I think Lulu have now priced themselves out of the market for me and my buying habits.
I'd seen some discussions on a number of forums (publisher and consumer) about the Lulu price rises and shipping costs but didn't really pay too much attention to it. I was on their site this evening to pick up a printed copy of a new book a friend is releasing and wanted me to have a look over for him (I got a free PDF of it to look over but prefer physical copies). Needless to say I found a number of other games I fancied buying at the same time and got over to check out with a modest £36.45 worth of books - to find out that postage would now cost me £71.53 for a total of £107.98!!!!!
Lulu can F**k right off if they think I'll be happy paying that (and it was the only shipping option they gave me).
I sent them the below question...
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Dear Lulu,
Ouch.
How come your postage has increased so much?
It was over double the cost of my prespective order (order = £36.45 postage = £71.53)!
Have you shut down your UK and European printers and only operating one out of Outer Mongolia or some far flung Asteroid field? That's the only reason I can think of for such prohibitive postage costs.
Please let me know when/if these charges are changing or if this is going to be standard costings from now on with Lulu?
Many thanks,
Angus Abranson
Publisher, Writer, Retailer and Customer
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I don't think I'll be using, or recommending Lulu again unless something significant changes :(
I'd seen some discussions on a number of forums (publisher and consumer) about the Lulu price rises and shipping costs but didn't really pay too much attention to it. I was on their site this evening to pick up a printed copy of a new book a friend is releasing and wanted me to have a look over for him (I got a free PDF of it to look over but prefer physical copies). Needless to say I found a number of other games I fancied buying at the same time and got over to check out with a modest £36.45 worth of books - to find out that postage would now cost me £71.53 for a total of £107.98!!!!!
Lulu can F**k right off if they think I'll be happy paying that (and it was the only shipping option they gave me).
I sent them the below question...
--------
Dear Lulu,
Ouch.
How come your postage has increased so much?
It was over double the cost of my prespective order (order = £36.45 postage = £71.53)!
Have you shut down your UK and European printers and only operating one out of Outer Mongolia or some far flung Asteroid field? That's the only reason I can think of for such prohibitive postage costs.
Please let me know when/if these charges are changing or if this is going to be standard costings from now on with Lulu?
Many thanks,
Angus Abranson
Publisher, Writer, Retailer and Customer
----------
I don't think I'll be using, or recommending Lulu again unless something significant changes :(
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Comments
It really isn't much of a barrier to entry, and you get a much larger distribution network. Frankly, I've never understood why people use Lulu at all.
If you wanted to do web sales, you could drop the book direct from LSI to the customer using a web form, but I only sell books direct at trade shows. My site just links to Amazon.
All of that is possible with Lulu, too. For experimental books or others that aren't destined for distribution, Lulu is low investment with reasonably good quality. Their current issues with shipping are troublesome, though.
5.25 for three items is OK. How many did you want to buy?
Might go back and place two seperate orders *if* they only charge me £5.25 per three items...
Note that they're printers, not publishers.
Yick!
For up to 3 items you get the discounted rate, then after that they send you one of the expensive flat rate boxes where you pay a stupid amount but can be filled with as much stuff as you can cram in. Which works if you buy a lot, but totally uneconomical of you buy 4 things. But it's easier for them to administer.
I found this when ordering 1 item from a US website, they wanted my to pay for a $60 flat rate box to the UK, (presumably because it's far easier than weighing and calculating per item) so simply got free P&P to a friend in the US who shipped it over for $7.
I guess if you order from Lulu you have to order in 3s.
I know someone who did exactly the same thing ordering from a well-known *cough White Wolf* publisher's online store recently. The cost for S&H to the UK was US$39.50 for a mere two books, so he had them sent to a US address of a friend and then re-posted by them. :)
So many companies seem determined to rip off customers by overcharging for shipping and handling after getting their attention by undercutting on the initial price - it's a self-defeating practice IMO. O_o