International Issues - MOTUC Subscriptions

[Sabretooth]

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

ok, I put it on MOTUC Mattycollector forum. Thanks again guys, very good ideas imo.
Let's hope they will do something about it.

[nuno]

wolfsfang: You've done some good math there.

Hey guys maybe we could use these numbers to better get our message across to Toyguru.

If he really wants to get more subs, and in this case subs from international buyers, there's no way he wouldn't evn consider this. At least to look for it, and use it as an excuse to maybe delay the subscribing deadline. That could even be helped with some more reveals in the next few days (e-mail, soon to happen "cons", etc...) to generate some more hype.

I think that since we're facing these risks to the line, maybe it would be good to get more people into it.

[wolfsfang]

keep in mind my figures are approximate guesses.

going through DHL could actually only be $1000 or could be $1300

and the combined shipping could be say £400 - £500

same with using the other shipping option.

I picked numbers that were more in the middle purely for the purpose of showing why buying a sub is not economically viable to me

another thing to keep in mind is that I added custom charges to EVERY item. I used worst case scenario for next year

[Scorpia]

Customs charges are CRAZY. I paid $27 for a MOTUC Zodac (the one from the two-packs) and got charged £11 customs. That's the basic level - about $18 US. So, $45 for a Zodac.

The MOTUC figures from 2013 onwards are likely to be even more: taking the above example, it would be $58 per figure. Which is simply crazy for ONE figure.

I've also been put off by character selection. Each year since 2009, POP fans have been 'lured' in with a POP character, only to be left sorely disappointed for the rest of the year. I just don't have faith in Mattel any more. Paying a high price on eBay will still be less than what I'd spend on an entire year's worth of subscription figures I don't really want.

[uaxuctum]

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.

The problem is, what works best for some international fans, may not work so fine for others. The UK has a ridiculously low customs-charging limit, so you know that with the price increases you are going to be always getting stung, whereas OTOH your DHL's customs handling fees are laughably negligible at less than $5. Therefore British fans' priority is to insure their packages and to minimize the customs sting and the overall shipping costs by combining as many items as possible, and so big lump-all quarterly shipments through DHL look like an appropriate option for them.

However, I live in Spain, and over here we have a higher customs allowance and they aren't as strict in applying the limits. So far Matty shipments have managed to avoid customs charges for me at an avarage of around $50 per package, even though a few bigger packages in the $80-$100 range may have surpassed the theoretical limits. Whereas, OTOH, one eBay shipment through USPS Priority from a US resident for around $80 did get stung with around $30 in charges ($15 customs handling + $15 VAT). So over here basically you never know, but as shipments get bigger and more expensive and/or if they get shipped through some kind of insured or tracked service, they are more likely to get stung than smaller shipments and shipments through the cheapest untrackable service. My priority is thus to keep the cost of each package low enough that they keep on avoiding customs, and OTOH, I must stay on the low-cost shipping option (and deal with any possible loss if some package gets lost), because using DHL would be a total guarantee that each package gets charged customs fees and, moreover, unlike in the UK, here in Spain the private carriers' customs handling fee is outrageously high (at whatever they see fit from around $30 to upwards of $100+ per package, a profit they keep for themselves).

So my current dilemma about getting or not getting a sub (and if so, whether to buy 1 or 2 subs, because I want doubles of certain sub items that may or may not see a DoS release) is, as of right now, whether I will be able to avoid customs or not, not how to minimize their impact. And to avoid customs over here, the best method is to separate items into small packages (particularly, to separate the oversized quarterly items from everything else), while at the same time to combine figures into 2- or 3-figure packages to minimize the shipping costs per figure (so far this year I've been charged $10 for 1 figure, $10 for 2 figures, and $15 for 3 figures; which is $10 per figure if sent singly, but only $5 per figure if sent in pairs or triplets).

That is, what is in British fans' best interest for next year is to be able to lump everything into big quarterly packages that minimize their customs and shipping charges, whereas what is in my best interest is to be able to split and merge the shipments into neither single-figure packages (that get too much shipping cost per figure) nor too-big packages (because the bigger they get, the likelier they are to get stung by Spanish customs).

So I think the best solution for both would be to simply let each customer decide and organize how to package and ship their (sub and early-access non-sub) items as they see fit, instead of having a imposed, uncustomizable subscription shipping scheme. That is, make the shipment options for subscribers as flexible as it is for cherrypickers, where you can choose which items to put into each order and therefore fine-tune the shipment costs and the likelihood of each package getting stung by customs depending on each customer's particular circumstances. The problem with a flexibilizing solution is, of course, Digital River's incompetence (apart from Mattel's unwillingness and outright contempt toward international fans), since to implement such a solution they would need to put in place some kind of pile-o'-loot à la BigBadToyStore, instead of just running an automatic monthly processing batch of subscription orders, and that seems like well beyond Digital River's [in]abilities.

[wolfsfang]

okay in case anyone doesn't agree with my maths (cuz I am not sure I do)

As posted on Matty

(12 regular figures @ $25 = $300)

4 beasts/variants/multi-packs (1 each at $25, $30, $50, $75 = $180) = £325 before shipping and stuff


so lets break that down in UK pounds £

each column goes:

Price of Figure + Regular International Shipping (approx) + Customs and handling (approx) = Total


12 x $25 Regular

16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20


1 x $25 exlusive

16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20

1 x $30 item

20 + 12 + 12 = £44

1 x $50 item

32 + 20 + 15 = £67

1 x $75 item

50 + 25 + 18 = £93


fee ($25) = £16

= £677 ($1,057.58)

now allowing for error the cost will probably be more around the £700 mark


now take away customs


12 x $25 Regular

16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22



1 x $25 exlusive

16 + 8 = £22

1 x $30 item

20 + 12 = £32

1 x $50 item

32 + 20 = £52

1 x $75 item

50 + 25 = £75


fee ($25) = £16

= £461 ($720)

[Shadow-Ra]

The problem is, what works best for some international fans, may not work so fine for others. The UK has a ridiculously low customs-charging limit, so you know that with the price increases you are going to be always getting stung, whereas OTOH your DHL's customs handling fees are laughably negligible at less than $5. Therefore British fans' priority is to insure their packages and to minimize the customs sting and the overall shipping costs by combining as many items as possible, and so big lump-all quarterly shipments through DHL look like an appropriate option for them.

However, I live in Spain, and over here we have a higher customs allowance and they aren't as strict in applying the limits. So far Matty shipments have managed to avoid customs charges for me at an avarage of around $50 per package, even though a few bigger packages in the $80-$100 range may have surpassed the theoretical limits. Whereas, OTOH, one eBay shipment through USPS Priority from a US resident for around $80 did get stung with around $30 in charges ($15 customs handling + $15 VAT). So over here basically you never know, but as shipments get bigger and more expensive and/or if they get shipped through some kind of insured or tracked service, they are more likely to get stung than smaller shipments and shipments through the cheapest untrackable service. My priority is thus to keep the cost of each package low enough that they keep on avoiding customs, and OTOH, I must stay on the low-cost shipping option (and deal with any possible loss if some package gets lost), because using DHL would be a total guarantee that each package gets charged customs fees and, moreover, unlike in the UK, here in Spain the private carriers' customs handling fee is outrageously high (at whatever they see fit from around $30 to upwards of $100+ per package, a profit they keep for themselves).

So my current dilemma about getting or not getting a sub (and if so, whether to buy 1 or 2 subs, because I want doubles of certain sub items that may or may not see a DoS release) is, as of right now, whether I will be able to avoid customs or not, not how to minimize their impact. And to avoid customs over here, the best method is to separate items into small packages (particularly, to separate the oversized quarterly items from everything else), while at the same time to combine figures into 2- or 3-figure packages to minimize the shipping costs per figure (so far this year I've been charged $10 for 1 figure, $10 for 2 figures, and $15 for 3 figures; which is $10 per figure if sent singly, but only $5 per figure if sent in pairs or triplets).

That is, what is in British fans' best interest for next year is to be able to lump everything into big quarterly packages that minimize their customs and shipping charges, whereas what is in my best interest is to be able to split and merge the shipments into neither single-figure packages (that get too much shipping cost per figure) nor too-big packages (because the bigger they get, the likelier they are to get stung by Spanish customs).

So I think the best solution for both would be to simply let each customer decide and organize how to package and ship their (sub and early-access non-sub) items as they see fit, instead of having a imposed, uncustomizable subscription shipping scheme. That is, make the shipment options for subscribers as flexible as it is for cherrypickers, where you can choose which items to put into each order and therefore fine-tune the shipment costs and the likelihood of each package getting stung by customs depending on each customer's particular circumstances. The problem with a flexibilizing solution is, of course, Digital River's incompetence (apart from Mattel's unwillingness and outright contempt toward international fans), since to implement such a solution they would need to put in place some kind of pile-o'-loot à la BigBadToyStore, instead of just running an automatic monthly processing batch of subscription orders, and that seems like well beyond Digital River's [in]abilities.

Well that's dandy for you then isn't it with your higher customs threshold. I'm not saying that EVERY single customer should have their items sent quarterly, but we should be given the option. Especially to UK customers who have the ridiculously low customs threshold.

- - - Updated - - -

okay in case anyone doesn't agree with my maths (cuz I am not sure I do)

As posted on Matty

(12 regular figures @ $25 = $300)

4 beasts/variants/multi-packs (1 each at $25, $30, $50, $75 = $180) = £325 before shipping and stuff


so lets break that down in UK pounds £

each column goes:

Price of Figure + Regular International Shipping (approx) + Customs and handling (approx) = Total


12 x $25 Regular

16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20
16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20


1 x $25 exlusive

16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20

1 x $30 item

20 + 12 + 12 = £44

1 x $50 item

32 + 20 + 15 = £67

1 x $75 item

50 + 25 + 18 = £93


fee ($25) = £16

= £677 ($1,057.58)

now allowing for error the cost will probably be more around the £700 mark


now take away customs


12 x $25 Regular

16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22
16 + 8 = £22



1 x $25 exlusive

16 + 8 = £22

1 x $30 item

20 + 12 = £32

1 x $50 item

32 + 20 = £52

1 x $75 item

50 + 25 = £75


fee ($25) = £16

= £461 ($720)

What's the 16 for?

[wolfsfang]

each number is a price I was just too lazy to add the £ each time

so

16 + 8 + 11.20 = £35.20

=

£16 + £8 + £11.20 = £35.20

the final £16 is the $25 joining fee

also that is using the lowest price shipping methods

[EuroCoin]

Reason, why I am not going to sub is simple:
I can justify paying $30 for basic 6" figure (2012 prices), but I can't justify paying $50 (2013 prices*) or $70+, if DHL shipping is used.

* starting Jan 1st 2013 Finnish government lowers tax free limit so low that every shipment will incur VA-taxes, unlike the how it is currently.

- Joni -

[wolfsfang]

now on to DHL

Price of Figure + Regular International Shipping (approx) + Customs (20% of figures price) and handling (£1.25) (approx) = Total

12 x $25 Regular

£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45
£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45


1 x $25 exlusive

£16 + £19 + £4.45 = £39.45

1 x $30 item

£20 + £20 + £5.25 = £45.25

1 x $50 item

£32 + £25 + £7.65 = £64.65

1 x $75 item

£50 + £32 + £11.25 = £93.25


fee ($25) = £16


= £732 ($1,143.49)



Using the option to combine shipping that has been suggested on He-Man.org

1st Q. - $64 + £22 + £14.05 = £100.05
2nd Q. - $64 + £22 + £14.05 = £100.05
3rd Q. - $64 + £22 + £14.05 = £100.05

4th Q. - $118 + £50 + £24.85 = £192.85

+ £16 fee

= £509 ($796)

Now I must explain I kind of cheated and put all the regular figs together (in 3 groups of 4) and all the beats ans stuff together and for the last quarter I chose the DHL shipping 10 items price

[uaxuctum]

Well that's dandy for you then isn't it with your higher customs threshold. I'm not saying that EVERY single customer should have their items sent quarterly, but we should be given the option. Especially to UK customers who have the ridiculously low customs threshold.

What I'm saying is that subscribers should be given the option to define the contents of each subscription-related order, just like one can do with day-of orders. That way both you would get the option to lump all quarterly items into one big package, and I would be able to combine single monthly figures into 2-figure bimonthly shipments and isolate the quarterly oversizeds into their own packages. Thus each subscriber would get to decide their shipment plan for the year according to their needs, instead of having pre-planned subscription shipment schemes that may not fit every customer's needs.

That is, just grant subscribers the same flexibility cherrypickers have to decide how the items they order get organized into bigger or smaller packages. Cherrypickers can decide whether to split their DoS purchases into different orders or to lump everything into one big order, whereas subscribers have so far no choice but to get one single sub order shipment per month, that may range between a small single-figure package that gets overcharged for shipment and a huge multiple-figure-plus-beast behemoth package that gets unavoidably stung by customs.

[Hoffman]

As an international subscriber, I have NO ISSUE with shipping costs. I realise that shipping prices are ever-rising, and that this is the price I pay for deciding to get these toys. It is MY decision. No one is pointing a gun to my head here. If I find that I get into financial difficulty because I couldn't say "no" to these figures, then I only have myself to blame for that. I'm not going to complain about rising shipping costs, because that is completely out of my control.

Yup, it sucks, but it's nobody's fault. Shipping is getting more and more expensive.

And I don't think it's realistic to expect them to have a different process for international customers. That wouldn't even solve the problems, since not every country is the same. They can't have a different process for every country.

- - - Updated - - -

Yup sounds about right, I paid $12-18 to ship someone 1 MOTUC via 1st Class International (which is the USPS they are using) .

Just a note - Matty does NOT use USPS for international shipping. If they did, the $13 would be totally fair. But they use a super-cheap no-name bulk shipping company.

[swift33uk]

Hey all - I haven't read through every single post so apologies if this got mentioned...

Did you know that in the UK the DHL handling fee is just 2% of the VAT??? Not £8 or £12.50 as Parcelforce charged me this month!

Bizzarely, If we could get our figures shipped quarterly via DHL, the cost per figure shipped to the UK (including customs) could actually work out less than last year!!!

[Hoffman]

They usually have a minimum though. To Canada, it's 2.5% OR $7, whichever is higher.

[wolfsfang]

Hey all - I haven't read through every single post so apologies if this got mentioned...

Did you know that in the UK the DHL handling fee is just 2% of the VAT??? Not £8 or £12.50 as Parcelforce charged me this month!

Bizzarely, If we could get our figures shipped quarterly via DHL, the cost per figure shipped to the UK (including customs) could actually work out less than last year!!!

it is actually 2% or £1.25 - whichever is greater

[paulioscorchio]

Hey all - I haven't read through every single post so apologies if this got mentioned...

Did you know that in the UK the DHL handling fee is just 2% of the VAT??? Not £8 or £12.50 as Parcelforce charged me this month!

Bizzarely, If we could get our figures shipped quarterly via DHL, the cost per figure shipped to the UK (including customs) could actually work out less than last year!!!

This would certainly bring back the vast majority of previous UK subscribers who have bowed out for 2013. It'd make me a lot happier too!

[Scorpia]

Wouldn't Mattel need to dedicate storage space in their warehouse to achieve this? I can't see it happening, personally. The old 'logistics' would rear its ugly head again...

[Balthus Dire]

TG's response to this thread itself:

We looked into things like this and it just isn't possible right now.

Link:http://forums.mattycollector.com/eve...7/m/2131031767

It really seems like they aren't budging, fellas.

[Shadow-Ra]

TG's response to this thread itself:


Link:http://forums.mattycollector.com/eve...7/m/2131031767

It really seems like they aren't budging, fellas.

Yeah I saw this before.

He needs to tell us why it won't work. He never does that. We're trying to help him and we either don't get a response, or if we do the answer is something like

"Yeah, we can't do that"

I mean what does that achieve, we're trying to help him make this line work and we just keep getting shot down. I'm still buying a sub, I'll just be crying in April when the I see how much the FFM are going to cost.

[uaxuctum]

And I don't think it's realistic to expect them to have a different process for international customers. That wouldn't even solve the problems, since not every country is the same. They can't have a different process for every country.

There's no need to have a different process for every country. They just need to make their one single subscription process flexible enough to cater to different customer needs. It wouldn't be that difficult to implement really, it could essentially be something like a "quarterly shopping list" for subscribers: Each month the subscription items would get automatically added to each subscriber's shopping list, and during the early-access period the subscribers would be able to add more items to their shopping list themselves. The subscribers could then pick the items they want to be sent together, put them into a shopping cart and create a shipment order, specifying at that moment the shipping method and payment method, just as if they were making a day-of purchase. At the end of each quarter, all shopping-list items that the subscriber hasn't yet put into a shipment order would be automatically lumped into a final quarterly bulk shipment using their default payment and shipping methods. Quite a straightforward workflow really, but I guess such a level of "sophistication" would be way too much for Digital River.

[Hoffman]

That's not really the issue though. That would require brand new database software most likely. Software like that can cost MILLIONS to develop.

The company I work for changed over their software, and I know it cost millions and took at least a year to iron out the bugs in. Something like that cannot just be implemented on a whim.

[uaxuctum]

That's not really the issue though. That would require brand new database software most likely. Software like that can cost MILLIONS to develop.

The company I work for changed over their software, and I know it cost millions and took at least a year to iron out the bugs in. Something like that cannot just be implemented on a whim.

It wouldn't need new database software, just a new operation workflow inside the application software to manage the shopping list. The shopping cart functionality to create the individual shipment orders from that shopping list would be the same as they already have in place. Implementing any of the other suggestions to help international customers, such as quarterly shipments or harmonized monthly payments, would also require modifying the current software in any case.

I've developed entreprise-level web applications for insurance companies, banks and the like, and the workflow I have just described would be rather easy to implement compared to the average workflow for complex business use cases that require talking to multiple layers of web services, remote databases, etc. just to get the initial green light authorization for an operation to go forward. Heck, I myself could implement a shopping list workflow such as the one I've described in a couple of days (providing that the basic services to query the shop items and customer records are already in place, which have to be because they are used by the current subscription and day-of workflows).

But, of course, Digital River can't seem to be able to get their act together even for the simplest use cases, such as updating one's credit card or address info. And I don't even want to imagine the unsightly spaghetti-code monstrosity that the internal architecture of their shopping website probably is. So basically we're out of luck because of their gold-medal IT incompetence, not because something like what I described would be, per se, prohibitively difficult or expensive to implement.

[bowspearer]

It wouldn't need new database software, just a new operation workflow inside the application software to manage the shopping list. The shopping cart functionality to create the individual shipment orders from that shopping list would be the same as they already have in place. Implementing any of the other suggestions to help international customers, such as quarterly shipments or harmonized monthly payments, would also require modifying the current software in any case.

Actually it wouldn't require that much modification at all - it would merely require adapting the existing software that was used to combine shipping for 2012 subscribers with both Eternia and 30th subs. Their items have gone out bi-monthly this year, meaning that the systems to pull this off are already there- the database would merely need to be adapted slightly, which should be feasible enough to pull off in the 5+months between now and the 2014 sub shipping out.

All the claims of "it can't be done" are honestly a load of crap.

I posted the following question on Mattycollector:

So it's no secret that not only have costs gone up but that for international customers to be covered in the event of faulty stock, they must go with DHL.

To put this in perspective for those of us in Australia for example, this means individual figures go up from $30 to $65 a figure. Now while it's true that costs have gone up and that the price rises are out of control; the notion that there's nothing you can do to alleviate costs for international customers is a blatant lie, and no that does not mean Mattel taking subsidising shipping costs.

In fact the solution is something that Mattel already IS doing with those who have both Club Eternia and 30th Anniversary subs, namely bulk shipping of several months' worth of items in a single shipment.

I'll refer you to the following breakdown a he-man.org board member raised comparing International Post with DHL shipping:

Int.Post/DHL...

01: 13.75/01: 30.60
02: 21.70/02: 35.50
03: 30.15/03: 40.45
04: 38.25/04: 45.25
05: 46.60/05: 49.40
06: 60.25/06: 58.50
07: 69.70/07: 63.05
08: 78.60/08: 67.65
09: 87.55/09: 72.25
10: 96.15/10: 76.85

As you can see, the moment you hit 5 std items or their equivalent, there's less than $3 difference in shipping costs. When you hit 6 std items or their equivalent, DHL is actually cheaper than International Post.

Therefore, if you implement a bulk shipping approach to international customers, you actually completely remove one of the price increase hurdles for international customers with the current changes to the shipping costs and policy. Furthermore, there's more than 5 months to adapt the bulk shipping systems which have already been employed this year in Masters Subscriptions to the Club Eternia 2013 Subscription.

I'm not the only person wondering about this. There's been a fair bit of chatter on the .org for example about this, yet there's a resentment to what people rightly see as scare tactics. Now I understand that what you say about the viability of the line is merely stating economic realities. However the first rule of any sales and marketing project, as you would no doubt be aware is that the key to closing sales is effectively handling objections.

What you have recently said about importing toys being expensive is correct; however it's hardly anything remotely close to effective objection handling when there is a solution to minimise costs that is within Mattel's power here - namely to allow international customers the option of combining shipping on several months' worth of figures in one lot.

International fans like myself want to support the line and subscribe, however we feel like Mattel is refusing to meet us halfway here, when as the shipping arrangements for those who have both 30th Anniversary and Club Eternia this year prove; they're able to do so.

So with that said, will you and DR look at adapting the bulk shipping options used for combining 30th Anniversary and Club Eternia Subscriptions this year for international Club Eternia subscribers next year and in doing so, completely remove that objection? Because I can tell you, that it would remove a major stumbling block for international fans who do want to subscribe for next year.

[ADPriceless]

I've subbed for the last three years using the cheapest Intl shipping and never failed to receive a package. I think we've had it fairly cheap for the last few years (when compared to what US customers were paying) in terms of shipping cost therefore the hike wasn't a massive surprise.

Looking at the DHL costs.... there is no way I'm paying more in shipping than the figure costs. As such I've decided to sub and stick with the cheap int'l shipping. I've been lucky so far this year and not had any customs charges so fingers crossed this continues - if not, well I'm prepared to pay up.

The quarterly loot drop is a good idea and kudos to the work a number of above posters have put in but I just dont see Mattel doing anything about this so late in the day.

[Robzy]

Yeah I saw this before.

He needs to tell us why it won't work. He never does that. We're trying to help him and we either don't get a response, or if we do the answer is something like

"Yeah, we can't do that"

It's because he just 'cuts and pastes'

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah I saw this before.

He needs to tell us why it won't work. He never does that. We're trying to help him and we either don't get a response, or if we do the answer is something like

"Yeah, we can't do that"

It's because he just 'cuts and pastes'