The Loose Association of Wargamers

Spanner wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:02 pm
PS P&P is becoming ridiculous. The USA and Germany lead the pack in slapping on stupid prices- 33Euros P&P for a 36Euros book that weighs 260g?

I looked at some stuff from Battlefront - $30 US postage on a $33 US order? They're having a laugh.

PS There is an ancient Esci kit for the Hummel, which i built in a previous millennium. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/esci-80 ... el--187471 Sadly I haven't got one in the stash. It looks like there are some on evil-bay for ~ $30 but it's blocked at work.

Etranger » 29 Mar 2023 13:30
I looked at some stuff from Battlefront - $30 US postage on a $33 US order? They're having a laugh.

Laugh? I don't think it's their mouths involved, mate, but their hands and lower bits of their anatomy. P&P costs have certainly curtailed my spending, particularly from US vendors and German antiquariats. I'm not paying that much for P&P unless Claudia Schiffer or Gisele Bundchen is personally delivering it.

That will never happen.

Spanner wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 6:19 am

Etranger » 29 Mar 2023 13:30
I looked at some stuff from Battlefront - $30 US postage on a $33 US order? They're having a laugh.

Laugh? I don't think it's their mouths involved, mate, but their hands and lower bits of their anatomy. P&P costs have certainly curtailed my spending, particularly from US vendors and German antiquariats. I'm not paying that much for P&P unless Claudia Schiffer or Gisele Bundchen is personally delivering it.

That will never happen.

Unless I let them out of the cellar....

If I read it correctly it was post from the UK for a NZ product made in Malaysia. I order products from other UK based companies & postage for those is much less expensive.

Etranger » 29 Mar 2023 19:26

Unless I let them out of the cellar....

There's some men in blue clothes (not the right shade of blue, but you'll know who they are) who may wish to chat with you about that.

Lucky bugger.

A mate was telling me about that- it's one reason he's stopped any buying FOW or Battlefront stuff at all. Pom and French P&P are still reasonable, though they've climbed. Haven't bought- or cancelled at checkout when I saw the P&P- from anywhere else.

I'm wondering what's behind it? And please don't say COVID and Ukraine- there's some people making squillions by hiding behind those excuses.

I only order BF from overseas on the rare occasion that they have a sale, usually of old stock. The last time was around 4 years ago. I'll get almost everything locally or within Oz, &/or use alternative manufacturers. It's the first time I've seen such a blatant attempt at price gouging from them though. I guess their distribution centre may be in the USA, where postal rates have become diabolical.

Eventually I found the same obscure unit (Romanian HMG platoon) on an Oz site, (around the 10th I tried, OOS everywhere else) for around 1/2 the price even with postage (47 $Oz Vs 63 $US), so job done. BF are the only company that make Romanians in 15mm (with a few limited exceptions) & this was the one platoon that I needed to complete an OOB for mine.

They could be distributing from the UK, mate, or it may even be a mistake- but probably not. Well done finding a reasonably-priced alternative.

BF used to be great. My son quite a bit of their Desert gear at CanCon, but that was when Mal Wright was their Oz agent- so nearly 20 years?

Just sent a package/large box (about 1' cubed) to NZ, less than 4kg - £90.

That was tracked, mind, due to other Antipodean parcels "disappearing".

BaronVonWreckedoften wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:47 pm Just sent a package/large box (about 1' cubed) to NZ, less than 4kg - £90.

That was tracked, mind, due to other Antipodean parcels "disappearing".

I was very pleased as the recipient of that parcel!
The postage thing has been diabolical in the past 4 months or so, now to the extent that when I visit the UK next May I have decided to add an extra suitcase. Its not only the cost but now the unreliability and time it takes. I was lucky recntly though getting a NorthStar order delivered within 2 and an half weeks

BaronVonWreckedoften » 30 Mar 2023 02:47
That was tracked, mind, due to other Antipodean parcels "disappearing".

valleyboy » 30 Mar 2023 04:52
The postage thing has been diabolical

I always pay for tracking these days. I've only had one parcel (PSC Cromwells) fail to turn up, eventually, since doing that. (Royal Mail and Oz Post disagree on whether it ever got to Australia, so it's probably sitting by a pool in Dubai or Singapore, catching some rays.) What I don't understand is the sudden jump in P&P costs (it can't all be increased airline costs and charges) and the extended time it takes for parcels to arrive. To be fair, much of the delay seems to be the customs receiving centre in Sydney, but seven weeks for a book to get from the UK to Oz?

Spanner wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 1:04 pm They could be distributing from the UK, mate, or it may even be a mistake- but probably not. Well done finding a reasonably-priced alternative.

BF used to be great. My son quite a bit of their Desert gear at CanCon, but that was when Mal Wright was their Oz agent- so nearly 20 years?

At least 20 years ago! He isn't very complementary about them either. Mal's still around but age is catching up with him a bit.