Adorama International Shipping

FYI ; I live in Australia...

What is the deal with the Intl shipping costs? I'm wanting to get a pair of op/tech mini qd loops. They come in a pack of four and cost $5.95. All good so far. Turns out my only option for shipping would cost me $59.50!

Am I missing something here? Are they so huge and heavy the package wouldn't fit into a regular sized envelope I don't want express shipping. I don't mind waiting for standard shipping delivery. I regularly purchase items online from the States and usually get the option for a reasonable postage cost for small items. Makes sense, no?

B&H aren't much better at $32.00 for shipping.

p.s. Any Australian retailer I've come across that sells them are out of stock with no idea when more are coming in. Op/Tech themselves only ship within Canada and the US.

Sigh.

/end rant

I feel your pain. With bhphoto they have a minimum cost for shipping, so it's better to buy more and shipping hardly goes up. Just bought a monopod and some other things and shipping only cost 40.00

Ebay or amazon?

Ebay had all of two or three with the cheapest working out to $30ish in total =\ I'd rather buy a nice lance strap for that kind of money... I had a pack in a cart on the amazon website ready to go, but there was no 'proceed to payment' button/link on the page!

It almost feels like a personal conspiracy I've got a shed found makeshift solution going on atm.

Check these guys out - I believe they're the online arm of Micheal's:
http://www.discountcam​eras.com.au/
Website is a pain to deal with, but good pieces & service.

Is this what you're after?:
http://www.discountcam​eras.com.au …oduct_mobile/48​638?page=2


Cheers

Cameron

would a package forwarding service work? (i.e. get stuff sent to a USA address & have them forward it on to Aus?) there seems to be a number of companies doing this.

Through this forum, I inadvertantly brought the shipping costs problem to Adorama's attention a good month ago. Ebay was showing a ridiculous shipping charge (approx 3 times that of B&H) for all their items on ebay. The Adorama member here said they would review it, but no change as of yet yet...............it's costing them sales. I bought all my optech stuff (strap/harness/spare loops) from B&H at the shipping charge that you quote.

malakite wrote in post #16477930
FYI ; I live in Australia...

What is the deal with the Intl shipping costs? I'm wanting to get a pair of op/tech mini qd loops. They come in a pack of four and cost $5.95. All good so far. Turns out my only option for shipping would cost me $59.50!

Please email me directly: Helen@adorama.com and I should be able to get you a USPS quote which will probably be cheaper

bidkev wrote in post #16478079
Through this forum, I inadvertantly brought the shipping costs problem to Adorama's attention a good month ago. Ebay was showing a ridiculous shipping charge (approx 3 times that of B&H) for all their items on ebay. The Adorama member here said they would review it, but no change as of yet yet...............it's costing them sales. I bought all my optech stuff (strap/harness/spare loops) from B&H at the shipping charge that you quote.

We can review individual eBay transactions only. eBay only allows us to offer one International shipping option via the store front; we have chosen UPS, because as a rule it is more reliable than USPS. Packages can be tracked and it is a lot easier to get damaged or lost packages replaced. However, if you contact the eBay team via the eBay contact button they can do a manual adjustment, but only on a case-by-case basis.

HelenOster wrote in post #16478090
We can review individual eBay transactions only. eBay only allows us to offer one International shipping option via the store front; we have chosen UPS, because as a rule it is more reliable than UPS. Packages can be tracked and it is a lot easier to get damaged or lost packages replaced. However, if you contact the eBay team via the eBay contact button they can do a manual adjustment, but only on a case-by-case basis.

UPS is more reliable than itself? I assume you mean USPS for the second one.

goldboughtrue wrote in post #16478115
UPS is more reliable than itself? I assume you mean USPS for the second one.

Yes, indeed..............

HelenOster wrote in post #16478088
Please email me directly: Helen@adorama.com and I should be able to get you a USPS quote which will probably be cheaper

I plan on doing this... I got my 300 MK II from them and paid for the higher shipping, I plan on getting a smaller order and will be dealing with her directly for shipping as I live on the Island of Guam... Which is part of the US and has Local USPS services on island.

OneJZsupra wrote in post #16478189
I plan on doing this... I got my 300 MK II from them and paid for the higher shipping, I plan on getting a smaller order and will be dealing with her directly for shipping as I live on the Island of Guam... Which is part of the US and has Local USPS services on island.

Orders need to be $195 or less for USPS shipping to be covered by insurance, but if it's over that $$ value, it can't hurt to email me so we can see if it's possible to work something out to help you.

HelenOster wrote in post #16478210
Orders need to be $195 or less for USPS shipping to be covered by insurance, but if it's over that $$ value, it can't hurt to email me so we can see if it's possible to work something out to help you.

Sounds like a plan!

It sounds like Helen in typical fashion has stepped up to the plate and done her wonderful job of supplying great customer service.

Having said that, in conjunction with my work, I have had to frequently ship items internationally to a large group of coworkers numbering in excess of 100 people. These people were spread all over the globe!

If I was to reliably ship items, then a certain amount of extra work was assumed to be the case. Reliably might include tracing the item, especially in the case of something of value, although that probably wasn't necessary in the instance of this purchase of $5.95 but certainly should be expected if one buys a $1000 lens. Depending on the country it might amount to something as simple as a customs declaration on the box but sometimes the paperwork was extensive. Very often the specific choice of FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, etc. helped as they handled some paperwork but very often one of those companies did well in one country, but the choice of a different company might be lousy in that same country. So the shipper has to be aware of all this, select a shipping method, prepare paperwork, etc. To me it seems that fees for this service should be both expected and reasonable and the fact of the matter is the fees are often not related to the cost of the item.