Beware HOPSHOPGO Rip Off!

Doey21 on 11/12/2010 - 23:49
Last edited 11/12/2010 - 23:50

http://articoolz.com/2010/08/hopshopgo-com-exploring-thousan…

I recently fell victim to their ripoff rates. At 4 dollars per 0.5kg, it seems relatively fair on top of the promotional voucher given previously. Had i gotten my products delivered from Amazon, threadless and think geek delivered seperately, delivery would have cost me about $85. Which was why i used hopshopgo thinking i could save about 20-30 dollars. How wrong i was.

The total for all the postage cost me over $157, and this doesnt include Fuel surcharge and what not. Even wiht the promotional voucher and the paypal 10% discount, it costs me an extra 30-40bucks to have my items arrive more slowly. They get you by using "volumetric weight", where an item weighing 3kg might be charged at the rate of 7kg because of the box size.

BEWARE Ozbargainers!!!

General Discussion

Related Stores

Hop Shop Go
Hop Shop Go

Comments

  • MHLoppy on 11/12/2010 - 23:55

    Generally the reason why you use them is because the site where you buy from doesn't offer shipping. Adding a middleman who always makes a profit would naturally make things more expensive.

    • Doey21 on 12/12/2010 - 00:02

      Yeah i can see your point mark, but doesn't it seem logical that even if u excluded the shipping TO hopshopgo; HSG sending one package to me would be cheaper than three different places sending three parcels to me since they claim to have discount bulk rates. Plus theyve already charged the 28 dollars for the first half kg, I figured that was their "service fee". I never figured that they would rort me by supersizing the box.

      • MHLoppy on 12/12/2010 - 00:16

        Well, I guess it's sort of logical for it to be slightly cheaper, since as you said 3 at once should save a bit, but they need to make money somehow I guess :/

  • zhenjie on 12/12/2010 - 01:06

    Comgateway is notorious for inflated shipping prices. I guess they haven't changed with HopShopGo. I stay well away from this forwarder.

    • MHLoppy on 12/12/2010 - 01:43

      What do you suggest as an alternative (that you have used is preferred)?

      I know a few others that are cheaper, but service is also important.

      • zhenjie on 12/12/2010 - 15:13

        ShipItTo if you dont need a buyer service and just shipping forwarding.

  • vpnz on 12/12/2010 - 05:03

    Thanks for the heads up about HSG - was planning to use my promotional voucher later this month!

  • troyww on 12/12/2010 - 10:43

    Thanks also . Your not alone BTW , There are numerous threads on other forums with horror stories of their rip-off antics . Worst part is you really have no come back .

  • sydney_kings on 12/12/2010 - 12:28

    What was the volumetric weight? Was the charge correctly applied or was it mis-charged based on the weight/volumetric charge calculation?

    • Doey21 on 12/12/2010 - 14:23

      Its correctly applied but majorly misleading…If you're buying from a place that ships to Australia, just get it shipped directly from there. Thinkgeek quoted me 34 bucks to have one parcel delivered (which i thought was very expensive at the time), but HSG calculated it as 6KG volumetric (therefore 48bucks).

  • sparkles on 12/12/2010 - 15:35

    I registered for the $20 credit but didn't go through with it as I really could not estimate what I was going to get charged at the end of the day.

    I think they'd find a way to charge you $50 on a pair of earrings weighing 20 grams.

  • shiba on 12/12/2010 - 16:47

    Talking about my experience. I have made 3xclothing parcels and 1xheadphone parcel previously via HSG. For all clothing, I was charged exactly the actual weight (rounded up to the next 500g) as the merchants packed them bags instead of boxes. I made sure of this by surfing online/emailing them about how they pack before purchasing as I did not want to be charged on the basis of volume. For the headphone, I was charged for 2kg while the actual weight is 900g. This is expected as the headphone has to be packed in a box. I saved about $200 in the headphone compared to the price over here, so I have nothing to complain about.

    I paid USD85 for 20lbs of goods previously. I opted for standard shipping but they upgraded me to express. I received my goods in 3 days. It was my first mail forwarding experience and it has been positive.

    My word of advice, avoid merchants that pack goods in box (eg. Threadless, Ralph Lauren) if you do not want to be hit by volumetric weight and only purchase something that there is a huge difference in price compared to here.

  • pauly on 12/12/2010 - 17:31

    I used HSG about a week ago, and I thought it was alright though.

    You do have the option to re-pack it to bring the weight down. When viewing parcels held by them, hover your mouse over 'info' or 'more info', and it should tell you what your parcel would weigh after repacking.
    I bought around 16 pieces of clothing from the US and when I got the notification, the volumetric weight was around 16KGs. After repacking ($10 service charge), it went down to 4KG and the total I paid was around $37.xx inc surcharges (after $28 discount).

    If there's a huge difference in weight after repacking, use this instead by selecting 'Re-pack and ship' or something along the lines of that before you proceed. For me, this was a huge difference in costs.

    Hope this helps.

    • Doey21 on 12/12/2010 - 17:50

      Yeah i tried but they didn't give me the option to repack! Since you're getting shirts theyre very compact and you can squash them together. But anything other than clothing will cost you an arm and a leg

      • pauly on 12/12/2010 - 17:56

        Right, I didn't know that. I was under the impression that any items they can re-pack, they would.

        Looks like it's a no go for them then. :)

    • stumo on 02/01/2011 - 10:23
      +1

      Yeah when i asked them to repack an sd card together with a hdd they flat out refused. instead they chose to tear me a new one by adding $25 extra shipping for a single sd card. Never again.

  • [Deactivated] on 12/12/2010 - 22:17

    Considering a flight to the US is around $900 its a little excessive may pay to save up purchases and have a holiday at the same time.

    • Matt P on 22/01/2011 - 18:29

      i did this recently. With the money saved on the clothes/foodstuffs/electronics/accessories, we probably got the flights free

  • Popid on 13/12/2010 - 13:59

    So do shipito and the other mail forwarders use volumetric weight to calculate shipping costs also, or just hopshopgo? I was just about to use Shipito to order a US Kindle from amazon (the 'australian' kindle isn't shipping out for 5-7 weeks atm)…any idea what the hopshopgo shipping fee would be on a kindle? I dunno how compactly amazon box them. But if I could use a voucher and they weren't a rip off like they have been for some people, that would be gold. If shipito works the same way then I might as well use hopshopgo and the coupon thing…or it's run out anyway? hah. Oh well my questions still stand :)

    • shiba on 13/12/2010 - 14:45

      I think it would be under 2kg. The box is tailored made for kindle and is really compact.

      • Doey21 on 13/12/2010 - 23:56

        I think hopshopgo would be alright for one item since its compact, you're getting one item, and you're getting the 28 dollar discount.

  • vincent1au on 16/12/2010 - 11:28
    +1

    I used HSG to send a Kindle and Kindle cover. Weight charged was 1.5kgs. Ended up costing just under $50 as they hit me for a remote area surcharge.

    • Domingo on 16/12/2010 - 11:43

      Amazon ships Kindles (and covers) direct to Australia.

      • cirno on 16/12/2010 - 12:38
        +1

        There is a 5-7 week wait for international kindles atm. If people need it now/quick, the US kindle is the only way to go. Or ebay one for an inflated price. :)

  • Doey21 on 21/12/2010 - 20:14
    +1

    FOLLOWUP:

    So my packages arrived and theyre delivered by some shady looking guy in his unmarked van at 7:30pm. I start unboxing them and I realise that most of them have air cushions inside. When i spoke to their livesupport, they informed me that there was no way they could repackage everything. I am sure that I would have saved out on at least 60bucks had they repackaged everything into one neat box. I dont even think the livechat person even bothered to check. Anyway then i realised that they managed to have lost one of my packages (containing 6 shirts) and knowing HSG, it'll take at least a week to even get a reply.

  • ljiljana on 29/12/2010 - 22:20

    I've used hopshopgo on 3 separate occasions ordering products that would not ship to Australia and I can't say I've had an issue. Yes they do charge a lot for shipping but that is their business. On one occasion even though they charged me $50 for shipping that at the most should have been $30, I still saved over $100. This was about a 50% saving compared to if I had bought the items from Australia.

    Your best option with hopshopgo is to share your account with a few friends, that way you can split the first 0.5kg and then each person just pays for the extra weight according to what they bought. This obviously only works if you're shopping for things at the same time.

  • life is a little cr… on 29/12/2010 - 22:48

    My current experiences with HSG unfortunately is not positive either. My issues are they will not consolidate orders even though their web site suggests they do, I was advised they only group them together. I believe their tactics are unfair as we are at the mercy of the sellers to send all items in minimal package and in the one box or bag. I belived they would repack all the items received into a small box if required and remove any unneeded packaging but I find out that this is not the case, why offer a repackaging service if you are not going to do this. I believe they are there to rip people off with postage and try to make the packages as big as possible. My kids christmas presents are still sitting in HSG as their delays in responding to emails are appalling, oh and live chat is never online and when you do speak to them they really have no interest in solving your problems. I have sent an email to a senior person there to try and resolve my shipping problems lets hope I receive a response before my son's bday in late janurary, I certainly wont be holding my breathe…

    • ljiljana on 29/12/2010 - 23:19

      There is a difference between consolidating your order and re-packing. They'll only repack a package if the volumetric weight is a lot more that the actual weight. They also only repack each item individually because it is cheaper for them to send smaller boxes via DHL rather than one big box.

      For example, I consolidated 4 different packages into one shipment but when they arrived in Australia they were still in the 4 separate boxes they were sent in from the retailer. The weight of my 4 packages was 4kg, I only paid $24 for the first .5kg and then another $24 for the other 3.5kg.

      I don't think you're not going to receive a response you'll like. Hopshopgo cannot make money by charging you the same price as DHL would charge you directly. Their whole business is about making money off shipping so I can't understand why some people cry foul that they are being ripped off.

      • Doey21 on 29/12/2010 - 23:33

        When i received my package, I found so much bubble wrap in there. I didn't have any actual products which were fragile. You could throw it around and it wouldnt break. But when i spoke to live support, they simply looked at the chart and said it couldnt be repackaged. I tried to repackage it at home and condensed it to half it's size. THATS how they make money.

  • 777 on 18/01/2011 - 09:41

    HOPSHOPGO dont even bother to reply back to their email, because of time difference, I am unable to go for live chat but even before 5pm (NY TIME ) the chat is unavailable, WTF ?.
    Sent them so many emails, not replying to any.
    I heard they are late in processing package but they are very slow, after I got email from ups that package has been delivered, it took them over three day to send me an email that package has arrived.

  • kingsville on 18/01/2011 - 10:06

    My HSG experience was very positive. I used to the "free first kg" promo to buy a pair of oakleys from the oakley vault (which does not ship outside of the US not accept non-US credit cards). I was aware of the issues of real weight versus volumetric weight so I kept it simple. I ended up getting AU$269rrp glasses for less than $50 delivered.

  • 777 on 18/01/2011 - 22:21
    +2

    Update - HOPSHOPGO is really bad

    I bought some cf cards from US Amazon. Amazon instead of sending it in a one order they sent me in 2-3 order( even though i askd for it).

    HopShopgo is asking for USD 60 + for delivery to Australia? WTF, They wont even wiegh 250gm and can fit in small cd size box,

    Whole experience is really bad, will never use them again until and unless they send me $50 shopping voucher :-)

  • zoinks on 19/01/2011 - 19:40

    I had a similar experience to 777
    I bought 4 items -3 were clothing and the other was a makeup (that could fit in the palm of my hand) from one online store. It was sent in 3 shipments HSG didnt give the option to consolidate or repack. My order cost around $30, the shipping to Australia cost $70 (including the 1kg free offer)! The makeup was classed as 1.5kg as it was in a large box all on its own. The other 2 boxes were slightly larger and were more than half filled with padding. All 4 items could have fit into one of the larger boxes. I thought about cancelling the order but it seemed costly too after looking on HSG's site. I didnt bother emailing them to try to get them to repackage as I didn't think they would be very helpful after comments I had been reading.

    I won't be using them again either.

  • idontneeditbutwhynot on 22/01/2011 - 23:26

    I've used HSG 3 times. I think now I'll be looking elsewhere. My last order really opened my eyes on their ridiculous tactics. I ordered an NBA jersey, 1KG it was according to the main supplier. It got to HSG and it was 6kg volumetric - WTF? I went on Live Chat and complained and then they offered to repackage it, even then it was 1.5KG but of course much cheaper than the 6KG. Terrible. The fact that for each 0.5kg, the costs go up $2 is quite excessive. I had a box that had just tipped the scale by 0.01 and it triggered the increase. If you're interested in how they measure the boxes, it goes like this…

    "We have a computerized laser dimensioning machine that measures the dimensions of each box using a laser. Since a laser is used, any peaks or bumps in the shipping carton can affect the dimensions of the box. "

    Now they have a 9% fuel surcharge courtesy of DHL. Here is the rollercoaster ride of the US dollar, we find cheaper alternatives overseas and then someway, somehow despite all the business they get, they smack on more money hungry charges.

    Is there anybody out there that can recommend a better HSG?

    • ang911 on 23/01/2011 - 17:59

      I have used shipito, they offer a wider range of shipping alternatives and have great rates. It is $8.50 per package + shipping if you choose to forward individual packages with no consolidation but I would recommend paying the extra $10 for a month so you can utilise their consodilation service and then doing a lot of purchases in that one month. It is a real consolidation service unlike HSG's. Say you buy three things from three places, for example a pair of shoes, a pair of shorts and a lego set, you have the choice of repackaging them in one box with either a) each item still in its original shipping box OR b) each item removed from its shipping box but still inside its retail packaging e.g. shoes still in shoe box, lego set still inside retail box OR c) items removed from all packaging e.g. shoes only (no box) and with Lego for example the individual bags of lego are removed from the oversized retail box. For each package you forward to australia it is $8.50 and then an extra $2 to consolidate a package. For three packages consolidated into 1 package it is $8.50 + ($2x3). This might sound more costly than HSG but when you take into account how much you can save with consoilidation it is well worth it IMO. They also include a photograph of the outside of each box as it comes into your virtual mailbox.

    • SirFlibbled on 24/11/2011 - 16:00

      "Shipping my packages from online shopping at US websites to Australia from US: HopShopGo, XBShip.com, ComGateway, or MyUS.com or BongoUS.com? Which do you recommend to use?"

      Shipito $8.50 + postage.

      Some places like HSG (which is the same as ComGateway) don't charge a fee, they just charge you higher rates.

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