Why are Glowforge charging so much ($118!!!) to send a 4 gram item to the UK? Is this really how much it costs you?
Same issue shipping to where I am in canada. I have seen previous posts where you can talk to support to arrange alternate shipping in these cases, but have not gone through the process myself yet.
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It’s a service which is the equivalent of $4500 per KG!
Yeah their shipping anywhere outside the US is ridiculous.
It may be worth looking into a reshipping company; I haven’t (yet) needed one myself, but they’re supposed to be cheaper due to the volumes they handle and their familiarity with import/customs rules.
A random one, not necessarily the best but just something to get started with:
Yep, UK user here, it’s a killer.
My recommendation is make a bulk order of several pieces, because the delivery charge barely changes. I used my referal fees to cop some spare parts and some proofgrade.
Or, see if you can find an American friend (or GF User) who will receive it and send it onwards.
I’ve suggested before that UK users could get together and put in one bulk order for a ton of stuff and spares but nobody ever took me up on it.
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We shouldn’t have to try any of these options. Assuming it’s not simple profiteering, this is an incredibly simple solution from Glowforge’s perspective: get a new shipping partner. It would take someone perhaps a day to organise and set up on the back-end (if they were going slowly).
By not doing this very simple thing it shows a real lack of care and understanding for their customers overseas which I would guess make up 20% of their customer base.
By not doing this one simple thing there are making us all collectively pay tens of thousands of dollars each year. Why are you giving our money to Fedex?
If you look at the incredible minds which must be at Glowforge this should be the easiest thing in the world to do… unless they don’t care. It’s that simple for me.
To make matter worse it’s been two full days since I placed the order and I have not even had notice of dispatch yet 
Also also…it’s not necessarily GF doing the shipping either. It’s whatever the partner uses/charges for the one off shipments.
Having said that:
You’re not wrong. I’ve done shopping to Canada. We had really good UPS shipping rates…in the US. We just didn’t do enough to qualify for any real reduced international reduced rates(we had like 20% off). The company we nearly always shipping to started authorizing us to just ship via their UPS number and it cost half as much. Means they had ~40% rates. But we could only use their number with them.
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sharing my experience – as I ship a lot internationally. a simple check with USPS would show that shipping a package up to 8 oz. to the UK (complete with tracking + customs forms) is under $17. i use stamps.com and i have a choice between first-class package or first-class flat envelope (often with rates lower than package but comes with tracking - just need to make sure your item is uniformly flat and somewhat bendable…so stencils, etc. would work). to send to my Canadian customers, anything under 8 oz. is $18.95 through stamps.com via Delivery Duty Paid – meaning the package would zip through customs and go straight to the customer’s home address. the customer would have pre-paid the customs fee for a flat $6.95. so far i have not had any problems mailing internationally via stamps.com, so i imagine for small items and parts, GF could actually offer better/more reasonable shipping rates to its customers – if they wanted to. a $118 shipping charge to the UK for an item that is barely an ounce is downright extortion. whoever GF’s shipping partner is, GF ought to seriously consider finding a new shipping partner.
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Here is the latest from the GF shop for a piece of leather to Canada:
US to CDN conversion makes this $138.37 today.
that is way too much. i wonder how their shipping partner arrives at that shipping cost. is that Fedex or UPS rate?
I’m not sure what they use. I refuse to order anything.
HOLY SMOKES that is insane!
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Off topic but:
Based on what? If I go by my casual impression of people on the forum I’d say you’re more than an order of magnitude off.
But I’m making a wild guess. You?
Perhaps I overestimate the number of overseas customers Glowforge has because about 80% of my customers are from the US. I send things (also with Fedex) that weight up to 7kg and charge less than half what Glowforge do for sending something which weighs 4 grams.
The point is we exist, and we’re both customers and real people. The shipping being charged to us is nothing short of disgusting. We’re locked into this ecosystem and it doesn’t feel like a nice place to be.
There’s a conspicuous silence from anyone from @Glowforge here too. You guys have clearly read this topic so why not speak up?
Side note: They also have not shipped my item 3 days since I purchased it, and have not replied to my support ticket asking them to dispatch it.
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I’m sorry we don’t have a lower-cost option for international shipments. @luke1, I see you’ve emailed us about this as well - I’ve followed up with you there, so I’m going to close this topic.