Price gouging on the EU merch store

[Aronys]

I wanted to see how much that fat chocobo head pillow would cost me if I ordered it from the EU merch store and just froze. What is this?



This is way too much for one pillow. I checked the price of the same item on the NA mech store and over there it's $30 cheaper than in EU for the base item, not even counting shipping costs (which are outrageously high for some reason, I can order things from outside of EU and not have to pay so much for shipping and this price in that screenshot is for inside EU shipping).

I noticed that the merch store has been more and more aggressive in pricing for EU in the past 2 years. Items cost way more over here than anywhere else. Is there a reason for it? Why is it that if I order things directly from Japan, it would cost me less for shipping and for the same item, than if I order from the same zone I live in?

[Airget]

The dimensions of the merch also play a role in the cost of the shipping. Even though it's a pillow, it's an oversized pillow meaning it takes up more space. Since it takes up more space they have to charge more for the shipping.

In truth I think Europe is still in the dark ages of international trade, the cost of your products tend to reflect what we dealt with in America back in the 90's. Where the only place you could get anime(that was most likely recorded through someones VCR) was at some card hobby shop that sold a lot of international merchandise at triple the price because of the cost to ship to the states.

[Aronys]

These things ship from UK. I ordered a few things in the past and they shipped from UK every time. Shipping from UK does not cost this much. Btw. the shipping costs stated above are the same no matter what size the ordered object is. If it's a small 10€ pendant, the shipping will again be 40€.

Example:



This is a keychain. There's only 1 option for shipping. I live inside EU, on the border of Austria, so it's not like I live outside of EU, ergo there's no border tax for this. But it still costs the same to ship.

[Rinuko]

Nothing cost €44 to ship unless its overnight shipment. Nothing like this even cost if you order something from NA or Asia.

[Aronys]

Well to EU customers this is the only option.

[KeyboardFacerollname]

This reminds me of when I got the WoW security keyfob. The authenticator was $6-7. The shipping cost to send it to my part of Canada was $15.

Shipping costs are ridiculous.

[Aronys]

It's not just about the shipping cost, the item itself is way more expensive here than in the NA store.

[Serilda]

The shop is French (though I agree that they seem to hold a lot of stock in the UK, so it's a mixed experience). Even ordering for UK delivery is unusually expensive but those mainland Europe prices are ghastly. And even with the expensive delivery, the service isn't great - my friend's lore book (UK delivery, shipped from UK!) vanished despite being an expensive tracked 24h service where even the tracking confirmed it was lost. How long did it take the store to sort it out? If you guessed less than three months involving repeated phone calls and escalations you'd be very much mistaken. It would be kinder if they just sold through Amazon Europe.

I often import things directly from Japan as it costs the same but I get it faster and don't support the crummy European shop. We have VAT which doesn't impact the foreign stores nearly as badly, but the European store is still a mess on top of that.

[Lalafallen]

Just checked how much shipping would cost me (living in Germany) for the exact same objects. It would be 23,17€ (7 days DHL) for me. While I get that the plush cushion might need a bigger package, I don't get how shipping a single pendant would cost 23,17€ aswell.

[Vidu]

Just checked how much shipping would cost me (living in Germany) for the exact same objects. It would be 23,17€ (7 days DHL) for me. While I get that the plush cushion might need a bigger package, I don't get how shipping a single pendant would cost 23,17€ aswell.

Because they're saving themself the hassle to offer more options - they just pick (and make you pay for it) the largest (and most expensive) one available and will ship their stuff accordingly.

This is how I got my lore-book shipped to germany: https://de.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../blog/3114325/
Costed me those 23,17€ aswell - the next items I ordered I ordered through a friend whos living in the UK and who shipped me the stuff for 15€...

Its basically shitty service.