Shipping Charges - Beware

[sanjdill]

We recently had a wonderful trip to Disney World from which we'll have lots of nice memories. I just feel the need to inform all of you who are going in the near future of the terrible shipping charges in case you buy extra (like I did) and want to ship some items home. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and I went into the gift shop on our last morning there with some items we had bought in the park to have them shipped. The gentleman there informed me that the shipping charges were $76 via UPS. I was in shock, but our suitcases were packed and checked so had no choice. He said it was based on the amount of your purchases. So - the way I see it - they really penalize you for spending more money. I was told today by Mail Order Department that anything between $200 and $500 was $76 flat rate. Mine amounted to about 1/3 of the merchandise total for shipping charges. In addition to that, the things were not properly packed and two gifts I brought back were damaged so I'm having to go through the process of trying to get them replaced. It was just all thrown in the box with some brown paper packing laid across the top.

I usually do not complain - just take my lumps and go on, lol. We love Disney and will be back, but will be a little wiser (take extra suitcase). Just wanted to warn everyone else so that this does not happen to you.

Hope this helps someone along the way!

 

[DMRick]

Gosh, I guess it helps to break up the order. We ordered about $110 worth of stuff at Epcot during the flower show, and it was $11 to ship. They didn't charge us any sales tax (I can't figure our why, since they have a presence in our area), so that brought the total down even more. I wonder if they have changed things.

 

[disneysteve]

What we've done in the past was pack the stuff up and go to an offsite shipping store. MUCH cheaper.

I also read on another thread that you can go to the front desk of the hotel and have a package shipped for much lower rates than the stores charge but I've never done that.

 

[Lauren-n-Jeff]

WOW.
When dh and I were on our honeymoon in 2002, we didn't realize until the last minute that our stuff wasn't going to fit in the suitcase and we were minutes away from heading out to the port for our cruise.... So our concierge took our bags of goodies and packed and shipped them for us. We just told them to charge it to our credit card and we were pleasantly surprised only to see a bill for about $15 (for two packages to be shipped!)
Poly Concierge was beyond amazing during our stay.

 

[MommyBoo!]

Shipping charges went up on October 1. I read the following on another thread:

Regular ground shipping and handling within the continental United
States is according to the following schedule. Delivery dates refer to
merchandise that is in stock:

Ground Shipping: 20 Business Days (approximate)
Express Air: 35 Business Days (approximate)
Economy Air: 47 Business Days (approximate)

MERCHANDISE TOTAL:
Up to $50.00 Ground $8.95 Express Air $33.95 Economy Air $23.95
Alaska & Hawaii Express $58.95 Economy $33.95
$50.01-$75.00 Ground $14.95 Express Air $39.00 Economy Air $29.00
Alaska & Hawaii Express $64.00 Economy $39.00
$75.01-$100.00 Ground $21.00 Express Air $51.00 Economy Air $36.00
Alaska & Hawaii Express $81.00 Economy $51.00
$100.01-$150.00 Ground $26.00 Express Air $56.00 Economy Air $41.00
Alaska & Hawaii Express $86.00 Economy $56.00
$150.01-$250.00 Ground $36.00 Express Air $66.00 Economy Air $51.00
Alaska & Hawaii Express $91.00 Economy $66.00
$250.01-$500.00 Ground $76.00 Express Air $116.00 Economy Air $91.00
Alaska & Hawaii Express $156.00 Economy $116.00
$500.01-$1000 Ground $112.00 Express Air $152.00 Economy Air $127.00
Alaska & Hawaii Express $192.00 Economy $152.00

Shipping outside the continental United States is via International
service and would be according to the following schedule:

Merchandise Value Shipping Charge
$0.01 to $20.00 $10.00
$20.01 to $30.00 $25.00
$30.01 to $40.00 $40.00
$40.01 to $60.00 $50.00
$60.01 to $100.00 $75.00
$100.01 to $250.00 $100.00
$250.01 to $500.00 $125.00
$500.01 to $1000.00 $150.00
Add $10.00 For Each Additional $100.00 over $1000

Please allow (approx) 20 business days for International deliveries. Any
duties or taxes are the responsibility of the recipient.

 

[Patsfan7]

Shipping charges went up on October 1. I read the following on another thread:

Yes, this is true. We visited the World from 9/20-9/30 and shipped a bunch of stuff home from the Character Premier store at the outlets. They told us that the "rates would be going up again on 10/1" Then she said, "well, I don't mean 'again' because they haven't gone up in 4 years." On 9/25 when we made our purchase, the shipping charge was in the $15 range, but we saved that on the sales tax, as there is no sales tax charged if you were shipping it. (we live in MA, so maybe it is if you ship it out of state? not sure on that one, our sales tax is 5%) I figured, oh, maybe going up to twenty bucks or so....EEK!

At those rates I would have DIED!!!! Will have to remember where the nearest UPS store is for next time!!!!! Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Desnik]

Wouldn't it be better/cheaper to just get a box from the front desk and put your stuff in and ship it home? It would ship from the front desk or business center of the resort and would be regular UPS shipping charges. We did this in May from SSR. I assume these charges you are referring to are from the gift shops when you want to have them ship your items home?

 

[disneysteve]

It is MUCH better to pack the stuff and ship it yourself, because then you are paying based on weight, not based on merchandise price, which never made any sense to me. Especially at a place like Disney where a small collectible could be a few hundred dollars but weigh less than a couple of pounds.

 

[scoutsmom99]

I was told the same thing I shipped a small fortune home on 9/30 from the CBR gift shop and they told me it was a good thing I was doing it that day because charges were going up the next day!

Too bad I missed the old way which was $9.95 for $100 and below and $15.95 for anything over $100.00.

If you do ship your stuff home from WDW and use Disney be sure to hang on to all of your reciepts for the stuff you want shipped because a few of my items had no upcs on them and they used the reciepts to enter the upc number for the post sale shipping.

 

[nbodyhome]

You'd think that Disney would want to charge a fair shipping rate (so to encourage shopping)!!!!

 

[Tony P. IL.]

Here is a link to UPS Stores near WDW.http://go.mappoint.net/ups/PrxResul...08044:32:&GAD4=USA&FC=UPS&GAD44=United+States

 

[mookie]

What we've done in the past was pack the stuff up and go to an offsite shipping store. MUCH cheaper.

I also read on another thread that you can go to the front desk of the hotel and have a package shipped for much lower rates than the stores charge but I've never done that.

I'm not sure if this is true at Disney, but I KNOW it's not true elsewhere. We just got back from a trip to SanFrancisco and Napa Valley. When we left, we had several items (6 bottles of wine, a poster, t-shirts, some logo glasses, etc.) that just wouldn't fit in the suitcase, so we decided to have them shipped. The hotel did offer this as a service, and even offered to pack them for us - for 120.00!!!

 

[shellyfive]

i always pack my stuff when leaving in my small suitcase, then put the entire small suitcase in the next size up medium suitcase that i have------i always need that extra suitcase on the way home!!!!

 

[swilshire]

I always pack an empty duffle in my one suitcase. I put clothing in it on the trip home to make room for anything I've purchased.

Still had to buy an additional suitcase and duffle in Hawaii, though. I couldn't believe how much stuff the six of us collected. The extra duffles I had taken just weren't enough.

Sheila

 

[sanjdill]

Thanks for all the good suggestions/info. The rates did go up on Oct 1st. I never thought about shipping it from the front desk, since I would have thought they would tell you to go to the gift shop for that. Seems like they are discouraging visitors from buying very much. Usually I do take an empty suitcase for that purpose, but we were traveling with son and family (1 and 3 year olds), so used all our luggage allowance. Has anyone had problems with the way things were packed, damage, etc? That was another issue.

Have a great Monday all!

 

[plummer925]

Thanks for all the good suggestions/info. The rates did go up on Oct 1st. I never thought about shipping it from the front desk, since I would have thought they would tell you to go to the gift shop for that. Seems like they are discouraging visitors from buying very much. Usually I do take an empty suitcase for that purpose, but we were traveling with son and family (1 and 3 year olds), so used all our luggage allowance. Has anyone had problems with the way things were packed, damage, etc? That was another issue.

Have a great Monday all!

Even when you use your luggage allowance, you are allowed additional luggage at an additional cost - I'm wondering if in this case the additional cost would have been LESS than the shipping cost?! Heck - for over $75, it would have been worth it to BUY a piece of luggage and bring it home that way.....

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Wow, in September we paid $15 for anything up to $1,000 spent. We shipped it at All-Star Movies gift shop.

 

[ladysoleil]

I'm not sure if this is true at Disney, but I KNOW it's not true elsewhere. We just got back from a trip to SanFrancisco and Napa Valley. When we left, we had several items (6 bottles of wine, a poster, t-shirts, some logo glasses, etc.) that just wouldn't fit in the suitcase, so we decided to have them shipped. The hotel did offer this as a service, and even offered to pack them for us - for 120.00!!!

I think it depends on the hotel. When I was married in Las Vegas I decided to ship my dress and wedding accessories home- we'd bought things and had a few wedding gifts to wrangle and I just didn't want to schlep the huge dress bag on the plane again or deal with it while we were honeymooning.

It cost about $80 to ship, including the charge for the box and packing material, but the box weighed about 20 pounds and was heavily insured, so I'm not sure if it cost "too much" or not.

 

[DizneyDogs]

You can can get big boxes at the Disney resort gift shops, pack it up yourself and take it to the front desk for shipping much cheaper than the new shipping rates.

FYI the exact same new shipping rates at WDW have been in effect at Disneyland for awhile now at least 2 years anyway.