.co.uk a case in point  :-))
Bottom line, shop around and ask costs, hence why email contact with suppliers is all important for us Down Under  :-))
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kiwimodeller

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2010, 05:54:38 am »

Postage or to be more exact freight is even more of a problem when it comes to larger items such as hulls or kits. I have been wanting for some time to order a couple of hulls from the UK but when a 50" hull is going to cost me 100Pounds but the freight is another 185pounds it just makes you balk at doing it. I guess it is no big deal in the worldwide scheme of things but it must hurt the export effort of UK manufactureres to some extent. Apparently the Parcel Force? mail will no longer accept items over a metre long so the sender is compelled to use a freight company for larger items. I was even going to bite the bullet and buy two hulls at once as the freight for two would be much the same as for one but of course, being contrary, my two favorites were from different suppliers in different parts of the country. Both sell direct and there does not seem to be a retailer who handles the products of both. The last hull I got came home Business Class with a mate but he tells me that when he goes on his next trip the state of the economy means he will have to fly cattle class and there will not be room for big items. It aint every easy is it! Cheers, Ian.
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Peter Fitness

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2010, 06:46:59 am »

Sounds a Bit suspect Regarding the prices..what is the weight?
Whatever 10 A4 sheets of decal paper weigh, not a lot, I would have thought.

As I said, I have ordered similar items from Crafty Computer Paper in the past, and the postage/freight costs were very reasonable. My main concern is that they think that increasing to postage by 3 is making it simpler for their customers.

I regularly buy items such as ESCs, boat fittings, brass rod etc from suppliers in the UK and the USA, and the freight rates are always very reasonable. Large items, such as hulls or kits, are another matter entirely, as kiwimodeller points out.

BTW, I weighed some decal paper and found that 10 sheets weigh 120 grams. If packing doubled that weight it would be about 250 grams. I then checked out the Royal Mail site, and found that Air Mail small packets or printed matter weighing no more than 250 grams costs 3 pounds 96 to Australia, exactly what was paid to post the plan I mentioned.

Peter.
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poddy

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2010, 06:55:19 am »

Referring to kiwi's problem with hulls. I just got a quote from parcels to go for a 52"x12"x12" 10kg parcel. Fedex is £108 economy, £122 express. Seems they calculate "volumetric weight" and not actual weight. So anything that size from 1kg up to 20kg would be the same price.
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derekwarner

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2010, 07:46:52 am »

I am afraid it is a dual edged sword for we the consumers..... >>:-(

Any light item that is bulky is subjet to the "volumetric consideration calculation"
Any small item that is heavy is subject to the "weight scale calculation"
Any item that is largish + heavy is subject to the "volumetric calculation calculation + weight scale calculation"  %% %% %%

 <:( as you must....however we must remember it was the marine industry + the Government of the day that imposed a volumetric tax on importing TURNS of Spanish wine to UK  O0

From memory a TURN was a European wooden wine barrel roughly equivalent to 100 UK gallons....trust the Government to buGG*r it up for all  :o %) .........Derek

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Derek Warner

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essex2visuvesi

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2010, 08:39:44 am »

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Arrow5

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2010, 09:01:57 am »

Derek , I think you meant "tun" ,a term still used in the whisky distilleries.
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FullLeatherJacket

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2010, 09:05:49 am »

We find that the break point is at 1Kg. Below that the Royal Mail International Small Packet service is by far the most reasonable. I reckon Peter's computer paper in a padded bag would weigh around 100gm - cost £1.82. £12.99 is dubious to say the least.
Above that we use Interparcel. They charged us just over £70 to ship all of the electrics for Martin Doon Under's HMS Brave Borderer - including six 12v 4600maH packs, two chargers, three P98 speed controllers and water-cooling kits, a 6v NiMH pack,a P40 mixer, 4 metres of silicon-covered cable etc. Just recently they shipped two entire boats-full of electronics to Indonesia for less than £40.
Having said all that, it's not restricted to you poor colonial types. Our label manufacturer is only about 50 miles away and insists on using a courier service @ £12.50 to send one roll of 1000 S/A labels (about 5" diameter and 2" thick; weight maybe 200gm).
My fravourite incident was the new SIMM card for our credit card machine. This was sellotaped in the top corner of a piece of A4 paper which came by courier in a card envelope 12" x 18"....... Who knows what that cost? Glad we weren't paying!
FLJ
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hopeitfloats

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2010, 09:38:54 am »

KIWIMODELLER. i got a hull from models by design and they cut it in half to bring down the freight costs.  they made a beautiful job of flanging the two halves almost like a bulkhead with a couple of dimples to locate the halves. all i had to do was resin it together and put in some brass machine screws for extra support.  the join is barely noticeable and when i eventually get to the 'bogging' and painting stage it wont be noticeable at all. worth considering that method maybe.
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derekwarner

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2010, 09:41:49 am »

 :-))  thanks arrow5....my apologies....the term ....TUNS were indeed barrels holding about 220 gallons and measured about 40 cubic feet....Derek
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Derek Warner

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pugwash

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2010, 09:53:10 am »

The 220 gallons and the barrel weighed 2240 lbs  hence our modern ton. now back to the post

Geoff
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BrianCartwright

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #15 on: August 04, 2010, 10:57:45 am »

No one has mentioned VAT yet.
I recently bought a smoke generator from Harbor Models Inc in California.
Cost of item $99
P&p $15.95. Quite reasonable I thought.
GB VAT £11.62
Royal Mail handling fee £8.00 Makes you think does it not.

Brian
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FullLeatherJacket

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #16 on: August 04, 2010, 11:11:18 am »

No one has mentioned VAT yet.
AAAAAARGH! You just did!! It's only relevant when you're bringing stuff into the UK; exports to USA, Oz etc are UK VAT-free.
Note that the VAT on imported goods goes on top of the whole charge ie. including the import duty and any handling fee. They only do this because they have to pay my pension from the proceeds.........  %)
FLJ
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kiwimodeller

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #17 on: August 04, 2010, 11:54:19 am »

I had heard of Hopeitfloats bright idea of cutting the hull in half so emailed Models by Design and asked about it. Unfortunately Andy is very "economical" with his replies to my emails. I asked if it was feasible to cut a hull in half , how it would be done and what the costs would be and he came back with "hi ian
yes can do  shipping will be about £75.00  up to 5kg
hope this helps
thanks andy
There was no mention of making flanges or the other costs and I still dont know if in fact the hull I want plus packaging would be less than the 5kg he mentions. The problems of ordering from far aweay are not only with the Mail or freight people! Ian.
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roycv

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #18 on: August 04, 2010, 01:10:06 pm »

Hi all, my son sent me a kit for a pusher tug for my birthday from the USA in 2001, when he was visiting and asked them to ship it via a container service which I believe is quite cheap, but takes weeks.
It arrived in just a few days, the idiot in the model shop had sent it by passenger jet, cost $175.

After a very heated argument with them, he lived in Germany at the time, Barclaycard eventually footed the bill, probably led to the banking crisis.
regards to all Roy
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essex2visuvesi

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #19 on: August 04, 2010, 03:59:07 pm »

No one has mentioned VAT yet.
I recently bought a smoke generator from Harbor Models Inc in California.
Cost of item $99
P&p $15.95. Quite reasonable I thought.
GB VAT £11.62
Royal Mail handling fee £8.00 Makes you think does it not.

Brian

Finnish Posti Handling fee = €26.50
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Niall

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #20 on: August 04, 2010, 06:13:59 pm »

No one has mentioned VAT yet.
I recently bought a smoke generator from Harbor Models Inc in California.
Cost of item $99
P&p $15.95. Quite reasonable I thought.
GB VAT £11.62
Royal Mail handling fee £8.00 Makes you think does it not.

Brian

You got off easy, I placed an order with a Hong Kong firm a few years ago.
Import duty & VAT was £13.25
Parcel Farce International's admin fee for paying this was £13.45!
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Circlip

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #21 on: August 04, 2010, 07:59:56 pm »

Post Orrifice charge for a 2Kg parcel to The Phillipines £30, 100gms extra, 2.1Kg £56

   Regards  Ian.
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Jonty

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #22 on: August 04, 2010, 10:29:57 pm »

  I've just posted six tins of Duraglit to someone in Western Australia. Weight was a little under a kilo, and the price less than £12 for small packet airmail.

  Though, maybe, on reading it over, that statement raises more questions than it answers...
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Peter Fitness

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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #23 on: August 04, 2010, 11:54:22 pm »

Further to my comments about Crafty Computer Paper's postage charges.

In a series of emails between myself and Nick Binns from CCP, I was told that, as most of their overseas orders were in excess of US$100, a figure of 13 pounds was set as a minimum charge, and that they were actually losing money at that rate. However, the same charge applies to ALL orders, which effectively means that the small customer is subsidising the large one.

After learning of the postage charge, I had cancelled my order, but an email from Nick Binns informed me that the order had already been processed, and was en route to me. However, he also told me that in view of my comments, he had credited the full amount back to my card so, in effect, the goods were totally free.

I think that this action shows the good faith of Crafty Computer Paper, and is to be commended. He also told me that there had been other complaints, and CCP were reviewing their system.

Overall, a very good result from a basically ethical company who made a mistake, and admitted it  :-))

Peter.
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Re: Postage Costs
« Reply #24 on: August 05, 2010, 06:22:19 am »

Credit where Credits due  :D :D :D


Ned
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