Officially bummed with the exchange and shipping rates 2 2

[romanheart]

Officially bummed with the exchange and shipping rates

This collector is just about fed up of getting squeezed by the man and the system.

I don't know what conspiracy is afoot but my collector spending is deeply affected. I usually tolerated the extra percentage but now things are out of control.

Quite literally the shipping alone can surpass the total of the books themselves.

I am from Canada but I don't see the climbing rates helping anyone.

[piper]

53 minutes ago, romanheart said:

Officially bummed with the exchange and shipping rates

This collector is just about fed up of getting squeezed by the man and the system.

I don't know what conspiracy is afoot but my collector spending is deeply affected. I usually tolerated the extra percentage but now things are out of control.

Quite literally the shipping alone can surpass the total of the books themselves.

I am from Canada but I don't see the climbing rates helping anyone.

I feel your pain sir!

[cranky's]

I commiserate.  It is surely frustrating when you do the math. 

There are good sellers though on this side of the border and for the difference in cost and shipping times you can do ok. 

[Poka]

Same goes if you buy from Canada and needs to get it shipped across.

[Ken Aldred]

It's probably even worse if you're in the UK for nosebleed shipping charges and a pitiful exchange rate.

 

A terrible time to be buying American comic books over here.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[greggy]

Adapt or die

[Ken Aldred]

Which would be true if comics were absolutely essential, but they really aren't.

[AJD]

Shipping rates are a pain, but the exchange rate is swings and roundabouts. It was great buying books when the Aussie $ was US$1.10. But now at 75c it means that the books I bought back then (and I bought quite a few!) have appreciated by 40% just on exchange rate alone. If the Australian dollar gets back to 50c like it did in 2000, it'll be hard to resist selling!

[Tony S]

Not much normal people can do about the monetary exchange rates.  As for shipping, the best thing is to submit the maximum number of books that can be shipped back in one box (25). 

The golden rule of shipping is that the first pound (or in this case book) is by far the most expensive. So you can drive your shipping costs per book down considerably by doing that maximum of 25.  If not practical for you to do 25, look for collectors to go in with. I've known a few collectors outside the USA that a comic book store sort of coordinated CGC submissions, sending them in when they had enough. 

 

[porcupine48]

4 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

It's probably even worse if you're in the UK for nosebleed shipping charges and a pitiful exchange rate.

 

A terrible time to be buying American comic books over here.

I've got a few parcels from the UK this year,and found the shipping very reasonable.Not certain of the cost of shipping to the deep north  over there from the U.S though... 

[SteppinRazor]

I don't really understand the shipping rates either, other than, because they can.  Properly packaged, 15 can fit in a USPS medium flat rate box to get there, for $8-14.  $50-something to get them back seems precious.

[porcupine48]

One book to Canada from the US now normally costs me 15.50...I can have quite a few books shipped for that amount,I think i've had up to ten raw? But 15.50US to start!

 

[thehumantorch]

2 minutes ago, porcupine48 said:

One book to Canada from the US now normally costs me 15.50...I can have quite a few books shipped for that amount,I think i've had up to ten raw? But 15.50US to start!

 

Yes, and that's $15.50 usd which is more like $20 in our buck.  I've pretty well quit buying online and from the US.  Once I calculate the shipping, GST and exchange rate even a deal is too much.

[Gump24601]

Australian here checking in ...

PS. It hurts.

[Ken Aldred]

5 hours ago, porcupine48 said:

I've got a few parcels from the UK this year,and found the shipping very reasonable.Not certain of the cost of shipping to the deep north  over there from the U.S though... 

The US to UK USPS Airmail shipping rates have really gone up, the last few years.

[miraclemet]

I could swallow the currency conversion ($ to Euro is not to bad) and even the shipping costs... but it's Belgium's 45% import tax. Think that $100 book is a good deal? once you get it it's close to $200 for the book. So long good deal, hello overpriced. 

Thus why all my purchases for the last 3 years have gone to my local handler and I do an annual pick up of my books...

[Dick Pontoon]

9 hours ago, SteppinRazor said:

I don't really understand the shipping rates either, other than, because they can.  Properly packaged, 15 can fit in a USPS medium flat rate box to get there, for $8-14.  $50-something to get them back seems precious.

Where are you getting those prices from? A Medium Flat Rate box to Canada is going to be $45.95. A Flat Rate Envelope clocks in at $24.95. You can package several books in one of those with heavy cardboard, but not 15. A single book First Class in a bubble mailer with cardboard is going to run $15.50.

[SteppinRazor]

Shipping CONUS

[letsgrumble]

Comiclink. Charges $70 USD to ship one slab to Canada. That's $95.58 CDN with today's exchange. Then there's fees and taxes. What a rip.

[1Cool]

8 minutes ago, letsgrumble said:

Comiclink. Charges $70 USD to ship one slab to Canada. That's $95.58 CDN with today's exchange. Then there's fees and taxes. What a rip.

They charge $20 for 1 slab in the US and I charge about $10 for the shipping the same 1 slab.  Double charging is there way of trying to force you to buy a few books since they ship up to 10 slabs for the same $20 which I can't come close to.  Not sure if they also only charge $70 for up to 10 slabs to Canada.