This is a little tale about a recent shopping experience I had on midwayusa.com. If you are not a US resident, beware of the business practices of this company.

Midwayusa.com has been a difficult proposition to shop over the years for non-US customers. For a while, they completely refused to service foreign customers. Of late, I had managed to create an account and order some stuff (for delivery to a US address). Normally I avoid Midway, but they carry some brands which are hard to find elsewhere.

So when I was looking for some Woodleigh bullets, I took a look at their website. Lo-and-behold the bullets I needed were in stock:

8mm Woodleigh Overview Page

In particular this was the bullet I was looking for (sorry, the HTML formatting is gone by copying directly from the screen):

quote:

Woodleigh Bullets 8mm (323 Diameter) 196 Grain Round Nose Soft Point Box of 50Product #: 722911
Status: Available
Currently
21
available at this price
Our Price:
$34.49

Fine, so I hit the "Add to Cart" button and proceeded to check-out. As a part of this process, I logged into my account, specified the shipping address (in the States) method of payment etc.

Much to my surprise, the bullets (listed at $34.49 on the above webpage) were now listed at $68.70 in my check-out information:

quote:

722911
Woodleigh Bullets 8mm (323 Diameter) 196 Grain Round Nose Soft Point Box of 50
$68.70

I had not paid attention to the original price, but thought the $68.70 was a good deal higher than what I had expected to pay... So after completing my checkout, I went back and looked at the webpage again. Now it read:

quote:

Product #: 722911
Status: Available
Currently
21
available at this price
Switzerland Retail Price:
$68.70

So logging into my MidwayUSA account, ordering a shipment to the US, the price about doubled and was now listed as "Switzerland Retail Price".

I called MidwayUSA, and had them put me on hold for 5 or 10 minutes while they discussed this phenomenon. They then requested I call *another* US number for potential clarification - at which point in time, I requested they cancel my order.

So it seems that MidwayUSA has decided to implement "destination dependent charges" - i.e. different pricing dependent on where the customer resides - not depending on the location from which merchandise is ordered or where it will be shipped. Destination dependent pricing is a well-known practice in countries where rule of the law is prevalent - such as Zimbabwe...

All I can say is, non-US customers beware of MidwayUSA business practices!

A couple of years back, a Swiss local website www.midwayschweiz.com was set up. In the beginning, this offered a valuable alternative to the, otherwise meagre, selection of reloading components in Switzerland. Alas, this state of affairs did not last long. Prices were jacked up to be 25-50% higher than the same products from other Swiss sources, and availability was a joke. It turns out the Woodleigh bullets I was looking at above, are actually listed at 68.70 on the Swiss site - but 68.70 Swiss Franc, not US$ - at current exchange rates the $ price is about 10-15% higher. Man, you can only shake your head at these people...

- mike

Just let me help. Order what you need and have it sent to me in Florida....and I will send to you [will advise you of postage cost (gift, of course) from Florida to wherever you are].
Alex

Thanks for the tip Mike, that sucks. And it's not only for non-US, it also applies to those US that are residing overseas. Many, many years ago, I could order from Midway and they shipped for free to my Army Post Office Box. Well, they nixed that, so I quit ordering from them -- I couldn't even order and pay the postage! They simply refused to mail anything, even a book, to me. I rarely use them, and when I have I must have shipment to US address. Next time I order something I'll keep my eyes open for this bait and switch. I tell you, it's getting worse all the time. I swore I'd never order from them, but like you say, occassionally I find something there that I can't get anywhere else, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

Here in the Uk we have laws against that sort of thing.

A screen shot of the original web page with the lower price shown would be sufficient evidence to ensure that they couldn't bump the price up on you.

We, the europeans, are often considered as second-class customers by the US gun related companies, that often simply refuse to sell overseas; this is probably due to the current strict regulations too. As for Midway, I personally have no big reasons to complain, since I've placed several orders (90-150$ value) through www.midwayitalia.com lately, and I always got the parcels within 10/12 days; prices are higher than in the US, but this is understandable, since the taxes to import an item from the US to EU are over 30% of the value, not to mention the overseas postage. Unfortunately, there are VERY FEW sources to get gun-related items from, so, we almost have no choice.

If you want to order from midway in Britain and maybe in Europe try WWW.midwayuk.com.they ship most stuff but are not as cheep as midwayusa hope this is some help ?

bob

I think that Midway in Europe works like waterthight compartments, so, Midwayuk only ships to the UK, Midwayitalia to Italy, etc...

P.S. I prefer Brownells to Midway, though, but I buy from both.

I had a similiar problem with MidwayUSA last summer when I was in the US for some time. I wanted to order a few bits but they insisted on charging me international shipping to an address in Maryland; and then they decided they would not even process my card. I had several lengthy conversations with them explaining I was living in the US temporarily and using my British bank account, but they weren't having any of it.

You might try this company : MAG ITALYI´ve bought Talley rings and bases from them, I could not get a US based company to ship them to Portugal, and although the price was higher then in the US, the service was very good and they also represent Woodleigh Bullets.