Shipping to Switzerland is too expensive (almost 50€)

I decided to pre-order an FP2 from Switzerland, but I’m having a problem here: the shop only offers me two shipping methods, both costing almost 50€. Which is totally insane. Does anyone know if other shipping methods will be offered? Like standard post shipping, which would cost about 10€ max?


Edit by @Stefan: Topic title changed to make the topic easier to find.

I personally would contact support directly and ask them where these 50€ come from and whether this is a mistake or has a reason. My shipping (Germany) costs 9.25€

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I agree completely. I paid €15 (!!!) for the shipping of a replacement battery (which cost €18.75) for my FP1. Plus that I had to take my car to the DHL logistics terminal and pick it up…
Had the battery simply been put in a padded envelope and sent through the mail, postage would have been €3 or so - and delivered to my doorstep.

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I think batteries are considered dangerous transit goods and can’t be sent in an envelope.

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A bit of googling convinces me that you’re right. The crucial thing is to prevent short-circuit during transport, and a padded envelope is not good enough. However, it ought to be possible to pack a single Li-ion battery in a sturdy/rigid cardboard box that’s still small enough to pass as a letter, say 15x7x2 cm, rather than the approximately 30x30x20 cm box that I received.

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But that doesn’t justify charging almost 50€. When I ordered my Jolla, the shipping cost was 15€. With FedEx. Taking “1-5 days”, which is less than the “2-6 days” of shipping with the method they offer here. Well, I’m looking forward to the answer of the support.

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Me too, please tell us what they have to say about this.

I asked the support. Did you do the same ?

Yes. The answer I got was this:

Thanks for your message. Shipping costs vary per country as
logistics, transport and import requirements are different per region.
In our aim for transparency we want to charge real costs, so we charge
less to some countries and more to other depending of how much we are
charged by our partners.
In the specific example of Switzerland the price includes shipping
and export documentation but does not include imports fees. We are
working in providing a better solution with our logistics partner.
Fairphone 2 will become available through our reseller in Switzerland
later this year.
We hope to have answered your question, but if you want to know more, don’t hesitate to let us know.

Which isn’t exactly what I expected… I doubt printing some export papers costs almost 40€.

I guess it’s best for you to wait until the FP2 becomes available at faircustomer.ch.

Well, faircustomer.ch announce more than 525€. I’m getting 485.00€ in the preorder on shop.fairphone.com. With VAT, 485*1,08=523.8€. So is it the solution ?
Edit : Paid 493.25 with shipping. Which was at 1.1102 CHF/€ plus 1.75% of payment tax for a total of 557.19 CHF (on 02.10.15)

Faircustomer now say that they will charge CHF 600 (549 EUR), which includes shipping and all customs documents and handling, as well as a small donation to Fairphone. I still don’t know… The Fairphone shop instead shows EUR 437, but then adds the ridiculous EUR 50 shipping. I feel like EUR 437 for the phone plus EUR 15 for shipping would be fair.

Especially considering that we will get ripped off again by customs fees (you should prepare to pay CHF 20 - 30 for customs handling on top of VAT). If they manage to at least label the package in accordance with customs regulations, the handling might get cheaper (I paid only about CHF 12 handling for my Jolla).

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I contacted Fairphone and they said that the EUR 50 shipping does not include customs handling or taxes. So expect to pay 50 and perhaps 20 - 30 extra.

They also wrote they’re looking at offering cheaper shipping options for Switzerland and recommended going through the distributor in Switzerland (which would mean it costs 600 in total).

I wished Fairphone 1 buyers from Switzerland could contribute their experience from back then here:
Were the shipping rates similarly excessive then?

It frankly seems as if Switzerland was treated like a conflict or war area destination when it comes to the rate. Switzerland was in fact the third biggest origin of Fairphone 1 purchases (see the order of purchases by countries), so I think it’s really regrettable that a buyer group obviously so willing to buy the Fairphone gets (not intentionally, of course) deterred this way from buying one.

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My question this morning to Support:
Hello. I can understand (well, not really but I guess there’s a reason) that you need to use an expensive parcel service for the FP2 itself, but it is surely ridiculous to expect people to pay €47.50 for delivery costs on an additional battery or second cover. And for Fairphone, such exorbitant costs will definitely result in lost sales. Could you explain this please?

Edit by @Stefan: This post and the following 6 were moved here from another topic.

Can’t understand this claim.
If I add in the shop a FP2 battery and an extra cover there are DPD or DHL delivery (to Germany) for about € 11 available.
Is it not in your case?

For batteries FP claimed already for FP1 that shipping a battery needs shipping as “dangerous goods” which is more expensive…

I should have mentioned that I’m in Switzerland.

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Maybe they automatised the shipping rates and something went wrong. Like €11 is applicable for shipping within the EU, and for some weird reason Switzerland was accidentally bumped up into a ‘shipping outside of EU/Europe’ category?

OK, for your confirmation: I can reproduce shipping costs of €47,50 if i choose Switzerland in the shop, but since Italy is also only ~€14 I also think it could be a failure.
Does anybody know a overview of different shipping costs of FP2 (+ accecoires)?

The shipping costs to Switzerland have already been discussed here: :smile:

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