Reasonable shipping cost????

[abunaitoo]

I was looking at different places to order two die sets.
Not only do prices vary, but so do the shipping cost.
I'm guessing they add on a handling charge.
Never understood handling charge.
Range was a low of $12.95 (Graf) to a high of $28.22 (Natchez).
Although Natchez had lower prices on the items, the high shipping pushed it way over the Graf total price.
I'm guessing it's what they do to keep the profits up.
So the order will be for two Lee die sets.
Might fit into a small flat rate box.
What do ya'll think would be a honest shipping cost????
Just wondering.

[Bazoo]

$10-$12 I think is reasonable and honest. They have to pay someone to pack it. It’ll likely cost $6-$8 for actual shipping.

[wv109323]

Shipping and package is a wild card due to all the regulations of USPS, UPS and Fed-ex. At best the supplier has to make a wild guess as to what to charge. There is just no way to charge actual shipping and package costs. A box of 100 bullets ( $28.00)would fit into a small SFRB for about $8.00 ( I don't know the price for a sfrb now) . But order 1000 shotgun wads for $28.00 and you now have much higher shipping due to size and a $3.00 box you need to supply.
I ordered some parts for a lawnmower that came to $16.95 with $9.95 shipping and $1.40 tax.

[kerplode]

What comes after you decide what a "reasonable" shipping amount is?

To be honest, probably the best way to attack this is to just look at the "out the door cost" of the item, tax, and shipping to HI all added together. Find the vender with the lowest, or "reasonable", out the door cost, place your order, and go live your life.

If you optimize for cheapest shipping, you may overpay for the product. This happens all the time on Amazon...Free prime shipping, but $10 more for the item than if you bought it at Chinamart or HD. They're just burying the true shipping cost in the item cost and hoping people don't notice.

[truckjohn]

I was looking at different places to order two die sets.
Not only do prices vary, but so do the shipping cost.
I'm guessing they add on a handling charge.
Never understood handling charge.
Range was a low of $12.95 (Graf) to a high of $28.22 (Natchez).
Although Natchez had lower prices on the items, the high shipping pushed it way over the Graf total price.
I'm guessing it's what they do to keep the profits up.
So the order will be for two Lee die sets.
Might fit into a small flat rate box.
What do ya'll think would be a honest shipping cost????
Just wondering.

Your profile shows Hawaii as your location. That's going to significantly increase your shipping costs.

So... Is it reasonable? I've shipped stuff from the lower 48 to both AK, and HI... And it cost a fortune. I would say "Yes." It's reasonable. It all depends on the shipper they use. I would guess that good 'ole USPS Priority Mail is cheapest... Everything else is expensive.

[pertnear]

Does Amazon honor its free shipping over $25 to HI? What is their policy for shipping in HI?

Last dies I ordered came from Amazon at a good price & shipped free because I'm a Prime customer.

[Winger Ed.]

It's normal to have to shop around for your total on stuff from different places.
On big ticket items, I've found differences of 10-15 percent from one supplier to another.
You just have to be an educated consumer.

[JRLesan]

Lee offers free shipping on orders over $50.00 to dealers and a 33% discount off MSRP; don't know about retail purchasers. Were I you wanting Lee products I'd look for a local dealer. Hawaii may be a different animal though as far as shipping cost from Lee.

[Shawlerbrook]

Graf’s allows you to choose different shipping options although they don’t seem to be much savings. Not sure about Hawaii but flat rate shipping should be the same cost.

[Handloader109]

There are NO reasonable shipping costs. I make and ship stuff, a lot on etsy, who pushes very hard for you to sell with free shipping. As it is never free, shipping is just built into the cost. Any materials to ship are included in the price. And nothing is free.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[imashooter2]

I’d say the reasonable cost to ship your order is right around $12.95.

[abunaitoo]

amazon does ship free to hawaii on orders over $25.
That's all I get from them.
I always hear about having to pay someone to pull, pack, and mail.
What does that person do when not doing that????
Just sit around and collect pay????
Only big companies, that do lots of shipping, hire someone to just pack and ship.
Shipping never used to cost so much years ago.
USPS flat rate used to be a great deal.
Many places charge "extra handling" for hawaii and Alaska.
Never understood what that was.
I noticed many places have contract with shippers.
No shipping cost on the label.
To me, charging more for shipping, than it actually cost, is dishonest, and just a way to make more money.
But that's just me.

[Chaparral66]

I'm in for Amazon. My backup is MidwayUSA.

[JimB..]

Since there isn’t a thing that can be done about it, except for looking at total delivered cost, I would suggest not being concerned about it.

[wv109323]

To hire a decent honest person these days, $10.00 an hour is not uncommon. Shipping boxes , tape, and packing material are not cheap. A large cardboard box can be a dollar or 2. To manually pick a 6 to 8 item order, tape up a box, add packing , double check contents and attach the mailing label could take 10 to 15 minutes. A company could easily have 3 or 4 dollars in an order before shipping cost.

[David2011]

Just an opinion, an online retailer charging a handling fee is like a brick and mortar store throwing in an extra charge to go to “the back” to get an item to sell over the counter. Packing materials are not free; I understand that. If “handling” is to cover packing materials then it should be called “packing fee.” More appropriately, online sellers know that everything will be shipped so it should be rolled into the price instead of nickel-and-diming customers.