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Sticker Shock, or General Bewilderment at Shipping Costs
While browsing busty blogs, I came across a link referencing an article by thelingerieaddict, upon clicking it, a pop-up like thing appeared asking if I wanted to receive a newsletter on the latest, greatest lingerie deals. I gave it my email because, of course, who doesn't love a good deal, especially on something so necessary. Tonight I was checking out some of the sale links listed that interested me, and I came across one for 25% off Bare Necessities. Deciding to check it out, I narrowed the search to bras that fit my, at this point only estimated, size, and managed to find one out of their selection that appealed to me visually/fit within my desired budget, the Cleo Jude T-shirt bra. [http://www.barenecessities.com/cleo-by-panache-jude-t-shirt-bra-5846_product.htm?pf_id=CleobyPanache5846] Looking at the reviews there, and on here, I figured it was at least worth a shot, and so I added the 30G to my cart and, upon finding nothing else that appealed to me, (I learned my lesson on that already) proceeded to the checkout where I was met with a bit of a shock. The $26 bra I wanted to order came with $24 in shipping charges and $5 in duties and taxes. I realize that it's international shipping, but is Canada really that hard to ship to? The site itself had nothing specifically helpful as to why it would be quite so much, so I'm feeling rather stumped. Is my inexperience at online shopping giving me unrealistic expectations, is it worth it to pay more in shipping and taxes than for the actual bra itself? The bra I ordered from BraStop in England only cost me about half that much in shipping, how does that work exactly? Do any of you lovely ladies have any ideas what might be causing this shipping disparity? Does it have to do with the company size/policy, or something maybe? I'm truly confused as to how it's cheaper to ship something from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, rather than the country directly south.
I'm interested in hearing peoples' opinions/experiences with this sort of thing.
Filed under Bras ups and downs
14 comments
It totally depends on the shop's policy. Some companies charge ridiculous amounts for shipping abroad, either because they only ship abroad through certain mail carriers, because they use a certain flat rate tariff, or simply 'just because', whereas others take a much more reasonable 'case-by-case' approach in which shipping costs depend on the weight and/or value of the order as well as the destination. Some shops, Large Cup Lingerie for example, even offer free worldwide shipping.
In case of shipping to countries with low import duty thresholds like Canada, a specialised mail carrier is sometimes used that takes care of getting items through customs. The 'benefit' of these services is that the recipient doesn't have to deal with the hassle of the customs process, but the cost for services like these are astronomical, especially for relatively small purchases like these. Also, sometimes purchases that are valued only a little over the customs duties threshold might slip through -- but this can only happen with items that are shipped through regular mail, not with those shipped through other mail carriers.
It is worth noting, though, that Canada has some of the highest shipping rates that I personally have ever encountered. Not sure how this would affect shipping INTO Canada, for for ordering items FROM Canada they quickly get fairly prohibitive.
Online shopping from within Canada takes patience. Many, many shops charge exorbitant shipping (and may not let you in on the cost until you hit 'check-out') while others are cheap or free. This is not unique to bra shopping. The first thing I check out on any new site is 'shipping and returns' under customer service. If a US site doesn't list Canada as a unique option then shipping will likely be unreasonable. UK/European sites usually group us with the US.
Some good sites for free shipping are LargeCupLingerie (UK) and BreakoutBras (US). Brastop and Figleaves(UK version) are reasonable for shipping and ebay can be a good bet because they are good at showing shipping costs up front.
Another piece of the puzzle - alluded to above - is that private carriers such as UPS or DHL charge a fee to go through customs. Stay well away from these. From the US you want it shipped by USPS. From elsewhere it's usually not a problem (private carriers are unusually popular for domestic shipping within the US).
And lastly, you can be dinged by customs for duty for any order over $30. It doesn't happen often but you have to be prepared.
I enjoy online shopping but it has been a learning curve.
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