I was invited to a party for a NSBR direct sales company last week. I didn't have time to go but I did order some stuff. Shipping nearly knocked my socks off! I spent about $50 and shipping was an additional 10% to have it sent to the hostess and then delivered to me. If I wanted it delivered directly to me, it was 10% PLUS $4. By the time you added tax, it was ridiculous - this stuff wasn't that heavy!
I know some of the scrapping and stamping Direct Sales companies have shipping that is in the 10% range (give or take). I heard recently of some consultants at a convention charging "shipping" on top of the retail price for products they had IN STOCK and were selling out of their booth at the convention. I know they can't afford to "eat" the shipping since they only make about 20% profit, but it seemed a little odd to charge the customer "shipping" when the customer walked away with the product. Perhaps they should have bumped the prices slightly to INCLUDE the shipping costs so the customers didn't walk away scratching their heads as to why they had to pay shipping to have it handed to them.
This got me thinking. If you signed up with a direct sales company as a hobbyist just to get products for personal use at a discount and you are paying 10% for shipping every time you buy something for 20% off of retail - that means you are only getting 10% off. That's not much of a discount...
Honestly, the shipping and handling costs are getting SO HIGH with most of these companies that I may stop going to these parties. I don't mind paying shipping when it's reasonable. But it's starting to smack of those eBay auctions where the product is sold for next to nothing but a boat load of profit is made on the high shipping and handling costs. I would rather have the shipping hidden in the prices than be SMACKED with it when I got to check out. Suddenly, my $50 purchase last week was bumped nearly 20% between my local sales tax and shipping. OUCH!
Honestly, if the shipping hadn't been 10%, I would have purchased MORE product. But for every dollar more I bought, shipping cost me 10 cents. The WORST thing is the "minimum shipping " which is usually something like $4. I have gone to some of these parties and purchased a $20 item and paid TWENTY PERCENT more for shipping this small thing to me. It really, really irks me. A $20 item is usually something small and plastic - it shouldn't cost that much to send to me - especially when it shows up at the hostess' house with everything else. My portion of the shipping in no way was $4 or even $2. For $4, they could have sent it to me in three days via Priority Mail instead of making me wait for 3 weeks.
Okay, I'll get off my soap box now and wait for the hostess to call and tell me my stuff is in...
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