Friday, March 26, 2010

Createspace Postage Answer At Last !


Finally managed to get some information out of the Createspace people after some consistent emailing. They wrote:

"I created a mock order to give you a very broad estimate of shipping costs to Australia, by choosing existing titles that have similar physical properties to the trim sizes and page counts you mentioned.

The first book is Black and White and has a trim size of 5.25" x 8" with 356 pages going Economy shipping to Sydney, Australia. The shipping cost only for this order of 100 books was $697.19, for 200 was $1,371.21, and for 300 was 2,045.24.

The second book is Black and White and has a trim size of 6" x 9" with 392 pages going Economy shipping to Sydney, Australia. The shipping cost only for this order for 100 books was $994.57, for 200 was $1,965.98, and for 300 was $2,937."

I gotta tell you, my first thought was "Gaawwwwdd!"  These prices increase the cost of each book by:

5.25" x 8"   (356 pages)
     100 book order     $6.97
     200 book order     $6.86
     300 book order     $6.81

Normal book cost for this size - $5.12. So that more than doubles the cost of the book.

6" x 9"   (392 pages)
     100 book order     $9.95
     200 book order     $9.83
     300 book order     $9.79

Normal book cost for this size - $5.55. That nearly triples the cost of the book.

I'm looking at a 300 page 6" x 9" book. That will likely put the cost of postage somewhere between these two amounts. Then taking the exchange rates into account and I'm now doubting I can use Createspace for the physical copies I will need to sell in Australia, particularly as I was looking at a AUD$19.95 RRP.

What's extremely disappointing is the lengths I had to go to in finding out how ridiculous the postage costs are. Imagine going to all the trouble of arranging a book, only to find I couldn't order any myself. Surely a simple graph based on size and weight is possible. I am really appreciative of the lengths this Createspace employee went to, however, to give me some information. Certainly her workmates have been less forthcoming (I received another email the same day from someone else giving me the standard fob-off).

Lipmag, from the community forum on Createspace, sent me the following information:

"I have a 214 page book at 5.5x8.5" which according to CS weighs 12oz

100 books shipped to Australia is USD $486.70 (Economy); 200 = $950.24; 300 = $1435.95  -- you don't want to know what Express and Priority shipping costs."

I'm really encouraged by the helpful 'all in this together' vibe from the forum.  :)

Meanwhile I have gone onto a postal site to work out postage to Australia from your average Joe in USA and it is still high, but considerably lower than Createspace: under $600 for 70lb. Maybe I should look at having the books sent to someone in USA and then they can on-forward the books to me. Or maybe it's time to get a quote from one of the other PODs. What do you think guys?

I think it's back to the drawing board!

3 comments:

  1. Hi

    I just came across your blog. I import from the US all the time and may be able to help you out with a decent shipping cost. I can't find an email for you though. Are you able to post your email address somewhere so I can contact you?

    Lu

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Lu. Sounds great. thedevereauxbunch@yahoo.com I look forward to hearing from you. Bruce

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am interested in this same issue - rcordiner@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete