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Dell delivery costs are hidden and high
Having looked at the prices of laptops from a number of suppliers recently, I was amazed at how much some charge for delivery. For example, delivery of a laptop from Dell costs £57.58 inc VAT. If I order a laptop of similar price, size and weight from Dabs.com it costs just £7. If I wanted Dabs.com to deliver it before 9am the next working day it still only costs £18.75, roughly £40 less than Dell would charge me.
You'd think a company the size of Dell would have a good deal with their delivery couriers, and pay
approximately the same as Dabs.com. I can only assume that Dell must pocket the extra £40 as additional profit, or conversely make their laptops appear £40 cheaper by hiding some cost in the delivery charge.
I couldn't find any reference to this charge online unless I added a laptop to the shopping basket and went through the process of pretending to order it, so the charge is pretty well hidden!
I've singled out Dell as the highest delivery charge I could find, but there are a number of suppliers charging £35-£50 for laptop delivery. Perhaps you should ask them why their delivery charges are so
high?
Chris McMahon
I used to work for a large OEM , we also charged a similar sum for delivery of laptops and PCs.
It's true that delivery of a Laptop cost's nowhere near this amount. It is actually somewhere around £4.50 - £6 a box, depending on the weight and deal made with the couriers. The rest of the cost is made up of about £2 - 3 for packaging and approx £2 for the labour involved in packing and despatching the goods.
This is about £11 tops for a laptop. The rest is profit, and in some cases about the only profit made on a PC due to the tiny margins in PC manufacturing.
Posted by Alan | June 24, 2005 7:37 PM
This is just part of Dell's sales and marketing, where they charge some large amount such as £50 plus vat for delivery on a pc for part of the month, then suddenly say they are offering free delivery worth £58-75 for a limited period ... buy now!!!
Posted by Edd | June 24, 2005 10:34 PM
just bought a lptop from dell and paid the £57+ for delivery - next day special offer free delivery! but now no free memory upgrade, etc net price change -£3 or so but also no memory key so actually better deal paying delivery in my case
Posted by alan | June 25, 2005 1:41 PM
Whichever way you look at it, it's the final total price that counts. We run a small silver jewellery business where you can order from our website http://www.zolushka.co.uk and we obviously have to pay for delivery. SO we had to chosse how much to charge. We considered 'over-charging' like Dell do, but decided against it and actually went in the other direction and offered free delivery!
Posted by Robert | February 21, 2006 5:12 PM
Dell have an offer on right now for a Dimension C521 at £179.00 exclusive of delivery and VAT. When they have heaped on a wacking great delivery charge which is completely off the wall, the price including VAT becomes £270.32. It is just a con to let you think their machines are good value. All they are doing is trying to hide the real cost. They are really becoming a joke.
Posted by David White | July 5, 2007 1:52 PM
I have just ordered a laptop from dell and yes I was also bitten by their high delivery charge. How can they charge so muvh yet play.com which is in jersey offer free delivery.
Is their any way that people can stand up against dell (online protest)lol
Posted by trish | July 16, 2007 10:35 AM
However remeber that the total price including delivery is a lot cheaper than going to the stores or other websites. The VAT & Shipping is also included in the price.
Posted by Christine | July 27, 2007 9:35 PM
dell make hardly any profit on the computers so this is where they make profit. but not 40 quid. When they say £60 for P+P that also pays for all the cables and documentation that come with the computer. when your given the price for the computer it is a price JUST for the computer. not for all the other little bits that come in the box.
Posted by niall | December 3, 2007 10:25 PM
I ordered a Dell laptop and was amazed at how much more i got for the same price... but it was just Dell tricks... hidden costs!
£60 delivery for 19day(wtf?) delivery yet from laptops direct it was something like £20 for next day?!
Also noticed how they dont mention VAT until the end making it look like a fantastic deal until you add to cart
Posted by Dominic Watson | February 18, 2008 9:07 AM
Dells uk website clearly states that shipping and vat is included in the price show.They then charge you £60.If you query this ,they lie to you and tell you that the online calculator shows this ,but you will not be invoiced the delivery charge.They are total con artists
Posted by ellison | April 22, 2008 9:07 PM
The high delivery charges are due to the laptops and systems been built and then shipped over from the USA. Although it may seem a high price, the total of the product and postage and packaging is stil very good value for money. Also some of the shipping charge would go towards labour aswell as all systems now are custiomizble.
Posted by kyle | June 9, 2008 4:48 PM