I'll check but its the basic stamp activity kit on a special at big discount so i realy doubt its for sale here.
no luck. surly that has to be a mistake. Ive bypassed locals and ordered direct from you guys at Parallax and not had to pay so much for delivery for a bunch of stuff. or else can i pay one of you and you send it, i guess thats too much muckng around ?
Which shipping option are you choosing?
USPS 1st Class International Mail ought to be a lot less than $69.
Options involving a lot of documentation cost a lot more.
Carlyn, There are 3 USPS options, you chose the most expensive one. In my experience (over dozens of parcels from US->Australia), the "express" is really only 2-3 days quicker than the regular airmail. The cheapest of the 3 options is $25 (see screenshot)
Alternatively contact Ron Nollet who brings parcels across from Parallax all the time. I'm not sure whether the deep specials are available through this channel, but perhaps arrangements can be made.
Ken the cheapest option was a bit over $25. Still seems not that cheap. Ive asked a distributor in oz to see what he can do. but so far seems like im going to pay a bit for the special.
Nah, there's something wrong. This should only cost less than ten bucks. I'm asking Jim Carey to report back on this thread and tell us what's up.
Hi Ken,
I don't generally complain about Parallax, but this is exactly the same thing that occurred to me about a year ago, and you gave me pretty much the same advice then - i.e. "something is wrong" - "contact Jim Carey" etc etc.
For me, the money was never the issue - but what is an issue is that it seems Parallax never actually bothered to go find the problem and fix it, even after a customer alerted you to it.
I think the issue is the book, it's 354 pages, at 80gsm plus covers and spiral binding that could well be heading towards 1kg. If you just order the homework board by itself, shipping to AU is as little as $6.06
In general the parallax stuff comes really well packed, the cardboard boxes and string reinforced tape adds a few Oz compared with cheap padded aircell bags. I've received a few parcels from parallax where they paid USPS slightly more than what I paid to ship it.
First Class Mail International is the option you want to choose. I agree with Tubular that the weight of the book is the problem. I would guess with the book it's probably around 3 lbs and that would cost about $25 (US). At 8 oz. it drops to $8.46. Packing carefully you could probably get the board alone down under 5 oz.
I was stuck between buying 10 Homework Boards at $399USD plus shipping or 10 WAM kits (on sale) with Homework Boards And USB to RS232 adapters and a lot of other stuff including text in English for $250USD.
I ended up going with the 10x WAM kits with the heavy book and paid about $44USD per kit delivered to Taiwan. And I am happy I did. The book is awkwardly of little use to me as I will be printing out the Traditional Chinese WAM text for everyone, but the component value included is far more than just the one board - there is even an r/c servo.
I suspect some of my students will be happy to have the English text as well - just to see how technology is presented in English. (Maybe their parents will like seeing it, but they will ignore it.)
I am rather annoyed that US Post Service now has one price for anywhere in the world. People in Canada have to pay the same as those in Oz. And the old special 'book rate' that took 10 weeks by ship is no longer. Everything in the Post Office for international seems to on an airplane or not at all. The US claims the EU subsidizes Airbus and the USA does not subsidize Boeing. I have my doubts.
Carlyn, $25 is the best price we have shipping 1st Class mail. Removing the book would bring it down to $10. Send me your order number if you purchase and let me know if you want to ship with, or without the book. The book is a free download on our site. thanks, Jim jcarey@parallax.com
I have found him most helpful. I even bought my PDB from him when Parallax were having a special on PDBs - i asked if he was able to match the 'special' price - has wasn't able to match the discount _exactly_ but he went mighty close.
Thanks to everyone in this thread.... I have used Ron Nollett in the past. He is excellent to deal with, very quick to respond(his website is S*it ( Sorry Ron) but Ron u probly don't need a super site?
I do love to have a book in my hands but I recon for the price I'll download it instead.
So I'm going to order direct from you fellas at Parallax (ron was not super keen for just one unit for a couple of reasons) but if I am not buying the book with the kit does the price come down ?
Carlyn, $25 is the best price we have shipping 1st Class mail. Removing the book would bring it down to $10. Send me your order number if you purchase and let me know if you want to ship with, or without the book. The book is a free download on our site. thanks, Jim jcarey@parallax.com
BASIC Stamp Activity Kit - Serial + USB (Text v2.2) Jim, I will download the text, version 3 i guess... but im going to go ahead and buy the Kickstarts book. I couldnt complete order till I hear from you about price. Any small discount for not including the wam text ? So ive ordered what looks like $40.00
90010 $29.99 $29.99
Microcontroller KickStarts Book
28110 $9.99 So let me know the damage please
Did you read and understand the part where Jim Carey had asked you:
Send me your order number if you purchase and let me know if you want to ship with, or without the book. The book is a free download on our site. thanks, Jim jcarey@parallax.com
I don't think he's regularly monitoring this forum, but would answer email fairly quickly. I, too, would like to see your purchase go through successfully and without a lot of the frustration you seem to have gone through. But this requires using the form of communication that he had asked you (email) and not this public forum at this point.
Without the order number sent privately, there could be hundreds if not thousands of orders to slog through to try to find yours, based solely on trying to search by part number. I see you're also trying to negotiate on something relatively inexpensive, which chews up a ton of time and is not something any US company typically does... usually the price is the price, unless it's thousands of dollars. He's already trying to work with you here about shipping.
Also, it might already be Monday in Oz, but it's still the weekend here. Moreover, the Parallax employees have just gone through their annual end-of-fiscal-year inventory count and office-cleaning, so I'm sure they need a break before getting back into the saddle tomorrow.
Well it's not just shipping expenses. There are extra costs associated with an Australian BS2. They have to make a special reverse polarity Stamp to work down under, where coriolis causes electrons to flow in the opposite direction, just like water going down a drain.
THX Whicker, I did email Jim and it is all sorted out..almost straight forward. In my somewhat slight experience, the distributors in the southern part of the globe dont hold a lot of stock. Thats only problematic or slightly ironic because Parallax has so many good products We all get by though. The last order i put throughwas smart cards and readers. Find that stuff intriguing for some reason. you just about have to own one to use public transport and now many gym's make use of them, just two examples
Erco, you do realise that there are thousands of comedians out of work ?. ahh your probably being serious, being clever has never been one of my talents or blessings, but if a tree falls in the forest and none and nothing is there to hear, does it make any noise ?obviously time I went to bed, goodnight
carlyn
Posts: 78
Comments
Are the Australia Distributors any cheaper?
http://au.mouser.com/
http://www.digikey.com.au/?curr=AUD
its the basic stamp kit $29 special.
no luck. surly that has to be a mistake. Ive bypassed locals and ordered direct from you guys at Parallax and not had to pay so much for delivery for a bunch of stuff. or else can i pay one of you and you send it, i guess thats too much muckng around ?
USPS 1st Class International Mail ought to be a lot less than $69.
Options involving a lot of documentation cost a lot more.
Alternatively contact Ron Nollet who brings parcels across from Parallax all the time. I'm not sure whether the deep specials are available through this channel, but perhaps arrangements can be made.
Hi Ken,
I don't generally complain about Parallax, but this is exactly the same thing that occurred to me about a year ago, and you gave me pretty much the same advice then - i.e. "something is wrong" - "contact Jim Carey" etc etc.
For me, the money was never the issue - but what is an issue is that it seems Parallax never actually bothered to go find the problem and fix it, even after a customer alerted you to it.
Maybe this time?
Ross.
In general the parallax stuff comes really well packed, the cardboard boxes and string reinforced tape adds a few Oz compared with cheap padded aircell bags. I've received a few parcels from parallax where they paid USPS slightly more than what I paid to ship it.
I ended up going with the 10x WAM kits with the heavy book and paid about $44USD per kit delivered to Taiwan. And I am happy I did. The book is awkwardly of little use to me as I will be printing out the Traditional Chinese WAM text for everyone, but the component value included is far more than just the one board - there is even an r/c servo.
I suspect some of my students will be happy to have the English text as well - just to see how technology is presented in English. (Maybe their parents will like seeing it, but they will ignore it.)
I am rather annoyed that US Post Service now has one price for anywhere in the world. People in Canada have to pay the same as those in Oz. And the old special 'book rate' that took 10 weeks by ship is no longer. Everything in the Post Office for international seems to on an airplane or not at all. The US claims the EU subsidizes Airbus and the USA does not subsidize Boeing. I have my doubts.
I have found him most helpful. I even bought my PDB from him when Parallax were having a special on PDBs - i asked if he was able to match the 'special' price - has wasn't able to match the discount _exactly_ but he went mighty close.
Postage was cheap as well. Recommended.
I do love to have a book in my hands but I recon for the price I'll download it instead.
So I'm going to order direct from you fellas at Parallax (ron was not super keen for just one unit for a couple of reasons) but if I am not buying the book with the kit does the price come down ?
Thankyou.
Carlyn.
BASIC Stamp Activity Kit - Serial + USB (Text v2.2) Jim, I will download the text, version 3 i guess... but im going to go ahead and buy the Kickstarts book. I couldnt complete order till I hear from you about price. Any small discount for not including the wam text ? So ive ordered what looks like $40.00
90010 $29.99 $29.99
Microcontroller KickStarts Book
28110 $9.99 So let me know the damage please
thanks,
Did you read and understand the part where Jim Carey had asked you:
I don't think he's regularly monitoring this forum, but would answer email fairly quickly. I, too, would like to see your purchase go through successfully and without a lot of the frustration you seem to have gone through. But this requires using the form of communication that he had asked you (email) and not this public forum at this point.
Without the order number sent privately, there could be hundreds if not thousands of orders to slog through to try to find yours, based solely on trying to search by part number. I see you're also trying to negotiate on something relatively inexpensive, which chews up a ton of time and is not something any US company typically does... usually the price is the price, unless it's thousands of dollars. He's already trying to work with you here about shipping.
But I'll leave it up to Parallax at this point.
-Phil
that kickstart bok has not arrives. seem rather long now? can u please check please. thankd for all that other help. mike Australia.