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I thought I would be clever and buy 3 1e rulebooks for a good price at 40% off, well I thought wrong.
Despite the shipping warehouse being a mere 13 hour drive from me, the shipping charges were nearly $48 Cad for onlt $52 Cad worth of books, and to top it all off I realized too late that they company does NOT collect taxes, which means I get the honor of paying the shipping company for collecting it another $23 Cad.
NEVER AGAIN.
This is my first and Last purchase from this website, as frankly I could have gotten a better price at my local game store without the discount.
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The unfortunate reality of tariffs continues to exist. At this point I don't think it even matters how far the books have to travel. Incidentally, book tariffs are set to rise by the end of the year, as well as 'games and toys'
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The unfortunate reality of tariffs continues to exist. At this point I don't think it even matters how far the books have to travel. Incidentally, book tariffs are set to rise by the end of the year, as well as 'games and toys'
this isn't even a tariff issue, they aren't printed in the states, this is just gross negligence by the company, there is no way in hell it costs $50 to ship 3 books within a half a days drive, nor is there any reason to not collect taxes like, idk, the entire UK and EU that they already collect taxes for.
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While the books aren't printed in the US, Paizo just isn't a big enough company to already have warehouses receiving the books in other countries. And, unfortunately, any response they could have had was shot in the foot by their distributor declaring bankruptcy and seizing any stock in their warehouses.
That's still definitely a lot for shipping, and it sucks that they aren't set up to collect the newly established Canadian tariffs yet like the longstanding European VATs, so it's good to let folks know that their local game store is going to be cheaper.
I think it's a little unfair to call it "gross negligence", though. A lot of companies here in the US have been folding because of the tariff impacts. The other RPG company I follow had its staff fired down to a skeleton crew by its parent company and development operations suspended indefinitely.
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I think it's a little unfair to call it "gross negligence", though.
While the costs of shipping may be understandable, to me it at least closely approximates gross negligence to not tell the purchaser, up front, what the TOTAL cost of their shipment will be. Including delivery, taxes, collection fees, etc.
There really is no excuse for the purchaser to be taken by surprise.
Edit: If there is some reason that the exact price isn't known ahead of time a fairly accurate estimate should be provided.
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While the costs of shipping may be understandable, to me it at least closely approximates gross negligence to not tell the purchaser, up front, what the TOTAL cost of their shipment will be. Including delivery, taxes, collection fees, etc.
There really is no excuse for the purchaser to be taken by surprise.
Edit: If there is some reason that the exact price isn't known ahead of time a fairly accurate estimate should be provided.
Have to agree with pauljathome. Paizo has damaged good will with some Canadian customers since the shift to DHL from Mail Innovations International (which seemed to take place around the launch of the website). I saw my price to purchase a single AP go from about $40 CDN to over $75 CDN.
What was most frustrating was the lack of notification about this change. I only learned of the increased shipping charge when I got a credit card notification, followed by an invoice for customs/duties. As a Canadian, not being informed felt negligent and disrespectful. And the absence of a response from Paizo leadership acknowledging and explaining this - well I'd actually say it hurts.
As The Roguish Chef has pointed out - the increase in price with shipping is not directly related to tariffs. But tariffs do cast a shadow over this. Many Canadians are doing their best to boycott US products since the introduction of tariffs. My wife and I actually had a dinner table discussion: do we still continue to support Paizo? We decided yes, because of Paizo's values. However, the sense of not feeling valued or having our concerns adequately recognized is giving us second thoughts.
I'd started earlier thread when I first received DHL's invoice for customs & duty. There, Maya advised I reach out to Customer Service. When I did receive a response, it did not answer my questions regarding lack of notification to the shipping change and lacked understanding regarding why I was frustrated. Because my package was damaged by DHL, Paizo did send a replacement copy (which I'm thankful for). However, when the shipping/duty was 'refunded', the refund was for less than what I'd paid initially, then I had to pay shipping and duty all over again at the higher rate.
Another issue I've had is lack of transparency. Can someone break down why DHL? And why Mail Innovations International is no longer an option? In the other thread, Maya was quick to respond and did her best. But absent from that thread was a statement from Jim or other leaders behind the decision. I felt that I learned more about possible reasons for the shift to DHL from other customers than from folks at Paizo.
To be clear, in the other thread there are customers who prefer DHL because of tracking details and past issues with Mail Innovations International in their area. However, in our case, purchasing physical products from Paizo is no longer viable, even with deep discounts and I suspect I'm not alone. My hope is that someone from Paizo leadership addresses and recognizes the break in trust this represents to some of us here.