Parcel price frustration

[japancool]

Having now had some enquiries from potential European customers, I'd like to offer European shipping. It seems that customers are willing to pay £15-30 for shipping if they order a large number of items, as it is cheaper than shipping from the Far East and getting hit with import taxes.

I probably won't be shipping too regularly, although you never know. That means I'm unlikely to be able to get a direct account with the likes of DHL to start with.

So I've been looking at parcel aggregators like Parcel2go, Parcel Monkey etc. But can I get a price list? Can I heck.

They all have quote tools on their site and have told me to go and use those. But I need to know how to work out the price in advance, not after the customer has ordered, as I need to present the delivery cost at the time of checkout. If I had to get a quote each time and go back to the customer before they could complete the order and pay, I'd lose the order.

Prices must be worked out either on the basis of weight or of volume, and there must be price bands. It can't be that hard to give a list of prices is it? Even Royal Mail manage to do that.

If these companies want to be used by businesses, they need to get their act together.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Check out www.parcelsplease.com - they have a DPD Road service which works our really efficient for large of heavy parcels to mainland europe. France and Germany etc is 1-3 days, Spain, Italy 4-5 days etc. So it's a bit slower than the DHL gubbins, however, much more cost efficient.

I think Germany is around mid £20's so that's bang within your price range.

 

[japancool]

Check out www.parcelsplease.com - they have a DPD Road service which works our really efficient for large of heavy parcels to mainland europe. France and Germany etc is 1-3 days, Spain, Italy 4-5 days etc. So it's a bit slower than the DHL gubbins, however, much more cost efficient.

I think Germany is around mid £20's so that's bang within your price range.

I don't see a price list on their website though. The issue is that I need to know how they calculate the price so my online shop can show it at checkout time.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

DPD road is I believe much like the inter UK rate, so it will be based on maximum parcel dimensions.

Once you go onto air, it's based on the higher of volumetric weight and physical weight, which is why you have a different price for every parcel depending on size and weight and destination.

One way to simplify is to have a few standard size boxes and then at least you'll have fewer volumetric weights to contend with.

Watch out though, because many of the air couriers have different formulas for volumetric weight, and the same company might have a different formula for inter UK, EC road, and international air.

But I do know that Parcels Please have that wonderful thing called a customer sales department, who you can phone up and they'll not only answer the phone, but also your question.

 

[japancool]

But I do know that Parcels Please have that wonderful thing called a customer sales department, who you can phone up and they'll not only answer the phone, but also your question.

Hah, Parcel2go could try having one of those. I tried their live chat and I think I got a shaved monkey on the other end.

 

[e-vulture]

Could you make your own price list by inputting all of the possible parcel sizes into the calculator and copying the results to a spreadsheet ? Not ideal, but if they're not forthcoming with a price list, it's better than losing sales ?

 

[japancool]

Could you make your own price list by inputting all of the possible parcel sizes into the calculator and copying the results to a spreadsheet ? Not ideal, but if they're not forthcoming with a price list, it's better than losing sales ?

Unfortunately, if I want the cheapest services, it looks like that's what I'm going to have to do. I was just venting my frustration, really but I suppose these aggregators are catering for the lowest common denominator.

I have another question though, if anyone knows the answer to this - most carriers offer insurance on international post up to around £50-£75, and require an extra fee for extended cover.

I would ideally like to offer the same options to my customers but as far as I can see, it's not going to work. What I'd like to do is offer an "insured" and "uninsured" postal option to Europe. But if the parcel gets lost or damaged, they can claim back from their card provider even if they've chosen to ship uninsured (because responsibility for delivering the parcel safely lies with me). If they did that, I'd have to go back to the carrier and claim through them, and they'd only offer insurance up to their standard cover.

Is that right? I know that would be the case in the UK, but I'm not sure how the customer being in Europe would affect this. Also, I use Paypal Express Checkout as my payment processor, and according to an article I read on Which?, this creates an intermediate link that means they can't claim directly from their card issuer but would have to go through Paypal. But again, I'm not sure if that applies unless they are paying via their own Paypal account.

I'd be very grateful if anyone knows the answers or can point me in the right direction.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

My office runs a DHL service point. I am surprised that one person didn't bat an eyelid over paying £145 each to ship handbags to five different destinations round the world. What must the handbags be worth.