Shipping Costs + Processing Times Problems

[Fran Crowe]

This year (mostly in the last 6 months) I've ordered hundreds of items in 7 orders. My experiences have been partially negative across pretty much every order.

I understand your system. If it is in your warehouse it is typically 1-7 business days processing time. The best I've seen has been almost double the max stated times. That's not even mentioning the clunky way outside orders and status updates (or lack thereof) on orders work.

The average large online stores/businesses (even distributors) process within 2 business days, with occasional delays. I'd just be happy to see my average order fall into the stated 1-7 business days...

Your system that determines shipping totals and amount of packages seems to be automated to shift product by weight totals into different packages. This appears to be based on a weight you've inputted in the system for each item and a max weight per package.

This shipping method always results in shipping cost by weight that exceeds my experience as both a seller and buyer, often resulting in cost prohibitive shipping. I understand books can be heavy, but if you offered USPS Media Mail shipping, you'd have a reasonably priced alternative that is competitive (even in a market with many free shippers). Why is that not an option when most of your product qualifies?

I keep coming back because you have quality product, generally pack it well, run great sales, and unlike many business, you've developed a community and support your product. Thank you for all of that!

I look forward to receiving my latest order (hopefully in a reasonable time frame). If possible, I'd like to have it shipped Media Mail, if not, hopefully one day that becomes an option.

Happy Holidays!

[Katina Davis]

Hello Fran,

Thank you very much for your feedback! I have passed it along, and our management will take it into consideration. We do try to provide the most affordable and convenient shipping methods possible, but unfortunately Media Mail is not an option for us, as it does not work for our business needs.

I'm sorry to hear that your experiences have been less than satisfactory, and our Customer Service team will be happy to help if there is any way we can improve your experience in the future.

Thanks, and I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday!
-Katina

[Steve Geddes]

As I recall from previous discussions about this, media mail has a restriction that books can't contain advertising beyond "incidental announcements of upcoming books" or something. As such, nearly all of paizo's products are ineligible for that method.