DVD Planet Shipping: Please Explain!
11-17-01, 06:53 AM
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DVD Planet Shipping: Please Explain!
I am totally confused about DVD Planet's shipping policy! If you check their website, they explain that the first title in an order is $2.50 and each additional title is .50 per shipment.
That all seems straightforward enough until when you place an order and get a flag that tells you that pre-orders may incur higher charges. Why is that???
I wanted to place a pre-order for two titles which street the same day. You would expect that shipping would be $3.00 ($2.50 for the first and .50 for the second.) But NO--the shipping total comes up to $5.00.
Then when I wanted to add the DIRTY HARRY COLLECTION, shipping increased to $10. (I know, multiple discs in the set). But the most surprising is that when I attempted to add 3 more titles to this order all of which had a street date of the next week (separate shipment), the total came up to $11.00.
Anyone know what's going on? None of these shipping charges make any sense!
That all seems straightforward enough until when you place an order and get a flag that tells you that pre-orders may incur higher charges. Why is that???
I wanted to place a pre-order for two titles which street the same day. You would expect that shipping would be $3.00 ($2.50 for the first and .50 for the second.) But NO--the shipping total comes up to $5.00.
Then when I wanted to add the DIRTY HARRY COLLECTION, shipping increased to $10. (I know, multiple discs in the set). But the most surprising is that when I attempted to add 3 more titles to this order all of which had a street date of the next week (separate shipment), the total came up to $11.00.
Anyone know what's going on? None of these shipping charges make any sense!
11-17-01, 12:18 PM
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Their shipping charges are PER SHIPMENT. I.e.: if you buy 3 discs, 2 of which are in stock and 1 that is out of stock or a pre-order, your shipping charge will be $5.50 ($2.50+.50 for the first shipement and $2.50 for the 2nd shipment).
But re-reading your post, that really doesn't seem to explain what happened with your order. Weird.
But re-reading your post, that really doesn't seem to explain what happened with your order. Weird.
11-19-01, 07:47 AM
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DVDPlanet Shipping
Here it is.
Basically, their shipping is 2.5 first item & .5 any subsequent. If you have pre-order items each will potentially be on its own shipment so they are (tentatively) quote you 2.5 each.
Though, As my experience, if they all came in the same day (Usually Thursday before street), they will all be shipped in one shipment and follow the ogirinal rule (not the quoted one).
VP
Basically, their shipping is 2.5 first item & .5 any subsequent. If you have pre-order items each will potentially be on its own shipment so they are (tentatively) quote you 2.5 each.
Though, As my experience, if they all came in the same day (Usually Thursday before street), they will all be shipped in one shipment and follow the ogirinal rule (not the quoted one).
VP
11-19-01, 12:55 PM
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So I guess that if you have multiple titles in a pre-order, you cannot control whether they all ship together or separately (like Amazon), even if close to the same street date.
At least with Amazon (not my favorite vendor these days), you can control your shipping costs, unlike DVD Planet.
At least with Amazon (not my favorite vendor these days), you can control your shipping costs, unlike DVD Planet.
11-19-01, 08:37 PM
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I emailed this thread to dvdplanet (I don't work for them but am a satisifed customer) to tell them about dissatisfied customers and they replied back to me with this and said it would be o.k. to post it:
___________
In regards to shipping:
The shipping that we post is the "HIGHEST" possible calculation in
order to not surprise the customer should that scenario occur.
In many occasions we are able to consolidate orders, but not always.
We do not offer this option as a specific due to the fact that sometimes a
title will take too long to come back into stock. We send all orders to the LV
warehouse and will ship everything that is in stock within the same
shipment, no matter when it was ordered which in most cases saves the
customer from our "estimated shipping costs."
The reason for the pre-order pricing even though the same street date
is that delays occur at the studio and these dates often are not concrete.
We could quote the customer the wrong shipping information and then be
seen as trying to cheat someone.
Possibly worst case scenarios aren't customer friendly, but it beats
coming back and surprising them with higher charges.
___________
In regards to shipping:
The shipping that we post is the "HIGHEST" possible calculation in
order to not surprise the customer should that scenario occur.
In many occasions we are able to consolidate orders, but not always.
We do not offer this option as a specific due to the fact that sometimes a
title will take too long to come back into stock. We send all orders to the LV
warehouse and will ship everything that is in stock within the same
shipment, no matter when it was ordered which in most cases saves the
customer from our "estimated shipping costs."
The reason for the pre-order pricing even though the same street date
is that delays occur at the studio and these dates often are not concrete.
We could quote the customer the wrong shipping information and then be
seen as trying to cheat someone.
Possibly worst case scenarios aren't customer friendly, but it beats
coming back and surprising them with higher charges.
11-20-01, 03:07 PM
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I understand what DVD Planet is trying to do (save customers money), but it just doesn't make sense compared to other vendors.
Most of my vendors actually try to get all pre-order titles from the same street date out the door at the same time to save the customer money. If they have to hold up my order by a day or two, it's OK! At least I'm not paying $2.50 per title for each pre-order.
The other frustrating thing, is that it actually costs DVD Planet (or other vendors about $1.50 for each title for shipping (First-Class USPS) and about .30 for packaging. Gee, that sure doesn't total $2.50.
I'm suggesting that if customers pre-order titles months ahead and they show up 1-2 days late, the vendor ought to absorb the cost if shows up much later than that. But if you just have to have it in your hands as soon as possible, at least vendors such as Amazon lets you choose whether you want to wait for the order to save money or receive it immediately.
Most of my vendors actually try to get all pre-order titles from the same street date out the door at the same time to save the customer money. If they have to hold up my order by a day or two, it's OK! At least I'm not paying $2.50 per title for each pre-order.
The other frustrating thing, is that it actually costs DVD Planet (or other vendors about $1.50 for each title for shipping (First-Class USPS) and about .30 for packaging. Gee, that sure doesn't total $2.50.
I'm suggesting that if customers pre-order titles months ahead and they show up 1-2 days late, the vendor ought to absorb the cost if shows up much later than that. But if you just have to have it in your hands as soon as possible, at least vendors such as Amazon lets you choose whether you want to wait for the order to save money or receive it immediately.
