I have ordered many games before, and I've never been charged this. What's the point - I could simply visit EBGames or another local distributer and pay the regular retail cost.

$44.95 is at this moment the Digital Copy price where you gety the game online. I believe theres a $5 price for the retail box, and when I check on shipping it said $10 - $15 In the US.

So $5 + $15 + $44.95 = $64.95

Living in France the cost of Shipping & Handling is also of 20$ (~13,5€). It's cheaper than others US sites (like Gamestop who charges 25$ for example). Of course, i could pay less by ordering from Play or Amazon but be a part of the beta (and the collector's edition also) has a price. I could also order the digital copy only but i like to have a retail box

If you look at the quotes on the USPS website, international priority mail starts at $17 (it goes up if it's over 1 lb., which a collector's edition generally will be). IIRC the Sins box was said to be 3 lbs., which ships to Canada for $19.80. And domestic priority mail on a box of that weight can actually exceed $10.

$10 to get it shipped to me in the states... seems a bit ridiculous, and the lady at the stardock booth at PAX didn't mention it to me at all.  I didn't know until I looked at my reciept.  I thought that was pretty low and unacceptable.  Dont' get me wrong, I expect shipping charges from smaller companies, but $10 seems high and not being upfront about it, is even worse.

It would be good to show the S+H table before confirming an order. I'm pretty sure the web store does it, but at PAX, they couldn't know. Unfortunately, I forget who you should email if you want to change to a digital order only.

Hey all,

I agree that our shipping costs do seem on the high side.  I will talk with the powers that be this week to see if we can re-evaluate them.

For those of you that purchased from us at PAX, I apologize if you feel that you were mislead.  All of our signs did say "+ s/h" on them, and we did print your receipt for you right after the order was placed.  We did have a lot of people ask us what the shipping charge was, and we were glad to disclose it.  Your credit cards won't be charged until the beta is released, so we can delete your preorder and have you place a new order for the download-only version, if you wish.  Just drop us an email at sales@stardock.com with your order number from the receipt and we'll take care of it.

We are currently working through 3 days worth of emails from the weekend and the holiday, so we'll get to everyone's ticket as soon as possible.  I am answering tickets from Saturday, August 30th right now.

I will post here if anything changes with our shipping costs.  I promise I will do my best for you!

Awesome customer support again.  Thanks Stardock!

Priority mail is "regular mail" in the US. There are two lower price options, but both have restrictions and I don't know if a game can qualify.