Gustav Line - Shipping Costs

[Canada Guy]

I want to start this thread by saying that I do NOT think that BF is gouging us on the shipping costs. I know that shipping can be expensive but . . . .

The shipping costs to Canada are $23 and that is via US Postal Service. I find this a little outrageous and not because of BF but the USPS must be gouging you guys as well. I regularly buy things through eBay and have my sister send me parcels (including parts for a motorcycle) from Missouri and I usually pay $10-$15 for a box. And this is close to the $27 for Europe and we usually pay about 1/2 what they pay (and the CDN$ is almost at par with US$). What is the USPS doing for you? Is there someone that I can phone at home in the middle of the night to see where my parcel is for $23? Is some "John Smith" going to come to my door and not only deliver it but install it as well - with a smile?

Have you guys thought about alternatives if someone wanted a physical copy? What about letter post instead of parcel post, or what about normal parcel and not tracked parcel?

I think this is the first time I am seriously considering the download option only. And I really do not think that you guys are trying to make money off of delivery as some on eBay try to do but there must be some alternatives. The last time (6 months ago) the shipping was $16 and now it is 44% more. Ouch!

[MikeyD]

Over in Europe I hear VAT is the culprit for shipping costs. I recall Moon once suggested picking up a cheap USB memory stick to store the digital download on as a backup instead of buying the CD. Be warned, though, the Gustav Line module might be over 1 gig. Though I don't have a clue what size the installer will be compressed down to.

[Michael Emrys]

The shipping costs to Canada are $23 and that is via US Postal Service.

I wonder... If you live close to the border, you might consider renting a PO box in the States and have parcels sent there if you order lots of stuff from the US on any kind of a regular basis. Then you could just pop across whenever you are expecting a parcel and pick it up. Or is that impractical?

Michael

[Redwolf]

VAT doesn't come into shipping charges, it is always a separate charge, if any.

[Canada Guy]

Unfortunately I am about 3.5 hours from the border. I wish I were closer but the closest city would be Missoula Montana at about 11 hours (I don't think Fargo counts). My wife just wants to move closer to an Ikea.

I am just surprised at the additional cost and thought that our free trade agreement would make this inexpensive. I also thought that the USPS was fairly cheap to use but I think it may be cheaper to ship from Canada which surprises me. Oh well, digital download here I come. (And don't get me started on our selection of Netflix - unless you like badly made québécois movies).

[Vanir Ausf B]

I am just surprised at the additional cost and thought that our free trade agreement would make this inexpensive.

We are altering the deal. Pray we do not alter it further.

[Crinius]

27$ for shipping here to Germany???? This is a belated April Fool joke right?? It would cost me nearly as much as the product to order it? No way Iam gonna buy this. When I order things from Amazon UK Iam normaly charged with about 5$ and if Iam right the things from Battlefront always came from somewhere in Ireland. This is only a small jewelcase which comes in a letterenvelope, at least this is what it was always like. Sorry Battlefront but this is a ripoff.

[Michael Emrys]

I also thought that the USPS was fairly cheap to use...

It is, if you are sending out bulk mailings of advertisements.

:mad:

Michael

[Michael Emrys]

...if Iam right the things from Battlefront always came from somewhere in Ireland.

At the moment, you are not right. Right now everything has to be shipped from the States. ISTR not so long ago BFC mentioned trying to set up another arrangement whereby items can be shipped within Europe again. Best to just stick with the download option for now.

Michael

[Crinius]

At the moment, you are not right. Right now everything has to be shipped from the States. ISTR not so long ago BFC mentioned trying to set up another arrangement whereby items can be shipped within Europe again. Best to just stick with the download option for now.

Michael

Thx for clearing this. But to be honest even if its send from the US, a small envelope with a small jewelcase cant be 27$. I regular buy things in the US and this just isnt right. Last time I ordered from BF my order was checked by the customservice. So after I got informed by the customservice (after 8 weeks) I had to drive 50 KM, pick it up by myself and I had to pay an additional 20 € (about 25$) and then driving back another 50 KM. I was really feed up. Of course this was not BF`s fault but ordering from BF is really a pain in the A..

[Fetchez la Vache]

I did find $27 a wee bit excessive, if the truth be known. I was going to pre-order myself but decided not to bother when I saw that charge. So download it is. First time for everything.

Well since my new iMac doesn't have an in-built DVD player anyway, I probably just need to get over my old predilection for 'hardware'. Heavens, a child of Sinclair finding himself out-dated. I feel like an old dog all of a sudden...

[dieseltaylor]

Unfortunately I am about 3.5 hours from the border. I wish I were closer but the closest city would be Missoula Montana at about 11 hours (I don't think Fargo counts). My wife just wants to move closer to an Ikea.

I am just surprised at the additional cost and thought that our free trade agreement would make this inexpensive. I also thought that the USPS was fairly cheap to use but I think it may be cheaper to ship from Canada which surprises me. Oh well, digital download here I come. (And don't get me started on our selection of Netflix - unless you like badly made québécois movies).

Just to show I care and that with goodwill most things can be accomplished.

From a UK consumer site

I use http://www.unblock-us.com/ it’s only a few dollars (£3) and you change the DNS settings on your devices to use it. There are free ones about, but it really is a case of getting what you pay for. Selectable regions, no downtime so far. Also it does NOT slow down your net connection, so if you do it on a console you can still play multiplayer with minimal lag.

Their is a huge imbalance in the quality of ondemand services between the UK and the US. Even from companies that are in both countries (Netflix). As usual we pay more and get far less.

And Sky is now trying to beat out all ondemand services with NowTV hoovering up any new films and TV shows with a subscription 3x the cost of lovefilm. And people are buying into it, making the UK get dragged further behind in the ondemand scene.

I’m subscribed to Netflix UK (but access the superior US version) and hulu plus (again US based) because the US is lightyears ahead in ondemand content.

As an example of the difference between the US and UK, I’ve just finished watching all seasons of Sliders,the kids love the Lorax film, as well as Dr Horrible’s sing-along-blog and Sesame Street. I’ve just started on Star trek: TOS this week… and none of these are available in the UK. Even though they would be a good addition for lots of users and increase subscriptions.

Hulu Plus gives me access to TV shows the day after they have aired in the US (family guy, Big bang theory, game of thrones, house of cards, etc). And all it took was changing a single setting on my console and pc.

Maybe in another 5 years the UK will have caught up and I can drop the tweak.

Personally I think this guy and his family watch way way too much trashy TV Come to think of it I like Cnadian broadcasting so why I am suggesting watching US pulp I have no idea: (

[para]

Why is he saying that the UK is way behind? Most of the shows he mentions are on UK tv and we get them more or less the same time they are shown in the US.

[Canada Guy]

It must be where you are from that determines your taste in TV. I love BBC and spend my days trying to find copies of QI, Heston Bluemanthal, the Gadget Man and anything else that the Beeb or ITV puts out. Not easy as none of these are available through DVD or even legitimate download.

I find Canadian TV a little too folksey and boring even when they are trying to be glamourous or exciting. And not to trash American TV as there are some great shows (Game of Thrones, Adventure Time & Archer) but most is terrible. Even great shows like CSI have gotten tired and boring. Hence the need for "QI" which is brilliant but you may not see it that way over the pond as you regularly have access to good programming. To my kids it is a breath of fresh air. Intelligent, funny and Alan Davies.

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I wonder if BF would be happy to release these games as digital download only? Would it save them time and money? I know I like the physical copy but it is probably the way of the future.

[dieseltaylor]

I am shocked by the adverts per programme. We had "Parks and Recreation" recently and the show on BBC lasts 21 minutes. I assume if I am in advertland it is a 30 minute show. SO roughly a third wasted time for watchers. Bizarre.

And of course the loss of continuity and atmosphere. Its criminal.

...................................................

As for BF and their shipping policy [or more like sod the rest of the world] it seems to me that they have never leveraged the genuine goodwill of their early fans on the distribution and growth side. If I had known they has a fistful of books to sell I could have met them in New Brunswick in 2012 and brought 20-50 home to the UK for places like Bovington or IWM possibly. Or even sold them directly from here. Its not like I don't know a dozen people into WW2 locally.

OK so perhaps a 2 hour drive up for them but hell better than remaindering stock.

[ASL Veteran]

I wonder if BF would be happy to release these games as digital download only? Would it save them time and money? I know I like the physical copy but it is probably the way of the future.

:confused: You can buy CM games digital download only. You just can't pre order a digital download only copy. If you want to do the digital download only you just have to wait until the day it's released to buy it (unless I'm misunderstanding your comment).

[Moon]

The pure cost that the US Postal Service charges for a non-letter shipment to Europe is $24. The remaining $3 is handling.

[Battlefront.com]

About the shipping costs...

Big companies, like Amazon and what not, have special rates with their shipping providers. And like Americans without health insurance, guess who subsidizes that? Individuals. Why? Because individuals don't have clout. Amazon can say to it's shipping partner "here is what we are going to pay you. Take it or leave it". Battlefront can't.

But there is something else, which has been around for a LONG time. And that is Aamzon is losing money on most of the shipping charges. So how is it profitable? By building that loss into its pricing. And because it's so big it can pass that cost onto the companies that sell their product through Amazon. "If you don't like what we're willing to pay, why don't you take your product to Borders? Oh wait, I'm sorry... they're out of business! Try Walmart. They'll pay you even less, but maybe they'll give you a nice yellow sticker with smiley face on it".

Folks, do NOT kid yourself. The economics of shipping product these days is not good and it is getting worse. If you think you're not paying for it, you need to think again. You are. Whether you can point your finger at it or not.

BTW, people complained about or shipping costs even when they were about $8 domestic and $12 foreign. It's clear to us that a significant number of people are going to be unhappy about ANY charge at all. Which is why we have downloads available (though not as a preorder option).

Eventually the costs of offering printed disks and manuals to you guys is going to be unaffordable to us and we'll simply stop doing it. It will not get any cheaper than it is today. We've already exhausted all the cost saving options on our end that are available. And yes, we've done a lot of things over the years to keep costs down.

Steve

[Battlefront.com]

The pure cost that the US Postal Service charges for a non-letter shipment to Europe is $24. The remaining $3 is handling.

Let me add to that. I collect uniforms from around the world. I just had a single, light weight uniform shipped to me by a friend in Australia. The cost? AUD 56. The only other option was about 1/3 less for surface rate. He sent one to me one that method and it took (literally) 3 months to arrive at my house. No amount of complaining changed those options.

Anybody that wants to tell me that shipping rates are killing off incentives to buy things, I'm sympathetic. But I'm no magician or Aamzaon, so therefore the costs are what the costs are.

Steve

[Holien]

Eventually the costs of offering printed disks and manuals to you guys is going to be unaffordable to us and we'll simply stop doing it. It will not get any cheaper than it is today. We've already exhausted all the cost saving options on our end that are available. And yes, we've done a lot of things over the years to keep costs down.

Steve

Thanks for that Steve, I agree with all you say and I have seen shipping costs internal to UK rise year on year.

It is a good job we can down load, so one happy customer and looking forward to the new content.

I think your post here should be placed as a FAQ on postage charges as it covers all the main points and shows clearly why it is what it is.

One good thing has come out of this is I now know how I can get a copy of the first episode of Hatfields and Mcoys. I am guessing the US netflix will have the first episode. The little DNS tweak sounds like just the ticket...

I managed to record the rest from C5 but failed to get the first one and have been dithering on how to get the first one...

[Redwolf]

FWIW, being a German expat in the US I can confirm that it costs that much to ship individual packages back and forth. My care packages (edible food) have shot up a lot. Both ways is very expensive and it got more expensive Jan 1 2013.

Also FWIW, Matrixgames had their German warehouse closed, shipped a container with all their games back to the US and is now individually mailing them to Germany when people order. Customers are not happy.

BTW, pretty sure that you can/will-if-found be hit with sales tax on top of those $27.

[Battlefront.com]

Thanks for that Steve, I agree with all you say and I have seen shipping costs internal to UK rise year on year.

There are three countries I don't order stuff from unless it's absolutely necessary; Australia, Hungary, and the UK. Thanks in part to the bad exchange rates for our worn out US Dollar, the rates are far and away the worst out there. At least for the lower end of the weight spectrum. As you go up it improves, but still a 20kg box out of Hungary is 50% more than a 20kg out of Germany.

I think your post here should be placed as a FAQ on postage charges as it covers all the main points and shows clearly why it is what it is.

We might have something like that still. We used to, but nobody read it from what we could see.

FWIW, being a German expat in the US I can confirm that it costs that much to ship individual packages back and forth. My care packages (edible food) have shot up a lot. Both ways is very expensive and it got more expensive Jan 1 2013.

US to Germany went up about 8% IIRC.

It's the small end of the spectrum that is killer. That's why I have friends in Europe that do "freight consolidation" for me. When they have a 20kg box filled it's off to the US. Even with all the domestic shipping rates factored in it is still cheaper by a LOT than having the same weight sent in 2kg or smaller packages. And before you ask, it usually takes many months to fill up a 20kg box. By the time it arrives here I've forgotten about 1/2 the stuff I bought, so it's a bit like Christmas

BTW, Germany's domestic shipping rates are amongst the lowest anywhere. At least from my experience. This might be making our German customers even less enthusiastic about our shipping rates. If their only experience is domestic postage then we're definitely going to look sky high.

Also FWIW, Matrixgames had their German warehouse closed, shipped a container with all their games back to the US and is now individually mailing them to Germany when people order. Customers are not happy.

Hadn't heard that, but not surprised. We used to ship out of Ireland years ago and that got too expensive. We moved it to Germany and that was fine for a while. But we had problems with German customs even on a good day. On one bad day they actually sent a box back to us. Really hard to keep stock in hand except to purchase locally within Germany. Unfortunately the pricing just didn't work for us.

BTW, pretty sure that you can/will-if-found be hit with sales tax on top of those $27.

Yes. The question is what country to do you live in. If it is the UK and Netherlands we have seen a HUGE upswing in packages being hit by Customs. Not only do they get hit with VAT but also a flat "processing fee" which in the UK adds another $13 to the total cost. Robbery, but governments are looking for any source of revenue they can. But they hit that hard enough and people will just stop ordering or find ways around it.

Steve

[JonS]

Robbery, but governments are looking for any source of revenue they can. But they hit that hard enough and people will just stop ordering or find ways around it.

Yup. And the same thing applies to postal companies. Sure; email has killed mailed letters, but ebay and amazon and etsy and the like have exploded the package mail. But instead of trying to foster and grow that, the postal companys seem dead set on killing the golden goose.

Say hello to more and more digital downloads.

[Canada Guy]

ASL Veteran,

I had meant the shipping and handling costs for BF and not myself. I will go digital download probably exclusively from now but there must be a point (and I think Steve or Moon confirmed) where it is cost prohibitive for BF to ever ship a physical copy.

That is what ticked me off about the whole Canadian VAT and then a processing fee on top of that when we are supposed to have free trade with the US. It appears that the little guy gets screwed (BF also being a little guy) and the giants like Walmart and book resellers reap the benefits. With free trade between the US and Canada and at the time the CDN$ trading higher than the US$, a paperback was still 35% more in Canada. One of the reasons I do not subscribe to Netflix. Why pay the same amount for an inferior product. I would willingly pay for stuff (like I do with HBO and Game of Thrones) if I did not feel like they just wanted to rip me off.

$35 is reasonable for the time and effort for the Gustav Line. $23 is not reasonable for a small package to be shipped by the USPS.

---

BTW BBC Canada is mostly crap. Mostly Canadian home building shows. Come on, you cannot tell me that it is cheaper to have a Canadian Home Building show instead of repeats of "Only Fools and Horses" or "Dad's Army". You get tired of feeling like you are just here to get ripped off.

[Redwolf]

"Free trade agreement" only means no customs payments. Sales tax still applies, the same that it theoretically applies when shipping a product from a US state with no sales tax into one with sales tax, except in the case of Canadia they actually try to enforce it.

In the case of Germany you have:

• 
  
• 19% sales tax oder wo seit Ihr inzwischen?
  
• 3% customs
  
• $24 shipping
  
• $3 "for BFC" for the handling which isn't enough for a low volume product
  

On the bright side, the sales tax is only charged on the product value, not the shipping. Unless they say product value is hidden in the shipping cost.