Thank you for Making Project Life a Success in Europe
Wow!
Thank you so much for making the 2012 launch into the UK and Europe such a HUGE success! I am truly excited to be bring you this wonderful product and a concept that is helping thousands document their stories, beautifully and simply.
Due to the overwhelming response we have already sold out of a few items. Don’t worry, more of EVERYTHING is coming as soon as we can get it off the press. And as I have mentioned before, the Cobalt and Clementine are already on their way!
I have been answering a tonne of emails and want to address a couple of concerns.
I want to make sure I am as transparent as possible, as always.
So let me explain the VAT and shipping. When we were dealing with Amazon, they required that we offered a single price. I know most countries outside the UK were charged extra for shipping by Amazon.co.uk, but everything else was hidden in the price.
Now that we have our own warehouse, we can let you know how much of your purchase is product cost, how much is tax and how much is shipping.
Let me give you an example:
Through Amazon.co.uk
Core Kit
Binder
Cardstock
Dividers
Big Pack of Design A
the total cost for a person in mainland UK was going to be 96.95 (includes shipping and VAT)
Here is how that breaks down now, through our warehouse
Product = 73.95
shipping = 6.50
VAT (20%) = 16.09
Total = 96.54
We are reviewing some of the small to mid-size order packaging options to see if we can find a more ideal shipping price. If we can, I will be sure to make adjustments.
I apologize to those on the Isle of Man, I had thought we had included you with our shipping options, however I’ve been told you need to be listed as a separate country (just like Northern Ireland or Scotland). We are getting that resolved for tomorrow afternoon.
Here are the 3 biggest reasons that NOW was the right time to move to our own warehouse:
1. We can offer pre-orders, which in turn, helps us make sure we have enough product produced. Plus with Pre-Orders we can guarantee you are going to get what you want when it arrives. No worries about beating the clock or your neighbour to place your order.
2. We can offer non-EU countries the opportunity to order closer to home. Customers in Norway, for example have to wait 6-9 weeks for their order to arrive from the Canadian warehouse. Now they will be able to order and have it delivered in under 2 weeks. It also allows us to continue to grow Project Life to other surrounding countries without having to have them go through the Canadian shop.
3. Your product is in your hands faster! We can ship it direct to the UK warehouse without having to re-route it through Canada for processing. Now you will get new products at the same or close to the same time as North American customers.
Unfortunately the downside to this move is for those of you who were given gift cards for Christmas in anticipation of purchasing on Amazon.co.uk. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Thank you to all of you for your patience as we worked to bring Project Life directly to you. I really appreciate each of you!
Tammy, I have placed my orders but I have to agree with many of the comments being left on Facebook. The prices this year are incredibly high. To be clear, last year I paid £59.99 for the full kit (binder, 60 page protectors, all the cards, cardstock and dividers, plus this price included delivery). This year as you have mentioned above, the price is £96.54 – this is an incredible 61% increase since June 2011. I am actually quite astounded. I know costs across the board have gone up but 61%? I don’t think so. Unfrotunately I think there will be many many disappointed customers.
You say customers in mainland UK £6.50 shipping, then say scotland is a separate country, where it costs me £12.50 shipping. Here’s a breakdown of what my order was going to cost:
2 packs of #projectlife journalling cards £3.99 each, shipping £12, bonus added fun fun tax £4 total for 200 blank journalling cards £23.98!!
You have to admit that is just stupid. I live in mainland scotland so you must see why I’m frustrated.
Sorry I just wanted to give another example of why I’m frustrated:
Through Amazon.co.uk
Core Kit
Binder
Cardstock
Dividers
Big Pack of Design A
the total cost for a person in mainland UK was going to be 96.95 (includes shipping and VAT)
Here is how that breaks down now, through our warehouse
Product = 73.95
shipping =12.50
VAT (20%) = 17.34
Total = 107.79
for someone who lives in scotland that’s more than £10 more expensive than you distributing it yourself
Another perspective perhaps
Through Amazon.co.uk
Core Kit
Binder
Cardstock
Dividers
Big Pack of Design A
the total cost for a person in mainland UK was going to be 96.95 (includes shipping and VAT)
Here is how that breaks down now, through our warehouse
Product = 73.95
shipping = 12.50
VAT (20%) = 17.29
Total = 103.74
So it costs me more than £6 more under your system, and because shipping is prohibitively expensive there is no popping in for a little order.
Thank you Tammy for the breakdown, it really helps to see the comparison between the prices via Amazon and direct through your warehouse. However I do think the delivery charges for the UK are steep. With only 40p difference between the standard delivery and next day delivery, i went for next day this time. But in future I’m sure you can get a much better price for standard delivery that will be lower than £4. £6.10 or £6.50 is a lot, and especially so considering we have to place two orders (one for in stock items and another for pre-orders) and therefore pay double the delivery. So I’m pleased that you recognise this and I look forward to hearing some good news in the future.
Thanks for all the news but just to let you know that shipping and taxes for Italy are very high!
Same for Germany. Shipping is about 23 Euros. Via amazon it would have been 8 Euros. That`s really ridiculous.
So disappointed with the high prices compared to the US prices, and the fact you are adding 20% vat on as well. Lastly the postage costs are way too high. If you had stuck with amazon uk then shipping would have been free. I’m afraid I could not justify paying these prices.
I emptied my order out of the shopping basket. I was only after some dividers & page protectors but the shipping costs were way over the odds – I’ve never paid that much for anything I’ve ordered in the UK…???
I’m curious why you couldn’t just send everything from your Canadian warehouse in the first place without the need for amazon at all either .com or .co.uk.
The difference in price between amazon.com and the prices you quoted above for amazon.co.uk are quite astounding. Here in the UK I think most people expected it to be more but certainly not nearly double. The comparison above with the price for last year is interesting.
I think it’s more than obvious that the European customers are disappointed. I’m just wondering why there’s absolutely no statement at all. Neither from Becky, nor from Tammy. Neither on Facebook, nor on this blog. Why is that?
I just want to say a huge thank you for doing something about the shipping prices, in the end it has ended up much more expensive than I had hoped but it is now just within my price range for what I wanted (a saving of £6 under the new shipping scheme)