Doh, always check the p&p small print

[IronGiant]

It was late at night and 1Gb SD cards at £1.25 a go seemed like a real bargain in the marketplace area of a well known online retailer, so I ordered four. 10 minutes later I received my email receipt from said etailer and the p&p was £21.00 ie £5.25 each. Fortunately I was able to cancel the order. On reading the terms and conditions it is quite clear that p&p is for each item, not the entire order, so it's taught me a valuable lesson.

Dave

[Mep]

and I bet they would have all come in one package! bloody scammers

[BrokenArrow]

Originally Posted by mep

and I bet they would have all come in one package! bloody scammers

If it's the site I'm thinking of, it's not the marketplace sellers who decide what the postage rates are, it's the eStore they're sold on.

[Mep]

Originally Posted by BrokenArrow

If it's the site I'm thinking of, it's not the marketplace sellers who decide what the postage rates are, it's the eStore they're sold on.

aah right!...not a user myself

[IronGiant]

It's a site run by busty female warriors
If you spend more than £15 delivery is free

You can unwittingly buy from a marketplace trader directly off the Large Female Warrior Site unless you spot this on the page:

Availability: In stock. Dispatched from and sold by FxxMxx.

In which case free shipping over £15 does not apply

Some of the market place sellers use the host sites p&ps which start at £1.24 for a CD or DVD, but £4.00 + 0.5kg increments for weight for electronic equipment. Guess whether a tiny SD card costs less to ship than a DVD
But other marketplace sellers now pop in their own shipment charges in the shipping details link which can be up to £5.95 for an SD card.

[CaptainCook]

Got "stung" like this when buying some XD cards quite recently. When speaking to the retailer directly, they told me they discount the product to offset the ridiculous posting charges that are enforced on them. Not sure if this is true or whether they were just trying to make me feel better.

Anyway, even with the postage charges the cards were still much cheaper than most high-street retailers.

Still turned up in one envelope though!

CaptainCook

[johntheexpat]

Originally Posted by CaptainCook

Got "stung" like this when buying some XD cards quite recently. When speaking to the retailer directly, they told me they discount the product to offset the ridiculous posting charges that are enforced on them. Not sure if this is true or whether they were just trying to make me feel better.

Anyway, even with the postage charges the cards were still much cheaper than most high-street retailers.

Still turned up in one envelope though!

CaptainCook

Forced on them? It's all a con to cross subsidise the product. £1.50 for the product, £4.50 p&p is really £5.50 for the product and 50p for the p&p

[BrokenArrow]

£4.50 for electronics is really meant for larger items. It's just a shame that lightweight SD cards fall into the general "Electronics" category. I had to return a network router to an online retailer and it cost me £5.50 first class, which was surprising. Luckily it was paid for by the retailer. But that's why they charge about £4.50 + a certain amount per 0.5kg.

CDs, DVDs and Videogames are all a standard weight, apart from the odd collector's editions. So they can charge £1.24 per item for postage and packaging because it's likely that nearly every item will cost about that much to send.

That's why that marketplace seller said they sell the items cheap to offset the cost of postage. The total cost delivered can be quite reasonable. Would you really expect to get (supposedly) new 1GB SD cards for £1.25 plus the actual cost of postage. (Maybe £1 or so)

[IronGiant]

Quite so, but I can buy a 1Gb card for silly money from an ebay seller in Hong Kong with £2.99 shipping. They don't hike up the postage, it's clear when you order. Not that I'd necessarily want to buy from them

My issue was a major UK player hosting rather scary final prices delivered that were not apparent if you just hit buy me from the hosts front page.

I'm now going to buy them from a sensible electronics retailer that says they are £5.41 each up front and shipping is a couple of quid regardless of how many I order, or if I order enough stuff from them shipping is free

Dave

[CaptainCook]

Originally Posted by johntheexpat

Forced on them? It's all a con to cross subsidise the product. £1.50 for the product, £4.50 p&p is really £5.50 for the product and 50p for the p&p

I agree. Deep down I felt the whole thing was a con.

It was my first purchase from the above "named" website, the postage policy wasn't clear, and it left a bitter enough taste in my mouth to make it my last purchase from them even though the inclusive price was very competitive

It's the lack of transparency with the transaction that annoyed me.

[DVD-Man]

IIRC Female Busty Warrior charges Marketplace sellers on each thing they sell so this could also be a reason for high postage.

Liam

[krish]

the marketplace international shipping charges at the American site of the Busty Female Warriors is pretty steep too, just for DVDs

[DVD-Man]

Originally Posted by krish

the marketplace international shipping charges at the American site of the Busty Female Warriors is pretty steep too, just for DVDs

I found that recently when looking for R1's but found you can get them through .co.uk for the usual prices.

Liam

[krish]

Originally Posted by DVD-Man

I found that recently when looking for R1's but found you can get them through .co.uk for the usual prices.

Liam

True, usually check there first ... though ocassionally there's the odd title that can't be found .. Miracles (shortlived US series) was my one American Busty Female Marketplace Warrior purchase that was at the cheapest customs-safe price (12ish quid approx all in); but the delivery charge was a shocking proportion of that (around $9-10 iirc), and its the fixed one set by the busty American warriors for their marketplace retailers