I know shipping on a 9' 6" rod cannot be cheap, but all I am looking for is transparency. If I could buy a rod like this from Digitaka, I would in a heartbeat – those guys have been nothing short of awesome. I wanted to buy Shimano Exsence Infinity from them instead, but I was worried about cost cutoff for the customs – different sources told me $700 (FedEx, I think) and $800 (DHL), and I did not want that gamble.
I will see what the final bill looks like, I might send them an email and ask about the whole "free shipping" conundrum...