I don't see Ikea doing much online business

[Big Gulp]

Had an amusing story to tell, and was wondering if anyone else had tried ordering online from Ikea.  Basically, I was buying a couple pieces of cheap furniture to fill out my guest bedroom.  Nothing too expensive, just a couple of nightstands and a dresser.  Anyway, order comes out to $149 but they aren't able to calculate shipping prices on the fly.  I'm told that I'll have to wait a couple of business days, when I'll then receive an email with the shipping costs, which I can then confirm and my credit card will be billed.

For a $149 order they wanted to charge me $293 shipping.

What bizarro world does Ikea inhabit that they think they can charge double the amount of an actual order just for fucking shipping???  Now granted, I know they aren't Amazon or Netflix, and shipping furniture (even cheap-ass particle board furniture) is more expensive than sending books or dvds, but it's not that damned much.  Do they just see shipping as a nice little alternative income pool they can skim off of?  How in the fuck is this a wise business strategy?  The mind reels to think of how many online customers they've lost because of extortionate shipping costs.  Shit, they already had my CC #, I was ready to go.  Now there's no way in hell I'd confirm that order.

[penfold]

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/popup/shipping_method.html

Dont know if that helps, but was it a mistake/wrong type of shipping? Perhaps they thought you wanted to send some lead bricks by air to Ulan Bator or something, heh.

Whats the difference between UPS and Carrier Shipping?, other than a 100+ dollars of course.

[Big Gulp]

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/popup/shipping_method.html

Dont know if that helps, but was it a mistake/wrong type of shipping?

They don't give you a choice.  Once you finish up with everything in your cart and fill out your shipping address, billing address, CC#, etc, they tell you they'll contact you by email.  There is no option for choosing shipping.  This is what they sent me:

Order Reference Number:
Your merchandise will be held for you for 48 hours.  If we do not
receive a response from you confirming your order, your e-Shop order
will be canceled.  Your credit card will not be charged until the
following charges are confirmed:

Subtotal: $149.97
Shipping & Handling: $293.00
Tax: $26.58
Order Total: $469.55

Here are two options for confirming your order:

1. Respond to this email by stating that you accept the above charges
and we will use your credit card number ending with XXXX to process
your order.
2. Call us at 1-800-434-IKEA (4532) with your order reference number.
 Our hours are : Monday - Saturday, 8am - 10pm EST or Sunday, 9am -
8pm EST.


So basically $500 for $150 worth of merchandise.  Kind of defeats the whole purpose of shopping at Ikea in the first place, eh?

Whats the difference between UPS and Carrier Shipping?, other than a 100+ dollars of course.

No idea.  As far as I'm aware you're not given the option.