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Rightstuf changes Free Shipping policy for Canadians.


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Rukiia



Joined: 30 Aug 2010
Posts: 1897
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:11 pm Reply with quote
Heads up to my fellow Canadians. I went to take advantage of the Funimation sale and picked over $150 worth of items. I then proceed through the check out to find that I am being charged $31 for shipping. Confused, I go read the Shipping Info page and discovered that they changed it to your orders needing to be over $250 to get free shipping.

Gotta say that I am pretty choked about this change.
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shawnek
Accredited Retailer


Joined: 05 Feb 2004
Posts: 786
Location: Right Stuf - www.rightstuf.com - Iowa
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:22 pm Reply with quote
Rukiia wrote:
Heads up to my fellow Canadians. I went to take advantage of the Funimation sale and picked over $150 worth of items. I then proceed through the check out to find that I am being charged $31 for shipping. Confused, I go read the Shipping Info page and discovered that they changed it to your orders needing to be over $250 to get free shipping.

Gotta say that I am pretty choked about this change.


While I understand your disappointment, we had already absorbed two increases in freight cost this year and when the third rate increase came, honestly we just couldn't continue to lose money on this shipping cost. I wanted to preserve the "free" option but to get there had to raise the minimum to do so. To my knowledge, no one else is providing a free option besides us.

We are looking at a few new options for Canadian freight at the moment and if I can make this service better, faster, or cheaper in some way I will certainly do so. Will provide more updates on this as we continue to work on this issue. I am aware this is important to many folks.


Last edited by shawnek on Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23742
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:26 pm Reply with quote
That really sucks. Not impressed at all. I especially don't appreciate that there was absolutely no advance notice of this (that I am aware of). A surprisingly cheesy move from a retailer that is usually more savvy at communicating than this.

However, the sad reality is that TRSI remains the only US online retailer that I know of that offers free shipping to Canada at any amount.
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shawnek
Accredited Retailer


Joined: 05 Feb 2004
Posts: 786
Location: Right Stuf - www.rightstuf.com - Iowa
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:31 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
That really sucks. Not impressed at all. I especially don't appreciate that there was absolutely no advance notice of this (that I am aware of). A surprisingly cheesy movie from a retailer that is usually more savvy than this.

However, the sad reality is that TRSI remains the only US online retailer that I know of that offers free shipping to Canada at any amount.


I almost always make freight cost changes align with new catalog issues. Really this was not any different than previous; although I take your point I suppose I could have posted that this was coming.

As I mentioned in the previous post I'm actively looking for ways to mitigate changes. However, our cost to ship to Canada (and elsewhere internationally) has gone up significantly in the past 18 months.
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Rukiia



Joined: 30 Aug 2010
Posts: 1897
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:33 pm Reply with quote
Thank you for addressing this, shawnek. I shop on Rightstuf 95% of the time for my Anime and Manga because the $150 for free ship was within my budget. $250 is kinda pushing it and even if I were to not get $250 worth of stuff I get tacked with a $30+ shipping fee, plus I always have to pay handling/customs/whatever it is that they charge me (I would just tell myself that it makes up for the "Free Shipping"). Now that fee is going to increase for us Canadians so getting our Anime is going to be even more expensive.

I really do hope you'll look into other alternatives. I am currently biting it now since most of the stuff I want comes out around Christmas anyway.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23742
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:40 pm Reply with quote
@ shawnek - I certainly don't expect TRSI - or any retailer - to operate any service at a loss. But I assure you it's better to give your customers an advance warning with an explanation. Sure, there will be whining - nobody likes a change that doesn't work in their favour. But at least you would have gotten points for addressing it head on and straight up instead of looking kind of sneaky. I love you guys as evidenced by my buying record. Nothing is going to change for me - I'll simply wait until I have $250 worth items to order instead of $150. But never forget the importance of maintaining a good communication strategy and policy with your customers.

eta: by the way, does this change affect pre-orders that were placed before the new level was implemented?
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shawnek
Accredited Retailer


Joined: 05 Feb 2004
Posts: 786
Location: Right Stuf - www.rightstuf.com - Iowa
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:55 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
@ shawnek - I certainly don't expect TRSI - or any retailer - to operate any service at a loss. But I assure you it's better to give your customers an advance warning with an explanation. Sure, there will be whining - nobody likes a change that doesn't work in their favour. But at least you would have gotten points for addressing it head on and straight up instead of looking kind of sneaky. I love you guys as evidenced by my buying record. Nothing is going to change for me - I'll simply wait until I have $250 worth items to order instead of $150. But never forget the importance of maintaining a good communication strategy and policy with your customers.

eta: by the way, does this change affect pre-orders that were placed before the new level was implemented?


Orders before the change will stay the same. It's not a retro-active change.

That being said, if you modify the old order, you'll need to bring it up to the new total in order to receive free shipping.
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TronBonne



Joined: 07 Jul 2011
Posts: 127
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:13 pm Reply with quote
At least the free shipping option is still available for those who can make big orders. It's a shame its been raised, but no one expects any company to continue doing something that's costing them money.

I doubt I'd ever make a purchase that big though. How much duties would get added on to an order of $250? I think I'll stick with Amazon...always more expensive, but no fear of additional charges....
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23742
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:18 pm Reply with quote
@ TronBonne - there are no additional "duties" for a package over $250. The only thing you get charged for when ordering from TRSI is a (now) $9.95 handling fee (thanks Canada Post, you bloodsuckers) and whatever sales tax rate applies in your province. Ironically, Amazon.com does occasionally change a duty fee on items shipped to Canada. It hasn't happened to me that often (only once, I think) but it does happen.
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TronBonne



Joined: 07 Jul 2011
Posts: 127
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:31 pm Reply with quote
Ok thanks for clearing that up! It's always so hard to know why/what exactly I'm getting charged for when I buy things online from non-Canadian sites.
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jlaking



Joined: 02 Mar 2008
Posts: 224
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:50 pm Reply with quote
Since I normally have a minimum of $225 when ordering from RS (just to avoid paying duties more often), $25 will not be that much trouble.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23742
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:52 pm Reply with quote
jlaking wrote:
Since I normally have a minimum of $225 when ordering from RS (just to avoid paying duties more often), $25 will not be that much trouble.


Again, you don't pay "duties" on a TRSI package, but I understand your point: if you are ordering more items at a time, that means you are receiving fewer packages and fewer packages means less in handling fees.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:04 pm Reply with quote
This is unfortunate but probably won't affect me. I haven't been shipping anything directly to Canada lately even when ordering $150+ because of the handling fees and taxes.

Still, it's a hell of a shame for everyone else. Shipping has always been the bane of Canadian shoppers. Having a site like Rightstuf that offered free shipping on relatively manageable quantities was a godsend while it lasted.
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Timesplitter 01



Joined: 05 Sep 2012
Posts: 100
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:09 pm Reply with quote
I think some notice of this change would have been good. I know that businesses have to cover their cost but some communication with their customers would be nice in advance.

I actually did a test once. I took the same 10 anime items and compared the total basket price (product + shipping) and rightstuf came out $67 cheaper than amazon using the cheapest amazon shipping method. It came out to be $100 cheaper if I selected the fastest method.

So effectively I am still coming out ahead in terms of costs. Thank you to the Australian government for having a customs limit of AUS$1,000 before they apply taxes Smile

Blood- wrote:
if you are ordering more items at a time, that means you are receiving fewer packages and fewer packages means less in handling fees.


Also shipping per item becomes cheaper.
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manicli



Joined: 16 Jun 2012
Posts: 186
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:27 pm Reply with quote
Well I shouldn't affect my purchases until next year since I'm planning on making large ones during Christmas. Besides their customer service is totally worth it, they pack my orders better now so I rarely receive damaged items if any Very Happy

And thanks for still preserving the free shipping option Smile that's appreciated.
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