Hi Andy,
Andy stude.list@googlemail.com writes:
Shipping. To get it shipped outside of the U.S. you have to authorize the FSF to add any amount they chose for shipping, without telling you what is. Surely I can't be the only one who thinks this is highly suspicious? In fact I am suspecting that it may even be illegal under the jurisdiction I reside in.
You can always write to order@fsf.org to ask us about shipping.
You don't have to blanketly authorize costs -- there is also an option on the order form that says you should be contacted to verify that shipping costs are OK before the charge is put through. Sounds like that's the option you want.
I think we can ship the Emacs manual global priority, which is around $9. But you can verify that with the ordering people.
In fact reading from government legislation:
Information required prior to the conclusion of the contract 7. - (1) Subject to paragraph (4), in good time prior to the conclusion of the contract the supplier shall - (a) provide to the consumer the following information - (iii) the price of the goods or services including all taxes; (iv) delivery costs where appropriate;
From: The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm
Usefully there is no mention of jurisdiction that I can see. Either way I find it extremely risky to give consent for an unknown fee. In fact it is the kind of thing I would have expected to see from con artists, however the security certificate confirms it is the FSF.
See above -- we are certainly not asking you to consent to an unknown fee. We'll happily confirm the cost with you first.
Also do the Gnu get more or less money from directly selling manuals than if I bought it from another vendor (such as Amazon)?
GNU gets much, much less if you buy from Amazon.