Shipping options
 

I went to order a gasket today- Just a little oil filter stand gasket for a 300sd- And while the price for the gasket was great at under $4, the shipping killed the deal. Over $8 was the cheapest option, all of which are UPS. I just can't see giving that much money to a company that competes by getting bailouts, especially when it triples the cost of something.
USPS would be under $5 for this, Fedex would be about the same for an envelope.

Yeah, I agree. I get really perturbed when I see the shipping costs listed for items that would literally cost only a couple of bucks to ship in a padded envelope. I've sold and shipped thousands of antique related items over the last decade and have some of the lowest shipping costs out there. If I can ship it in a padded envelope for $1.85, I do it. The envelopes only cost 15 cents in bulk quantities of 100 or more.

I won't purchase anything with ridiculous shipping costs attached. Too many of those sellers couldn't care less about what you pay for shipping. Oftentimes they have standard shipping costs and just ship the items via the method that's easiest for them. They also make a good buck on shipping, so they list the item with what is perceived to be a lower cost. However, you wind up paying more than you would if you just bought the item locally. You just have to take your business elsewhere.

I understand your frustration.
FWIW...
We don't make anything on shipping. We charge what it costs us to ship.
We drop ship directly to our customers from our suppliers to further reduce costs. Most of our suppliers do not use USPS so that is usually not an option.

if I need to buy a cheap gasket or some random bolt that cost under $5 I'll usually order a few filters or some consumables that I will eventually need to justify the shipping price

Shipping costs for on-line sellers
 

As an eBay seller with a 1400 rating in one account and a 200 rating in another, I don't ever think I made a good buck on shipping. On the rare occasions when I over estimated shipping costs, I still have to take time to address, package, stand in line at the post office and answer e-mail asking why the tracking number doesn't work 24 to 36 hours after the item was mailed. The simple answer is that you can't buy or sell cheap items efficiently on line.

TheDon has the best solution: order enough to justify the shipping. A while back, I needed a something from Fastlane that was about $10. I spent a few minutes thinking about every part I would be replacing in the next six months, including the possibility of losing a gas cap and ordered about $75.00 worth of stuff. The $7 or $8 of shipping didn't even matter then.

If I had just ordered the one part, I would have been unhappy with the total price and I'm sure that $7 or $8 would have barely covered their expenses in pulling the part from inventory, entering the purchase into their computer, entering my shipping data, finding an appropriate box which they would have purchased, padding the item with peanuts or bubblewrap, and paying for a method of shipping that provides speed and delivery confirmation.

That's all well and good if you've got the money for it. I want a timing chain, guides, vacuum pump kit, and a whole number of other things but I need housing, food, diapers for the kids, and whole bunch of other things to fill out my budget. I budgeted a few bucks this month so I can make the last piece for my adapter kit, but didn't count on the shipping being so much. I can get it from Carquest locally though.

I needed a window slider. I think it is $4 on fastlane and then the shipping, so I was like bah. But, I need other stuff, so I added some filters and gaskets to my cart. I got so close to the $100 free shipping, that I added some more and now my order is $101.

New problem, I don't have $101. hahaha So. I have my window up and disconnected until I do. I hope it keeps my shopping cart recorded, as I WILL eventually have the $100 and I DO NOT want to spend another hour looking through all the goodies.