Quote from Randall_140313 on Oct 11^th, 2010, 6:28pm:

 
For the record, the shipping price for 150-199 cards shipped to a destination outside of the US is $84.60, not $112.    
 
She may have tried to place an order for 200-249 cards initially which would have been $112.  
 
I don't have a deep enough knowledge of our shipping costs to answer a question about why we charge that amount, but I just want to make sure that the numbers being thrown around are accurate.

Hello everyone,
 
Thank you for the discussion concerning international shipping charges.  It is a very positive discussion and has led us to focus on this issue.  I think it is important to share a few facts with you to put everything in perspective.
 
First, shipping and handling charges are based on actual shipping and packing (approximately 10 – 15% of shipping costs) costs.  We do not consider nor treat shipping and handling as a profit center.  As you know, we have international charges for Mexico and Canada and "all others”.  The” all others” is very close to UK shipping rates but there is cost averaging across several countries and quantity ranges.  
 
As an example:
 
For us to ship a package of 50 cards and 99 cards to the UK costs us $24.14 and $49.83 respectively. We currently charge customers $42.80 for 50-99 cards to UK. For us to ship a package of 50 cards and 99 cards to Australia costs us $24.14 and $61.38, respectively.  We charge our customers the same cost of $42.80 for 50-99 cards to Australia.  
 
Second, we have previously spent time analyzing the use of flat rate boxes for shipping.   The issues are the savings are not that significant and finding an inner box configuration to use that will protect the cards during shipping while utilizing the benefits of flat rate box pricing is a challenge.  
 
Third, until we are able to do distribution from a source outside the United States (for example, within Europe) we will not be able to compete with shipping charges of other companies that have distribution outside US.  
 
We are very concerned and sensitive about shipping and do realize it is an important aspect of a purchase.  Your discussion has us reflecting that we may be losing international sales because of shipping charges.  Increasing international sales and providing distribution from locations outside the United States has been one of our objectives.  As a result, we have decided to reduce our international shipping charges even though it may have to be at a loss.  Hopefully this will drive more international sales and bring us closer to being able to distribute from outside the United States.  With international distribution we will be able to offer much more competitive shipping rates.
 
Thank you for all the good feedback.  We expect to post new shipping charges within the next 10 days.

This topic was much food for thought.  I never really did give it much thought till this post.  but when I went to my "Z" store to see... the majority of the sales were outside the US and for me mostly to the United Kingdom.  From here it is almost always the USA.  Good to understand the shipping procedure better.   I have often wondered why flat rate boxes were not used and now I think I know that part better.  It is the actual manual packing of the cards?  I do not understand why you now charge higher than what it actually costs though..  
 
Many Thanks!  

another double post...sorry
    

Quote from Joan_135833 on Oct 11^th, 2010, 2:50pm:

 
 
With all due respect to the cost of postage and handling I would have to disagree with the statement that small orders are not affected and are reasonable to post overseas.
 
For me to buy 1 card and ship it to New Zealand will cost $2.79 for the card and to send it to someone else 98c international postage this is a total cost of approx NZ$4.50 which is more than reasonable. However the same card sent to me with an extra envelope will cost $2.79 for the card and $3.80 international postage (the price bracket is for 1-9 cards) this is a total of approx NZ$8.20 for one card.  To order 3 cards will cost $12.70 US to post to myself or $11.30 if sent to 3 different recipients.
 
If I have understood the postage correctly it seems (not suggesting it is) that it costs an extra $2.50 US for an envelope. If this is correct are we allowed to send to ourselves as another person and buy an envelope locally for 20c or should I just get them sent to my neighbour.
 
Maybe GCU should consider reducing the size of their postage bracketing to more accurately reflect how many cards are being ordered.
 
I am sorry to say but when the cost of postage is higher than the cost of the product most people feel that they are not getting a bargain/good deal and won't buy.
 
For the record I do realise that GCU work hard to listen to their Artists and Customers and have said that they are working on this issue. I had not realised untill reading this post how much of a difference there was and that there were not as many international sales as I had thought. I guess I had assumed that since the Artist community was international that the sales would be too.
 
Thank you for listening