Strange claim and reply by DigiKey about min. 120 EUR shipping rate.

[nardev]

Sadly, some companies like DigiKey and ti.com are still refusing to even consider changing their shipping policies and even making very unusual claims about the shipping rates. Is there any way to encourage them to rethink about this?

What ever i order from Bosnia, it's 120 EUR for shipping. And look what they have to say about that:


 
And here is an example from arrow, sparkfun, tme.eu, adafruit. SparkFun is even great, they keep the USPS option which is very very fair and affordable.




p.s. ti.com even don't want to put Bosnia on the list, i'll post their email after a year of wait. They simply don't have a reason. Serbia and Croatia which are neighboring countries are on the list but Bosnia is like a shit hole. Only lcsc.com is still shipping things here and little bit mouser. rs.com is also redirecting to local dealer who has about 300% prices.

[Psi]

Have you looked at mail redirection services. If they can do a Bosnia delivery it may end up cheaper.

Some redirection services are expensive but others not so much.
In New Zealand we have one that can redirect a small/medium box of goods from a USA or UK warehouse address to NZ for ~NZ$20-40  (around $10-20 USD) which isn't too bad if a USA store is asking NZ$50-70 for shipping to NZ direct or free local shipping within USA.

Also, getting your own DHL/Fedex/USPS account could actually be a worthwhile option.
I was certainly surprised when i got a DHL account and was able to ship small boxes to me cheaper by giving the sender my DHL account number so i paid it directly instead of using their shipping.
Some locations have a monopoly and it can be cheaper to use your own account to pay for shipping to you.
It doesn't hurt to call up and inquire what pricing deal you could get if you opened an account.
Or even better, go in to your local DHL/Fedex/USPS office in person and ask them what the situation is and what solutions they can think of to get things to you cheaper.

[nardev]

Have you looked at mail redirection services. If they can do a Bosnia delivery it may end up cheaper.

Some redirection services are expensive but others not so much.
In New Zealand we have one that can redirect a small/medium box of goods from a USA or UK warehouse address to NZ for ~NZ$20-40  (around $10-20 USD) which isn't too bad if a USA store is asking NZ$50-70 for shipping to NZ direct or free local shipping within USA.

Also, getting your own DHL/Fedex/USPS account could actually be a worthwhile option.
I was certainly surprised when i got a DHL account and was able to ship small boxes to me cheaper by giving the sender my DHL account number so i paid it directly instead of using their shipping.
Some locations have a monopoly and it can be cheaper to use your own account to pay for shipping to you.
It doesn't hurt to call up and inquire what pricing deal you could get if you opened an account.
Or even better, go in to your local DHL/Fedex/USPS office in person and ask them what the situation is and what solutions they can think of to get things to you cheaper.

I have DHL but only for export and shipping (it's about 20-25eur for me to ship all wound the world 1-3kg). Import DHL accounts are pretty complicate din my country as they ask some additional things for the company to be registered for and they limit you in that case what you can import.

The redirecting sounded bit complicated for me but i'll look for it. If you have any to suggest, go ahead.

[Psi]

The redirecting sounded bit complicated for me but i'll look for it. If you have any to suggest, go ahead.

Basically you sign up with the redirect company, they will need some identification documents in order to accept mail on your behalf.
Then they provide you a shipping address in their country. Usually with a special code on it to separate your mail from all the other people using the service.
Anything shipped to that address they will resend to your nominated address for the cost of the extra shipping + their fee.

[nardev]

The first google search result doesn't have Bosnia on the list. 

Well, it's definitely the legacy. Some of those companies didn't even consider Bosnia as the shipping destination because of the war, which ended up 25 years ago. And, it's incredibly small market, they don't even want to spend time adjusting the system.

[nardev]

 

Word ridiculous is not strong enough to describe this bullshitting that they are doing.

I also believe that DigiKey is holding that position for too long. They are not flexible enough any more. LCSC is doing great lately but they don't have access to all the major manufacturers of chips. Just this morning i got an newsletter from Ti:

[thm_w]

digikey and ti.com are one and the same, so not surprised their shipping cost is similar as well.

One thing though, note that the Sparkfun page the shipping estimates are all listed as 3-4 days minimum or more. Is it possible digikey is only offering next day service? It wouldn't surprise me if the price of fedex next day is indeed $120 or so, considering 3-6 days is $60.

The usps/fedex/etc all being 120 seems to be confusion on the CS part or lack of information, not sure.

[bd139]

Some shipping calculations are going seriously wrong. It's not just Bosnia. UK here. I don't know if it's export tariff or what but it's annoying as hell.

Elecraft want me to pay $180 shipping on a $649 order for shipping slowest air option. Last year I got $1800 of stuff shipped from them for $80.

Edit: to note they are not collecting duty / tax paid in that. I'd have to pay that and a handling charge on top!

[thm_w]

Elecraft want me to pay $180 shipping on a $649 order for shipping slowest air option. Last year I got $1800 of stuff shipped from them for $80.

The weight is more important than the value for shipping cost. But i'll assume these are standard electronics components and not particularly heavy.

[bd139]

The $1800 order was 4x the weight of the $649 one but cost 44% of the shipping. Amateur radio equipment (zero duty rated)

[nardev]

Elecraft want me to pay $180 shipping on a $649 order for shipping slowest air option. Last year I got $1800 of stuff shipped from them for $80.

The weight is more important than the value for shipping cost. But i'll assume these are standard electronics components and not particularly heavy.

In my case it's i think less than 20 grams LOL

[Yansi]

TME is in Europe, in Poland and The Czech Republic. It is far closer than some Digikey. Hence the price is small and delivery simple to Bosnia.

[Yansi]

The redirecting sounded bit complicated for me but i'll look for it. If you have any to suggest, go ahead.

Basically you sign up with the redirect company, they will need some identification documents in order to accept mail on your behalf.
Then they provide you a shipping address in their country. Usually with a special code on it to separate your mail from all the other people using the service.
Anything shipped to that address they will resend to your nominated address for the cost of the extra shipping + their fee.

Using redirecting services was never cheaper. Those services are especially useful just for stubborn sellers from US of A that can't write down any other country than US on the package. 

[olkipukki]

What ever i order from Bosnia, it's 120 EUR for shipping. And look what they have to say about that:

120 USD  mentioned in their email


Out of curiosity, I have checked UPS and they quoted $700 from US to Bosnia per kilo package, but only $15-30 from EU to Bosnia, so I would say 120 is really cheap 

There is some cl$st%rf*&k between these counties.

[Psi]

The redirecting sounded bit complicated for me but i'll look for it. If you have any to suggest, go ahead.

Basically you sign up with the redirect company, they will need some identification documents in order to accept mail on your behalf.
Then they provide you a shipping address in their country. Usually with a special code on it to separate your mail from all the other people using the service.
Anything shipped to that address they will resend to your nominated address for the cost of the extra shipping + their fee.

Using redirecting services was never cheaper. Those services are especially useful just for stubborn sellers from US of A that can't write down any other country than US on the package. 

What do you mean 'never cheaper'.
It is quite often a cheaper way to get goods.  A lot of US companies will export internationally but because it is a lot of hassle and extra work, which they don't want to deal with, they markup the shipping costs a lot. 
A redirect service can definitely be cheaper some of the time.

[Yansi]

It is never cheaper, because all of those redirecting services know well how important they are and their pricing and fees are set accordingly.

I have imported from the US a few things in the past using such services and I can tell you it was quite an expensive to do so, but I've had no choice.

Just saying, that you shouldn't expect you can get away cheaper using redirecting service. It is unlikely.

If the seller can send it directly, I would recommend so, from my experience it is not worth the hassle with thirdparty shipper in between. Was quite slow also.

[Psi]

It is never cheaper, because all of those redirecting services know well how important they are and their pricing and fees are set accordingly.

I have imported from the US a few things in the past using such services and I can tell you it was quite an expensive to do so, but I've had no choice.

Just saying, that you shouldn't expect you can get away cheaper using redirecting service. It is unlikely.

If the seller can send it directly, I would recommend so, from my experience it is not worth the hassle with thirdparty shipper in between. Was quite slow also.

The one i use is run by my local postal system.

International postage is calculated as NZD$9.00 per parcel, plus NZD$3.50 per 500g. The minimum chargeable weight is 500g and is charged in 500g increments thereafter. The chargeable weight of your parcel will be based on the greater of its actual weight or volumetric weight (charged in 500g increments).

So for a small 1kg box i pay $9+$3.5+$3.5 = NZ$16 + tax
Much cheaper than the stores own intl shipping which can be up to $100 in extreme cases.