Herbert Graf wrote:

>> They set a price for their product and a price to get it to you.  You
>> should look at the total and decide if it's worth it.  Whether the
>> total is a ripoff is a judgement call.  So a $50 item with $20 shipping
>> is a ripoff, but $70 with free shipping would not be a ripoff?
> 
> Yup, because the the $70 free shipping is the price I pay, I didn't have
> to dig around. I'm able to directly compare that $70 price with the $75
> price in my local store without digging for 20 minutes trying to find
> the shipping costs. Have you noticed how MOST online retailers hide the
> shipping costs until you've already entered all your information? Heck,
> there are a few retailers I've had to order from that never even TELL
> you what shipping is, even after you submit your order. 

I don't know where you buy from, but there are plenty of online retailers
that don't do that. Why don't you shop with them? There are a number of
sites that compare prices from online retailers, and the better ones of
these show the full price, including shipping (like pricewatch.com,
pricegrabber.com). Now you try and do something similar (comparing prices
from ten or twenty outlets) with B+M shops :)


> YOu have to email them and pester them to tell you what they ended up
> charging you for shipping.

I just wouldn't shop there. It's so easy to "walk away" from an online shop
when I don't like it :)


> And even ignoring that, receiving an item in the mail placed in an
> envelope having been charged $30 for shipping and handling and receiving
> it with a post mark of $3 still makes me feel ripped off. Why is pissing
> off a customer a good idea?

May not be. But the effort of handling and shipping a package needs to be
paid for, somehow. As Olin said, there is no free shipping, there are only
different ways to charge for shipping. Let's just assume that handling and
shipping of a package costs actually $30. Obviously, adding for example $10
to each item (when the average number of items bought at a store is 3)
yields, on average, the same effect. But it penalizes the customer who buys
15 items, for no good reason. There can be made a point that it is better,
for the store and for the general public (environment and such), to not
penalize the ones with larger orders.

All in all, it really sounds as if you were choosing your online vendors
poorly. There are many around for which your complaints are not valid.

Gerhard

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