Happs Orders

[Bonesthedog]

Im going to be ordering from Happs soon, and i dont see a shipping quote anywhere. What does it cost to ship to the us, specificly california?

also, whats with this 20dollar minimum order thing i keep hearing aboot?

[Cisco Kid]

You won't know what it cost to ship your items till the box arrives on your door step and you look at the invoice (or if you have online access to your credit card statement ... thats another way of telling what they charged you   )

They're a company that deals with large operators and they feel its a waste of there time to bother with such a small order from a hobbyist  

[tbombaci]

You won't know what it cost to ship your items till the box arrives on your door step and you look at the invoice (or if you have online access to your credit card statement ... thats another way of telling what they charged you   )

They're a company that deals with large operators and they feel its a waste of there time to bother with such a small order from a hobbyist  

Alas, we hobbyist are growing daily.

I haven't yet had the feeling that Happs would rather not deal with me. However, I do understand your point. In my industry, (probably every industry for that matter) we handle our larger customers differently than the guy who orders 1 or 2 items.

For the most part, dealing with Happs [for me anyway] has been pretty smooth.

Best,
Tom

[paigeoliver]

If you want to know your shipping costs up front, then order from Bob Roberts, www.therealbobroberts.com as he carries the more popular happ items, and his prices are generally slightly lower.

[Lilwolf]

shipping is VERY high at happs in my opinion.

It was 40-50 to ship a bezel.

The others where just a little higher then I would expect.

Get it from bob roberts unless it's something he doesn't carry.  You will always get a better deal.

[Pungo76]

You can just email Happs for a shipping quote.  I emailed them to find out the cost of shipping a $15, 25" Monitor Bezel, and they wanted $26 for shipping.  Luckily I found a local supplier selling them for $12.  Happs was quick to respond to my email though.

[Lilwolf]

Ok, you where right.  It wasn't 40-50 for shipping... It was 40-50 shipped...

Still annoying when you order a 18 dollar part and the bill is triple what was expected.

but... it WAS shipped well... if that makes it worth it for you.

I haven't even put mine on yet.  Mainly because I now have an overrated value associated with it in my mind.  I don't want to cut it...  

I'm afraid  

[SpAwN]

Happs has the worst shipping costs I've ever seen. I ordered
a 27" Bezel, 1 Marquee Retainer, T-Molding and a 4 player coin door. This ended up being $43 in shipping! I couldn't believe it.

I bought everything I could (joysticks, buttons) from Bob Roberts to avoid dealing with Happs again.

[Bonesthedog]

what would it cost just to ship 1 joystick and around 20 buttons?

[CCM]

I recently placed a sizeable order from Happs,  45 buttons, 4 super joysticks, 2 3" trackballs, 2 track ball mounting kits, 4 2-drink holders, 2 500' spools of 22 ga wire, 19" monitor bezel, and some female disconnects.  

The total shipping for the order was $21.04.  Which, to me, doesn't seem that high.

[tiggertoo]

I ordered about 35 buttons from Happs. They got shipped in 2 separate orders due to a back order. The total shipping for me was less than $8.00 for both boxes. I thought that was reasonable. But then, I only live one state away,so I would expect shipping to be lower for me.

[GadgetGeek]

Happ charges what it cost them.  if you look at the size of a monitor bezel and then go to the UPS site and look to see what UPS charges for an item of that size, you will see a charge very similar to what Happ charges.  If all your items fit in a normal size box, you will have a very reasonable shippnig charge.

[mastahkaz]

I didnt know there was a $20 min.  A few weeks ago I ordered some black carriage bolts, the order total after shipping was like $8.  And they sent it...  are you sure theres a $20 minimum?

[SirPeale]

There used to be a $25 minimum.  AFAIK they dropped it.

[shmokes]

Yeah...Happ shipping is only outrageous if you get a bezel or a marquee retainer.  If you don't need either of those items you will pay perfectly reasonable shipping for regular sized stuff like trackballs, joysticks and buttons.  Still, my jaw about hit the floor when I got my invoices for my shipments (which did include both of those high-shipping-cost items).  It would be nice to be warned in advance, "Hey, just so you know, the shipping cost for marquee retainers is three or four times the actual price of the item."

[vitaflo]

There is no minimum order.  I just got two speakers from them for $9.

If you want to save money on marquee retainer, be sure to tell them to cut it into 5' lengths.  Saves a bundle on shipping.

[Inaba]

When I ordered my Bezels (among other things) the shipping as really high.  I was shocked and called Happs.

They told me they charge what it costs to ship.  I didn't believe them... I figured they were gouging me for shipping.  When the boxes arrived, I took them straight over to UPS and asked them how much it would cost to ship to Happ's address (the address the boxes arrived from) -

To my shock, the quote from UPS was almost exactly the amount Happs charged me (within 1 or 2 dollars if memory serves) - given the fact that Happs supplied the boxes, the shipping charges were no more than what it cost them to box and ship.  After that moment in UPS, I had total faith in Happs for not ripping me off.

That same order came with some bent marquee retainers.  I called them up and they refunded my money on the spot, no problems at all.  It really sealed the deal for me being a Happs supporter.

[mastahkaz]

Just another shipping note.. i just ordered 13 buttons and 25' of t-molding and the shipping charge was $4.50.  Seems fine to me.

If i had sold those items on ebay i would have charged at least $10 shipping.

[KevSteele]

I'll just chip in here:

Like others have already mentioned, the bezel is what is causing the "outrageous" shipping charges.

For example, I shipped an old cardboard bezel from an Atari Roadblasters game, the package was less than three pounds total, but the box was what UPS and FedEx consider "oversized." Result? Over $20 to ship a piece of cardboard.

It's not Happ that's doing the gouging...

Kevin

[grafixmonkey]

I've had pretty reasonable shipping from Happ.  I'm pretty sure their minimum order is gone now too.

By the way, it's pretty easy to put an order through over the phone.  Just read off your part numbers and quantities from your shopping cart.  Sometimes you can get stuff cheaper that way too, if you work it right.  (don't call and say "yeah this guy on BYOAC says you give discounts over the phone", your answer will be no - but if you really wanted to get an expensive item they can sometimes discount a bit to make another sale)

[u_rebelscum]

Happs has very reasonable shipping costs, like mentioned before.  Just be aware they charge you what UPS charges them.  So don't expect a 26"x24"x6" box (aka "oversized") to be shipped less than $20, even at one lb, ground.  
ups oversize definition
ups dimensional weight definition (does not apply to ground shipping)

example A: 1 lb, 26x24x6, daliy pickup, ups account, non-resident, San Fransisco to Chicago ground (~$20.50)
example B: 30 lb, 26x24x6, daliy pickup, ups account, non-resident, San Fransisco to Chicago ground (~$20.50)
example C: 1 lb, 26x24x4, daliy pickup, ups account, non-resident, San Fransisco to Chicago ground (~$4.25)

Notice how UPS is charging example A as if it was 30 lbs due to the size.  Chop a few inches off, and it's not oversized, the the price drops to under $5.  Blame UPS for the cost.  You can blame happs for not telling you the amount before-hand, however.  

(The box dimentions in the examples are my guess at how big a boxed bezel might be.)


FWIW, I've ordered from happs multiple times (joysticks, buttons, trackballs, mounting plates, assorted parts and other small sized stuff).  The shipping costs have always been reasonable: around $8-$15 (ground), of course depending on final weight.

[EggZilla]

Looks like this has been pretty much beaten into the ground, but I'll just chime in and confirm that the monitor bezel is absolutely the thing that makes the difference in shipping price.
I've placed three orders from Happ: one random parts, one random parts and a bezel, and one just a bezel, and there's no doubt. The bezel adds about $20 (give or take $5) to the shipping cost.
The reason is the shape of the box -- it's thin, but very wide and tall, making it a pain for UPS to stack, pack, and otherwise handle. I suspect that's also why they tend to arrive a little bashed up. Or maybe I'm just lucky.

However, a real arcade bezel adds immeasurably to the overall appearance of the cab. I, for one, still totally recommend it. But if you can find it cheaper somewhere else, that's the way to go.

-E