Freestyle Shipping Charges - lower?

[Ross Chambers]

I don't know the specifics, but if you are ordering soon it would be nice to know. From their news e-mail:

<<Due to customer requests to offer lower cost shipping methods to our international customers, Freestyle is now offering a new lower cost shipping service offered by FedEx called FIMS. FedEx International Mail Service is a simple, economical solution for shipping small packages at a reduced rate. Please see our website for further details. We also continue to investigate other shipping options to keep shipping costs down.>>

See Freestyle Policies page: FedEx International Mail Service (FIMS)

 

[Michael W]

It now shows up as an option when you have items in the shopping cart and select calculate shipping. As a test I put 20 rolls of Arista Premium 400 in the cart, which is $57.80. Uninsured FIMS is $18.00, compared to $46.48 for USPS Priority. With FIMS my order total would be $76 USD or $3.80 per roll, which is about $3.70 AUD.

 

[Wyno]

This sounds really good. I'm aiming at getting some more film and paper from Freestye soon. It'd be nice if B&H took it up too.
Mike

 

[PeterB]

Thanks for that heads up Ross. This will save me using the more expensive shipito reshipper in the US which takes 1 month via the economy option before i get it in Sydney. Hopefully it will arrive in 1-2 weeks.

 

[Tony Egan]

Good news, Thanks Ross

 

[Michael W]

With FIMS, FedEx collect it from Freestyle and deliver to the FedEx base in Sydney, where it is then put into the local postal system.

 

[PeterB]

With FIMS, FedEx collect it from Freestyle and deliver to the FedEx base in Sydney, where it is then put into the local postal system.

That is great news, this means it should only take about 1 week, and it costs less than either buying locally or using a US reshipper.

 

[yeah!]

ordered though freestyle using FIMS about a month ago, from memory it took about 10-14 business days, a little longer but worth the wait for the saving.

 

[polyglot]

ooh, nice. I've placed only a single order with FS previously because their shipping costs made the total price significantly worse than B&H who offer a cheap UPS option.

 

[PeterB]

I would love to support my local distributor - Vanbar , by purchasing through them, but their prices are outlandish in comparison to those in the US. If any importer charges more than 15-20% more for an equivalent item in the US then one or more of the following things applies:
1. their business is inefficient
2. they are profiteering
3. they are being charged more by the mfg than retailers in the US are being charged.

None of these points I am prepared to pay for.

as an example , Freestyle stock Ilford Multigrade MGIV FB W24K (Warmtone) 8x10/100 sheets for $138.49. Vanbar stock the same product for $230.45. That is a crazy 66% more expensive (assuming parity conversion). And since the Aussie dollar has been higher lately, it makes Vanbar's prices look even worse.

 

[nightbringer]

I'm definitely gonna have to order some of that exotic Adox B&W stuff from Freestyle ... I still think that cheap_shots_AU is the cheapest Australian seller for the pro films (Ilford/Kodak/Fuji). While B&H is cheaper, once you factor in shipping the eBayer is still cheaper ... and much quicker shipping.

 

[Willie Jan]

Me too find this very positive. In the past i stopped ordering, because of the expensive shipment.

 

[Joachim_I]

I just got my first delivery from Freestyle, shipped to Australia using their new FIMS (FedEx Intl Mail Service) shipping option. I ordered on 27 March and received my films on 27 April. I paid USD 12 on a film order of USD 99. I am very happy with this new shipping option. By the way, the films were perfectly packed. Thanks Freestyle.

 

[LJH]

I just got my first delivery from Freestyle, shipped to Australia using their new FIMS (FedEx Intl Mail Service) shipping option. I ordered on 27 March and received my films on 27 April. I paid USD 12 on a film order of USD 99. I am very happy with this new shipping option. By the way, the films were perfectly packed. Thanks Freestyle.

Good news, especially with the Ilford ULF run coming up!

 

[PeterB]

I just got my first delivery from Freestyle, shipped to Australia using their new FIMS (FedEx Intl Mail Service) shipping option. I ordered on 27 March and received my films on 27 April. I paid USD 12 on a film order of USD 99. I am very happy with this new shipping option. By the way, the films were perfectly packed. Thanks Freestyle.

Great news ! I think the shipping time was longer than normal given there were 3 public holidays in the last 2 weeks. Although given that FedEx ships it from the US to OZ and then Auspost takes it from there I'm surprised it wasn't quicker.

 

[Ross Chambers]

Great news ! I think the shipping time was longer than normal given there were 3 public holidays in the last 2 weeks. Although given that FedEx ships it from the US to OZ and then Auspost takes it from there I'm surprised it wasn't quicker.

I'm a regular buyer from Book Depository (Royal Mail UK) and Arkiv Music (USPS) and there seems to be not much rhyme or reason in shipping times from these two. Sometimes it can be a week, sometimes an item ordered from the same source at the same time is delayed by another 2 weeks. Hard to know whether it's Australia Post or the others. It's in the stars.

I did embarrass my little local PO by asking them to look in the back room after one particularly long wait and found that they had forgotten to put a card in my PO Box.

Freestyle's previous service was very rapid, but it's seldom that I found myself needing film or paper in a couple of days; I could usually wait.

 

[NDP_2010]

Had a look on the site and was a bit confused, in checkout there was automatically $18usd shipping, and then underneath on the page an option for USPS priority mail ($45). Not sure if this is just optional, and it is possibe to checkout without ticking the box for it.

 

[PeterB]

Had a look on the site and was a bit confused, in checkout there was automatically $18usd shipping, and then underneath on the page an option for USPS priority mail ($45). Not sure if this is just optional, and it is possibe to checkout without ticking the box for it.

Prior to checking out, when you click "my Cart" you will then see a button "Calculate Shipping". when I do that and select postcode 2000 I get the following FIMS price of $18 (that is a coincidence it matches the US$18 you wrote of). Don't check that option for USPS priority mail as FIMS has nothing to do with USPS, it is FedEx plus Australia Post.

 

[NDP_2010]

ah ok. Thanks for this info. Will definately sway me towards freestyle over bh.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

SteveR, another APUG member here in Geelong, is known to have ordered film a year or so back from Freestyle and got it within a Monday-Friday timeline, ordered Sunday I think (!) I recall this as he mentioned it, and at the time I did not believe it. Now I do, certainly!

 

[yeah!]

if anyone is ordering from freestyle soon and is in melbourne and wants to split shipping let me know..

 

[Enrico Scotece]

It's cheaper using Fims but only good for orders less than $150.00
Anything more and it's better splitting between two or three persons. Never had a problem with Freestyle. Email, call, or order online and the service is nonsense free.
It would be nice if our local supplier was like this!

 

[PeterB]

My Freestyle FIMS (Fedex) order arrived in 20 days to Australia. I ordered some of the new Ilford Multigrade Classic FB Cooltone Glossy. I was rather surprised to see that the last postmark originated from Sweden !! (PO box 5001 Malmo, Sweden). With Freestyle's address crossed out in black sharpie/felt pen. Now the only possible reason I can think of is that Fedex consolidates its US shipments destined to Australia in Sweden. Or, and Dead Link Removed, (one of at least a few I found) that Fedex routinely stuff up and send OZ shipments via Sweden !!!

 

[MattKing]

Did you have to assemble the contents of your order before you used it?

 

[PeterB]

Did you have to assemble the contents of your order before you used it?

I hope not !! I paid a premium so I wouldn't have to spend time doing that stuff myself (as much as I might like to).

BTW I thought LEGO comes from Denmark.