Euraide Fees

How do you know that? This is from their website:
"Our pricing system for your train reservations is unique. We charge you the actual price in Euros plus US$50 for shipping and handling the entire order. Most other companies charge less for S&H but mark up tickets and reservations to make your total cost higher."

BTW, they don't maintain there website very well, so I'm not saying that ($50) is the correct amount. Since I often recommend them, I'd like to have the correct information. And, BTW, although I recommend them as a last resort, I don't particularly like their business practices (my opinion), and only mention them reluctantly.

It's the price I was sent when I contacted Karen at their office in the US. I have done most of the research myself, so I don't think I've been overcharged or anything.

I need to book a night train for early on in my stay in Europe, and I've tried other things (raileurope too expensive, I can't have the tickets mailed here or picked up in the station in Italy when using tgv-europe, and ItaliaRail's website kind of scares me a bit). I'd rather not pay the extra $60, but after talking with the fine people in this message board, I can at least see my options now.

Thanks!!

And Lee,

Is there a particular reason you don't like their business practices? I'm just trying to gather good info from people who are a lot more experience than I at this stuff.

Thanks for your help!

I did say, "my opinion". I'm entitled to an opinion, and as long as I just say it is my opinion, I don't think I have to justify it (although I do have emails to support my opinion).

Maybe I'm too concerned about ethics. Admittedly, it's easy when you're retired and don't do this as a source of income. On the other hand, I try to maintain a completely objective point of view when giving advice. I would never give anyone advice that would cost them extra money to enhance my profit.

I have a website, which I start because I found myself repeating the same advice. I could offset the cost, or maybe make a little, by selling advertising space on it. However, then, when I referred people to my website, that would have the appearance of a conflict of interest, so I pay about $70 per year to keep it advertisement free.

So, I expect the same standards of ethics that I hold myself to of others. Most commercial sites (and I'm not just singling out Euraide) have disappointed me.

I don't begrudge Euraide it's $60 fee. They are offering a service and they have to charge for it to stay in business. It's up to you to decide if it is worth it. Personally, for Germany, German Rail sells tickets and reservations for less and I would recommend them first.

I also don't begrudge RailEurope's higher rates. They do maintain an English speaking presence in this country. If you need that service you should pay for it. What I do feel is highly unethical is French Rail's efforts to force people who don't need that service to pay the higher price, anyway. Note that French Rail sells tickets at European counter prices to people all over the world, except in North America. If you tell them you are from NA, they try to force you to pay the higher prices from RailEurope, which they own. That, I feel, is despicable.

Lee, thank you, and I didn't mean to try and make you give details on your opinion if you weren't comfortable with that.

Just trying to find out the best way to buy my tickets using others' past experiences.

Thanks for your advice, Heath