Google Play will finally add cheaper shipping options
When I first bought my Nexus 4, I was surprised at the fact that I was required to use and pay for two-day shipping for the device, which would do me no good since the phone wouldn’t ship for another few weeks. It was a minor annoyance at best, but still a waste of $15 on something I neither wanted or needed, simply because Google Play didn’t offer any other options. I’ve also looked into buying the official bumper, but the shipping cost of $5.99, nearly 30% of the bumper’s 19.99 cost, made me reconsider. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by Amazon, but shipping options were one of my major complaints about using Google Play to buy hardware.
Fortunately, it looks like Google will soon be changing the shipping options in Google Play for the better. According to sources from Droid-Life, Google will soon be adding two new options for shipping from Google Play. According to the source, the three new shipping options will be as follows:
- UPS two-day shipping (2 business days processing + 2 business days for delivery)
- Ground (2 business days processing + 3-5 business days for delivery)
- Saver (2 business days processing + 5 -10 business days for delivery)
There are no exact costs mentioned, but it would only make sense that each slower option is cheaper than the one preceding it. There are a few restrictions on the new rates, as the cheapest “Saver” rate may not be available for “some orders,” and the shipping cost will still be calculated based on the weight of the shipment at checkout. In addition, the new shipping options will first apply only to the “Nexus 4 family,” which should include the Nexus 4 and its accessories.
This could all be made much simpler, of course, if Google Play simply offered free shipping on all orders. However, these changes are at least a move in the right direction, and perhaps the Saver option will be free (albeit slow), and apply to most of the devices for sale through Google Play.
[Droid-Life]
