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A free shipping mystery

romain.goyet.com

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Re: A free shipping mystery

#91

Post by 3princip »

PanMan wrote: post #82

This also surprised me: I ordered stuff on AliExpress that I wouldn't ship back to China for € 0,70, even if the item was free (which electronics aren't). I asked around and it turns out that postal services in rich (EU) countries have a special, heavily sponsored rate for 3th world nations. This wasn't a problem with the occasional letter from Afrika, but the post services didn't really saw this coming: Mass free sh…

I've ordered lot's of packages from AliExpress, mainly low value items (In fact, I ordered a USB lamp worth 2$ with free shipping just to verify it was possible. It arrived 3 weeks later (btw 3 weeks is the travel time China-Serbia for all packages so far, give or take a couple of days). It boggled my mind that someone is building these things (the connector, wires, led's, plastic and metal alone is worth that money surely), packaging them and sending for such a small amount (not as crazy as the example in the article, but pretty crazy for me).

Re: A free shipping mystery

#92

Post by voltagex_ »

>I received my package around 10 days later, in perfect condition.

That's amazingly fast - I don't understand why it's faster to send things from Hong Kong/China to the US than from the same to Australia. I've had things from AliExpress take upwards of 35 days to get to me (in a "metro" area of SE Australia)

Re: A free shipping mystery

#93

Post by voltagex_ »

jpenninkhof wrote: post #62
the-dude wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Netherlands our postal service has already stopped delivering packages from China to your door ( very recently ). They just slip in a statement 'pick up here & here'. I guess they thought it was too much work too.

Still getting my sub-dollar stuff from China delivered at my doorstep in the Netherlands. Then again, I'm A3 at Ali ;)

What's A3? I went through a phase of ordering ridiculous amounts of stuff from AliExpress (sure, I'll buy 1000 resistors for $2!), but the postage times went from ~2.5 weeks to 4+ weeks (CN->AU)

Re: A free shipping mystery

#94

Post by cmdrfred »

mhb wrote: post #87
scholia wrote: post #26

The postal service is a networked delivery service, just like the Internet. The difference is that the data packets are physical envelopes. Now, the cost of running the postal service is the cost of supporting the whole network of delivery vans, sorting offices, collections and so on, including all the staff. The cost of supporting the network is the same whether it carries a very large number of packets or zero pack…

If that made sense, why can't I get 3 cent wooden buttons shipped to me within the US for free?

How does that support the cost of the infrastructure? There would have to be some cost involved.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#95

Post by voltagex_ »

CPLX wrote: post #20
vdnkh wrote: post #16

As an aside, I've been screwed several times by Prime's "guaranteed two-day" shipping. I had package which was very late December last year. When I went to the USPS tracking page to check the location, it turns out Amazon had requested the 8 day shipping option. After several angry calls I finally had the item cancelled and a new one on the way with Saturday shipping (the lower-tier rep said that it wasn't possible,…

The problem might be Amazon here in this specific case, but I'd hazard a guess that this is just a subset of the massive drop-off in service that Amazon is experiencing due to a major transition to using USPS instead of UPS. Here in NYC Amazon delivery has gone from being amazing and magical to nearly worthless seemingly overnight with this change. UPS (and Fedex) didn't seem to have any trouble delivering even to ch…

Interesting! Getting a package from USPS in Australia is much better than getting one from UPS.

USPS -> Australia Post means that I can get the parcel sent directly to my parcel locker [1] and get an SMS when the parcel arrives. I don't need to be present.

UPS -> ??? means I'm guessing whether it'll be a local courier who has the contract or whether it'll be one of the many Toll [2] subsidiaries. No couriers are accepted into parcel lockers (unless you get a Toll parcel dropped off at a news agent).

Re: A free shipping mystery

#96

Post by mickelsen »

Many of these 30 cents button / iPhone cable sellers are usually users with less feedback as well, and they need a cheap way to gain more reputation in Aliexpress or eBay. This is a way to do it and as you get more completed transactions, your seller account gets upgraded and gets better rates. I Won't touch the shipping part which I think is already well covered in the comments.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#97

Post by cha5m »

scholia wrote: post #26

The postal service is a networked delivery service, just like the Internet. The difference is that the data packets are physical envelopes. Now, the cost of running the postal service is the cost of supporting the whole network of delivery vans, sorting offices, collections and so on, including all the staff. The cost of supporting the network is the same whether it carries a very large number of packets or zero pack…

But regardless why would a US delivery service allow the Chinese company to deliver things at zero cost, when they could clearly charge them more?

Re: A free shipping mystery

#98

Post by rhino369 »

jrockway wrote: post #76
monochromatic wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That only gets you so far though. > assuming it takes the mailman as little as 10 seconds to deliver the package, and given he is paid the minimal legal wage here, that would already cost… 3 cents already! The marginal cost for delivering that button (even assuming the button itself was free) was more than 3 cents.

What if it's like airlines, where the full-fare and business class passengers subsidize the economy class? Maybe for every 3 cent button, someone is paying more than the marginal cost for their shipping, so it all evens out in the end?

Even in airfare, the economy seat costs more than the marginal cost.

Re: A free shipping mystery

#99

Post by taygetea »

voltagex_ wrote: post #95
CPLX wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem might be Amazon here in this specific case, but I'd hazard a guess that this is just a subset of the massive drop-off in service that Amazon is experiencing due to a major transition to using USPS instead of UPS. Here in NYC Amazon delivery has gone from being amazing and magical to nearly worthless seemingly overnight with this change. UPS (and Fedex) didn't seem to have any trouble delivering even to ch…

Interesting! Getting a package from USPS in Australia is much better than getting one from UPS. USPS -> Australia Post means that I can get the parcel sent directly to my parcel locker [1] and get an SMS when the parcel arrives. I don't need to be present. UPS -> ??? means I'm guessing whether it'll be a local courier who has the contract or whether it'll be one of the many Toll [2] subsidiaries. No couriers are acce…

Those acronyms mean different things in the US. USPS = United States Postal Service, the official one. UPS = United Parcel Service, a different company

Re: A free shipping mystery

#100

Post by cha5m »

A possible explanation to this could be that AliExpress is simply trying to attract people to their platform by any means possible.

This means subsidizing purchases to draw users in.

I just considered buying that 3c button just because of how cheap it was, and this would have required me to register with them, and enter my cc number. This means that purchasing stuff from them in the future would be easier and I would be more likely to do it.

This could explain the free shipping on the China leg, and then as was mentioned there is a treaty that allows for nearly free shipping in the US by Chinese companies.

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