digi-key shipping costs + "brokerage fee" - how much did you have to pay?

[Metal Slug 2]

*GULP*

so i recently ordered some parts for the $50 robot from Digikey.com - i was satisfied with the price.  There were too many shipping options and i didn't know which one was the cheapest so i contacted their staff and asked them for their CHEAPEST shipping option. ( i may seem cheap...but i work only two 5 hour shifts per week at $8.75/h...i don't have much spare cash).  So they gave me their cheapest option, i said OK, and a week later i see a note on my door regarding the order.

it says my package arrived, but no one was home to pick it up.  after closer inspection, it turns out the brokerage fee for the shipping came to a MASSIVE $57.54!!!  ugh

something must be wrong here?  The $50 robot was designed to be, well ~$50. I'm guessing Admin chose Digikey.com as a website for the parts because you could get them cheap, with cheap shipping aswell...??

I'm just wondering if anyone else received a surprising shipping bill, or something just didn't go as planned with my order.?

If you ordered from Digi-key.com - how much did you have to pay for shipping?

[szhang]

A) How much did you order
B) where do you live
C) what exact shipping option did you use.

I live in the PA, so my shipping is just $4.8 for priority mail for small orders.  As far as I know shipping costs gets charged as soon as they ship, you sure the shipping charge was from digikey and not from some third party like the postal service?

[Admin]

For me digikey has always been tricky with hidden (or last minute added) shipping costs. I've since moved to mouser.com and have been much happier with them:

cheaper prices
honest/cheaper shipping
better search engine

Mouser does however treat people better when you order a lot - my occasional $5k orders get me special treatment


It doesn't make sense they'd charge you a '$57.54 brokerage fee' when calling to reduce shipping prices! Are you sure they didn't ask you to accept the fee and you misheard them?

[Razor Concepts]

I bought my $50 robot order from digikey (along with a big AVR ISP MKII) and they called me later to charge $12 shipping. I don't like how they don't tell you shipping prices, but it wasn't bad for me (living in Virginia)

[Admin]

For anyone else reading this, you can search those same part numbers (manufacturer numbers) in mouser.com and buy from them instead. I'll update the $50 Robot tutorial with this info.

[Metal Slug 2]

It doesn't make sense they'd charge you a '$57.54 brokerage fee' when calling to reduce shipping prices! Are you sure they didn't ask you to accept the fee and you misheard them?

I got it all sorted out.    I gave them a call and asked about the shipping business.  they looked into it and found i had chosen the wrong shipping (Admin was right).  I had misread the e-mail they sent me earlier regarding shipping.( the shipping problem was my fault, It was late and i just wasn't thinking strait - stupid me)
They said i shouldn't accept the package that came (i didn't) and they would resend the same parts with the shipping being only $8!  Of course i agreed happily.

1 minute later, they call back saying they had over charged me like ~$4 and would put that extra back on the card.  They said sorry, i said that it was OK, and then they said they would ship the stuff for free.

So now theres no problem anymore, everything was sorted out...and BTW Digi-Key has very good customer service!

edit:
one more thing: just for future reference, which shipping method should i choose from their list of like 10 methods? -which one is the $8 shipping option?

[kirit]

Just received my parts for the $50 robot a few days ago. Most of the parts are from digikey and they didnt charge me more than ~$12 for shipping.

[Armouralis]

i just bought about $90 worth of parts from digikey last sunday, from Canada.

They only charged me $8 for shipping and $3 in canadian taxes.  The box arrived on tuesday morning, and was very well well pacted.

I am quit impressed with them, and btw, they only had one shipping option, $8 ground shipping.  Maybe they changed policies?

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

@Armouralis
Its probably because your in Canada


I just ordered 7 parts from them last night actually. They do in fact offer a lot of shipping options but you can click on "shipping" when viewing your order before you buy it. Then just type in your zip code and it gives you an excellent breakdown of each shipping cost at various package weights.

[TrickyNekro]

Shipping with digikey is a hell....
The have handling costs and shipping cost....
Shipping costs are normal.... But you get a 50$ handling for any order under 100$....
This is because digikey doesn't target small buyers.... Although that's a very bad policy.... for all....

[Webbot]

I always take a 'hit' from UK Customs import duty - which I have to pay direct to the delivery man

[HDL_CinC_Dragon]

The payments finally authorized on my credit so I can see what they actually charged me. I paid $2.14 shipping for each of my 2 orders which is what it should have been. I havnt had any problems with DigiKey since I started buying from them last year.

[Webbot]

But then you're based in the USA -- right?

[Asellith]

Ok I'm confused. I always have good dealings with digikey. They charge a handling fee for orders under $25. But thats only $5. I always find what I need at a good price. as far as admin's comment about search engines.... I can't stand mouser's search engine. I love digikey. hmm now that I think about it maybe I use digikey differently then other people. I am usually not looking for a specific part number. In that case digikey is bad unless you have a digikey part number. But for design stuff I can put resistors in and click the resistor category. Then I can say I want axial leads and 250 ohms. Then select any other options I want and it automatically narrows it down for me. I found mouser a pain to use. Maybe I just do things differently then. We also have the catalog so if I have no idea what I need I use the catalog to browse a bit to get my bearings and then dive into the details. Usually its just trying to find out what this type of switch is actually called because toggle thingy with a flip up guard is not a good description.

just my 00000010 cents

[SmAsH]

ive only ever used futurlec mainly because theyre the only reliable australian site that i know how to use properly but ive never had any problems with them before.

[Webbot]

I always take a 'hit' from UK Customs import duty - which I have to pay direct to the delivery man

My Axon is on its way from the US to the UK. The UK delivery company, ParcelForce, are now holding the parcel until I pay: £12.92 to Customs for VAT, and a £13.50 handling charge to ParcelForce = £26.42. Which I guess is about $40. This is 'no-ones fault' - just a reality of international trade.

[householdutensils]

I ordered $190 worth of kit from DigiKey last week, with free shipping (I'm in New Zealand)

Though I did have to fill in that form about what I wanted to do with the parts I bought from there. Then after I finished my order they sent me an email for clarification!!! They asked me to describe what kind of robot I was building 0_0 Must be a customs thing.

[Joesavage1]

if you live in the UK like me i suggest not going to Digi-Key as the shipping prices are way to high.
I use Rapidonline.com (donno why its .com not .co.uk but wtv)  there cheap, and customer service is good, they even work on saturdays! (or at least when I forgot to order 2 things and rung up on saturday to add them, Rapid where fine with this and had no extra charge =D)

Thanks

Joe

[householdutensils]

I live in New Zealand and I just received a bunch of kit from DigiKey. It was fast, easy, and I got free shipping because I spent over $125

[izaktj]

I live in New Zealand and I just received a bunch of kit from DigiKey. It was fast, easy, and I got free shipping because I spent over $125

Good job dave man

[householdutensils]

I didn't realize I double posted..sorry, I thought they were different threads.