where to buy stuff for less shipping?

If you order lots of stuff from Amazon, like my wife and I do, Amazon Prime is a pretty neat program. Free 3-day shipping for $75 a year with no minimum purchase. I think if you don't have prime you can still get free shipping if you spend at least $25. It varies by the product and seller whether its eligible for the program but often times if its sold or fulfilled by Amazon you're good to go. They've got a lot more stuff that you might realize.

A lot of places have free shipping over $50 but like you say, for small orders that's not very helpful. I know Moosejaw and REI have flat rate of $8 and $6, respectively, for orders under $50 which reasonable. If you have a retail store near you can see if they can either order it in or buy it and have it delivered to the store. They don't normally charge you for shipping if you do that.

Adam

IF you find some stuff on Sierra Trading Post, they always have email coupons that give greater discounts and also free or 0.99 shipping.

BUT if you use their mobile app to purchase (and you can use coupon codes too), you always get free shipping, no minimum. I try to pick up small things there, like beanies, hats, NikWax ($5-8 with coupon codes for wash in, spray on, solar/water proofer for gear, etc).

Yeah, Go-lite is one of the worse. I used to click on their link for a "sale" (that never ends, it seems), select a chrome dome sunbrella or even a tent until I saw the shipping costs. Whatever you're seeing to CA, it's worse to Alaska. Sometimes I have it shipped to CA and pick it up the next time I'm south (my airline still gives me two free checked bags).

STP is reasonable to free. L.L. Bean is free. REi is reasonable. Or free with in-store pick-up after mail ordering it. Amazon itself has free shipping over $25 but other sellers listed on Amazon typically aren't to the point of offering seemingly great prices (like $0.21) on items but getting $5 to $9 on shipping.

eBay nicely lists things by price+shipping because of the many sellers who put all their profit into the shipping charges. If it's close, I go with the higher purchase price and lower shipping combo because it just seems more honest.

"It seems like a shipping is often a backdoor way to mask the true cost of many items"

I had a TT customer complaining about the postage cost he paid for a TT parcel from Nevada City to his Aussie address.
When I pointed out that if he went to the Post Office here (of course not charging himself for his time and the packing material…) and sent the same parcel back to TT using the same service (express,signature required) it would have cost him almost exactly twice as much.
His reply "well, that is irrelevant"
That explains a lot to me.

"It seems like a shipping is often a backdoor way to mask the true cost of many items"

There is a little more to this than meets the eye.

Some companies try to do 99% of their shipping via UPS. Why? Because UPS gives them a kickback. This varies with how much total shipping they do via UPS, but typically the true shipping cost paid to UPS is 80% of the shipping fee that shows up on your invoice.

Granted, in most cases the shipping fee is much less than the merchandise price. However, this is just another "profit center" to the company.

–B.G.–

yep, ive had some issues with shipping costs… living in New Zealand doesnt help though. i got a price for an item to be sent over from the US, and was told the cost for shipping was US$40, which just about put me off purchasing. i asked if there was a cheaper option and the answer was no. i bought the item anyway, and when it arrived, the actual cost was only US$22. i sent an e.mail regarding this but havnt had a reply

another time, i made an order for some sale items from a UK store, this time shipping was going to be 40 pounds, once again no cheaper options aparrently. but their shipping within the UK was free, so i had it sent to my Aunty T, for her to then forward on to me in NZ. the parcel was only re addressed, not repackaged into something smaller or anything like that… actual cost.. 10 pounds

so… sometimes there are ways around it, for me anyway

>"Some companies try to do 99% of their shipping via UPS. Why? Because UPS gives them a kickback. "

Or 100%. That's when we see $40 shipping on top of a $25 purchase price. Because UPS's only option to Alaska is second-day air. Can't you send it USPS? "No, we can't." Why not, the postal carrier doesn't come to your business every day? There isn't a post office in your town?

del

+1 Rick.

Quit buying gear?

Shop local.

Free (sorta) country, you have the option to not shop where you think it's too high.

That being said, I bought a pair of trail runners this morning at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports (brms.com) and they offer free shipping (above $50, $5 if below) both ways; no question asked on returns. Pretty good service.

OK, Franco. You win sort of…

To prove my point, I tried to recreate a recent purchase on tarptent for $2.50 (weighing 4 grams) where I seem to remember paying around $5 or more in shipping. This time around the shipping was only $2.00 via first class mail which seems reasonable (but still seems several times higher than the actual cost of mailing a 4g item). So I edited my original post to remove any reference to tarptent.

Thanks to all those who gave recommendations for retailers with reasonable shipping rates.

I've found that if you talk with Backcountry's sales employees over the phone while you make your purchase, and ask questions, and be slightly hesitant, they often cut you a deal on shipping. A simple phrase like "I wish you had two-day going on so I can get this for the weekend" sometimes does it.

I was in a bind and told the sales employee I needed to do 1-day right off the bat (leave for a trip with no wool underwear? NEVER!) and he offered to split the $25 shipping cost with me! Yes sir!

I love Backcountry. At this point, I'm making sacrifices in my gear occasionally, just to shop with them and support the company.

+1 to Ken! If you purchased from your local supplier you don't pay any shipping at all and you keep the more money in your local community!

As for UPS 'kickbacks' UPS does not do kickbacks, they do offer discounts for shippers that do large volume with them.

"As for UPS 'kickbacks' UPS does not do kickbacks, they do offer discounts for shippers that do large volume with them."

I rest my case.

–B.G.–

FedEx does too. In fact my company frequently switches between the two depending on which has agreed to a better "rebate". Kickbacks are illegal so it must be called a rebate that depends on how much we ship with them.

Business is often finding the right term and working just inside the law without actually breaking it. Sadly, being upfront and honest tends to put you at a disadvantage to your competition.