Obscene shipping fees

So I got my "approximate shipping rate" for my $200 order, it was $115. This seemed to be ~$30 more expensive that with a 3rd party, so I thought not too bad (obviously this was based on me guessing the weight and size of things, so i could have been completely wrong).

Has anyone done the "by sea" option to Australia and can recommend a company?

I'm also curious if other Aussies would want to buy stuff at once to save on shipping, I may start a new thread on that idea later.

1 final point for this post, I believe me buying from autogeek and shipping the products to australia (the products I chose at least) still turns out cheaper than buying in Australia, even from the autogeek distributor.
 
magna_power said:
1 final point for this post, I believe me buying from autogeek and shipping the products to australia (the products I chose at least) still turns out cheaper than buying in Australia, even from the autogeek distributor.
Click to expand...


That's correct, I've been buying all my stuff from US in the least years. Whichever way you look at it, it is cheaper then buying it here in Australia.

:props:
 
Joining in on this conversation late.

Thanks all for the valuable info re: mail forwarding companies etc. I too have been buying from AG for years as it works out much cheaper than buying here in Aus (even with AG's higher shipping costs). I will probably try a mail forwarding company now that you've all enlightened me.

Only question I have is: How do you know the size / weight of your package in order to get a quote from the mail forwarding company?
 
Once Penny sent me the shipping quote I simply sent her an e-mail asking for exact weight & dimensions of box.
You can then go to a freight-forwarders website & get a shipping quote from them (most have instant calculators)

One thing to take into account with some forwarders (like the one I mentioned earlier) is extra fees for monthly membership, consolidation (if wanting to combine contents of multiple parcels), receiving &/or mail-out, special requests (photos of box contents, etc) & depending on size of orders, weight surcharges.

Sounds like a lot but even with paying all these small fees I still saved a reasonable amount...
 
It depends on what your buying if you consider local buying a rip off. Large items like gallons don't work well. I have an example where I was quoted by AG and ended up purchasing with a combo of Autogeek and ZAS

I enquired on AG to purchase some grit guards, wax applicators, tire applicators, microfibre towels pack , tire brush, 6 spray bottles and a few other small items. As well as big items Meguiars HD, LT and APC.

I was quoted $255. Without the 3 gallons it reduced to $90 shipping. So that's $81 worth of product and $165 shipping for those items

ZAS were $198 and $10 shipping for the Megs.

I bought the Megs from ZAS and the rest from AG. That's $55 a gallon.

I need to buy some FK 425 soon. AG is $30 and ZAS are $45 but AG won't come close to the local price. ONR $40 AG and $65 ZAS.

I could provide other examples as bought at many of the local stores. I have and still will in the future buy some products from AG.

Anyone purchasing gallons what are you purchasing or how are you getting it shipped to make it worthwhile
 
magna_power said:
So I got my "approximate shipping rate" for my $200 order, it was $115. This seemed to be ~$30 more expensive that with a 3rd party, so I thought not too bad (obviously this was based on me guessing the weight and size of things, so i could have been completely wrong).

Has anyone done the "by sea" option to Australia and can recommend a company?

I'm also curious if other Aussies would want to buy stuff at once to save on shipping, I may start a new thread on that idea later.

1 final point for this post, I believe me buying from autogeek and shipping the products to australia (the products I chose at least) still turns out cheaper than buying in Australia, even from the autogeek distributor.
Click to expand...

Curious about sea freight as well.A link here to that thread if you decide to start it would be appreciated.
CHEERS
 
I asked autogeek about the size and weight of the package they would have been sending me (if I hadn't have canceled my order). Here is what I wrote:

"Additionally, if possible, could you please let me know what size and weight the package would have been? I'd like to look into other shipping options but i'm unsure about the size/weight of my order."

and this was the response:

"That information, I do not have for you. We ship the cheapest and safest method available to our international customers as we are aware that the costs are typically high."

Not what I was expecting.... Maybe they don't want to hand out that info anymore, or maybe I shouldn't have been so honest as to why I wanted the info?
 
Had they already calculated their shipping fees for you?

If so, they would surely have based it on a certain size & weight, and I don't see why they couldn't pass that information onto you. After all, they would still have made a sale out of it if you'd have organised your own shipping. I wouldn't think they're in the business of making money on shipping?
 
They had already told me how much shipping was going to be. I would have thought they would have been fine with it, maybe my wording was bad and they thought I was saying that they are ripping me off and got offended.....

If autogeek could ship (and yes I do mean on a boat!!!!) products to me I would be very happy to wait the time if it saved me significant money. Additionally, any money that it did save me I would use to buy more products!!!
 
magna_power said:
If autogeek could ship (and yes I do mean on a boat!!!!) products to me I would be very happy to wait the time if it saved me significant money. Additionally, any money that it did save me I would use to buy more products!!!
Click to expand...

Same here. I'd be happy to wait a couple of months for my products to arrive if it meant SIGNIFICANT savings in shipping costs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top