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drenchedecent
Sea Post King


I just sent the following email to Equal Vision Records. I would love to know how other people feel about this. It is a constant dilemma for me deciding on whether to pay a higher price for the album so that the money goes to the band, or a lower price from a big retailer (Amazon) because I am on a tight budget.

"I came very close to pre-ordering the new Eisley vinyl album moments ago, but stopped dead in my tracks when the shipping costs appeared. With a $16.99 pre-order cost I was hoping for free shipping and at the most maybe $2.99 (which would keep the total under $20). But my total cost with shipping was $27.64, which is exorbitant. If Amazon carries the vinyl, and it is likely they will, the cost will probably be in the $13-15 range and I will order another album along with it to get free shipping. Now I would much rather buy the album from you because I want to support the artist and the label. And I know if I buy it from Amazon very little will get in Eisley's pocket. But I cannot and will not pay double ($28 ) for a single vinyl record. If your online store remains the only way to purchase the record then I will just wait until release day and buy the digital album from Amazon for $3.99. Please lower your prices so that I can support the band and buy the vinyl record directly from you."

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olimario
Laughing Citizen


How is shipping that much?
I ship CDs for my photography business with 2 stamps. That's under a dollar.
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mr pine
Vintage Newbie


my shipping for cd/vinyl combo was $9.90.
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oathmeal
Sea Post King


I ordered the litho bundle and the shipping was ten bucks too. It did say that it was 2-3 day shipping with UPS though, and it's supposed to ship on the 24th so if I get it a couple of days early I'd say it was totally worth it.
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JBaker
Vintage Newbie


The "Mega Bundle" is certainly overpriced.

So I get a $25 CD/LP bundle and a poster for $50.
So the poster is being valued at $25? And there's not "bundle discount?"
Should be $40.

I'll just buy the CD from Best Buy for $8 or whatever when it comes out.

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olimario
Laughing Citizen


I would pull the trigger if somebody from the band would tell me if ordering from the official site benefits them.
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mad_sam_purple'ead
Vintage Newbie


let us know when/if you get a reply!

when reveiwing my order for this thread, the question my mind asked is not how is MM's shipping so much, but how is it that amazon can afford to ship so cheaply?

how, essentially, is shipping calculated?
sure, mine was $25, but i'd say that's almost fair given that (a) i'm in he uk, and (b) i got two bundles - the lithograph will surely be have to be packaged carefully. also, it should only take three days, which is incredibly fast. goodness knows what difference paying ten dollars more for first class would have made.

but, similar to the OP, i've been tempted to buy cd's off dftba records, but never have, because it costs round about ten dollars seemingly no matter what you get (i seem to remember that two vlogbrothers tshirts cost the same for shipping as one - i saved a friend some dosh, there!). think i'll write them an email.

im moreorless happy with what i paid. i just hope it all arrives well Smile

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wilsmith
Vintage Newbie


Amazon has it's own distribution network, and buys all shipping materials in MASSIVE BULK grossly reducing costs to package and distribute merch. They are a HUGE corporation and because of the volume they have, they can dictate their relationships with shipping and packaging companies, greatly reducing costs.


All that said, the cds I've bought directly from an artist through the mail rarely have cost less than $20 just for the cd. They are usually sold for about normal retail cost (12-15 bucks). Then the shipping in handling is not just the cost of postage, but the cost of packaging (mailers or boxes) along with an amount that represents the cost of having a laborer pack and seal the item. The summation of that is a significantly higher cost.

Vinyl is a large item to ship relative to standard envelops, requires irregular boxes (more expensive) and a different shipping rate (as do poster tubes). These things add up as well.

You could sell and ship everything at your cost, but then you'd make no profit to forward your business.

That said, if I'm in the market to save money, but want to support the old school record business and bands, I look for their cds new at the local independent record store, or go to a show and buy the merch directly from the band while they are on tour in my area. Your success doing so is subject to supply and demand, so it's a gamble.

When you by online it's a convenience, nye a luxury, to guarantee access to the merchandise at your leisure, so there's a price to be paid to do this without dealing with a Global Entity that devours brick and mortar viability like a vacuum does lint.

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drenchedecent
Sea Post King


In the Eisley Facebook thread on this, in reply to a comment by me, notes they added a medial mail option that is much cheaper. I went and checked though and they have only added USPS Priority. So now my shipping options are:

$7.35 USPS Priority Mail (2-3 days)Total with shipping:$24.34
$10.65 UPS Ground (2-5+ days)Total with shipping:$27.64
$14.75 UPS 3 Day Select (3 days)Total with shipping:$31.74
$19.17 UPS 2nd Day Air (2 days)Total with shipping:$36.16

If they will give me a $2.99 media mail option I will place my order. Considering I would get a download of all the songs in advance, I consider shipping speed irrelevant.

I have been buying vinyl directly from bands and record label websites for 5+ years (I bought about a dozen last year). I have never paid more then $20 for a single record including shipping.

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Nowhere Man
Vintage Newbie


I checked to see what the price with shipping would be on Amazon. So far Amazon only has the standard cd and it's $12.85 (but if the price lowers you're guaranteed the lower price). Standard shipping (3-5 business days) is $2.98 but it says it will be delivered sometime between March 4th to March 8th. In order to get it on the release date of March 1st you have to get two-day shipping which costs $7.98.
$15.83 with standard shipping
$20.83 with two-day shipping

The cd on EV: $9.99 with usps first class ($4.07) mail = $14.06
or with USPS priority ($7.60) = $17.59. But it says they ship it early, so I guess it would probably arrive by the release date either way.

I'm thinkg of getting the cd with shirt: $18.99 & usps priority mail ($7.60)= $26.59

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Last edited by Nowhere Man on Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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olimario
Laughing Citizen


USPS Priority Mail would have been cheaper.
Under 5 bucks for a CD.
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dont_panic
Vintage Newbie


argh, that stinks. I came on the board to see if anyone had any predictions as to how fast the vinyl would go. alas, I am a flat broke college student who definitely cannot afford that much more for shipping.

$16.99 (or even $20) didn't seem bad for an LP, but $27 is not justifiable for me right now.

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CUBSWINWORLDSERIES
Vintage Newbie


dont_panic wrote:
argh, that stinks. I came on the board to see if anyone had any predictions as to how fast the vinyl would go. alas, I am a flat broke college student who definitely cannot afford that much more for shipping.

$16.99 (or even $20) didn't seem bad for an LP, but $27 is not justifiable for me right now.


Look at how the Room Noises vinyls have appreciated in price since they stopped making them. Justify it by calling it an investment! Laughing
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Nowhere Man
Vintage Newbie


drenchedecent wrote:

$7.35 USPS Priority Mail (2-3 days)Total with shipping:$24.34
If they will give me a $2.99 media mail option I will place my order. Considering I would get a download of all the songs in advance, I consider shipping speed irrelevant.

That's a good point.

drenchedecent wrote:

I have been buying vinyl directly from bands and record label websites for 5+ years (I bought about a dozen last year). I have never paid more then $20 for a single record including shipping.

Do they always give the digital download too?

Eisley vinyl is worth a lot on Ebay. I hate vinyl but I'm considering getting it to enjoy the album art for awhile and then later just sell it on Ebay for $60 hehe.

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LacyFace
Sea Post King


I bought the Tshirt bundle with cd and my total came to $26.56 not too bad. But its def the reason I didn't get the mega bundle which would have set me back alot. I really liked that poster though.. Hopefully they will get that merch store up soon and shipping won't kill me.
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