IPD

I just went through the vary same thing with a well-respected online supplier of coffee making equipment. They wanted $11.35 for shipping and handling of an order that cost $11.80- the parts were small enough to fit in a first class envelope with great ease (4 O rings and one small, dime-sized seal). I didn't order from them.

I did write them a letter stating the "handling" is part of the price of doing business and should be included in their prices and not tagged on as an added fee just to keep their posted prices low. I didn't use the word "deceptive" but I certainly inferred it.

It's too bad because IPD has some good stuff. I have been dealing with FCP for almost 3 years and most all their stuff is high quality and priced well (for example, got the PNP switch for the 960 for $100 delivered all the way across the country). Very helpful and knowledgeable on the phone as well.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

one good thing about IPD is they seem to test their stuff b4 marketing it.....i have yet to buy and "junk" items from them...they may not be the cheapest, but theit stuff seems to be tested and solid...and their ciut service is good and seems to be always avail.....

Are you sure you didn't order any particular items that have a handling fee added? They have that for certain large or difficult to pack things.

I do agree that handling fees are ridiculous, as someone else stated it's a cost of doing business, but unfortunatly it seems to be the trend. Ebay is the worst offender, just look at how many auctions have ludicrous padded shipping, handling and insurance fees. I just got an item recently which they ship by UPS but tacked on a manditory $3 insurance charge, well the problem there is that UPS provides insurance up to $100 automatically at no extra charge!

its the shipping & "HANDLING"...handling being another word for what we accountants call "overhaed" ie: the costs to run a business... in this "bucket" is labor, gas, ins, etc.....For fun, break don the actual fee...for any "discount" online store and you will find...20% or so is actualy the freight...and the rest is "handling".......

I purchased one 240 seat support (shipping weight 1#) and one package of instrument cluster decals (gas tank side indicator) shipping weight not given but probably 1/4 oz. (6gms for volvos). I do not begrudge IPD the "handling fee". What bothered me is that the "handling fee" did not show up when cost and shipping was calculated but only on the final receipt just before I was asked to confirm my purchase. It was only $1.50 on a $20 purchase and after going through all the effort of getting to that point I was not going to cancel my order but in the future I will look at other sources first (and tell my friends to do likewise) before I turn to IPD. They do have competitors in the market. Seems to me it was just a less than straightforward way to add the fee to the order. Howard

I've found IPD to be expensive for those parts which are readily purchased elsewhere. Their house-brand anti-sway bars, however, are well worth the $$$$.

& are the four sites I generally check when putting together a parts order.

John

That is why I like those sites which do not play such games.

and both have free shipping once you hit a reasonable minimum order size. and generally seem to charge shipping fees which are very close to the actual UPS charges.

I absolute hate it when sellers pad the shipping&handling charges to try and cover "overhead". Overhead is part of what is supposed to be covered by the difference between the business' product cost and the selling price.

John

Same here, IPD is not the cheapest, but they do have excellent customer service and you can get just about everything in one place. For things like brake parts and other bits I go to the other online places though.

Don't like it? Don't do business with eBay. It's that simple. eBay charges the sellers fees for every single thing they do. Want to include more than one picture? Something like fifty cents per picture. Want to use one of their cookie cutter clip art layouts? Pay ten cents. Want to pay the selling fees via credit card? Pay 1% extra. Want an animated GIF of an American flag next to your listing? $1.

That item you bought may very well have cost $20-$50 to list, so yeah, sellers mark up the shipping fees because people are stupid enough to prefer the lower bid amount over the higher shipping costs.

Ebay still has some deals, I just generally don't deal with sellers that pad shipping.

$20 to $50 to list? Bullshit! It was a $30 item. I say to the sellers (and I'm often one of them) if it's not economical to sell something on ebay without padding the heck out of shipping and handling, then don't sell it there.

The UPS insurance is just about worthless, and only covers you if the item is not delivered, and not always even then. The insurance is supposed to cover goods damaged in shipping, and if they are damaged in shipping it means that they were improperly packed, and if they were improperly packed (according to the UPS inspector who will examine the parcel), then it is not covered. If the item was sent to the incorrect address but the name is right, then the insurance doesn't cover that either. __ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

I've never had any trouble with the UPS insurance, they've replaced 3 fairly expensive lightbulbs so far which got busted on their way to me, two of which had mediocre packing and they replaced a function generator that took a beating in shipping. A friend of mine had a $2500 computer get destroyed in shipping a few years back and UPS sent a check for that fairly hassle free as well, though that did have additional insurance for the full amount. I have yet to have them actually come examine any of the broken items but maybe I'm just lucky.

Rare stories indeed. If you search the archives on alt.coffee you will read numerous stories of espresso machines that arrived nearly round they were so beat up. I have recieved numerous boxes that were ripped, re-taped, and some that looked like they had been used for touch football games at lunchtime at a UPS shipping depot.

At least the folks at USPS have the decency to just steal the stuff and not destroy it! ;-)

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 06:29:05 GMT, the illustrious John Horner favored us with the following prose:

Furthermore, although rockauto.com has a fantastic user interface, there is no alternative to shipping with UPS. They offer "free shipping" to lots of places in the US but if you try to buy from Canada you must use UPS and they told me the shipping charge would be about $50USD for a $14 part.

blurp

All you have to do is find a contact in the US to forward the part on, I USPS various bits up to friends in Canada somewhat regularly, they run into the same problem, UPS across the border is WAY overpriced.

Want your car part featured on the eBay motors website? $25. Want your item to be included in the 'featured' items? $20. Want a highlight around your item on the search page? $5. Want a border? $3. Want bold text? $1. Pictures are $0.15/per after the first, $0.75 for bigger pictures.

It adds up real quick. eBay gives new meaning to the term being nickled and dimed to death.

All these are optional:

The picture charges are only if they host the images. Additional images are free if you just place the images on another server and jusst place links to them.

That logic can also be used to say that A Geo Metro costs $28,000 because of all the added options.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

i think it is fair to state "ebay is on to something"...as a business model, they are doing something right...folks seem to be using them and "biting the bullet" on the fees...

Yeah but all that stuff is useless, who ever looks at the featured items? They're mostly junk, weight loss "secrets" and other overpriced trash. To find the good stuff you have to type it in the search box. Also you can host multiple pictures elsewhere and put a link in there.