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Damn, there goes the cheap bits sourcing.

Although, as mentioned above, everything will more than likey still be cheaper even with the increased mail costs than anything in AUS.

How much of these rate increases is because of increased shipping costs by other nations' postal systems? As I understand it, the USPS doesn't actually deliver to your door in the UK, they deliver it to the UK postal system who then deliver it to your door.

 spaceelf wrote:
Sadly, the US Post Office is too big to fail. They would be rolling in money if they raised prices on all of the junk they deliver to my house. Instead they almost double the price for international mail. Sucks if you have to send something abroad.

The US postal service has been written into failure by the US Congress. They were a profit making and entirely sustainable institution until the legislature passed a law to intentionally sabotage the US postal service. It's going to be sold for scrap. It isn't "too big to fail," they're making it fail. On purpose.




They're trying to do the same thing to the NHS in England.

Aaarrggg that pisses me off.

It still looks like it is cheaper to order from the US but it will be close. At least until the annual GW price rise makes the Oz prices that much more expensive that the increased postage appears to be good value

 scarletsquig wrote:
Hmm, looks like I won't be buying anything from the US anytime soon.

The prices were already murder, what with the exchange rate, UK customs often charging 30% of the value of the package in import duty, plus a small handling fee on top.

Nearly doubling the already expensive shipping is pretty much going to kill the US export economy stone dead.

Before the big postage price rise in the US, getting items sent over from the US was always a hit or miss affair. Sometimes I would have to pay import duty, sometimes I didn't . In March 2012, I had a horrible surprise when Royal Mail had left a card saying they were unable to deliver a package and to come and collect it from the sorting office. I went to collect the package (Iconoclast LR kit from Chapterhouse costing $24 & $10 shipping) to be advised that I had to pay £12.73 in charges. As the model parts were above £15.00 and came from the USA, customs had charged me an import tax (on the WHOLE amount - Cost AND Shipping amount) and Royal Mail had then charged me £10.00 for supposedly opening, repackaging and also a handling fee. The original box had not been touched by Royal Mail apart from stick an import tax due sticker on the box. With last years exchange rate, the parts cost me £15.90 plus a further £5.60 postage and packaging and then a further £12.73 as well! A £15 kit from America cost me £34.23 (Over double the original price!). Royal Mail and HMRC seem to be clamping down to ensure maximum revenue at the moment.

Ever since then, I try and buy bits from the US and try to ensure the cost and shipping work out less than £15. As the cost of shipping has now gone up, every bit I buy from America plus the shipping fee can or will take me over the £15 tax threshold and therefore doubling the cost. I for one will not be doing business overseas for the forseeable future as I simply won't be able to afford my plastic/resin crack!

I was aware of the price increase in January and bought more bits at the start of January than I planned (and could afford!) to ensure I didn't have to pay even more for the bits in the long run.

I'll just need to stick to UK bits suppliers as the postage internally is a damn sight cheaper!

Looks like my vinyl imports from America are going to stop then, postage and a possible tax hit was already a pain but its just not worth it any more.

I know a guy that has a bits store, both online and offline, and he is taking a big hit from this. Orders that have already been purchased and paid for - time to ship and it costs 3x-4x what it did for many things.

Speaking as a small business, this postage increase really sucks. For those who aren't familiar, I make those Greyed Out dice bags, you may have seen a few of my posts.

My dice bags are currently priced between $17 and $20, and weigh less than two ounces(1.6oz, to be specific).

I previously charged $3.50 for US domestic shipping. That's about what it cost for the bubble mailer+flat rate postage+time it takes to mail stuff.

International orders shipped via First Class International and I charged $4. Actual cost to mail a dice bag to Europe: $3.78 + $0.70 bubble mailer.

While I have not yet mailed anything international after the rates went up, I've heard that a 3-oz First Class International package will now run between $6-$8.

I didn't immediately want to raise my international shipping to $8, so it's currently set to $6, and my domestic shipping went up to $3.90. I *may* have to increase shipping by a bit more once I get more accurate numbers, but for now I'm going to wait and see how this affects international orders.

To anyone who is/was considering ordering from me, and is overseas/Canada, I recommend getting together with a few buddies and ordering multiple dice bags in one go, to cut down on shipping costs a bit.

As much as I wish I didn't have to increase my shipping, I can't afford not to.


Edit: added a word, fixed spelling

And here I was hoping that I could get some models for the us cheaper. Looks like I'm going to have to recalculate again. (It would be funny if it was still cheaper than buying local wouldn't it)

You're in Enzed. Unless you're ordering only a couple of things at a time, the US/UK will still be cheaper...

Hmmm thought as much

Yep, what a joke

Was going to purchase 5 head sets from Mad Robot, which would have cost me nearly 10 quid, brilliant, but go to the checkout and its more than that for shipping! And 5 tiny resin head sets weigh what, a couple of grams? So there goes me probably never ordering from them. And Hoard o Bitz, and Bitzbarn and any other site on the other side of the atlantic