As a subscriber, I have various amounts of things shipped to me from Paizo at various times. As an international customer (Canada), I end up paying a lot in shipping.
Can you please look in to adding an option of "Cheapest method available" for shipping for subscribers?
Thank you very much!
Uninvited Ghost, I have talked with the PostMonster General and this is something that is on the to-do list, but unfortunately I don't have an exact time as to when that will happen.
Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to help you out. :)
One year bump. :)
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"Standard postal delivery'' should, in general, end up being the "cheapest method available."
You'd think so, but you'd be wrong. Right now, I'm looking at buying Key Largo, and adding it to my monthly shipping. Estimate for Standard Postal Delivery: 52.48. Estimate for USPS Priority Mail: 41.55.
I find the cheapest shipping option varies quite a bit.
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"Standard postal delivery'' should, in general, end up being the "cheapest method available."You'd think so, but you'd be wrong. Right now, I'm looking at buying Key Largo, and adding it to my monthly shipping. Estimate for Standard Postal Delivery: 52.48. Estimate for USPS Priority Mail: 41.55.
I find the cheapest shipping option varies quite a bit.
Ditto!
I have cancelled a few things cause I can't figure out the way shipping is figured. Then to get charged $19 for shipping items put into a medium flat rate shipper killed me. I know they get the online shipping discount. (under $10.95 to ship).
I can understand to charge a LITTLE extra but that's a little crazy. Or even if they use their own boxes....but oh well.
I love the stuff usually but shipping is killer. War store .com only charges a flat $5.95 then makes the difference themselves. Even offers a pretty substantial discount.
I know Paizo is doing pretty good not having to go wholesale when they sale direct so the whole shipping thing just bumfuzzles me.
But that is me.
I think what happens is once Standard hits a certain weight, it's really calculated as 2 shipments. That's my guess.
Anyways, the more money I save on shipping, the more I can afford to spend at the Paizo store.
Chief Technical Officer
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Our shipping rates are based on actual costs, and we spend a tremendous amount of effort at minimizing those costs.
I have cancelled a few things cause I can't figure out the way shipping is figured. Then to get charged $19 for shipping items put into a medium flat rate shipper killed me. I know they get the online shipping discount. (under $10.95 to ship).
The rules are not as simple as anyone would like—and your own estimates of what might fit in a Flat Rate Box may not agree with what can *actually* fit in one... especially because we plan to use enough packing material to minimize damage in transit.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I think what happens is once Standard hits a certain weight, it's really calculated as 2 shipments. That's my guess.
Nope... we evaluate multi-item shipments any number of ways—shipping things together, shipping things separately, using Flat Rate Boxes, using weight-based shipping, and using every delivery method available to a given address, and then do whatever is the cheapest for you (unless you opt for more expensive shipping).
I think what happens is once Standard hits a certain weight, it's really calculated as 2 shipments. That's my guess.Nope... we evaluate multi-item shipments any number of ways—shipping things together, shipping things separately, using Flat Rate Boxes, using weight-based shipping, and using every delivery method available to a given address, and then do whatever is the cheapest for you (unless you opt for more expensive shipping).
Okay... maybe I'm misunderstanding?
It looks to me like my subscriptions have the choice of 3 shipping options. Every month, if I change between the 3 options, the cheapest method isn't always the same one. Are you saying that there is in fact an option for me to always choose the cheapest shipping method, without manually having to go in to my account every month?
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Our shipping rates are based on actual costs, and we spend a tremendous amount of effort at minimizing those costs.
I have cancelled a few things cause I can't figure out the way shipping is figured. Then to get charged $19 for shipping items put into a medium flat rate shipper killed me. I know they get the online shipping discount. (under $10.95 to ship).The rules are not as simple as anyone would like—and your own estimates of what might fit in a Flat Rate Box may not agree with what can *actually* fit in one... especially because we plan to use enough packing material to minimize damage in transit.
Ahhh, Vic. Im not speculating. I'm talking about experience from your shipping.
Got charged $19 sometimes it has been $16 but both times I received a Medium Flat rate shipper with the stuff. So not an estimate. Sorry.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Our shipping rates are based on actual costs, and we spend a tremendous amount of effort at minimizing those costs.
I have cancelled a few things cause I can't figure out the way shipping is figured. Then to get charged $19 for shipping items put into a medium flat rate shipper killed me. I know they get the online shipping discount. (under $10.95 to ship).The rules are not as simple as anyone would like—and your own estimates of what might fit in a Flat Rate Box may not agree with what can *actually* fit in one... especially because we plan to use enough packing material to minimize damage in transit.Ahhh, Vic. Im not speculating. I'm talking about experience from your shipping.
Got charged $19 sometimes it has been $16 but both times I received a Medium Flat rate shipper with the stuff. So not an estimate. Sorry.
Do you want to shoot me an order number? I looked through a few of your recent Priority packages, and didn't find anything like that.
There was order 1759428; we quoted you $19.88 for that when it was going as two packages (and it also qualified for the first $10 shipping promotion, so we'd have charged $9.88)... but then you cancelled some items, thus making it fit into one box, for which we *should* have given you a new shipping charge of $12.50 (again, prior to the first $10 promotion), although customer service neglected to recalculate the shipping charge at the time you made the cancellations, so we charged the higher price and then gave you credit for the discrepancy after the fact; ultimately, we ended up charging you $2.50 for shipping it, which is what we'd have charged you if that had been how the order was set up from the beginning.
The other one I found that was close was order 1666390; we would have charged $12.50 for that, but it also qualified for the first $10 shipping promotion, so we charged you $2.50 for that one too.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I think what happens is once Standard hits a certain weight, it's really calculated as 2 shipments. That's my guess.Nope... we evaluate multi-item shipments any number of ways—shipping things together, shipping things separately, using Flat Rate Boxes, using weight-based shipping, and using every delivery method available to a given address, and then do whatever is the cheapest for you (unless you opt for more expensive shipping).Okay... maybe I'm misunderstanding?
It looks to me like my subscriptions have the choice of 3 shipping options. Every month, if I change between the 3 options, the cheapest method isn't always the same one. Are you saying that there is in fact an option for me to always choose the cheapest shipping method, without manually having to go in to my account every month?
Not quite. You specify a class of shipment (for most domestic shipments, either standard, Priority or UPS), and we stick to that class. When I say we offer you the cheapest, I mean we go through all the iterations applicable to that package for each of those classes, and offer you the cheapest for the class you've chosen. We currently don't have code in place to automatically change classes when that's cheaper; that's a bit tricky due to things like PO Boxes which can never go UPS, and due to the fact that sometimes customers only ever want to use a particular carrier.
Not quite. You specify a class of shipment (for most domestic shipments, either standard, Priority or UPS), and we stick to that class. When I say we offer you the cheapest, I mean we go through all the iterations applicable to that package for each of those classes, and offer you the cheapest for the class you've chosen. We currently don't have code in place to automatically change classes when that's cheaper; that's a bit tricky due to things like PO Boxes which can never go UPS, and due to the fact that sometimes customers only ever want to use a particular carrier.
That's what I thought. :)
Back to post 3 in the thread: over the last year+ has there been any progress on this item on the Post-Monster General's to-do list?
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Our shipping rates are based on actual costs, and we spend a tremendous amount of effort at minimizing those costs.
I have cancelled a few things cause I can't figure out the way shipping is figured. Then to get charged $19 for shipping items put into a medium flat rate shipper killed me. I know they get the online shipping discount. (under $10.95 to ship).The rules are not as simple as anyone would like—and your own estimates of what might fit in a Flat Rate Box may not agree with what can *actually* fit in one... especially because we plan to use enough packing material to minimize damage in transit.Ahhh, Vic. Im not speculating. I'm talking about experience from your shipping.
Got charged $19 sometimes it has been $16 but both times I received a Medium Flat rate shipper with the stuff. So not an estimate. Sorry.
Do you want to shoot me an order number? I looked through a few of your recent Priority packages, and didn't find anything like that.
There was order 1759428; we quoted you $19.88 for that when it was going as two packages (and it also qualified for the first $10 shipping promotion, so we'd have charged $9.88)... but then you cancelled some items, thus making it fit into one box, for which we *should* have given you a new shipping charge of $12.50 (again, prior to the first $10 promotion), although customer service neglected to recalculate the shipping charge at the time you made the cancellations, so we charged the higher price and then gave you credit for the discrepancy after the fact; ultimately, we ended up charging you $2.50 for shipping it, which is what we'd have charged you if that had been how the order was set up from the beginning.
The other one I found that was close was order 1666390; we would have charged $12.50 for that, but it also qualified for the first $10 shipping promotion, so we charged you $2.50 for that one too.
Well the one on my mind is the $19.88 one. It only arrived in one package. It was shipping quoted as the $19.88 and only through some complaints / questions was some of that refunded. THis was after it was already shipped so it didn't get down to one box because items were canceled.
As to the other I'll look through them. Probably not tonight though.
Yea I would of been charged $19.88 and then only paid $9.88 because of the shipping discount. But the shipping discount shouldn't mean to charge more for the said shipping. THe box was a medium flat rate shipper. Like I said I only got some of the shipping paid back after I complained.
Oh as a side note that order 1666390 fit into a Medium Flat rate shipper. So that was a lot of items in it as well as a hardcover.
THen the order that had the 4 Figure miniature box just released was going to be $16.00 for shipping via priority mail.
Oh well. Another question though why does most of my orders show something greater than a $10 shipping discount. All my receipts sure as heck only showed the $10. Is this a accounting change down at a later time from my invoice?
Well, I have no complaints. :)
But would love an auto-calculate-all-options-prior-to-shipping-and-select-the-lowest-one option. :)
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Chief Technical Officer
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Well the one on my mind is the $19.88 one. It only arrived in one package. It was shipping quoted as the $19.88 and only through some complaints / questions was some of that refunded. THis was after it was already shipped so it didn't get down to one box because items were canceled.
Hmm. You're right that the $19.88 wasn't prior to your canceling those items, but it *was* a quote for shipping you two boxes. I have Ross digging to figure out exactly why that happened, but the bottom line here is that our S&H quote for a single Medium Flat-Rate Priority Box to your destination is $12.50, not $19.88, prior to any other discounts.
THen the order that had the 4 Figure miniature box just released was going to be $16.00 for shipping via priority mail.
Do you have an order number for that one?
Another question though why does most of my orders show something greater than a $10 shipping discount. All my receipts sure as heck only showed the $10. Is this a accounting change down at a later time from my invoice?
Order 1759428 shows a greater shipping discount because customer service increased the discount to adjust for the amount you were overcharged due to the two package quote. If there are other examples, can you send order numbers?
I've been threadjacked!
I talked it through with Gary a bit, and we reconfirmed that it's possible, and that it's something we should do when we get the chance.Well, I have no complaints. :)
But would love an auto-calculate-all-options-prior-to-shipping-and-select-the-lowest-one option. :)
Thank you very, very much!
I know how those "it'd be nice" features fair on the list of priorities, so I'm not surprised nothing's happened with it in over a year. I'm just hoping it stays on the radar and maybe gets done, someday. :)
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Order 1759428 shows a greater shipping discount because customer service increased the discount to adjust for the amount you were overcharged due to the two package quote. If there are other examples, can you send order numbers?
Thanks Vic for your time. SOrry Uninvited Ghost for Thread Jacking.
I don't have an order number for the other one so sorry Vic. It was a quoted shipping amount so I canceled the 4 figure Hero box from your new miniature line because I didn't want to pay that shipping...so guess this one wasn't a "happen" but was going to happen....
As to some orders that have a larger discount on record than what was shown shipped...
As to worrying about it. Not really it was more of a curiosity...except for one of the orders which seems I got a partial one but sooooo long ago....
The first three were just strange.....
Order # 1261728
Placed October 7, 2009
I did get a $1.36 shipping discount on this one....but total order $300+? So long ago though....
Order # 1272365
Placed November 12, 2009
Doesn't look like got any shipping discount on this one...half thought that maybe that wasn't around in 2009 but then noticed I do have some that did from way back then.
Order # 1513754
Placed September 19, 2010
This one it appears I got a $15 discount for shipping....?
The rest have larger than the $10 shipping discount, but didn't when originally shipped...
Order # 1621378
Placed March 3, 2011
Order # 1611421
Placed February 7, 2011
Order # 1573811
Placed December 10, 2010
Order # 1523339
Placed September 23, 2010
Order # 1394621
Placed May 24, 2010
Order # 1378445
Placed March 24, 2010
Order # 1368253
Placed March 4, 2010
Order # 1298585
Placed November 26, 2009
Order # 1221471
Placed September 1, 2009
Order # 1140739
Placed May 31, 2009 This one I see another discount applied ....so cool.
Order # 1125948
Placed January 29, 2009
Don't of course waste to much time....if any time....
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Chief Technical Officer
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The first three were just strange.....
Order # 1261728
Placed October 7, 2009
I did get a $1.36 shipping discount on this one....but total order $300+? So long ago though....Order # 1272365
Placed November 12, 2009
Doesn't look like got any shipping discount on this one...half thought that maybe that wasn't around in 2009 but then noticed I do have some that did from way back then.
I'd have to spend a lot of time to be sure, but I suspect that back then, we weren't counting subscription products towards the $100.
Order # 1513754
Placed September 19, 2010
This one it appears I got a $15 discount for shipping....?
The answer to that is not immediately obvious to me. I'll guess "bug that has since been fixed."
The rest have larger than the $10 shipping discount, but didn't when originally shipped...
I just spot-checked some of those; they qualified for a special automatic shipping subsidy we do for specific parcel types using specific international shipping methods. (That's a case where we've actually made a deliberate decision to make shipping costs lower than our actual costs would suggest.)
As a subscriber, I have various amounts of things shipped to me from Paizo at various times. As an international customer (Canada), I end up paying a lot in shipping.
Can you please look in to adding an option of "Cheapest method available" for shipping for subscribers?
Thank you very much!
Apparently this exists now. Yay! Thank you!