Why are U.S. sellers reluctant to ship to Alaska and Hawaii?

RDavidson · « **Reply #20 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 04:11 am »

Distance and the possibility of damage in the long transit makes a lot of sense to me as a reason US folks won't ship to AK or HI. The longer the item is in the shipper's hands, the more opportunity they get to damage it. No one wants to deal with that. It's difficult enough dealing with it when it happens within the 48. Certainly the shipping costs to AK and HI are high too. Maybe in situations where the buyer is willing to pay for additional packaging, professionally constructed by the shipping company (like FedEx Kinko's or UPS Store), then the risk would be low enough. So rather than excluding AK and HI off the bat, I think just being up front and stating that AK and HI buyers are responsible for additional professional packaging costs is perhaps the best way to go.

uncola · « **Reply #21 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 08:39 am »

I live in Hawaii and shopping for monoblocks or tower speakers really sucks here. Smaller items that can be shipped priority mail I can usually convince the seller to send me. But if they only ship using a fedex or usps account, there’s a big price increase and they usually won’t. Big things that have to be palletized they just refuse to sell because the shipping cost is insane. I’m considering learning woodwork to diy speakers for that reason

timind · « **Reply #22 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 11:45 am »

Quote from: mix4fix on 15 Mar 2019, 08:41 pm

If China can ship things to us cheaper than we can between states, there is a problem. It is revelant.

How is that relevant to the OP's question?

To the OP's question, maybe sellers have experienced shipping to AH or AK what I have when shipping overseas. I think it's been every time for me that I have sold overseas I will use whatever shipper's calculator to collect payment, and then when I actually ship the item it costs anywhere from 25% to 100% (yes this happened once) to ship the item.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #23 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 12:52 pm »

Quote from: OzarkTom on 15 Mar 2019, 03:04 pm

We do not ship picture frames to Hawaii and Alaska because of the high cost. Plus if it gets broken, we have to ship a replacement and pay return shipping. I don't understand how Amazon does it.

Amazon has fulfillment centers in Hawaii and Alaska. They've figured out that if they offer two day free shipping they can crush all other online sellers, and to do that there are fulfillment centers in every city in America and beyond so they only ship a few miles.

uncola · « **Reply #24 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 01:22 pm »

Let it roll amazon has no fulfillment center in Hawaii and prime doesn’t include free 2 day shipping here

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #25 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 01:26 pm »

Quote from: uncola on 16 Mar 2019, 01:22 pm

Let it roll amazon has no fulfillment center in Hawaii and prime doesn’t include free 2 day shipping here

I'm sorry, I thought I had read that they opened one on the big island. I bow to local knowledge.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #26 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 01:52 pm »

A friend in Hawaii ordered a Klipsch Gate this month and got two day free shipping. It probably depends on the weight of the item.

Elizabeth · « **Reply #27 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 03:01 pm »

I did not realize until seeing this thread moved to "Humor and jokes, that shipping to Alaska and Hawaii was a joke? I guess now I know.... is it funny to folks who live there too?

mix4fix · « **Reply #28 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 04:46 pm »

Quote from: timind on 16 Mar 2019, 11:45 am

How is that relevant to the OP's question?

To the OP's question, maybe sellers have experienced shipping to AH or AK what I have when shipping overseas. I think it's been every time for me that I have sold overseas I will use whatever shipper's calculator to collect payment, and then when I actually ship the item it costs anywhere from 25% to 100% (yes this happened once) to ship the item.

If it costs more to ship to them then it is for them to ship to us, there is a problem. I always felt that Americans got the short end of the stick. They can get cheaper flights to America versus us flying to Europe as well. If it costs China $1.30 to ship to America, and we have to pay $6.30 to ship to another state, we are getting the short end of the stick. Foreign country to USA should not be cheaper than USA to USA. The same logistics are involved (in fact, they are shorter). It's not like we are going to the South Pole and landing on ice. It is a short cargo flight to our remote states.

On a side note: if you have to bribe to get your package delivered in a foreign country, nobody is allowed to complain about our home country again. Any country that you have to bribe your way for commerce is a tyrannical country.

mix4fix · « **Reply #29 on:** 16 Mar 2019, 04:54 pm »

Quote from: Elizabeth on 16 Mar 2019, 03:01 pm

I did not realize until seeing this thread moved to "Humor and jokes, that shipping to Alaska and Hawaii was a joke? I guess now I know.... is it funny to folks who live there too?

It shouldn't be in the Karma section to have begin with. It needs to be in a general audio section that isn't associated with any specific product, brand, format, or genre. It doesn't belong in jokes.

A joke about Hawaii would how that they are so hated by mainland America, we pushed them away from us and out to sea.

We don't hate Alaska, but do have to keep them separated from us or they will get on our nerves and where they are at was the only place to find.

RDavidson · « **Reply #30 on:** 17 Mar 2019, 01:12 am »

Quote from: Elizabeth on 16 Mar 2019, 03:01 pm

I did not realize until seeing this thread moved to "Humor and jokes, that shipping to Alaska and Hawaii was a joke? I guess now I know.... is it funny to folks who live there too?

How and why did this get moved to Humor and Jokes? It's not intended to be funny. I didn't know where to put the topic to begin with. I didn't see a General Topic section.

timind · « **Reply #31 on:** 17 Mar 2019, 01:14 am »

Quote from: mix4fix on 16 Mar 2019, 04:46 pm

If it costs more to ship to them then it is for them to ship to us, there is a problem. I always felt that Americans got the short end of the stick. They can get cheaper flights to America versus us flying to Europe as well. If it costs China $1.30 to ship to America, and we have to pay $6.30 to ship to another state, we are getting the short end of the stick. Foreign country to USA should not be cheaper than USA to USA. The same logistics are involved (in fact, they are shorter). It's not like we are going to the South Pole and landing on ice. It is a short cargo flight to our remote states.

On a side note: if you have to bribe to get your package delivered in a foreign country, nobody is allowed to complain about our home country again. Any country that you have to bribe your way for commerce is a tyrannical country.

As unfair as you think the international shipping costs are, that has no relevancy to the OP's question. He never mentioned China.

I have a feeling you won't understand this though.

wlvca · « **Reply #32 on:** 17 Mar 2019, 04:08 pm »

I owned a business that at one point shipped to Alaska and Hawaii. We stopped accepting orders to Alaska and Hawaii because it wasn't profitable.

For example, if there was a problem with a transaction the cost to resolve it was exorbitantly high. The cost of one return wiped out the profit from ten other orders to Alaska and/or Hawaii.

Given that there were additional costs associated with those orders, too, it just made sense to stop shipping to those locations. It wasn't complicated - there just wasn't any money to be made - at least for my business.

grsimmon · « **Reply #33 on:** 17 Mar 2019, 04:40 pm »

I lived in Alaska for 10 years, away from the road system in a very rural area. I had many transactions both buying and selling audio gear, new and used. Never had a problem, ever.

Oh and I should add, all transactions were with the lower 48, including PMC tower speakers shipped all the way from east coast

mix4fix · « **Reply #34 on:** 17 Mar 2019, 10:58 pm »

Quote from: timind on 17 Mar 2019, 01:14 am

As unfair as you think the international shipping costs are, that has no relevancy to the OP's question. He never mentioned China.

I have a feeling you won't understand this though.

Everybody understands we are talking about our remote states. Since we are talking about shipping and costs, it is related. Just because you keep insisting it is not related, it doesn't mean it isn't.

The people who don't want to ship to those states mainly do so because of cost. If it wasn't for cost of shipping and customs, we could ship and receive all over the world at reasonable rates. If China or Europe is getting preferential treatment, it is likely possible that we would be getting screwed in the process.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #35 on:** 17 Mar 2019, 11:07 pm »

Yep, getting screwed. Ship something to China and see how much it costs.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #36 on:** 17 Mar 2019, 11:49 pm »

It is no different with Amazon. They get preferred shipping also. These shipping companies has bidding wars to get the privilege to ship their products. Fed Ex has quit bidding, they say there is no profit in it. This is hurting many other companies today. The rest of us has to make up for Amazon's cheap shipping.

dwmaggie · « **Reply #37 on:** 22 Mar 2020, 02:46 pm »

To clear the air on some items. Fed Ex required a letter from the seller, in order to process my claim. Once they had a copy of the letter stating seller has no interest in the claim, they paid promptly. It was an 8 inch Velodyne sub with remote. Told them damage was cosmetic, and they paid in full and the Velodyne is still here and works perfect.

Two recent experiences on Ebay returns, if it is not the correct item. Vendor sent shipping label via computer within two days, and it is on the vendors dime. Ebay will protect the buyer not so much the vendor. I have 488 buys on Ebay since 2007, will never sell there.

I have sent several items USPS priority mail, money back guaranty-blah blah. If it is delivered to the wrong address, Does Not matter. They never refunded because it was delivered on time somewhere. Me and the postmaster lady went round and round, no refund.

jhm731 · « **Reply #38 on:** 22 Mar 2020, 07:42 pm »

I've lived on Maui for over 30 years.

As posted for smaller items USPS Priority Mail is great.

For larger items American Airline Air Cargo is the way to go, cost is less than half what UPS and Fedex charge and it doesn't get bounced around as much.

Only down side is the shipper need to become a "known shipper" with AA, and they need to bring the item to the air cargo center and their customer needs to pick it up at the air cargo center. I shipped a 150lbs power conditioner to a friend in AZ last year, the AA folks took it off my truck for me, and loaded on my friend's truck when he picked it up.

I tried to order a pair Magnepan LRS earlier this year, and they said they don't ship to Hawaii. I explained the American Airline Air Cargo system to them, but they said they didn't have anyone to take the speakers to the airport.

BTW- HI Gov. David Ige on Saturday afternoon announced a 14-day quarantine mandate for visitors and residents arriving to Hawaii via all modes of travel effective until further notice.

Be well.

Delpo · « **Reply #39 on:** 22 Mar 2020, 09:17 pm »

Try having items shipped to Puerto Rico! Most shippers don’t even know it is part of the USA postal system...