Shipping costs

[SentinelAeon]

Since this forum is sponsored by parts express i will ask a question here. I would like to order speakers from parts express but sadly the shipping costs estimate for me get very high. Last time i tried to buy Dayton TCP115 speakers in the end shipping cost was over 100 dollars. I am located in central europe, right now i order from some other site that charges about 10 dollars for shipping (its located in EU). But parts express seems to have bigger base of speakers. So i was wondering, how do you people from europe deal with it, is there a way to lower the shipping costs ?

[Carbon13]

Same issue in Canada and not unique to PE. Fortunately, I usually visit the US at least once or twice a year and usually put in an order to my hotel.

Others use a reshipper but that isn't always cheaper.

Ive discovered some local suppliers that I also use whenever possible but it is usually ordering bits and pieces rather than a one stop shop.

[Geoff Millar]

There's no way to lower shipping costs, unfortunately: the combination of local currency relative to the $US and the basic postage and handling costs from any US retailer such as Amazon or PE's competitors mean that this will always be high. I'm from Australia, where our $ is at about 55 US cents - five years ago it was about 85 cents.

Post from the US seemed to go sky high a couple of years ago, to the point where, for example, it made buying CDs or books prohibitive if you live outside the States.

However, sometimes the Deal of the Day is so good that it's still cheaper to source the parts from PE than buy through the local distributor, even with the poor exchange rate etc. Before the A$ went down the S-bend, it would have been cheaper to buy the C-note kit from PE than purchase the parts and having the MDF cabinets CNC cut locally.

But at least we have a local agent for Dayton, VIFA, Peerless and other brands, many countries do not.

Geoff

[Dave Bullet]

I just spent USD$166 ordering a DATSv3, SPL meter and 2 * RSS390 subwoofers. Considering how well packed they were and how quickly they came (and undamaged), I think for 65lbs gross shipping weight, that was quite reasonable. It took 6 hops - OH -> KY -> HI -> Sydney -> Auckland (NZ) -> Wellington -> Paraparaumu.

PS: I didn't ask about cheaper shipping options... but believe P.E are using services which provide the least headaches for them and us.

[3rutu5]

there is a large supplier who offers free shipping (within 4-5 days) from the USA to australia that i have used twice now, just had to spend 60 AUD to get it, downside is they only offer peerless and visatron (plus some others) and generally the driver you want may have a minimum order of 500 units or something, which just isnt feasible. They may have a office near you in central europe. I know they have one in australia hence the free shipping from the states and i have seen something in Denmark and Italy, so could try your luck.

[billfitzmaurice]

Within the US the person to person shipping cost for a ten or twelve inch driver averages $30. Commercial outfits like PE, and especially Amazon, get much better rates, but not when the shipment goes across national borders.

[Geoff Millar]

To be fair, it also costs a lot to send packages from Oz to the US and other overseas destinations: for example, we have nephews in Iowa City and it's very expensive to send stuff to them. Some of the cost is down to the exchange rate, which of course we can do nothing about.

Geoff

[norman bates]

True

[mattk]

Wow, US$0.55 to the AUD? When I was there in 2009, 11 & 12 the AUD was stronger than the USD, around US$1.15 to the AUD.

I was working with the RAN on an upgrade to their Adelaide class frigates, and they had to import a part from the US, and had to pay duty. I thought it was really odd that the Australian government charged themselves duty.

[Geoff Millar]

Wow, US$0.55 to the AUD? When I was there in 2009, 11 & 12 the AUD was stronger than the USD, around US$1.15 to the AUD.

I was working with the RAN on an upgrade to their Adelaide class frigates, and they had to import a part from the US, and had to pay duty. I thought it was really odd that the Australian government charged themselves duty.

My mistake, it's 62 cents now, but still miserable!

The tax business is part of "competitive neutrality and competition policy", a Treasury enforced policy which holds that government entities shouldn't have a competitive advantage over private firms. In the past, for example, the government could buy a Rolls-Royce for its Governor, stamp duty and sales tax free, keep it for two years, then sell it at a profit.

Sometimes the policy made sense, other times - like with the frigates - it was/is nonsense.

Rant over: but the constant drop in the A$ has made many things more expensive, or just unaffordable and undoable.

Geoff

[Dukk]

^ The Canadian dollar and Australian dollar are usually pretty close. For example, we are 0.69 cent USD bank rate today so similar woes for pricing disparity.

Fortunately, no duty and, for me anyway, I live 6km from the border to Washington state so running across to get stuff is USUALLY easy and I get to enjoy PE free shipping.