International Issues - MOTUC Subscriptions

[wolfsfang]

The problem as I see it is... the world doesn't work the same way as Eternia / Etheria

[Shadow-Ra]

Ok so we know the biggest issue with subscribing for us is cost and customs charges etc. If they gave you an option to have your items sent quarterly by DHL at $33.95 shipping, that would be 3 figures plus a quarterly item for that shipping, making it less than $10 per item AND you'd have a refund/exchange option, would that work for you?

1 item via DHL is $32
4 items via DHL is $38-$40
so it's only around $8 more to send the ENTIRE quarters month of items, than it is to send one figure each month.

This totally makes sense to me. You'll only get the ONE £20 handling fee, then pay the tax you woulda paid each month on the items value, so right off the bat that's a saving of £40 in customs handling charges (for UK customers - I'm not sure about what customs are in other countries)

It works for them too, since most figures this year have had a delay on them, so it means if there IS a delay, people won't be effected as their items won't ship yet anyway. I really think this option would work.

If we can get enough people to request this, then Mattel might listen and then we'd all carry on getting awesome figures.

[Delthaindia]

yes I will
thats just how were trying to organise us italian fans...massive orders and then wait 3-4 months to send them to the real subscribvers in order to save money. its pretty much the same.
so i will, even if Id prefer mattel to open a mattycollector european base.

[Snake Hunter]

The problem in massive orders are customs fees. We have to pay a lot.

Digital River have to declare in the customs fees the value of the figures, not value + shipping, we have to pay twice for an irreal value.

[Shadow-Ra]

It gets more people on board, it guarantees we'll actually receive our figures and the subs will sell, plus it's cheaper!

[NorthCoast]

Have you guys tried contacting TG directly with your concerns on shipping costs? I'd hope they still have time to work something out for you folks!

[Crusader]

This would certainly help. The only downside to it is QC, if you have to wait 3 months and your figure has a defect, you can forget about getting a replacement. Although the replacements aren't really feasible for international customers anyway ... so yeah, I'd be fine with this.

[Shadow-Ra]

The problem in massive orders are customs fees. We have to pay a lot.

Digital River have to declare in the customs fees the value of the figures, not value + shipping, we have to pay twice for an irreal value.

Yes but we'll save alot on shipping, it does work out cheaper in the long run and we'll be guaranteed our items.

- - - Updated - - -

Have you guys tried contacting TG directly with your concerns on shipping costs? I'd hope they still have time to work something out for you folks!

Well I personally have, but I think something like this he would listen to. i'm sure he'd rather do this than people NOT subbing.

[wolfsfang]

ya that would be better because as it has been pointed out customs in the UK for regular post (which is the most expensive) is 20% of the total plus £8 handling fee.

4 regular sized figs comes to approx £70 (or will next year) which would mean £14 + £8 which means paying an extra £22 for all four figs plus £25 shipping for a grand total of £117 per quarter

1 fig comes to around £17 + £3.4 customs + £8 handling + £21 postage = £49.40 per fig x 4 figs = £197.60 (approx) per quarter if shipped separately

That is a saving of £80 (or 3 - 4 more figures)

[Shadow-Ra]

ya that would be better because as it has been pointed out customs in the UK for regular post (which is the most expensive) is 20% of the total plus £8 handling fee.

4 regular sized figs comes to approx £70 (or will next year) which would mean £14 + £8 which means paying an extra £22 for all four figs plus £25 shipping for a grand total of £117 per quarter

1 fig comes to around £17 + £3.4 customs + £8 handling + £21 postage = £49.40 per fig x 4 figs = £197.60 (approx) per quarter if shipped separately

That is a saving of £80 (or 3 - 4 more figures)

Brilliant, when put like that, it makes even more sense why this should be an option.

[bcrduke]

Quaterly or half-year shipping options don't solve the customs problem. It just makes it worse because you end paying more VAT and customs taxes. I wrote a post on this thread that everybody must have ignored or something...

Matty knows upfront how much we are paying for the entire sub + shipping. If they split that value in 12 monthly payments it might be under $50 and if they declare that value for each package (independently of the number of figures shipped in one month) that passes right bellow the customs "radar".

I suggested the membership fee idea so that Mattel could legally reduce the cost of the items to international fans, thereby reducing the VAT

[Delthaindia]

its been a couple of days that us on the italian forum started thinking about multiple subs.
suddendly a shipping price list has been cut and paste.....now someones wondering where those prices came out and if they are right:

International Post...

1: 13.75
2: 21.70
3: 30.15
4: 38.25
5: 46.60
6: 60.25
7: 69.70
8: 78.60
9: 87.55
10: 96.15

DHL...

1: 30.60
2: 35.50
3: 40.45
4: 45.25
5: 49.40
6: 58.50
7: 63.05
8: 67.65
9: 72.25
10: 76.85

obviously those are the vitual prices for EU/UK shipping so maybe some old continents fella could give us some help

[markatisu]

Yup sounds about right, I paid $12-18 to ship someone 1 MOTUC via 1st Class International (which is the USPS they are using) and $25-40 for 1 MOTUC International Priority Mail which is what DHL is comparable to (UPS and FEDEX would be higher). In this case to send to Italy with both would be $12/$35 (check it yourself at www.usps.com), and that would be my costs where I am sure any major company would add in $1-5 in "handling" fees since they have to pay for a contract or an employee to do the shipping.

I am sure there is a few dollars of padding here and there but the general flow of the shipping prices is accurate. It also can fluctuate widely depending on country and weight. International people are better off getting a lot shipped at once because shipping companies tier downwards (the higher the weight the lower overall cost per pound)

I know it stinks for international buyers but the notion carried around a lot of the net that Mattel is making like 200-500% profit off shipping is so absurdly false

They took a huge bath financially the past few years, I am not going to argue if that is their own fault but I get so tired of the assumption they are somehow screwing international customers because it just is not true.

[Shadow-Ra]

Yup sounds about right, I paid $12-18 to ship someone 1 MOTUC via 1st Class International (which is the USPS they are using) and $25-40 for 1 MOTUC International Priority Mail which is what DHL is comparable to (UPS and FEDEX would be higher). In this case to send to Italy with both would be $12/$35 (check it yourself at www.usps.com), and that would be my costs where I am sure any major company would add in $1-5 in "handling" fees since they have to pay for a contract or an employee to do the shipping.

I am sure there is a few dollars of padding here and there but the general flow of the shipping prices is accurate. It also can fluctuate widely depending on country and weight. International people are better off getting a lot shipped at once because shipping companies tier downwards (the higher the weight the lower overall cost per pound)

I know it stinks for international buyers but the notion carried around a lot of the net that Mattel is making like 200-500% profit off shipping is so absurdly false

They took a huge bath financially the past few years, I am not going to argue if that is their own fault but I get so tired of the assumption they are somehow screwing international customers because it just is not true.

No-one on here is saying that Mattel are trying to screw us. We proactively looking for a solution which will help international fans to buy a sub.

[wolfsfang]

Brilliant, when put like that, it makes even more sense why this should be an option.

Ya plus people like me could use that extra £80 to get figs we normally wouldn't such as Giants, Vehicles, Beasts etc

[Sabretooth]

Thanks bcrduke and Shadow-Ra! This is the way to go. I purchased my 2013 sub already but the more I save with international quaterly shipping and membership fee the better. And I can buy more extra figures. This could be a win-win.

[Balthus Dire]

I also wouldn't even mind a pile-of-loot style option, especially since the regular shipping takes almost a month on its own already so we get the figures like 3-4 weeks after all the US guys.

In short, I'm used to waiting for what seems like forever.

[wolfsfang]

Follow up to my price break down earlier

What we also have to keep in mind is that I was using Royal Mail prices

DHL handling fee is cheaper as it is around £1.25 or 2% of the import duty so the saving could actually be slightly higher then the £80 I said. So it is an even greater reason to do a combined quarterly shipping like this

[Shadow-Ra]

Anyone is who up for this, I urge you to make a post suggesting this on Ask Matty.

[wolfsfang]

considering I can only guarantee having money until the end of this year I decided to work out if I could just save up my money this year solely for a sub next year as according to Matty a sub costs

$505 (£323) plus shipping

But when you add the approximate shipping and customs charge this quite low price turns out to be more like

$1000 - $1,100 or £650 - £700 and I just don't think I can afford to save that much as I am already on a limited budget

For the rest of the year I am only going to have around £800 - £900 and there are a few bdays and xmas to come out of that so £600 + is too big a chunk for it to be worth it.


Thing is if they did do the quarterly combined shipping option for us international (UK) fans the price would probably drop to around £500 for the year ($780)

keep in mind I guesstimated the cost of shipping for some of the larger items but not too far out of what they probably will be, so my numbers could be slightly higher or lower than reality. But I think it is around 90% true and that is close enough for me to think a sub is too expensive for me

[Morningstar]

Is Digital River for not taking responsabilities on the lost shipments.

[Shadow-Ra]

Is Digital River for not taking responsabilities on the lost shipments.

Short answer - No.

[nuno]

Shadow-Ra: I'd be up for your suggestion. Kind of a "pile of loot" deal would definitly help to get it to ship through DHL. Let's just try and point this to Toyguru as fast as possible and see what he has to say. It could be something added to the sub for international costumers to solve some very specific issue. Are you able to ask him that in the matty forums?

I'm going against my previous decision and considering a sub right now, since they are eliminating DOS I just can't rely on it for sure. I'm doing some math to see how I can pull it off and I still couldn't commit. Maybe I'll be in for a sub, but if they could improve the shipping conditions it would help me a lot.

[Shadow-Ra]

Shadow-Ra: I'd be up for your suggestion. Kind of a "pile of loot" deal would definitly help to get it to ship through DHL. Let's just try and point this to Toyguru as fast as possible and see what he has to say. It could be something added to the sub for international costumers to solve some very specific issue. Are you able to ask him that in the matty forums?

I'm going against my previous decision and considering a sub right now, since they are eliminating DOS I just can't rely on it for sure. I'm doing some math to see how I can pull it off and I still couldn't commit. Maybe I'll be in for a sub, but if they could improve the shipping conditions it would help me a lot.

I have asked in Ask Matty - no answer yet. But he's more likely to reply if everyone posts about it, it's more noticeable then. Get posting! :-)

[kup]

Short answer - No.

I am pretty sure that several packages get 'lost' not due to the postal service but DR incompetence. Fair enough if it gets lost in the mail but how do we know that matty actually sent the package? The emails often do not match the shipment dates on the box so who knows when they actually send stuff!