...to want to know the postage charges BEFORE putting in all my details?

[BroccoliSpears]

I'm trying to get bits of Christmas shopping done online.

On so many sites you get...

Add stuff to basket.
Go to checkout.
Check your list, notice total price.
Next.
Put in all your details including, in some cases, your card details at this point.
Next.
Final confirmation page - press 'confirm' to comit to buying everything,and it's only on this page that you notice they're charging you £12.00 postage for a £4.99 item that would fit in a jiffy bag.

Gah. It infuriates me.

It drives me mad sometimes trying to find out postage costs on some sites BEFORE you actually start to checkout because some are so much cheaper than others and it is such a faff going through it all to findt. ou

YANBU. It is infuriating. Especially when you have to start hunting around in the 'Help' and 'FAQs' sections and they don't even tell you the postage costs there. The other day I had to put in all my details to find out postage costs on one site, then didn't go ahead with the purchase because there were other sites which were cheaper. The company with the expensive postage actually phoned me up to ask why I had abandoned my order, and did I want to go ahead with it?

Oh I'm glad it's not just me.

I half expected someone to say "...err - just use the big POSTAGE button at the top of the screen" or something like that.

It is a big faff trying to compare prices on different sites, you're right.

My site would be a nightmare for you.

It is all done by royal mail postage costs and weight, so there is no page to just list prices.

You can put it all in the basket and do "estimate shipping" though without going through any other checkout processes - does that help at all?

(I know it isn't really relevant to your problem, but it would help my customers if I can work out a way to make people happier)

Most sites have the postage costs somewhere, if you can be ar$ed to look- can be a PITA but I@ve got quite good at it . Some can't tell you the postage until you checkout as they have a scale based on the weight of what you've ordered.

It is a total PITA it really is. I loathe stumping up for postage anyway (hey, I'm from Yorkshire) Ie Amazon...save purchases til it's £15+ I like to be forwarned before I put all mt details in.

Today I had to buy from amazon marketplace from a US seller and I'm still waiting to see it P&P will be more than Amazon said. Well the item was a lot less than I imagined so I'll wear it

So YANBU me dear

You need to have a chance to see the total amount before you commit to buying, otherwise the site is breaching the e-commerce regulations (been a while since I worked in this area so can't remember the exact details, but if you go onto the trading standards website you should be able to find some guidelines for SELLERS which will help you work out if they're being complied with).

It obviously doesn't apply to US sites though - I had pressed buy for something and was only told after that that they would be charging me $80 for postage. I was SO pissed off, but I am now extremely careful on American sites.

On most sites you can find it in teh small print somewhere...it can be difficult to find though...