Online bike store delivery fee to Australia of $574

[Shut Up Legs]

I was gobsmacked. I started placing an order with an online bike store for items totalling a bit over $200 (Australian), and stopped placing the order when one of the checkout web pages showed that the delivery fee was $574 ! Very odd. I used their online contact form to ask them about this. Have any of you seen something similar before?

 

[screenman]

How much do you think the postage should have cost? As an importer I know carriage is a major cost to me.

 

[yello]

I guess it's just the way their software calculates delivery charge; by weight, item count, whatever. In fairness to them, they probably don't anticipate people buying several items for delivery the other side of the world, so the software's not been optimised for that.

If you are keen on getting the order then email them and ask for a revised delivery cost. It'll still be expensive as it's not cheap for them either

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I've ordered large, heavy (i.e. 20kg+) packages from CRC and paid no delivery fee, or only about $15. The order would have been 4 tyres weighing at most a bit over 1kg, so I don't see how they could possibly charge $574 for that. I could post such an item myself for a very small fraction of that cost. I'll be interested to read their response to my query.

 

[classic33]

Let us know what tyres and I'll get a postage price from the Post Office & WHSmiths

 

[yerteasoot]

I recently sent a large parcel to Australia weighing 8kg. It cost £52 with dpd couriers which is about 100 aud. imwould ask them to double check this price

 

[Shut Up Legs]

They replied to me, saying that due to the size of the parcel, the delivery fee of $574 was justified. This is just rubbish, because as I said, I've received large, heavy parcels from other online vendors (in Europe and UK) numerous times, and paid no delivery fee. Clearly, the vendor*** is managing their deliveries differently to the other ones I've used.

*** whose name I've removed from this thread title and my posts, not because they asked me to, but because I don't see any point in criticising them openly. I won't be doing business with them, though.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

How much do you think the postage should have cost? As an importer I know carriage is a major cost to me.

So how do some online bike stores manage to send large, heavy parcels overseas and charge no delivery fee? I'd really like to know how they can manage this. Do they just deliver items in bulk, or something?

 

[ianrauk]

Just asking...
There's no Aussie (or closer) equivalent that can supply the goods then?

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Just asking...
There's no Aussie (or closer) equivalent that can supply the goods then?

There are, and they charge more per tyre than some UK online vendors. At least, the ones I searched for do.

 

[ianrauk]

There are, and they charge more per tyre than some UK online vendors. At least, the ones I searched for do.

Fair do's

 

[screenman]

So how do some online bike stores manage to send large, heavy parcels overseas and charge no delivery fee? I'd really like to know how they can manage this. Do they just deliver items in bulk, or something?

Which stores do not charge much, I sure would like to know how to get carriage cheaper.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Which stores do not charge much, I sure would like to know how to get carriage cheaper.

That large, 20kg+ package I mentioned was one of those Park Tools bike stands, which I ordered from CRC, and the delivery fee was $0. I'm really curious to know how they can manage that.

 

[screenman]

That large, 20kg+ package I mentioned was one of those Park Tools bike stands, which I ordered from CRC, and the delivery fee was $0. I'm really curious to know how they can manage that.

So am I, unless it is coming straight from China.

 

[bobolicious]

Sometimes mistakes are made on websites. I had a person I buy bicycle parts off on ebay and he had a throttle which cost $35 and he accidently put $350 it does happen. So email them and check and if so then they can fix it for the next person to come along