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$7 shipping?


murpes

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Originally posted by japinard:

quabbling about $7 S&H? Pathetic...

No, pathetic is blindly accepting every damn charge that someone places in front of you. That's why we get nickled & dimed to death. $7 seems high to me, especially for an expensive game to begin with, not that it matters much because obviously I want the game and it's worth the money to me in the end.

Heavy Mastering Netware book from Amazon.com - free s&h.

Monsters Inc DVD from DVDexpress - $2.95

Unreal Tournament 2003 from EBworld, which includes a box and a jewel case - $5.99

Not too sure what a quabble is either, but it was more of a raised eyebrow than a bitch.

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There is always the reverse side of charging for handling...and that is the consumer expects handling to be...well...handled...

Meaning...if people don't get their CD shipped the day of release, why the heck are they paying handling?

If an outside company is shipping / handling then build it into the price. Tacking on cost for "handling" means I am paying EXTRA for a service. If it's part of the overal unit price, it means it is INCLUDED in the cost of the game and shipping will happen when it does.

Now...if my shipping is STILL 7 dollars then it better be heckuva good shipping considering the Non-Bulky rate, as I know that the shipping per unit is probably around 4 bucks.

Which leads me to my final point...Since we are paying for handling...the damn thing better go on the 20th to everyone who pre-ordered. Otherwise, BTS hasn't fulfilled their end of the shipping and "handling" bargain.

So...that means the NEXT time around...or for future customers...the price should be bundled with the cost of the product per unit. Then shipping can occur when the company can accomodate.

The BTS / BFC business model is extremely interesting to me because it is so clodgy and thrown together without consistency across products. I really love the companies and developers involved, but there needs to be some consistency in the business model / communications / dissemination of information.

A lot of that is really a result of the company's success and inability to grow with the demand / demands of the customers. Altogether BTS is doing well, however...as time goes on, more substantial and understandable business wordings and operations should be implemented...

I'd defintely be willing to help out on that task as a consultant with experience.

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Originally posted by medlinke:

Meaning...if people don't get their CD shipped the day of release, why the heck are they paying handling?

Well, how about HANDLING. How about if they sent you a UPS ground box, for your shipping, but didn't bother to fill it with a program, manage inventory so there were tracking their inventory, print and include an invoice. The software and hardware for managing all that. The overhead for the people doing the work and managment of the shipping.

I see you have no idea how much work goes into shipping products.

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Cost of doing business, Karch. Why not charge us separately for burning the CD? Why not charge us separately for having the manual printed & bound? Since it has to be done for EVERY SINGLE PACKAGE, it doesn't really make sense for it to be a separate charge.

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Demoss:

Cost of doing business, Karch. Why not charge us separately for burning the CD? Why not charge us separately for having the manual printed & bound? Since it has to be done for EVERY SINGLE PACKAGE, it doesn't really make sense for it to be a separate charge.
Except when people order more than one product. There is a difference between:

$45 (CMBB) + $40 (AA) + $7 (first item) +$1 (additional item)

and

$52 + $47

There are other advantages to do it the way we do. For example, we have dropped shipping twice already in the past, passing on cost savings for handling directly to the customer at the blink of an eye. Doing so with the S&H included in price for a game isn't as clean and could be misunderstood as a "discount" signal. And if we'd ever had to raise prices for S&H for whatever reason, what then?

Martin

[ September 19, 2002, 07:16 PM: Message edited by: Moon ]

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$4 for shipping and $3 for handling seems very fair. I'm no expert (believe me!), but the following things must occur:

1) Single item or bundle (CMBB/CMBO) retrieved from inventory.

2) Invoice printed and included with order

3) Order inserted into shipping envelope.

3) Mailing label applied.

4) Inventory records updated.

5) Shipping paperwork updated / prepared.

These things don't come for free. The cost of the game is for the programming (and production). Something I'm very willing to pay for, worth every penny.

The cost of handling does not come for free either. Someone (aka an employee or shipping house, who is/are paid for their time) has to do all that prep for shipping and thats called handling. That adds up to money when you are talking thousands of units. I trust BTS to charge a fair price for their time and costs. And to ship the product in a fair amount of time starting on the 20th.

Are you REALLY whining about $3 handling ? Hard to believe.

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No, what has really aggravated me is the fact that when I ordered SC and CMBB together, the order confirmation said that in stock items would be shipped right away. This was a flat-out lie. Had I known, I'd have ordered them separately.

[ September 19, 2002, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: demoss ]

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