I also sell on Amazon and don't like their policy on non-combining of the shipping costs. I will combine shipping for anyone who contacts me personally and asked to do so. I also give bigger discounts for larger orders than on single orders. There are also times when I will include something for free (and I mean free - no addtional shipping), because of the high shipping paid on Amazon. I also don't make any money selling my magazines at the price I do because of the fees. Each magazine costs me approximately $2.73 to sell, so I make the money on the shipping charged and then it is very little because we have to ship magazines first class.

I would have cancelled my order as well since the increase in postage was not covered in their original offer. They should have "eaten" the cost and adjusted their advertising for the next time. There are so many sources to order fabric that they don't have a unique market share. It is a matter of who makes the sale out there. Good for you in sticking with your guns!

Shipping and "handling" has gotten way out of line. Given, the post office has gone up again on postage, but they do have the envelopes and boxes that ship if it fits...however alot of sellers charge way too much. I called Clotilde for this very reason because a $7.99 pattern was going to cost me $4.95 in shipping. Knowing that the postage at the most would be under a dollar, I called. They said that it wasn't the postage, they had to pay somone to pull the pattern and put it in the envelope. (Handling) I don't shop this outlet. I don't mind paying for shipping if it is actual shipping abd they tell me ahead of time what I have to pay. Your seller was out of line. You did the right thing. By the way, why is shipping based on price of items with some sellers rather than weight/postage. For example: purchasing a software type CD for $149 could cost $18.45 with a retailer I was buying from....I called and said it would only cost about 75 cents to mail...they said this was their policy to charge according to the dollar amount...I found the item on Amazon.com with free shipping. During Christmas I shopped with my phone connected to amazon...everytime I found a gift for a family member, I checked my phone...sometimes the retailer would match the price. Most of my shopping was done via the internet with no tax and free shipping. Many of the fabric sites and sewing/quilting related retailers do offer free shipping with their source codes off of their mailing labels...just have to watch. BTW I do not work for amazon....I don't like paying sales tax or shipping.....use that savings for more fabric.

d in TX

Definitely agree with you! Vendors need to be upfront on their charges!

I agree I would have canceled.

Same here, I also would have cancelled. It seems a lot of places are selling items, then trying to tack on more postage,
or some fee or another. Ordering online is a good thing with the cost of gas so high and the availability of so many products at our fingertips. The post offices are hurting and its starting to show in the added postage on orders.

I would have cancelled also.shipping price should be up front-not inflated after purchase.That is sneaky and did honest in my opinion

I agree. Vendors should be up front with the charges. I wonder if the FTC made the vendors add the notice of extra shipping (even though it is in small print) for the 2 for 1 offers?

I would have contacted PayPal after talking to the company. Sounds like the company I work for.
The don't charge a actual shipping. "Handling" can be any amount. Depending on the item, a couple bucks is fine and the bigger and harder the item is to handle the more the handling fee goes up.
So what the company was doing to you was baiting.
You in fact were paying for the free item by paying the extra shipping (and high) shipping charges for both items.
PayPal would have checked this. I mainly only pay with PayPal because of this.
It stops companies from ripping you off and they can't get away with this baiting crap.
Since nothing was said in the ad that there were extra charges for shipping for the free items, and they accepted your payment, I believe it is illegal for them to ask for more money unless it was an HONEST mistake and they could prove it and it makes sense to the customer.

Sometimes going directly to PayPal to intercede helps.

In my experience, Amazon orders come from many locations, not a central distribution point. That is why the individual shipping in some cases.

I would have done the same thing, they are just making money on the freight.

I agree shipping costs have gotten out of hand. I am a small business owner and hate to charge my customers shipping but it is either that or raise prices. As for the handling it can sometimes take us 1/2 hour and a lot of materials to get a box ready to ship. It is pretty much the cost of doing business.

Take into account how much it would have cost you in gas and your time to go to the store and buy what you were needing. Not taking into account how much more you probably would have spent on other "impulse" items while you were in the store.

I agree they should have told you that shipping was extra for the free yardage. Unless it doubled your shipping costs I probably would have just paid it. In the long run, it probably would have saved you money!!!!!
It is always a nice surprise to come home and find a package. I think it is better that coming home with a shopping bag.

I ordered most of my Christmas presents on line, some I paid shipping for, some I didn't. It comes down to how much you really want the item and was the shipping really that much in light of gas prices and time spent.

Wildyard -- good for you. I hate scheme's that cost us more money! We still have to get together and have that cup of coffee.

I got caught up in a similar situation. I ordered an item "as seen on tv" on line. They offered 1 free item if I ordered 2. The first 2 totaled $9.99. With postage ...I ended up paying $24+. The postage am't didn't show til after I'd clicked "pay". I didn't bother trying to cancel the order but I learned my lesson!
To add insult to it, I later saw the same item priced cheaper at our local Walgreen's.

I'm ready when you are!! Hugs and smilesssssss, Linda

It in fact more than doubled my shipping costs by a few cents. I was really surprised by that! It was not anything I needed, just a treat for myself so I didn't suffer in cancelling.. well, I didn't suffer too much. LOL

I think you made the right choice to cancel. I don't think you would have been happy with the material if you had over paid and you would not have been happy with anything you made with it.

Contact PayPal. They should stand behind you with this one.

That isn't always true. There is a line on the shipping and handling page that allows you to select "combined shipping" to get as many packages per shipping as possible. I have been able to do this when bying books. Sometimes the shipment cannot be combined, but it is usually because Amazon has warehouses all over the country. It could be that one item is on the opposite shore. sometimes the vendors will not sell if they cannot charge for shipping on each item.

It seems to me this case was about misleading information concerning the cost of the shipping and handling. In this case, I would have cancelled my order as well.

Sorry you had this difficulty.

I am a Amazon Prime member for the exact reason of shipping charges.

After living overseas and having the high cost of shipping, I found that the Prime membership is really a cost saver. I buy a lot from Amazon because I like their return policy as well as the customer service. I know the cost up front can be a problem, but I find I save so much more over the year that it is, in the long run, a bargain.

As for the vendor that changed their ship price AFTER the fact. I would have canceled and reported to PAYPAL the problem. I only shop from vendor listed here on the board that have a proven track record. Money is too tight to be wasted!

I don't think you were out of line but I found that many times when I order something if I ask they will send it by USPS which is usually cheaper than Fed-Ex or one of the other shippers, especially with the flat rate fee. They've never told me no. It's ridiculous when shipping is as much as or more than what you purchased.

Somehow this discussion has gotten to be about Amazon. Was this the site fabric was ordered from? I also would have cancelled my order and complained IN WRITING to both Paypal and the company itself. Is this a reputable fabric company? That maybe a problem with ordering on the internet is that there is no one to complain to!!!!!

I think this shipping thing has gotten WAY out of hand. Yes, I know costs have gone up but it seems to me that companies should be willing to take the fact that they are getting business and absorb some of the costs. After all, I'm sure you will tell your friends about it (mentioning the name) & they will now avoid that shop, they will tell their friends, etc. So what has this shop gained? Nothing! What has it lost? Quite a bit of business that they are not even aware of. Was it worth the few dollars of shipping? Nope!

All these advertisment on TV do this.
The shipping is way out of line.
That is why they give the second item.
There was a law suit in my area and they
charged the man $162. in shipping.
They finally agreed to refund some of it and ONLY gave him $10.
This was for 3 cans of that stuff that is suppose to seal vents.
J J

Yes Cat as a small business owner I have always said and believe without a doubt that word of mouth can be your best friend or worse enemy in business.
What is worth more eating the extra shipping or losing lots of business

When a small business offers an item online the shipping costs should be clearly stated. The company I am associated with has not updated the website to cover actual cost of shipping since the recent price increases, but we still send it out and eat the difference until we can get the site updated. It is not our customer's fault that we haven't fixed the problem. Besides we value their business much more than the # of dollars it is costing us till we can update.

I am convinced that the shipping charges are how they make money. The things on TV, buy one and wait, you will get a 2nd one free, just pay the shipping and handling. I ordered once, the 2 things were neatly packed in one package, couldn't have ordered just one any way. By the time all was done, the item cost me double what they were advertising it for. Never again!!

I agree with the others, cancel and tell them in the future they should mention the shipping cost did not include the shipping for the free item.

Had they stated that the "free" items still needed to have their shipping charges paid, you could have decided if that was acceptable. The way it was handled was poor advertising and poor customer service.

You did the right thing by cancelling. You should have been told that there would be additonal postage on the free one.

I would have cancelled the order as well. They should have said up front that it wouldn't be covered.

My husband and myself go to Hampton Beach this is in NH over the Columbus day weekend. This past year I booked our room. Called the place it was a beach front room and the price listed on the website was not right it was cheaper on line than the actual price. When she told me that I told her that I would pay full price. And she said. Oh no dear you will get it for the price listed I thanked her and gave her my information to secure the room. Well when we got there she had given our room to someone else. Showed her the reservation on my I pad and she said the room has been taken but I have a room in the back you can have. I just walked out. We did find a room it wasn't a beach front it was a beach view. And a lot more expensive but I guess that is what credit cards were for. We traveled for this time and by darn we were staying.
Bad business...... They have no spot for comments on their site. I wonder why.......
Will never recommend them and will warn people of my experience with them..
But we did have a great time anyways.

I agree with all of you, the only problem is i am finding most places are doing this, i think they know they have us over a barrell, i had the same thing happen but with a pattern, the pattern was 3.00 dollars and 6.50 to ship, i didn't buy it.

Just so you all know, it was not an Amazon purchase. It was an online company called Homestead Hearth.
I had an email from the site today informing me that had I read their shipping policy it says that on some sale items the shipping charged may be insufficient and more might be added later. I did go and read their policy and it does say that so I guess I must concede that point. However I still feel that it should also say on the actual sale page where one orders and also on the invoice that this is a case where additional shipping will be required.
She further stated that they were still prepared to ship my order, AS SOON AS THE ADDITIONAL SHIPPING WAS RECEIVED. LOL ....... That was in reply to my letter of complaint about the situation and me stating that I felt it was poor service on their part to let me cancel my order rather than work this out with me. They absolutely did not get my point at all about why I felt mislead and deceived.
My email to paypal was replied with the comment that they only got involved if there was a problem filed and since my order had been cancelled they said the issue was resolved. I did file the original complaint with paypal, but they don't get involved until after 20 days if you haven't resolved it with the seller. In the meantime I kept getting billed for this shipping charge by paypal. LOL
I'm glad it's over but I would have liked to have the grab bags for my scrappy quilts.
Thank you all so much for your support and helping me with this. I feel like I did all I could so I'm ready to let it go and move on. Lesson learned.
Hugs and smiless and happy, careful shopping online to all of you.

leave out a couple of letters or just spell it backwards, if it was quilting related. We need to know

I agree you did the right thing by canceling. It still stumps me why more sellers do not use Flat Rate Shipping boxes. USPS will deliver the boxes and then pick them up. As far as the handling charges isn't that what we are already paying for in the retail cost of the product.

I agree with what you did. I wouldn't have paid any additional shipping.

Pay Pal
 

I agree! One thing is if you use Paypal they will try to work it out for you. I won a number of items on ebay from the same seller. When I asked for a combined invoice he said thats it. The order was for like $18.00 and the shipping was $32. In the end Paypal tried to get him to lower the shipping, but he wouldn't give in. I canceled. I later saw the items relisted at a higher price with shipping included.
Another time I received an order with postaage due. I contacted the seller and she said that it was a deal, and she wouldn't reimburse me for the shipping, even when I said I won't buy form her again. Some times you just have to bite the bullet, as I did.

I would also have cancelled, as I think it would be illegal to tack on charges after the "contract" has already been completed. I buy from various sellers on eBay and what sometimes seems to be a reasonable price for a piece of fabric is totally blown out of the water by an outrageous shipping charge. We all know what an envelope costs, what it costs us to drive to the post office, and what the postage would be. If what a vendor is charging me is more than that estimate, I just don't order. You did good!

Unfortunately, unscrupulous merchants like the one you dealt with are going to spoil things for honest merchants. People will eventually catch on that they're being fleeced and decide not to order anything over the Internet. I've gotten so wary that I'd have gone to the Contact Us section and left them an email clarifying the postage situation. I won't deal with PayPal at all, because I got taken once by them, and they were not willing to correct their own error. Bah humbug!