US$135 Shipping Fee

[andrew_carter]

I'm about to buy a Yuni 20" Trials unicycle with the Profile setup from unicycle.com. Because this is my only option, I'm forced to pay a shipping fee of US$135 which is almost $250 Australian! I think this is ridiculous and that it surely wouldn't cost unicycle.com that much to ship it. It makes it really hard for someone like me who's only just saved up the $1060 Australian for the unicycle and then has to pay so much more to get it here. This also means I'm going to have to probably wait a few more weeks to get the thing.

Is it just Australia that gets charged this much? I understand that it is on the other side of the world but surely it can't cost this much.

Andrew Carter

[JJuggle]

Originally posted by andrew_carter
I'm about to buy a Yuni 20" Trials unicycle with the Profile setup from unicycle.com. Because this is my only option, I'm forced to pay a shipping fee of US$135 which is almost $250 Australian! I think this is ridiculous and that it surely wouldn't cost unicycle.com that much to ship it. It makes it really hard for someone like me who's only just saved up the $1060 Australian for the unicycle and then has to pay so much more to get it here. This also means I'm going to have to probably wait a few more weeks to get the thing.

Is it just Australia that gets charged this much? I understand that it is on the other side of the world but surely it can't cost this much.

Andrew Carter

Andrew,

I think that everyone here is sympathetic to your situation, especially in light of your age and that it is likely that it takes some effort for you to save up this kind of cash.

However, no one here can do anything except offer opinions. The only people with whom you can really discuss this are the folks at Unicycle.com.

Now most here will tell you that they have had dealings with various unscrupulous businesspeople and to be wary on this account. However, I believe with almost no exceptions, all here will tell you that Unicycle.com has dealt with them in no manner other than honorable and honest.

You might also wish to go to the websites of the US Postal Service (www.usps.gov), FedEx (www.fedex.com) and UPS (www.ups.com) and see if you can't check the approximate shipping charges to Australia for yourself.

I am in no way trying to minimize your understandable frustration, only suggesting that you can do some checking on your own and really need to bring this up with the Drummonds.

Good luck and I hope you get your Yuni soon!

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

[Checkernuts]

Still how would you like to pay $135 to get your $250 unicycle shipped to you? Thats bull shit, you may want to try and get in touch with GizmoDuck I think he's from NZ he may be able to help you out on a tip about getting a uni down under for a decent price.

Good Luck

Dont let the bastards grind you down.

Chex

[unicus]

Andrew

I doubt unicycle.com are trying to rip you off, I'd speak to (or e-mail) them directly. They should be able to tell you why it cost $135 to ship it from the US to Aus. I've always found Roger (unicycle.uk.com) really nice and he goes out of his way to help.


Chex
Originally posted by Checkernuts
Dont let the bastards grind you down.
"Illegitimis non carborundum." (Latin)
Gen. Joseph Stilwell

Much nicer.

Gary

[Unicyco]

Originally posted by Checkernuts
Still how would you like to pay $135 to get your $250 unicycle shipped to you?

It is noticable that he is buying a US$570 unicycle, not a US$250. big difference.

[teachndad]

I really don't think unicycle.com is trying to shaft Andrew. I think they are charging the price for shipping because that's what the shipper charges i.e. UPS, FedEx or whoever is carrying the unicycle.

When I buy something from unicycle.com at get it shipped to California via UPS, it's around 6 bucks. That covers the shipping.
I assume that the labor to pack any item I buy is buried in the price.

That unicycle is going a long way to Australia. If I bought a unicycle online from some business in Australia, I bet I would have to pay high shipping costs not from the unicycle seller, but from the cargo carrier.

So I wouldn't get on the back of unicycle.com. I really don't think the high price is their fault.

Andrew, your right, that price is high for shipping. Just wait until you want to buy another one...;)

[trsrdr]

It seems high, but I just ran a rate check with UPS. Surprise! It came up with $175.37 or $188.50. I'd say the $135 was a bargain. Maybe going through a local bike shop would be cheaper if they could order more than one item.

[Gilby]

There might be a lower cost option if it is shipped on a cargo ship instead of by air which might be the case for that price you got. This will take longer to ship though, but is good if you got more time to wait than you have cash. Check with Unicycle.com to see if they have other options for you.

[Checkernuts]

Originally posted by unicus
Andrew

"Illegitimis non carborundum." (Latin)
Gen. Joseph Stilwell[/i]

Much nicer.

Gary

It may be nicer, but then my Toasters Avitar or whatever the little icon things are called wouldnt make as much sence. :-P

You guys may notice I was trying to help instead of just bitching about the cost of shipping wich sucks. Yeah shipping is high and did I at all blame Unicycle.com, I dont think so. I still think that paying $135 to ship a 15 lb (arround 7kg box) is F.... Messed up at that price I woundt even be able to afford a torker.

I think the bike shop order may be a good route to go with too, perhaps they can get wholesale prices from Unicyclist.com making the end Retail price more bearable. I would even be willing to accept frequent flyer mile donations from everyone in order to get that flight to Aus which yes that too is at an exhuberant price, in order to hand deliver Andrew the package at a lower cost.

Perhaps the world is different to thoese of you who have money. But to a college student who's Kitchen just burned down I hardly have enough money to pay for school and eat. Unicycling is a sport where the equipment is keept to a minimum. I mean were basically riding arround on crude bicycle forks with pedals.

When ever someone wants to bitch about the price of someone why do they deserve the Unicycle.com nazi's jumping down thier back saying its a good price. They kinda seem like a Monopoly with unicycling equipment as far as I can tell. So how can you say what is a good price? If there is no compitition they can ask whatever they want for equipment, like 1200+ for an original KH uni.

Goodluck Andrew I feel your pain.

[john_childs]

You're not the first to complain about shipping costs to Australia or New Zealand. I wouldn't be happy about paying that much for shipping either.

Anyone know how the costs break down for the shipping? How much of the cost is tariff/duty/taxes/bribes?

Is it less if it goes by ship rather than air?

[JJuggle]

Originally posted by Checkernuts


Unicycle.com nazi

Now there's a T-Shirt...

...or maybe not.

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

[jagur]

Originally posted by JJuggle
Now there's a T-Shirt......or maybe not.Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ how a'bout an arm band!......... :)

[andrew_carter]

Thanks a lot everyone for all your advice. I guess I was being pretty ignorant thinking that it was all unicycle.com's fault. I never even considered that they get UPS or someone else to ship it for them. Thanks 'trsrdr' for checking that price for me, and 'JJuggle' for those links. I suppose I'll just stop whining and pay the shipping cost. I could wait until the end of the year when our family's going to a wedding in Canada and have it shipped there but I just can't wait that long:) .

Thanks for all the support,
Andrew Carter

[rhysling]

Australia has some intereseting import/export dynamics. Ya'll don't export as much as import- so it is significantly cheeper to export. Air Fraight from AU is about the same as Surface cost to AU...

So, to some extent, you are paying for an empty space on an outbound fraighter.

As to politics- Uni.com has NEVER screwed me on shipping. In fact, they posted quite a few Miyata sadles for free when they weren't in stock for cycles they were wed to. They also ship fast. 'Course, they make of for these expences elseware... ;)

-Christopher

[andrew_carter]

Thanks Christopher, that's really interesting about the import/export costs. And don't worry, I'm not blaming unicycle.com anymore now that everyone has filled me in on what goes on.

[andrew_carter]

If I decide to get 'One Tired Guy' (Kris Holm's video) shipped over to Australia with my unicycle will it add to the cost much? What I mean is, do they have a certain charge for general shipping that makes up most of the cost and then add on a little depending on the weight? Or is the shipping cost affected a lot by an increase in weight?

Thanks,
Andrew Carter

[Scott Stephens]

I tried to find a way to calculate shipping of both items, but i dont think i can do it without actually buying it. Alone shipping the Yuni is 131$ and the video alone is 46$( I think this is in American currency) I highly doubt that it would cost 175$, and i think it just will add on a few dollars for the extra weight. The problem enlies here:http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=480
scroll down to the very bottom of the page, and you see a note that says, Shipping begins December 5. From what i concieve this would mean that unless you were planning on waiting until Dec. 5 to buy your unicycle THAT particular video wouldnt ship because its not out to the general public yet.
Correct me if im wrong.
Scott

[jagur]

One Tired Guy has been out for awile, thats December 5 of last year.

[Graeme]

Originally posted by andrew_carter
If I decide to get 'One Tired Guy' (Kris Holm's video) shipped over to Australia with my unicycle will it add to the cost much?

Andrew, one thing to bear in mind is the American NTSC format v. Rest of The World minus France (more or less) PAL format. Recent PAL TVs can decode NTSC signals OK but videos can be a bit fussier. It may be worth checking your video can play NTSC videos. If it can't and unicycle.com can't ship a PAL copy, try unicycle.uk.com (sorry for adding to your problems rather than answering them)

Have fun!

Graeme

[Scott Stephens]

whoops my bad, order away

scptt

[andrew_carter]

Thanks everyone, these problems are always eventually going to arise so I might as well know about them early:) . So does the UK generally use PAL videos then?

Thanks,
Andrew

[unicus]

Originally posted by andrew_carter
So does the UK generally use PAL videos then?

Thanks,
Andrew
Yes the UK uses PAL.

I was converting GBP to NZD at http://www.xe.com/ucc/ so having read this thread and the others about the Onza/Yuni decision your making Andrew I ran the prices of the video and the uni's your looking at through it.

Results
One Tired Guy 20.00USD (NTSC) = 36.61AUD : 20.00GBP (PAL) = 56.91AUD
Onza 389.00USD = 712.18AUD : 199.00GBP = 566.18AUD
Yuni/Profile 577.00USD = 1056.61AUD
Shipping 135.00USD = 246.98AUD

Cheers, Gary

[GizmoDuck]

Andrew,

It really sucks being down under huh? I've ordered from both Unicycle.com in the US and from the UK. Usually I wait till theres quite a few things I need before I order since the cost of shipping is somewhat ridiculous (like usually 20-30% of the cost of the items). The Aussie and Kiwi rupees don't help either.

What you could do is get friends/ relatives who are travelling to the UK/US and bribe them to carry some unicycle.com items back for you. Otherwise try to order as a group- that's what we hope to do in NZ. Also I believe you can get a VAT refund if you buy stuff from the UK- although not if you buy online :(

You could also get the small items like hubs and then get a local framebuilder to build you a custom unicycle. It will probably be cheaper.

Tony Melton and Peter Bier from Auckland have just ordered Cokers- can't remember what they said it cost to ship but it was an obscene amount.

Boy do we need an Australasian unicycle.com distributer!

Ken

P/s Buy a spare hub (unless you're getting a beefy Profile or similar)

[peter.bier]

Andrew,

More bad knews I'm afraid - you will probably need to take into account Australian gst. In addition to horrendous postage costs, when we import any stuff into New Zealand worth more than $400 we have to pay gst on it. Customs impounds our packages and send a ransom note demanding 12.5% gst be paid before they give us our merchandise. This can be a rude surprise if you are not expecting it and will also result in a few days to a week delay in getting your unicycle

I'm not sure on the current Australian laws but imagine they will probably be similar. It is worth checking out the situation anyway as it may add another couple of hundred dollars to your order and you should know whether you need to save up some more cash before ordering.

Regards unicycle.com shipping, they only use UPS and Fedex for good reason. The one thing worse than paying large postage costs is buying a unicycle and having it go missing in transit. Before going to Fedex and UPS unicycle.com did use cheaper options and found that far too many packages went missing.

This isn't so bad for those in the US but it sure sucks when you live overseas. I believe even Canadians pay a fair amount in postage. If its any consolation, it is more expensive to ship to NZ than Australia :-(

As to what you can do about it, Ken's suggestions are all good ones,
-get friends/family to bring things over for you if they are travelling
-team up with some one else, especially if buying smallish items, one medium sized package is usually cheaper to ship than several small ones.
-avoid ordering large or heavy objects if at all possible. ie it may pay to order just a hub and seat. You can then get a frame built up in Australia and bike shops can supply the rest of the parts.
-get your stuff shipped to a friend in the US who will sea freight it to you.

If you want to really freak out check out postage costs to NZ for a Coker rim. It costs $486.82 US to ship the $45 US rim, more than ten times the cost of the actual item!

Tony and I are paying an as yet unknown amount for our Coker postage costs. We have an elaborate plan in action that will see our cokers pass through 4 different companys hand's on their way to NZ via land and sea. This is all in an effort to bring our postage costs down under the $2000 NZ mark. So far the plan has proved to be the cause of much nail biting. Last I heard was 12 days ago when we discovered our boxes were marooned somewhere in California. Amy at unicycle.com has been incredibly helpful but when not dealing with UPS or Fedex it is much harder to keep track of things. Fingers crossed, we may see our Cokers before Christmas. At least with UPS you know you'll have your stuff in a week or so.

[andrew_carter]

Gary,

Thanks a lot for checking those prices for me. The 'Currency Converter' is really handy hey? I was quite surprised that the UK unicycle.com charges so much less for the Onza than the US unicycle.com.
________________________________________________________________________ _____________________
Ken,

They are good suggestions, but at the moment, after heaps of really careful consideration I've decided to buy either the Onza or the Yuni 20" trials unicycles from unicycle.com and just put up with the huge shipping cost. That's very true that unicycle.com needs an Australian distributor. You may be surprised to hear that the Gap Bike Shop in Brisbane where I work part-time has emailed unicycle.com in an effort to become the Australian distributor! Unfortunately they haven't even responded yet and it's been about 2 weeks. I emailed unicycle.com a while back about something and got a reply about a month later, so there may still be a chance. I the shop does make some sort of arrangement with unicycle.com I'll be sure to let you know. If they were the Australian distributor, that would mean no outrageous shipping cost.
________________________________________________________________________ _____________________
Peter,

Thanks for filling me in about the possibility of having to pay gst on my unicycle. Choosing and buying a unicycle is unbelievably difficult and frustrating. More problems just seem to keep popping up every day. US$486?!? How can the people at UPS and Fedex sleep at night? Well good luck getting those Cokers in for Christmas and I'll expect to hear all about them when you finally get them.

Thanks a lot everyone,
Andrew