shipping to Europe is insane

[Buster]

Am I doing something wrong?

I was going to ship some motorcycle gear back to Chromeburner in the Netherlands (wrong size). The box is 44x30x30cm and weighs only about 7 lbs.

The CHEAPEST I can find is plain old CP at $150 or something. Almost everything else comes in at $250 up to $500. Wtf?

I never ship shit to the EU, so I have no idea if this is normal? They sent me the stuff basically within a few days coming this direction (with no shipping costs!) through fedex.

What am I missing?

[davidI]

Does that include customs clearance / taxes?

Have you checked with Canada Post (no idea if it would be cheaper but I've often found government services to be the cheapest, even if the least convenient).

My experience is that sometimes it's not much more to fly return to a place than it is to ship a box (unless you're a corporate client).

[AndyL]

https://chitchats.com/pricing

try these guys, found them on rfd, know a few people who use them for most shipping needs.

[dj_rice]

Cause covid

[killramos]

Tried DHL?

They willing to give you a return label through their logistics network? Presumably they pay a lot less than consumer rates.

[pheoxs]

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https://chitchats.com/pricing

try these guys, found them on rfd, know a few people who use them for most shipping needs.

Yeah chit chats (via ascendia) makes for cheaper Europe shipping but I’m not sure if there is a size / weight limit.

[haggis88]

i normally go thru ParcelMonkey to send stuff to the UK and it used to be reasonable...haven't tried since Covid though

[Buster]

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Tried DHL?

They willing to give you a return label through their logistics network? Presumably they pay a lot less than consumer rates.

DHL quoted... $4,209. I'm not joking.

Also, I'm going to ask them about using them. If you spend $400 with them, they give you free shipping anywhere in the world. They must get it for a fraction of the price.

[lilmira]

How much is it to fly to the netherlands? Weekend trip?

[Buster]

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Yeah chit chats (via ascendia) makes for cheaper Europe shipping but I’m not sure if there is a size / weight limit.

ok, now we're talking.

$91 for chitchats.

Because my google is broken, I have no idea what chitchats is, but I now have an account. But...wtf is Chitchats? lol

[RX_EVOLV]

It's normal. They calculate the rate based on volumetric weight or actual weight, whichever is higher. For the box you are using, they are considering it a ~8kg package and charging you as such. ~$200 sounds about right.

You can try to bring it to a UPS store. They are usually locally owned franchises and have their own shipping discounts (say 50% off list price). Sometimes they are willing to offer you a shipping discount, say 30%, to get your business. For sure the one up the center street bridge will very likely offer it if you ask... they always do whenever I go in. Don't quote me on the % though as I've never taken up on their offer since we have our own UPS account/rate.

Your supplier definitly have a significant discount on their rates. Many years ago, back when we were shipping more direct to customer orders, we get ~65% off list price with UPS and Fedex by shipping on average 30 international packages a week.

[pheoxs]

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ok, now we're talking.

$91 for chitchats.

Because my google is broken, I have no idea what chitchats is, but I now have an account. But...wtf is Chitchats? lol

There's 2 or 3 locations in the city. Their business model is basically they drive your packages down to Montana and mail them in the US. Depending on the weight they charge per package. For my <1lb stuff its 80 cents per package. Thats all for them to drive it down south and clear US customs and mail it USPS. It's ridiculously cheap because they do thousands of packages a day and just do one big load. It's similar to DYKPost except chitchats operates in a bunch of Canadian cities and is less of a mess than DYK Post. (Though DYK Post is the only one that imports to Canada, so still a necessity. Sadly.)

Just give them a call or bring your box to one of their locations and they can probably help you out with printing the label if needed.

[Buster]

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It's normal. They calculate the rate based on volumetric weight or actual weight, whichever is higher. For the box you are using, they are considering it a ~8kg package and charging you as such. ~$200 sounds about right.

You can try to bring it to a UPS store. They are usually locally owned franchises and have their own shipping discounts (say 50% off list price). Sometimes they are willing to offer you a shipping discount, say 30%, to get your business. For sure the one up the center street bridge will very likely offer it if you ask... they always do whenever I go in. Don't quote me on the % though as I've never taken up on their offer since we have our own UPS account/rate.

Your supplier definitly have a significant discount on their rates. Many years ago, back when we were shipping more direct to customer orders, we get ~65% off list price with UPS and Fedex by shipping on average 30 international packages a week.

Chromeburner offered to send me a fedex return label. Just getting the price on this now.

This has been a big TIL...lol