I just tucked a back issue of Dungeon, the new OoTS book preorder, and the OoTS game preorder into my shopping card, and...
$37.00 shipping and handling.
*sigh* I'm sure you guys do your best, I really am - but is this really the only option I've got - living in Canada - to order from you guys? I really *do* want to place orders through your site, but... well, that's almost as much as one of the items I'm ordering. :(
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I really *do* want to place orders through your site, but... well, that's almost as much as one of the items I'm ordering. :(
Same here. I want to give my money to Paizo, but they are making it difficult. I ordered a couple back issues a while ago. 17 days later, they're not here. I could deal with the higher than necessary prices and unreasonable shipping rates if the fast service made up for it; however, it fails in that respect too.
Paizo produces a great magazine. The adventures are imaginative and useful and the writing quality is generally excellent. The cartography is great, and even an art-hater like myself can appreciate the illustrations.
The problem isn't with the magazine, it's with the business support structure behind the scenes. Really guys, fire the blind, one-armed, peg-legged midget you have working in your order fulfillment department. You obviously have more orders coming in than you have going out. Why don't you hire a couple minimum wage highschoolers to help? For every customer brought here by the high quality of your magazine, you probably lose another customer to the slow website and poor service.
I can buy back issues from an ebay business for approximately $6-7 total including shipping, and they arrive in 2-3 days. Billybob from arkansas working out of his garage can provide a competitive price and outstanding customer service while turning a profit, why can't the true professionals do the same?
Chief Technical Officer
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I just tucked a back issue of Dungeon, the new OoTS book preorder, and the OoTS game preorder into my shopping card, and...
$37.00 shipping and handling.
*sigh* I'm sure you guys do your best, I really am - but is this really the only option I've got - living in Canada - to order from you guys? I really *do* want to place orders through your site, but... well, that's almost as much as one of the items I'm ordering. :(
Bram,
The high shipping is because, under our current system, preorders ship separately from other parts of your order. With your particular selection of products, they'll ship in three separate packages at three different times.
The good news is that we're close to rolling out a more flexible shipping system that will give you another option: you'll be able to have us hold your order until everything is in stock, so, as in this example, your shipping charge can be drastically reduced.
We hope to have this rolled out within the next week or so.
-Vic.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I ordered a couple back issues a while ago. 17 days later, they're not here.
DocG,
We shipped them on July 28, a week after you placed your order. I can't explain why the USPS has taken more than 9 days to deliver it, but the shipping method you chose does not have a guaranteed delivery time.
Your order did spend a few days longer in our system than we'd like; ideally, your order should have shipped on the 24th, or, if we're really running smoothly, on the 21st. (The days in between are weekends.)
As you might be aware, we've had a pretty big backlog of orders to work through; this challenge has caused us to improve many of our processes and systems so that we can maintain the level of service that you expect from us in the future.
-Vic.
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The good news is that we're close to rolling out a more flexible shipping system that will give you another option: you'll be able to have us hold your order until everything is in stock, so, as in this example, your shipping charge can be drastically reduced.We hope to have this rolled out within the next week or so.
-Vic.
Thank you, Vic! That's exactly what I wanted to hear, and will *definitely* order the items thereafter. Keep us all posted! :)
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Senior Software Developer
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And by "within the next week," it turns out we mean "tomorrow, unless something goes terribly wrong."
Or, perhaps, the next day. This is a fairly extensive rewrite of our shipping code, and I might want to test it a <i>wee</i> bit more before unleashing it. :-)
(Of course, I was the one who told Vic that I'd be ready to roll it first thing tomorrow in the first place. If it doesn't happen, blame me. If it does, well, then keep in mind that I am super-awesome....)
PS: Oh yeah. When we do roll this code, the entire site will be down during the process. We're making enough changes that we can't make this one seamless. The downtime should be on the order of minutes rather than hours, at least.
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I ordered a couple back issues a while ago. 17 days later, they're not here.DocG,
We shipped them on July 28, a week after you placed your order. I can't explain why the USPS has taken more than 9 days to deliver it, but the shipping method you chose does not have a guaranteed delivery time.
-Vic.
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I figured it would get here on Monday, but it still has not arrived. How long should I wait before I get back to you?
It is very odd that it hasn't arrived. Unless unless the post office handed the envelope to the pony express, it should have only taken 3-5 days once it was delivered to USPS. Even media mail is 7-10 days.
Could there have been an error on the shipping label? I ordered some stuff a while ago to an FPO address, but specified in the order that the 2 items were to be shipped to my address in Virginia.
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Chief Technical Officer
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How long should I wait before I get back to you? ... Unless unless the post office handed the envelope to the pony express, it should have only taken 3-5 days once it was delivered to USPS.
Again, Priority Mail isn't guaranteed. While they state a "target time" of 2-3 days, they don't even consider it late until 14 days have passed.
Could there have been an error on the shipping label? I ordered some stuff a while ago to an FPO address, but specified in the order that the 2 items were to be shipped to my address in Virginia.
You can check the shipping address in your order history by clicking the "My Account" link on the upper right.
-Vic.
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(Of course, I was the one who told Vic that I'd be ready to roll it first thing tomorrow in the first place. If it doesn't happen, blame me. If it does, well, then keep in mind that I am super-awesome....)
Way to go! Order placed, and a hearty "Thanks, eh?" from Canada.
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How long should I wait before I get back to you? ... Unless unless the post office handed the envelope to the pony express, it should have only taken 3-5 days once it was delivered to USPS.Again, Priority Mail isn't guaranteed. While they state a "target time" of 2-3 days, they don't even consider it late until 14 days have passed.
Well it finally arrived. It took 13 days in the system to get from WA to VA. It wasn't shipped via USPS priority as was indicated on the ordering page. It was shipped via UPS Mail Innovations.
Could UPS mail innovations be the source of all the lost packages?
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Chief Technical Officer
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It wasn't shipped via USPS priority as was indicated on the ordering page. It was shipped via UPS Mail Innovations.
UPS Mail Innovations is a service that we started using for certain packages a few weeks ago that bypasses part of the postal system—instead of entering the USPS in Bellevue, WA, it's carried by UPS to a post office near you; final delivery is handled by the USPS. The goal of this is to reduce the potential time in the land of the "not guaranteed," and also to reduce your shipping costs, since UPS gives us better rates for our high volume. I apologize for sending misleading messages during the transition.
Mail Innovations should be able to hit the USPS targets a bit more reliably than the USPS themselves, so we'd like to know it if that isn't happening. If I understand things correctly, your package should have a postmark that was applied by that post office near you; the date of that mark should tell us whether the problem was still at the USPS end, or if the delay was in the Mail Innovations system.
-Vic.
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...
The good news is that we're close to rolling out a more flexible shipping system that will give you another option: you'll be able to have us hold your order until everything is in stock, so, as in this example, your shipping charge can be drastically reduced.We hope to have this rolled out within the next week or so.
-Vic.
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Hi Vic,
just one question: did I get this right?
Your new system will be able to "collect" separate orders of mine and ship them in one package?
If the answer is yes: Does this include Dragon/ Dungeon subscription? Meaning: Would you package ordered items with my subscribed Dungeon/ Dragon issues, further decreasing shipment costs?
Greetings,
Günther
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Chief Technical Officer
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Your new system will be able to "collect" separate orders of mine and ship them in one package?
That's not quite right. Our system now gives you the choice of waiting to collect separate parts of the same order to ship in one package. Under the old system, preorders were automatically charged separate shipping, so if you placed a single order that included in-stock items and preorder items, the in-stock stuff would ship together for one charge, and each of the preorder items would ship separately for separate shipping fees. Under the new system, you can still choose to do that, or you can elect to have us to hold the order until all items are present before we ship.
As for combining items from separate orders, you don't have the ability to do that. However, we'll soon begin automatically combining shipments that are leaving at the same time and are destined for the same place using the same shipping method (i.e. UPS).
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UPS Mail Innovations is a service that we started using for certain packages a few weeks ago that bypasses part of the postal system—instead of entering the USPS in Bellevue, WA, it's carried by UPS to a post office near you; final delivery is handled by the USPS. The goal of this is to reduce the potential time in the land of the "not guaranteed," and also to reduce your shipping costs, since UPS gives us better rates for our high volume. I apologize for sending misleading messages during the transition.Mail Innovations should be able to hit the USPS targets a bit more reliably than the USPS themselves, so we'd like to know it if that isn't happening. If I understand things correctly, your package should have a postmark that was applied by that post office near you; the date of that mark should tell us whether the problem was still at the USPS end, or if the delay was in the Mail Innovations system.
-Vic.
Here's the thing, Vic. It arrived without any postmark at all. I wanted to see what day it shipped and the only marking other than your return address and my address, was a shipping label for UPS Mail Innovations on it. I looked into Mail Innovations and discovered it to be as you described it in your post.
I don't know if it was dropped in my mailbox by the USPS or if UPS delivered it themselves. I did find it odd that there was not a postmark on it.
A little superficial research on the internet turned up a host of complaints similar to mine. Apparently it is common for a package/envelope to arrive locally faster than the USPS can ship it, but the transition from local UPS hub to USPS takes far too long. In my case it appears that could certainly be the case.
By the way. I know I've been sounding like a jerk in this thread. Please understand my frustrations. I had to delay some plans for my gaming group due to the somewhat untimely arrival of the items I ordered. I know you're doing your best with the job you've been handed. For what it's worth, I would recommend you just use standard USPS. There's no middle man and less opportunity for error.
Thanks for a great product though!
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Mail Innovations should be able to hit the USPS targets a bit more reliably than the USPS themselves, so we'd like to know it if that isn't happening. If I understand things correctly, your package should have a postmark that was applied by that post office near you; the date of that mark should tell us whether the problem was still at the USPS end, or if the delay was in the Mail Innovations system.
Hi Vic,
I ordered the STAP players guide along with a steel sqwire template on Friday, August 18th. Paizo shipped it on Monday the 21st, but it did not arrive until today (Wednesday the 30th). It used the mail innovations system, so I thought you might like some feedback on how long it took. I know I used to get orders from you guys in about four or so days, so I was expecting it last Saturday at the latest. This isn't an issue for me, but just thought you might like some numbers so you know if the UPS/USPS combo is meeting your expectations.Like DocG, mine does not have postmark, but just a postage printout. It has a 2D barcode and no dates on it that I can figure out. It does have an MMS# (whatever that is), but amusingly it says "Time Sensitive Material" on it.
Coincidentally, like DocG, I am also in Virginia (where you do live, DocG? I am up in Reston).