Shipping Page

Shipping Quickstart: and what to expect from Paypal when you finish your order.

The Modern Device site works in conjunction with the Paypal shopping cart system. After choosing appropriate shipping options below, you must complete your order on the Paypal site. Choose either the Domestic Standard, or International Standard shipping methods.

For Domestic Shipping:

Domestic shipping is automatically built into your order, just proceed to the Paypal site and choose the Domestic Standard option (adds $2.00). You can read about my shipping system below if you are interested. Websites that make money on their shipping irritate me too, so I try to be strictly revenue-neutral, and as transparent as possible in calculating my shipping fees.

For Canadian Shipping:

For Canadian customers, click the "Add Canadian First Class Shipping" on the page below (adds $3.50). Then proceed to the Paypal site and choose the International Shipping option when completing your order (no additional charge).

For International Shipping (other than Canada):

For International Orders other than Canada, see below, and do this. Add up the weight of your order - don't worry if it isn't exact - you'll be close enough. Click the appropriate weight button below to add the international shipping charge to your order. Then finish the order on the Paypal site and choose the "International Standard" option. Paypal adds no additional charge for the International Standard option.

For other items, oddball requests, or to add additional shipping:

There is also a field at the bottom of this page, for adding more freight, or other unusual requests. As a reward for reading this far, you may punch in "add conceptual art" with "0" in the price field. I'll send you a free fine-art bumper sticker, suitable for sticking on your car and confusing neighbors.

Is your Paypal Address Correct ??

It is a big headache for customers, and for Modern Device, if people want things shipped to different addresses than their listed Paypal addresses. The easiest way to fix this is to update your Paypal address before submitting the order. If you need to ship elsewhere, such as for an excellent geek gift (you know I have a soft spot in my heart for anyone who buys their loved ones electronics projects for gifts) I'll certainly deal with it. Send me email right away after submitting the order with the correct address.

Domestic Shipping including Canada.

Paypal's recent software upgrade broke the shipping calculations on my shopping cart (using their code). Paypal does not seem to be able to provide a flexible shipping system, so I'm trying out a system a friend uses for his small website. I'm listing freight amounts (the numbers in blue), and then rolling most of the shipping costs into the price of the item, thus avoiding most of Paypal's system.

I have tried to come up with a simple, fair, system for pricing shipping. Here's how the current system works. First class shipping is a step function that starts at about $1.20, and goes up at the rate of .17 per ounce, I have included just the .17/per ounce increases in the shipping amounts (listed on the site in blue italics with the item), but not the base amount of $1.20. This makes multiple-item orders more accurate, as the base rate doesn't keep getting added in over and over. The per-item shipping amount also includes the Paypal fee (3%), if you are wondering why the amounts seem more than .17 x the weight in ounces.

When you finish a standard Domestic Shipping order, Paypal will automatically add in anther $2.00. This includes the base rate of the step function, $1.20, plus another one-time Paypal fee of .30, and .50 for packing materials, for a grand total of $2.00.

Shipping to Canada adds $3.50. A $1.50 charge (for the customs forms and the hassles of international shipping. (Somebody must wait in line at the post office), plus the $2.00 domestic shipping charge (that Paypal apparently won't let me add, because the address is International, I guess).

When the shipping gets up to 13 ounces of freight, it's necessary (and desirable) to switch to Priority Mail, so for any items that are approaching that weight, I roll the $4.50 for Priority Mail (minus 2.00 added at the end) into the freight. Further increases in weight after a heavy item, might generate some excess shipping charges. In the case of fees that exceed $2 over actual postage, I will Paypal you a refund. Send me email if you have a big order and the shipping seems out of line, and I'll look it over. Orders much over $100 will be sent with insurance.

If you would like Priority Mail shipping on a smaller item, click the Priority Mail item, which adds $2.00. (Domestic Shipping only.)

Orders under 13 ounces will be shipped first-class mail, and take about 2-5 days in transit, you know the deal. Orders over 13 ounces will be shipped priority mail and typically show up in 1-3 days. If you want Priority Mail on smaller orders, click the Priority Mail link. It adds $2.00 in postage to the fees added by Paypal for First Class shipping. You don't need to click Priority Mail on heavier items however (e.g. 10 BBB kits and a cable or 15 kits), it is built in. OK so maybe I just traded off simple for fair - send me email with comments and suggestions if you have them.