Shipping fees no longer free on the Qantas Store

[exceladdict]

Was browsing some "discounts" on headphones and noticed for the first time that a delivery fee has been added:



While 2250 points or $15 won't break the bank, I recall the Qantas store used to brag about its free shipping? The wayback machine is offline at the moment so I can't check - but I feel like this was a very recent enhancement that may have been slipped in quietly?

One would hope that at the least, a "points club" or gold/plat benefit would be continuing to avoid these fees, if one wishes to use points on toasters etc.

 

[oz_mark]

They were split out fairly recently. There was a banner a few weeks back

 

[Kerrodt]

Some interesting shenanigans going on in the Qantas store.

I agree @exceladdict that shipping has been quietly introduced. I ordered a Bose Revolve+ speaker in August this year and there was no shipping.

What is also interesting is the prices have gone up massively since August.

The speaker referred to above in August was normally 60,750 points but with a 20% off sale I purchased for 48,600 points. Free shipping.

What appears to be the exact same product (except mine is triple black) and the store now has lux grey) is now selling for 76,340 points with a 20% discount to 61,070 points. Plus shipping.

That’s a 25% price hike. And it also makes the sale look somewhat deceptive given the current sale price almost equals the old normal price.

I wonder how much more of this price deception has gone on in the store?

 

[exceladdict]

Some interesting shenanigans going on in the Qantas store.

I agree @exceladdict that shipping has been quietly introduced. I ordered a Bose Revolve+ speaker in August this year and there was no shipping.

What is also interesting is the prices have gone up massively since August.

The speaker referred to above in August was normally 60,750 points but with a 20% off sale I purchased for 48,600 points. Free shipping.

What appears to be the exact same product (except mine is triple black) and the store now has lux grey) is now selling for 76,340 points with a 20% discount to 61,070 points. Plus shipping.

That’s a 25% price hike. And it also makes the sale look somewhat deceptive given the current sale price almost equals the old normal price.

I wonder how much more of this price deception has gone on in the store?

Absolutely. Frequent sales make it very hard to track when something is truly discounted or not. In the case of those headphones, the cash price ($377) is competitive to retail prices in the high $400s - but it suggests the "not on sale" price any more is $580 which is quite above RRP at $549 or so.

 

[pippen_2k]

Unfortunately it's going to be like this moving forward. You will be lucky to find a good deal through points and classic rewards will be worse off as well. Until they start making money again anyway.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

A knife set I bought during the "Velocity Is Going Out Of Business / The World Is Ending" period in April at the time cost 36,700 points with no separate delivery charge.

Now, the same knife set is available for 34,600 points, plus 1,800 for standard delivery, or 36,400 in total.

The store now reflects standard retail practice of unbundling components to reduce the initial sticker price visible to a prospective customer.

 

[dylarr]

I don't think there is any significant difference here after everything has come out of the wash. If you use the cash price of each item (which subsequently drives the points price), the cost of items has always been RRP + some fat for shipping. Now the cash price aligns with the RRP, with the shipping now split out and itemised separately.