Posting costs from U.K. Airsoft Shops

[novioman]

I don’t mind paying £10- £12 for delivery if I’am buying a large item, but if buying a small light item which I did, it’s ridiculous to my mind.
Just purchased a Glock mag, could only find it in stock in Landwarrior, mag £39.99, postage £10 by DPD.
Was about to order and I though sod it I will check overseas, got one from JK army, delivered for £40.
Another shop 30 miles from me won’t post anything for less than £12.
If I was to post a mag it would be £3.55 tracked by RM.
Don’t know how others feel, perhaps you don’t mind, but seems a rip off to me.

 

[BigStew]

How much does the packaging cost? how much is the labour to pick package and label the item?

 

[LMKipper]

This is a tough one - a mate ran a small retail business that did a bit of online retail. Barely seemed worth it.

15 minutes to get the item, find a box, print the label and pack it is £4 in wages. Plus the cost of the box, packing materials and postage. It's easy to see a small business spending a tenner posting something out.

By the time you've taken the VAT & payment provider fees off a £30 mag then the cost to buy it they'd be lucky to have a fivers profit in it. If they subsidise that postage rate, their profit has vanished.

 

[woody_2231]

UK economy in a nutshell.

Everything overpriced on a customer pov and small businesses getting messed up by VAT.

Shops like Fire support shows the price excluding VAT, without it it looks reasonable, but then looks like a rip off with tax.

Buying any airsoft parts overseas is always going to be cheaper than uk shops. it's sad and annoying but it's how it is.

 

[novioman]

I don’t know the mark up on goods for airsoft, but my own opinion is that’s it’s not really on to make profit on posting costs. Small item, Jiffy bag, tracked 48hr. £3.55.

 

[LMKipper]

Who said they're making a profit? It costs you £4 to post it out, but if you charged yourself for that time it would be double that easily.
The point of my post is that it will likely cost them a tenner to post the item out.

 

[novioman]

Who said they're making a profit? It costs you £4 to post it out, but if you charged yourself for that time it would be double that easily.
The point of my post is that it will likely cost them a tenner to post the item out.

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I don’t agree with you, but that’s fine. Purchased a SRC Giga Target System the other day, whacking great box, 48 hour tracked. Delivery free.
Some can do it, so why can’t others at least just charge the actual cost. If they can’t I won’t buy from them. If people don’t mind paying extra as you obviously don’t, then that’s o.k.

 

[BigStew]

I don’t agree with you, but that’s fine. Purchased a SRC Giga Target System the other day, whacking great box, 48 hour tracked. Delivery free.
Some can do it, so why can’t others at least just charge the actual cost. If they can’t I won’t buy from them. If people don’t mind paying extra as you obviously don’t, then that’s o.k.

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Then the price of shipping and prep was calculated in the price.

 

[novioman]

Possibly, but got it for a good price.

 

[Cannonfodder]

Then the price of shipping and prep was calculated in the price.

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This. I remember when Ebaybanned were open and everyone was going mental over their "free" shipping, all the while not noticing that their stock was priced higher than other shops. Yes you could get some good deals if you bought a shopping list but for only buying 1 or 2 things they weren't much cheaper than buying in the UK.

I agree with the OP though, some shops really do take the piss with postage on smaller stuff

 

[Lyndication]

ITT: Novioman just doesn't understand how retail works I guess.

"Free" delivery isn't real, you pay for it in the item price, or in say Prime style subscriptions. There's no reality where a company can ship something to you for zero cost. Tbh I think people have gotten so used to Amazon-style loss leading on postage that they have unreasonable expectations of price and speed for smaller firms.

I would hope Land Warrior's staff don't have to piss in bottles while on shift in order to keep up with the pace of work required to do delivery that cheap, (on the most minimum of wages).

The UK has been racing to the bottom for decades now, and here we are, no-one gets paid enough to live because no one else wants to pay them enough to live. Everything's cheap shite made of plastic and breadsticks. You get Ryanair'd up the arse on extras everywhere so that they can try and advertise a low, low price otherwise no one bothers. Everyone's miserable, none of us are rolling in it, but we convince ourselves that an Airsoft shop adding ~£5 to an order is theft.

 

[novioman]

ITT: Novioman just doesn't understand how retail works I guess.

"Free" delivery isn't real, you pay for it in the item price, or in say Prime style subscriptions. There's no reality where a company can ship something to you for zero cost. Tbh I think people have gotten so used to Amazon-style loss leading on postage that they have unreasonable expectations of price and speed for smaller firms.

I would hope Land Warrior's staff don't have to piss in bottles while on shift in order to keep up with the pace of work required to do delivery that cheap, (on the most minimum of wages).

The UK has been racing to the bottom for decades now, and here we are, no-one gets paid enough to live because no one else wants to pay them enough to live. Everything's cheap shite made of plastic and breadsticks. You get Ryanair'd up the arse on extras everywhere so that they can try and advertise a low, low price otherwise no one bothers. Everyone's miserable, none of us are rolling in it, but we convince ourselves that an Airsoft shop adding ~£5 to an order is theft.

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I know how retail works.
It’s not the normal staff in shops who make decisions, it’s the managers and owners who decide they want to charge x for delivery. As I said in my original post I don’t mind paying £10-£12 if it’s a large item, but when it’s a small, light item that could easily go into a Jiffy bag and get posted for under £4 tracked, I do object to them charging the extra.
I don’t consider if theft but I do consider it trying to make profit out of postage.
My view only, you obviously disagree, and that’s fine.

 

[Austeyr]

This is a tough one - a mate ran a small retail business that did a bit of online retail. Barely seemed worth it.

15 minutes to get the item, find a box, print the label and pack it is £4 in wages. Plus the cost of the box, packing materials and postage. It's easy to see a small business spending a tenner posting something out.

By the time you've taken the VAT & payment provider fees off a £30 mag then the cost to buy it they'd be lucky to have a fivers profit in it. If they subsidise that postage rate, their profit has vanished.

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The profit margins from UK wholesalers to retail prices for airsoft is absolutely abysmal anyway

but when it’s a small, light item that could easily go into a Jiffy bag

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And then that item gets damaged in transport due to lack of protection, the company has to resend a new magazine again costing them the postage fee as well as losing out due to a damaged item which using your example would put them out of £38 in total (x2 postage x1 mag that got damaged)

Personally I'd rather pay the £10 and know my parcels going to arrive undamaged and safely but that's just me

 

[Darthwhite8]

Also think that the £10 DPD cost includes the cost to DPD of coming to Landwarrior's premesis to pick up the buyer's item (along with, presumably, many others) on a daily bases,

If that was a memeber of Landwarrior staff going to the post office to give a buyer the postage from royal mail, the costs of that staff member's time. the vehicle cost, parking, fuel, running costs, etc will need to be passed on to the customer somehow*. With that calculated and split across the packages royal mail will take (which is not all airsoft packages) it will likely be similar or perhaps even a bit more than the DPD cost.

The real answer to getting value for money on shipping as a consumer is to save up and make a larger order. A £30 postage charge on one 10x item order is obviously more efficient than 10x orders over time with £10 postage charges applied too each.


*Smaller sellers, without business overheads, might choose do this for free to generate business. Think the people selling 3D printed stuff on ebay for some side money.

 

[BigStew]

So the question is to those that think it's a rip what are retailers to do when posting single low value/mark up items? The cost of postage is not just the courier fee it's the packaging cost , it's the labour time, so does the retailer work out a flat fee that at worst covers costs and at best maybe makes a few pence extra profit? or do they only charge the courier charge and possible wipe out the mark up or even make loss. I know i have stop selling small single items in the forums after spending more on packaging and postage than i charge in total on several sales.

 

[ButcherBill]

I'm usually happy with the postage costs from retailers, Forget about the labour as the same could be said for collecting in person, the same labour to get the item from a stockroom or more if the item is on display, the postage costs IMO start at the packing stage...bubblewrap & cardboard packing materials cost money, a box/bag/jiffy costs money, courier collection from the business or taking to a post office costs time & money then there's the actial postage.

 

[Lyndication]

I know how retail works.
It’s not the normal staff in shops who make decisions, it’s the managers and owners who decide they want to charge x for delivery. As I said in my original post I don’t mind paying £10-£12 if it’s a large item, but when it’s a small, light item that could easily go into a Jiffy bag and get posted for under £4 tracked, I do object to them charging the extra.
I don’t consider if theft but I do consider it trying to make profit out of postage.
My view only, you obviously disagree, and that’s fine.

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You'd be returning it immediately if it got banged about.

So like I said, you just don't know how retail works. The bit about managers and owners is irrelevant. It's not worth the company's time or money to half-arsed send you something via Evri to minimise postage cost, because they will be out of pocket when you charge back after it gets damaged or lost.

You also cannot, as a business, just pop to the local Post Office for every package. Most Post Offices will refuse business drop-offs above a certain number of parcels, because people take the piss. So they're paying the higher rate for a regular Post Office van collection that then delivers to your door, with the labour and materials to properly and carefully pack your order added in.

You're a seller. Time yourself next time you send a package. The packing time, the time to walk to the Post Office and back, multiply it by what you would consider a reasonable wage. Add it to the Royal Mail cost. Add the cost of materials for packaging. It is not far off based on packages I've sold on here.

 

[novioman]

You'd be returning it immediately if it got banged about.

So like I said, you just don't know how retail works. The bit about managers and owners is irrelevant. It's not worth the company's time or money to half-arsed send you something via Evri to minimise postage cost, because they will be out of pocket when you charge back after it gets damaged or lost.

You also cannot, as a business, just pop to the local Post Office for every package. Most Post Offices will refuse business drop-offs above a certain number of parcels, because people take the piss. So they're paying the higher rate for a regular Post Office van collection that then delivers to your door, with the labour and materials to properly and carefully pack your order added in.

You're a seller. Time yourself next time you send a package. The packing time, the time to walk to the Post Office and back, multiply it by what you would consider a reasonable wage. Add it to the Royal Mail cost. Add the cost of materials for packaging. It is not far off based on packages I've sold on here.

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I would guess that your in retail yourself

 

[Lyndication]

I would guess that your in retail yourself

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Not for many years now.

I did my time, haha.

 

[Tackle]

This. I remember when Ebaybanned were open

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Ebaybanned has gone ?, you could have broken that to me a bit easier, I loved that place

While I agree, time is money, so costs have to come from somewhere, but if i walked in to a store & asked for info or the benefits of a part, even if its only £15-£20 worth, no ones gonna say "& here's an added surcharge for me talking to you for up to 15 minutes"
Retailers should consider how much business they probably lose due to excessive postage charges, after all the buyer has probably spent the same amount of time inputting their delivery info, if a seller cant quickly utilise & transfer the same info on to labels etc, maybe they need to consider updating their equipment.