The last time I bought stuff from GHI it arrived an impressive three days later… all the way from the USA to NZ. It was great… but the courier service charges for my order was also quite high.
There have been a few times since then where I felt that I just need a specific cheap module or accessory, but then the thought of the high postage costs stops me from ordering again. I keep promising myself I’ll wait until I need something big again before making a next order.
Recently I ordered stuff from Seeed and was surpized that if I choose a much slower delivery time, then the postage costs is free!
I want to suggest to GHI to also consider an alternative mailing option to the high cost courier service. Quite often for something small it is no problem to wait three weeks. Not sure if the other non -USA based Gadgeteer developers would agree with me, but I definitely think it would be a big benefit.
Oh, this is a big issue with int’l shipment. I need to buy from Mouser because in my country USPS is off-limits due to the fact that Italian Post manage USPS here. Normally get 30-40gg due to very inefficient mail service in italy (not counting shame custom times) that very easly loose/destroy goods.
The only choice is DHL, Fedex, UPS and similar, but GHI has very very expensive prices.
Does anyone know how China does this? Does the government supplement shipping costs? That’s the only explanation I can come up with. I understand the problem and I live in the U.S. I’m amazed that I can order a $0.99 part from China and still get free shipping. Yet to do the same from GHI (or anywhere else, really) would cost me a minimum of $3-$6 in shipping.
My post was a bit undelicate really, becouse it seems I was blaming you for shipment, but all over US to europe the price are that averaged. Express couriers are too much expansive for small things like Gadgeteer & SOM boards.
I need a G400 kit and a Cobra II extender for a total of $130, the shipment is $64.43. Now I must add custom duty of 4% than 21% VAT, so total CIF landed the goods is $244 … lol
On the other hand, I talked this morning with UPS’s guy (a friend) and he gave me same prices ($62.67).
Only solution is USPS priority … But I’m really scared, if not in an hurry !
In China they have margins to do more than that. I have the same problem from China, China Post and EMS, that are coming into the hand of our Postal service … from there goods goes nowhere for weeks. The only incredible exception is HongKong Post that get here in 5-6 days… I don’t know how it can be.
I agree that shipping from GHI online store is somewhat expensive, even with USPS. As I buy lots of stuff from other US sellers, the only possible explanation I can come to is packaging: GHI usually packs goods into a box, which is large and adds weight. I believe bubble-envelopes are more cost effective in every way, and I see no reason GHI couldn’t use those. All that Gagdeteer stuff is very small afterall.
Also, there one small positive side effect: an envelope looks a lot less suspicious and passes customs a LOT easier at least in my country. And if a customs guys spots a nice looking box… Oh boy…
I must agree, I buy from Mouser as their GLOBAL shipping is 0 (zero) when buying for more than $100. Mouser is a distributor of all GHI products - I think.
Because of costs, tax and custom I allways try to buy from a distributor.
Here in Germany the distributor “Watterott” tries to deliver(supply) everything of “GHI”, also the products are not listed yet on their web page. You just have to ask them
At the moment “Watterott” tries to deliver(supply) even to me the "G400-D modules beta test Kit ", although it should not be available(obtainable) about distributors.
Interesting, I hadn’t realized that Mouser stocked GHI products.
But as a quick comparison, 10 x G120 boards from GHI would cost me around $485 delivered, while from Mouser they would cost around $566 without shipping, free or not.
There is a huge disparity in shipping prices, between the US and Australia on one hand, and China on the other. Polycase plastic boxes from the US cost me twice as much in shipping as for the the boxes themselves, regardless of quantity, yet most of the stuff from China comes via EMS for very low or zero shipping cost. They still provide online tracking and very fast service, typically 2-3 days. My latest batch of PCBs for our G120 board just arrived, including a large 300mmx400mm framed stainless steel stencil, for the same freight cost as the PCBs alone, around $29.
On the other hand we recently shipped a $200 BBQ (an Aldi special buy) from Australia to Brazil (don’t ask - my wife insisted on it!) which cost us over $1,600 in freight, plus $300 in duty/tax once landed.
@ C-Born - I’m very impressed how passionate your wife is about BBQ’s, C-Born.
The other thing one must watch out when ordering from Mouser is that you might not always get the latest version of a particular product. For example I was after some CERB40 boards, and thought I might order them from Mouser to save shipping costs. However on closer inspection I realized they were not selling the older CERB40 and not the CERB40 II with real time clock Crystal.
I agree that shipping at GHI isn’t exactly a dream if you aren’t a professional but I understand that if you aren’t shipping high volumes like mouser that you don’t get the best prices.
I usually order directly from mouser because I get free shipping and they pay the duty up front so I don’t have to pay an extra fee upon delivery.
It was just the G400-D beta module that I bought from GHI directly and suprisingly I wasn’t asked for any import duty when it arrived so maybe this had to do with having it delivered to the company address.
In the past I ordered the Cerb40 modules directly from GHI as well as some breakout / extender modules when they weren’t available at a distributor yet. I always chose the cheapest USPS option and never had any problems with items gone missing. I never ordered anything worth more than $100 to minimize the risk in case the package actually gets “misplaced” somewhere.
The product page clearly indicates that this product is not available through distribution, simply because it is beta and we want to be in control of where it goes. Sorry about that.
