Mamagus

A lot of on line stores are offering free shipping to continental U.S.
I understand that shipping to Canada and other countries can cost a lot more than the shipping to continental U.S. BUT! Don't we deserve a break too? How about a discount equal to the average shipping costs to the U.S. addresses??

Really bugs me that they want our business but are not considered to be valued customers!!

DeniseB

Missouri Star Quilt Company resently had a Free Shipping for a day. How they handled out of US customers, they gave them a break of $5 (that is all MSQC charges for shipping on orders up to $100 in US). I think that is fair, at least it is something. Why not suggest that to these online stores. What you suggest is a great idea. I am sorry that shipping is so expensive.

There are alot of online stores I will not order from because they are ripping us off on shipping/handling. I am sorry but to mail 4 FQ's or a couple of patterns and to charge $4.95 when postage will be well than half of what they are charging. I choose to boycott them.

I have called merchants when the package came and I paid $5.95 for postage and postage was $2.75, it was on the label the postoffice puts on package and it is in some ratty box that has been used and used, I know they didn't pay for the box it says Amazon on it. Some of the merchants have credited me the difference. I guess that if I had not seen the real cost I wouldn't have said anything If you don't ask you never know.

Good luck and take care.

gaigai

For any of you non-US members who want to order from someone who doesn't ship outside of the US, if you pm me, I am willing to forward anything you order to you.

mom-6

Sometime companies charge a minimum flat rate charge (anywhere from $2-$10) for handling an order that may be over and above the actual shipping cost. Don't know if fabric/notions/pattern companies do, but several that I deal with at work have this as a policy, then there are the ones that will give you free freight with a $750 order...

quilter1

I agree totally!! That is true for magazine subscriptions too, often it is an extra $10 or $15 per year just because we are in Canada. The online vendors should realize that there are quilters in Canada too, the idea of a discount equal to the cost of shipping is a good one. My solution to the shipping?- drive to the US and make a weekend of it. That's what I am doing next weekend- a 2 day embroidery seminar in Buffalo.

Darlene

I recently got an order that said $4.95 shipping and the postage was around $4.70 something. You have to remember the packaging counts as well as the order picking and cutting of fabrics. I remember the old days when I ordered from Sears or Penney's catalogs they went by weight of the product. Those days are long gone. And then you have LL Bean where shipping can be free.

gaigai

Part of the increased price to Canada may be an import tariff imposed by the Canadian government, like the VAT tax of Europe.

Mamagus

That's another pet peeve! You can drive across the border and bring back your allowed amount of goods. Yet I get dinged by customs if I order more than $100.00 of goods thru the mail. In order for me to drive to the U.S, I have a 10 hr drive to a ferry and that ferry ride will cost me between 3 and 4 HUNDRED dollars and then another day's journey to the border. Hardly fair!

I really don't expect the vendors to honour their free shipping offer, but my order is money in their cash register too, so why don't we get at least a discount on the shipping!?

debbieumphress

I agree with everyone. I love to shop online and when they give me free shipping no matter how much I spend I usually do it. Then again I don't like the free shipping if you spend so much. Usually more than I want to.LOL

LucyInTheSky

I work for a software company that ships to Canada. Those duties are killer. We charge $60 for shipping to Canada and $30 for the same in the US. It usually costs $25 in shipping $ and $30 in duties. That's ridiculous!