Thread: Hidden costs of buying O/S?

Someone will have to remind me again of all the ins and outs noted earlier in this thread of where the charges are laid when importing, but books don't seem to have the problems that hardware does. As a bit of an abebooks.com addict, I can say that for the most part books are sent by various postal services, the use of courier companies is rare.

As to DHL's charges for an item returned for warranty; the particular example here is pretty perverse (because the product was bought locally), but in general this sort of thing perhaps shows the downside of buying o/s. If your tool don't work, then you're in a bit of a pickle, becauee of having to run the gauntlet a second and maybe a third time: so maybe buying o/s best for inert things like books or chisels and not so good for things with bearings, motors and engineering tolerances?

Because of all the traps especially for items above the duty limit or items that may need the warranty, buying o/s isn't automatically the best option, although now with AUD 1.00 > USD 0.80 it's got a lot of attraction.

This is all ethics aside (only buying from local retailers when you want to shift the risk to them rather than you, and going o/s for the rest): but that's another story.

Yes the shipping rates make doing anything which innvolves over seas trade expensive. That includes purchasing and trading with people OS. These costs have risen dramatically in recent times.

Lee Valley have been offering the UPS alternative which is only a little dearer than surface mail on orders I've placed. Because of the warnings on this forum about UPS gouging fictitious customs charges I avoided this option. But as others had not had the problem I decided on my latest order to specify UPS.
The order was shipped last Wednesday and was delivered this morning with nary a mention of extra charges.
Guess I'll be specifying UPS in future.

Any other recent experiences with UPS? They may have found too much aggravation charging as they did, or maybe customs got wise to them. I wouldn't hesitate to use them if they were to be fair with their charges.

Just to keep this thread going a bit longer.

I took delivery yesterday of a package (dado blade plus a couple of extra single blades) from the US.

It was ordered last week and it was sent Express using US Postal Service - delivered to my PO Box (something UPS can't do). It had a Customs declaration form attached which had been filled out by the US supplier. It weighed 15lbs, according to the docs.

No customs charges or unwanted handling fees.

Excellent service!!

To add a bit more to this thread. You may find with US suppliers they are loathe to use the postal service as the UPS's of this world pick it up and the supplier does not have to leave the premises unlike the postal service.

Just ordered a bit of gear from Rockler (Kreg mitre guage & other small items). They only offered the US postal service as an option when asked. The order with be sent First Class Mail for $19.19. Second time I have used Rockler, found them to be very helpful, similar to Lee Valley.

Originally Posted by satheger

Just ordered a bit of gear from Rockler (Kreg mitre guage & other small items). They only offered the US postal service as an option when asked. The order with be sent First Class Mail for $19.19. Second time I have used Rockler, found them to be very helpful, similar to Lee Valley.

G'day Sath. Just curious mate. What benefit was had from buying your Kreg stuff from O/S when its readily available in Oz?
Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike, I paid $140 US for the Kreg from Rockler, Cabatec have it in their catelog for $299, so even with postage ($19.19) and exchange rate I have saved. When you throw in the extras I purchased, plus the fact I am not in a hurry this appeared to be a better option.
Gerard

Originally Posted by satheger

Hi Mike, I paid $140 US for the Kreg from Rockler, Cabatec have it in their catelog for $299, so even with postage ($19.19) and exchange rate I have saved. When you throw in the extras I purchased, plus the fact I am not in a hurry this appeared to be a better option.
Gerard

Hmm. OK fair enough. Global Trading is obviously more beneficial than Global Warming...

I buy from the US a lot - and save heaps. Unfortunate, really, because I'd like to support the Ozzie suppliers.

For those who don't do this yet, you might find this currency converter useful. There are lots of others available online, too.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

get your final price for your shopping cart, including postage, and pump it into this. Then compare to your 'buy in Australia' price.


It's usually cheaper, but with the current exchange rate, it's never been better.

Jaspr, thanks for posting that handy link.

However, as most of us would use our credit card to pay for these o/s purchases, we would not get the exchange rate this site uses, and there is usually a surcharge from the credit card company.

And the rate varies by the day/hour and it depends when you get charged. Given you can't predict exchange rates into the future - I find it a useful way of ESTIMATING the cost. It's usually not too far out.

The order of magnitude of the savings usually greatly exceeds the order of magnitude of the less than accurate exchange rate quote.

Sorry if I implied total accuracy.