I've been a happy Midway customer for over four years until today. I noticed something peculiar while concluding an order that's left me reluctant to overreact because of the reputation of the retailer but irritated nonetheless. I originally went online to order three things: a bore brush, a replacement aperture ring for AR15 rear sight, and a cleaning rod. I then noticed that M-USA is having a promotion of $15 off when ordering $100 worth of merchandise. So I added two other items to meet the threshold: a weapon bag for carbine and a hat. Cool, my total is 100.45, but then it happened. When I added in shipping, the total skyrocketed to $133. Whoa. $32 and change is a lot of money to send a cleaning rod, brush, cap, aperture, and a bag to GA, the one in the United States. Thinking it had to be some kind of error, I began to remove and replace each item. What I found is the subject of this thread. The shipping cost for the four items less the bag was 8.32 or something. Still a bit steep for UPS ground since all this stuff could fit in a mailing envelope, but I can live with that. The shipping cost for the bag alone is 12 same method of transport. But when I put the bag and the other small items together in one order, the shipping fee jumps to over 32 USD. So, I'm left with two options: to put the order in two parts and save twelve bucks in shipping but miss out on fifteen dollar promotion that I originally attempted to realize or to put it all together and overpay in shipping by twelve to get fifteen off of my order total. What's up with that? Does that seem to be a bit unethical to any one else to recoup the cost of the "promotion" by adding the discount offered to the customer to the shipping charge?
Use this code to get $10 off an order of $50 or more in October: 191010 Doesn't explain that huge shipping charge... but its better than nothing.
Other factors could also be involved. UPS charges by size and weight. Could be one of the items when combined with the others bumps it up a notch on the wieght. It could even be slightly less than an ounce to tip the scale to the next bracket. Also it's not just shipping. There are packing and handeling charges as well. I would still give them a call and see if you could work something out on the charges but if you can't you are still $3 better off.
Sounds like something weird is up. +1 to calling. My guess is that there may be something to do with the packaging the bag fits in, but who knows...
Something similar just happened to me, for a small package from Harbor Freight. It came by FREIGHT LINE at a cost of 84.00, when it should have been shipped UPS for $10 or less. They immediately refunded the overcharge when I contacted them. Apparently someone typed in 151 lbs instead of 51 lbs for the weight. E-mail Midway, I bet they'll fix it.
Many sites automatically calculate the rate of shipping electronically through UPS/FedEx web-based services, using the weight, zip codes, etc. We do this for some of the sites we host and it sometimes produces ridiculous results. If you call them, they will likely give you a better rate. Also, some sites will add tiered handling fees ($x for orders up to $50, $y for orders between $50 and $100, etc.) - generally that reduces costs on larger orders, but it depends on how it is setup.
Midway has never done me wrong. Awesome company!!! Discount are for regular price items. If u buy a regular priced item not on sale and an item on sale the promo discount will not apply to the order at all. If all the items are all regular price promo will apply. 1. Place regularly priced in-stock products in your shopping cart totaling: $100 or more - Use Promotion Code 11010 $200 or more - Use Promotion Code 31010 $400 or more - Use Promotion Code 61010 $650 or more - Use Promotion Code 101010 Enter the promotion code in the box entitled "Promotion Code" on the shopping cart page. 2. You will see the discount on the Confirmation page before placing your order. 3. Remember, this promotion code is valid for orders placed on MidwayUSA.com. 4. Limited to one per Customer and one promotion code per retail order. 5. Offer cannot be combined with Birthday, Special or Dealer Pricing. 6. Offer not valid on MidwayUSA Gift Certificates, Nightforce, Sale and Clearance products. 7. Offer valid on regularly priced products only. 8. Hurry, offer ends at 11:59 PM CT October 31, 2010.
Greetings, I have been dealing with Midwayusa fir years. Call them. They will make it right. NEVER I was disappointed with their customer service. Thank you
I appreciate all the replies and suggestions gentlemen. In the end, I split the order in two to save on shipping and also omitted a few things that seemed to cause the shipping charges to spike. I also used Hydro's coupon code on one half of the order so you have my thanks for giving a heads up.
I quit using Midway several years ago over shipping. I would make an order and part of the stuff would be back ordered. Each time an item would come in, they would ship it and I would wind up paying another shipping charge. Doing it like that and the shipping quickly became more then the original order.
There are three ways that I avoid this: 1 - If something goes on backorder after you have already ordered it but before it ships, just call them and cancel the backorder. Simple, and they are nice enough to deal with. 2- When I order from them and see something is on backorder, I make sure NOT to order it. I only order what is in stock, and move all backordered stuff to my wish list. I also make sure that I have subscribed to the in-stock notification for anything backordered on the wish list. After I receive notifications that things have come in, I order these on a subsequent order, along with any other supplies that I need. 3 - Order stuff that is on backorder with Midway somewhere else that has it in stock.
That's how they get charged for the shipping. Doesn't common sense say that they should charge you the way they get charged?
1. I only ordered things that were "in stock". Unfortunately, "in stock" at the time of the order does not mean "in stock" at the time of picking and the time of shipping. 2. It would seem prudent to me that a company would hold a $2 item until the rest of the items in the order came in and could be shipped all at once. By shipping each item as it becomes available, the shipping charges become prohibitive. The first item may ship for $3 the next item added to the SAME package would perhaps only add 25 cents to the shipping but if shipped separately would be $3.
Check out Graf and Sons, they charge only a small handling fee and no shipping. Their prices may be a few cents higher than Midway on some things but the difference in shipping usually makes up for it.