I do a lot of my shopping online, mainly because its easy. I don’t always have the time to go out and about, trawling the malls, fighting for parking spaces etc so I like to take the easy way out and go online when I know what I want. Part of the reason is also because I like exploring niche brands or products we sometimes can’t find locally.
Last weekend, I came across a good deal for something I wanted at an online store that proudly stated right on the main header that they offered “Free Shipping Worldwide”. I love it when stores offer international shipping. I love it even more when its free international shipping!
So as I do, I checked the Delivery terms to see where they shipped to and there was no list. There was a statement that said “Rest of the world – free” in relation to shipping costs. “Rest of the world” = me here in Malaysia! Worldwide = me here in Malaysia! All was good!
And then I came onto my pet peeve – misleading shipping information.
I spent hours picking out what I wanted, placed them all in my shopping bag, checked out and then, looked in vain for “Malaysia” in the drop down country box when inputting my address. It wasn’t there. Usually, we slide in somewhere after Malawi. I checked and double checked, but apparently, Malaysia isn’t a part of the world as far as this site was concerned. Yemen and Kuwait was though. They shipped there. Odd, but there you go.
I emailed customer service and received a standard reply that they do not ship to Malaysia “for now” and that I should check back in future. Seriously? Then shouldn’t they say “Free Shipping to Selected countries worldwide” and actually list down the countries they ship to, not drop the bombshell on me at check out?
So that’s my pet peeve when I’m shopping online. Coming across a website that promises to ship worldwide and then finding that my country isn’t in their list of countries that they ship to. That isn’t worldwide at all. Last I checked, I am still living on this same world.
What’s your online shopping pet peeve?
Paris B
I have to agree with this. It’s annoying when a website claims to ship worldwide but then don’t list Malaysia as a shipping destination. I’ve read somewhere that these sites don’t ship to Malaysia due to high cases of credit card fraud. No idea how true that is. Surely we are not that bad?
Another peeve is when they do ship to Malaysia, but does not provide Malaysia in the list for billing address! How am I supposed to pay then? :/
Oh, I also don’t like geographical tagging i.e. when the same website displays different prices when opened from different places e.g. a site opened using ip from Malaysia and say, ip from UK, will display different prices. I know it’s probably their marketing strategy, but it still bugs me :/
I have read about the fraud thing too but that was the excuse Paypal gave years ago when they didn’t want to enter our market. When they eventually did, they are now pretty popular! Since many of these online stores accept PayPal I would have thought it shouldn’t be a problem anymore. Ironically, many stores that will ship here accept our credit cards fine!
I have noticed the geo tagging too. Don’t they realize that £ usually works out more expensive than $? 😛
Hmm that reminds me. Recently I received a coupon from an online store because I haven’t bought anything from them for a while. It was an alluring 20% off coupon, but of course they have to exclude all the brands that I could possibly want to buy from that store. Thanks but no thanks!
Hahaha I know which store that is! Plus shipping is quite high so I don’t buy anything from there anymore 😉
I know international shipping costs don’t always make sense, but I can’t imagine how some brands/stores get to insane numbers. To Jane Iredale, shipping to Brazil costs US$180! I don’t know if it’s the same to Malaysia.
Wow! You’re right, that is crazy. It’s like they are so generous to ship internationally but screw you on shipping, so you’d be mad to buy from them! That way they keep their cred for shipping worldwide but due to the costs we wouldn’t buy off them anyway 😛 I see that sometimes especially if a store uses only UPS or DHL. Their charges are really high but on the plus side, at least the service is fast and it’s relatively safe 🙂
I have a couple though (does that mean I’m a hard-to-please-customer?). 😛
1. Offer a coupon for $XX off $XXX, but excludes a whole bunch of brands from the coupon. And to top that off, they decided to use super teeny tiny footnote (in light gray color with a white background) to inform you about that.
2. Shipping later than promised.
Nope, just savvy hehe… I get you peeve too. I received a voucher for x% off anything in store except well, every brand I’d want to buy! It’s so insincere.
Ditto!
It’s like “We would like to offer you some savings…but, oh wait, you can’t apply the savings to this, that and that one as well. Happy shopping!”.
The worst website i have ever encountered is ASOS.com. Firstly, they printed my address wrongly on the package (one liner was missing) and of cos the package did not reached me. After waiting for more than one month, i emailed them to ask for refund, and i was told by them that i should continue to wait. So i showed them that the invoice has reflected my address wrongly, and u know what, their customer service rep actually told me to go around my block to check if my neighbors have my missing package! Heck, there are over 100 units in my block! how am i going to check one by one?! i will NEVER EVER shopped in ASOS again!
Wow! That is really bad customer service! How could they even suggest it to you?! I hope you managed to get your refund in the end? I have never bought anything from Asos only because they refuse to accept my payment through PayPal from a foreign PayPal account. I thought that was nonsensical.
Hi Paris,
Got a refund in the end after close to 2 months wait. But it was real bad experience with them. In the end, i read in some other blogs that ASOS’ shipping/ handling process can be a tab too messy and irresponsible ..i wld advised u to be careful if u want to buy from them.
Totally enjoying your blog! thankful to u for all the tips and reviews! u rock!! hahaha
Glad to know you got your refund in the end, Anne. What a sucky experience it was! Thanks for sharing your experience – you help make the blog and community what it is. See ya around! 😀
I have encountered mostly the same obstacles that many people here mentioned. I’ve come across a Europe based site which does not list which countries it ships to. The main hook to draw me in ‘Free delivery worldwide’ but their delivery info section is rather sparse. Don’t know if we are lumped under ‘rest of the world’ but I’m not betting on it. But there are other UK-based sites which state clearly that Malaysia is on their shipping list.
Let’s go live, work and shop in the USA, guys! 😀
Haha I think we’re probably talking about the same Europe/ UK based store 😉 most European and UK stores I come across usually will ship everywhere. I personally find them more flexible than US stores that tend to be more US-centric. Would probably love to visit the US some day but am still quite happy living here, all my online shopping grouses aside hehe…
My pet peeve is about shipping as well!
American e-shops usually ship to Italy but, if we buy makeup, the package is usually stopped at the custom house (hope this is the right term, not sure :S ), the products get analyzed and we have to pay an extra tax to actually get the packaging.
The only way to avoid this is to make the shipper write on the package -artistic pigments- but it doesn’t always work.
I know I can still buy from european stores but you always want what you can’t have, right?
xx
You, my dear, have just hit the nail on the head! We always want what we can’t have and the harder it is for us to get it the more satisfaction we derive. Are we crazy?! 😛 I have heard about Italian Customs being quite strict. Maybe it’s because you also have a lot of local cosmetics and they are protecting the market?
I guess we are a little crazy, in a beautiful way 😀
I actually don’t know why these customs are so strict, I’ll do some research!
I’ve never actually thought about it, this is weird!
It will be interesting to know why customs are so strict on cosmetics where you live. For us, I believe we only get taxed if the value is above a certain amount, to make sure that we are buying for personal consumption and not for trade (for which there will be import taxes) 🙂
Most sites don’t ship to Malaysia because of fraud – buyers claiming refunds for stuff they (say) never received. Which is sometimes true, with our Customs/Pos Malaysia/otherwise lost in transit.
I have the same peeves as everyone else when it comes to online shopping, but my major peeve as a seller (of the junk clearing variety) is when people ask for “best price” after putting out a reasonable price (taking depreciation into account, etc) and asking for free postage 😛 Sorry, I digress.
Yup, been fed the fraud line too. I don’t mind actually, if they offer only courier service or registered post only. That way, we can figure out if we really want to pay the price, and yet offer the option to ship here. Also, those methods are definitely safer than regular mail although I guess I’ve been lucky in that most packages from anywhere get to me by normal mail quite safely 🙂 I used to be a seller a long time ago but it was on ebay and encountering people who haggle like crazy over RM1 is mind boggling. Its no wonder I stopped selling and just give away stuff now 😛
That must have been frustrating for you! Being in the UK I am quite lucky with shipping, though sometimes get hit with the whole US only thing, or cheap shipping to the US but expensive everywhere else. Which brings me to my no1 pet peeve: expensive shipping fees. Yesstyle charges me £10 for shipping. As it is being in the UK I also have to worry about custom fees for orders over £18 so if I order off yesstyle I usually have to spend £18 just for postage+customs. Also hate how yesstyle, and other online clothing stores, don’t list what items are made of or worse they list it wrong (stopped buying from yestyle once I realised what they meant by 100% cotton was 60% cotton, 40% polyester!) Insane shipping is also why I don’t use SASA, its a similiar story. Bought my mom some bath salts off SASA and the shipping ended up costing more than what I bought. Also wanted this cleanser from an online shop- but the shipping was 3 or 4 times the cost of the product. It’s insane. And lots of online shops only hit you with these insane fees after you’e gone to the trouble of putting together an order, or hide shipping information in a tiny link at the bottom of the page. I love adambeauty for his low flat rate shipping and how he marks the cost of parcels down so I can haul there without worrying about being hit with shipping or customs 🙂
(Also I’m moving to a Malaysia soon- if you don’t mind me asking are ordering off Ebay or Adambeauty at least OK? Have you had any trouble sending or receiving parcels? )
Ooh expensive shipping! I totally get ya! To me its sometimes like they are saying, yes we will ship to you but we will make the shipping costs so crazy you won’t want to buy from us so it saves us the bother. Feels that way doesn’t it?! I like shopping from adambeauty too. So far, I haven’t had problems getting mail. I may be lucky, I don’t know. I’ve been online shopping for a long long time now and any missing mail can be counted on one hand 🙂 I find that the registered mail option is usually a good one to take up, if it is offered. But I don’t in any cases and it still arrives fine (that said, I have my stuff shipped to my office so there’s always someone to receive it. I’m not sure about shipping to homes where packages may be left outside/stuck into a post box too small for it etc)
I experienced something similar too. Now whenever I browse a new site with such great deals, first thing I do is to register an account and do a quick test cart. If I have to pay shipping, I check for the increase in shipping rates as I slowly increase in quantity. Sometimes the items are priced cheap but they try to earn back the money by charging ridiculous shipping.
Haha… sounds like me there! I always do test orders to test the system and to see if the shipping is extortionate or if they add any extra fees. The joy is in discovering that some sites from the UK or Europe actually deduct VAT when they ship outside of the EU so that’s always a happy surprise!
Yes absolutely True. The fact that they are allow to ship US.
Its so frustrating .
Most sites will ship to the US. They are one of the world’s largest market of online shoppers after all. Its the rest of the world that many sites don’t ship to.
i usually just check the delivery terms before i even browse the website to save me the heartache and headache.
and it’s always a bummer that Malaysia is almost always on the no delivery list. >.< but yet they ship to Singapore most of the time, isn't that funny? We are practically just a causeway away!
Problem is some of these sites are so sneaky! They tell you yes yes, we ship worldwide and shipping is free to the rest of the world… and then when you check out, your country isn’t listed. Makes you wonder what they are thinking making those promises. Shipping is my primary concern too so I usually check that out first.
My online shopping pet peeves is when the worker wrongly wrote my address when they ship my order. The online shop guaranteed 1 day delivery using Poslaju so I drop an order and paid at the same day (wednesday). So I expected my order to arrive the day after tomorrow (friday). I need the stuff urgently because it was a present for my friend’s birthday which will be on monday. I waited until sunday and my order still has not arrived. I email the customer service but haven’t got any reply. I have to buy other present for my friend at the end. Then on Monday evening I got a call from Poslaju asking what is my actual address. I was soooo shocked. I meant, didn’t the sender already wrote my address. The poslaju team told me that the address wrote on the parcel doesn’t exist! I asked him to tell me the address. Apparently, the sender wrongly wrote my address postcode. it should be 35000 but she wrote 33000!!! Poslaju said i will get my parcel the day aft tomorrow bcoz tmrow is public holiday. I was sooo mad and send a complain email to their shop. They actually didn’t admit that it was their mistake and didn’t even apologize! They shift the blame to Poslaju instead. Sooooo rude. I never shop from that place again.
Wow! That is really poor customer service. Its their fault they got it wrong so why blame Poslaju?! Shoddy service so you’re right. Don’t shop from there again!
Aside from Malaysia not being on the shipping list (When even Singapore, Brunei & Thailand are), my only worry is that of Malaysian customs. I’ve read a lot of customs horror stories online and I’ve come to know that your parcel is more prone to close inspection if its value exceeds RM500. Even so, customs may detain your parcel if its really big or if they think the item is undervalued on the customs declaration form.
Some sites like Solestruck.com (footwear site) offer free shipping if your order exceeds a certain amount (e.g. USD150) and well my current dilemma is this:
1) I can buy the 1 pair of shoes that I want at USD60 and pay for shipping; or
2) Buy the 2 pairs that I want, totaling USD 220 and get free shipping but risk being charged tax by Malaysian customs (because you’re only apparently allowed to bring in 1 pair every time + it exceeds RM500)
Have you experienced buying shoes online before? This is really giving me a headache 🙁
Actually, I don’t think the customs target certain packages per se. I’ve had a really huge box arrive from Sasa.com with no problems 🙂 What will be a problem is when it contains certain items which are taxable above a certain amount. A package came in by courier and I was taxed for cosmetics because it was over RM500. Its just laws and we have to live within them 🙂
I’ve been taxed on leather bags (which are taxable) before and on apparel so I stop buying those from overseas or only buy if the shipper includes the duty cost. Some sites like Net-a-porter ship with duty paid so we don’t have to pay any more tax, but I’ve yet to shop with them. I’ve never bought shoes online mostly because I don’t trust sizing and prefer to try them on. Sometimes, what I’ve found is that packages that come in via normal post or registered post will slip past customs. But if it comes in via courier or EMS, chances are, they’ll be vetted. No advice for you unfortunately. You might just have to take your chances and hope for the best!
I just dislike e-commerce websites that are difficult to navigate, I don’t want to have to scroll through pages and pages of items to find what I’m looking for. I like sites that give you the option to show all on one page or 100-200 so I’m not having to wait for it to load in between. That is probably my biggest pet peeve!
You said it Megan! That’s why I don’t do blogshops. I can’t figure out how to navigate them and how to find what I want! Give me a proper e-commerce site any day 🙂
Mine is stores that list items for sale and don’t tell you they’re out of stock until check out. Had been searching across Australia for a jacket, found it online, hit buy, checkout…oops we don’t have it!
Oh yes! I’ve come across that too. I pick everything nicely, hit free shipping, go to checkout and then find half the items disappearing because there’s no stock. Grr… can’t they just say so?!
Yeah, that’s a big one! Has happened to me too…
Also the other day I was shopping for a cream and it said ‘pick a color’. There was no color to choose from, mainly cause the cream was colorless -.- then I e-mailed costumer support and they informed me that it meant the product wasn’t available! Then why wouldn’t it say ‘out of stock’, ‘unavailable’, whatever… so many options to choose from and they go with ‘pick a color’!
Also, there are a lot of sites who claim to ship worldwide but then have a few products that don’t qualify :\ hate it!
My peeve is about shipping. I don’t particularly appreciate when companies use boxes that show what’s inside. For example, I ordered a Christmas gift for my husband from nuts.com. The box had the company name, logo, images of cartoon nuts, etc., all printed on the box. Unfortunately, my husband received the delivery, and it ruined the surprise!! Around the holidays or for gifts they should offer more discreet packaging.
Another peeve is when companies advise you that orders ship overnight but neglect to tell you that the order will ship in several days to a week.