SMKW shipping and handling fees

jill jackson

jill jackson

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We got a SMKW catalog today and we never order from them anymore.(they don't have much we want and if they do it's higher than elsewhere) So, I was leafing though it and checked out their shipping rates. It's based on price of the item you purchase and it's for UPS. If I buy a knife costing between 100 and 199.99, I'd pay 13.49 and an additional 1.25 handling fee! A total of 14.74. That's for UPS ground which includes insurance for no additional charge up to 100 dollars, anyway. I've seen these excessive shipping charges before and I won't buy anything from a company that makes a big profit from shipping an item to me. (charge a handling fee forget it) It really turns me off when companies charge by amount spent, instead of actual shipping costs.
 
If you buy off the website, they offer free shipping on orders over $100. They used to offer the same on orders over $10. Their shipping fees from the website have not been outrageous in my experience - pretty much on par with other vendors.
 
they still have catalogs? I've been ordering from them and haven't received a new catalog in years, I just go off of the website.

david.
 
I was surprised to see that New Graham's shipping was so high too. I was looking at their favorable pricing on a couple of inexpensive knives, but when you added the shipping, they weren't a deal anymore. The shipping on two Byrds was over $13 as well:o
 
I ordered a couple things off their website when the minimum for free shipping was very low. The minimum was too low. I'm sure they broke even or lost money on many orders at that time.
 
Shipping charges went up recently with the increased gas prices. Now gas is cheaper and the shipping rates are still high. Of course fuel costs will surely be on the rise again at some point.
 
They had free shipping with no minimum for a while. I'm sure people buying $1 items and nothing else is what did away with that. Then they moved on to a $10 minimum. I still didn't get that as UPS shipping would run that much easily. They now have a $100 minimum for free shipping.

Their current free shipping seems to be USPS Priority instead of UPS.
 
So UPS ground shipping is that high now? WOW, I've been using USPS and it's about 7-8 dollars with 100-150 dollars insurance, for an item the size of a knife. But, I found the UPS site giving a quote of over 11.00 for ground service between two neighboring states. Maybe I was too hard on SMKW. But, still that 1.25 handling charge is reason enough I'd look elsewhere.
But, you guys are right online it's free over 100 dollars. Strange they'd charge a poor old customer without an computer that much to ship from their mail order catalog and one with Internet access nothing, isn't it?
 
Last edited:
jill jackson said:
Strange they'd charge a poor old customer without an computer that much to ship from their mail order catalog and one with Internet access nothing, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Well it costs them a lot to print and mail the catalog...
 
You're all lucky you don't have to deal with international shipping rates. I live in the UK, and shipping from the USA to the UK costs much the same as shipping coast to coast within the USA. Most of the knives I order online arrive with the postage cost showing as between $4 and $10. But there are knife sellers (who shall remain nameless) many of the large internet sellers who try to charge upwards of $50, sometimes as much as $80 to send a single knife. I doubt they do any international business.
When the Dollar was doing so badly on the currency markets, there's an oppertunity to sell worldwide to foriegn customers who want a bargain. Why would you want to stop that trade with silly shipping costs that no one will pay? How do you expect to balance the economy if you refuse to trade outside the USA?
Every economy in the world trades within the USA and takes your Dollars out of the country. So why do so many American traders refuse to sell internationally? Or just charge silly postal costs which effectively stop trade?
OK, rant over.
But seriously, why do so many American traders refuse foriegn money?
 
Because they've been ripped off so many times by criminals operating in other countries where they can get away with it. Unfortunately there isn't going to be much international trade at the retail level until the fraud problem is solved.

By the way, the reason so many dealers post extremely high shipping charges for international sales is the credit card companies won't let them post that they don't accept foreign credit cards. Posting prohibitive shipping charges accomplishes the same thing without violating the contract the credit card companies make them sign.
 
Hi Cougar Allen. Thanks for the answer, but I don't think that covers it. Most credit cards are global these days. If a trader accepts master card and visa, those are both pretty much universal around the world. I'm in the UK and have an MBNA visa card. I've used it tradeing in 7 or 8 different countries, and regularly use it to shop online from American stores. No problems there at all. I've also used paypal while internet shopping around the world without problems. All the risk is with the buyer, as the seller gets payment before sending anything.
I find around half the American sellers are fine, and will trade internationally without a problem. The other half react as though the suggestion of selling outside the USA is absurd. At a time when money is tight and the economy is in dire straits, I find it hard to understand why so many traders will refuse a sale. It only takes a minute to fill out the customs sticker at the post office.

PS. Sorry for hijacking the thread Jill.
 
Go to the Hall of Shame and read about Vlad Pavlov and his gang. Then google Nigerian scams....
 
Thanks Cougar Allen, now where can I find the story On Vlad Pavlov? I don't have the search function working, and none of the threads bear that name. Thanks again.
 
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