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Post by redsharkJason on Sept 2, 2016 21:56:25 GMT
I'm glad that you didn't group Big Finish as being a "mom and pop" company, because that convenient fallback excuse of Big Finish's has sailed past a long time ago. Big Finish is now BIG Money! If I were to rank BF, it would be as a growing company. Mom and Pop would be doing it a dis-service. As as a customer who is 95% download this doesn't impact me, though I suspect it is only a matter of time before downloads are on the recieving end of a price increase. "Mom and pop" businesses can be EXCELLENT and was not meant to be a negative connotation. Yes, when all of Big Finish's international CD customers that pay in pounds change over to their native country's "dollar rate" downloads option. I wouldn't be surprised if somehow Big Finish remedies that loss of money. I'm sorry guys for being a jerk and letting the emotions of the newly (perhaps too harshly) added expenses and its possibility of weakened postal service [DHL] get to me.
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Post by coffeeaddict on Sept 2, 2016 21:59:35 GMT
If I were to rank BF, it would be as a growing company. Mom and Pop would be doing it a dis-service. As as a customer who is 95% download this doesn't impact me, though I suspect it is only a matter of time before downloads are on the recieving end of a price increase. "Mom and pop" businesses can be EXCELLENT and was not meant to be a negative connotation. Yes, when all of Big Finish's international CD customers that pay in pounds change over to their native country's "dollar rate" downloads option. I wouldn't be surprised if somehow Big Finish remedies that loss of money. I'm sorry guys for being a jerk and letting the emotions of the newly (perhaps too harshly) added expenses and its possibility of weakened postal service [DHL] get to me. I love mom and pop shops - bought two of my best guitars from a local mom and pop music shop. Could have got a better price had I went to a bigger retailer, but I wouldn't have got the same quality of service.
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Post by redsharkJason on Sept 2, 2016 23:41:00 GMT
I got a reply back from Ian and it was basically this is the situation they have as far as international shipping is concerned, it isn't as bad as it could be for us and to lessen the per item charge we should plan better and group as many purchases together as possible. For a single release 1-2CD order, my AIM now will be to at least buy 6-8 of them when needed. 1 single release = £1.50 + £6.50 (per order charge) shipping. 6 single releases would average out at £2.583 shipping per CD. Hopefully (my personal preference) for the smaller orders, it will still be less expensive for Big Finish to utilize Royal Mail economy rather than the DHL courier service.
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Post by redsharkJason on Sept 2, 2016 23:42:36 GMT
I love mom and pop shops - bought two of my best guitars from a local mom and pop music shop. Could have got a better price had I went to a bigger retailer, but I wouldn't have got the same quality of service. Colin, you have a pleasant disposition.
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Post by coffeeaddict on Sept 2, 2016 23:46:29 GMT
I love mom and pop shops - bought two of my best guitars from a local mom and pop music shop. Could have got a better price had I went to a bigger retailer, but I wouldn't have got the same quality of service. Colin, you have a pleasant disposition. Only when properly caffeinated. You wont like me when I'm not caffeinated!
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Post by Ela on Sept 2, 2016 23:59:06 GMT
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Post by coffeeaddict on Sept 3, 2016 0:01:07 GMT
The cat on the other hand (paw?) doesn't like me unless I'm covered in her fur... 😸
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Post by Whovitt on Sept 3, 2016 1:12:55 GMT
For my two cents (or should I say AUS$11.58), as an international customer I'm also disappointed by the per order charge... but that's the way things are, and I'll just have to be more selective in my purchases in the near future. However, I have made a couple of observations that other international CD purchasers may be interested in: 1) I make my pre-orders at the end of one month for the following month; this system is still economically viable for me if I do this for two months instead of one, as it will half the number of per order charges I incur (I realise this isn't as easy for some people, but I thought it was still worth mentioning). 2) I was looking at ordering the third series of Companion Chronicles in this weekend's sale (which was when I first noticed this whole per order charge thing). What I found interesting was (presumably) due to the size of the order, the shipping charged was that of a 'large' item, so I only have to pay £3. With a bit of experimentation, we should be able to work out just how many individual CDs (or, depending, the size of bundles/subscriptions/etc.) make up a 'large item', which we will be able to use to help us save on shipping
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Post by redsharkJason on Sept 3, 2016 3:06:24 GMT
2) I was looking at ordering the third series of Companion Chronicles in this weekend's sale (which was when I first noticed this whole per order charge thing). What I found interesting was (presumably) due to the size of the order, the shipping charged was that of a 'large' item, so I only have to pay £3. With a bit of experimentation, we should be able to work out just how many individual CDs (or, depending, the size of bundles/subscriptions/etc.) make up a 'large item', which we will be able to use to help us save on shipping I suspect this new shipping rate way of doing things hasn't been *fully* implemented and could be still evolving. Hopefully postage relief incentives will be applied to configuration plans such as: long term pre-orders, subscriptions and bundles. Loyalty program - anyone? I'm not sure that I fully comprehend (without example) this Big Finish statement: "International subscription and bundle postage charges are calculated based on the specific content included and the postage timeline for the items."
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Post by Feroniya27 on Sept 3, 2016 3:36:57 GMT
I recommend the download option. An external hard-drive full of GBs of Big Finish, and it's the size of novel! Unfortunately that doesn't work for the original Bernice Sumerfield single-CD releases, since those don't have the download option. It used to be if I had an extra $10 left at the end of the week I would order one. With that per-order charge it's now nearly $18. I guess I'll have to save up and order multiple discs at once, or look into buying them used from Amazon.
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Post by barnabaslives on Sept 3, 2016 6:48:26 GMT
I suspect this new shipping rate way of doing things hasn't been *fully* implemented and could be still evolving. Hopefully postage relief incentives will be applied to configuration plans such as: long term pre-orders, subscriptions and bundles. Loyalty program - anyone? I was wondering if they might offer an arrangement where you can choose to have whatever titles you have coming via subscription or pre-order, to ship all on a single date each month instead of getting nailed for each release and the extra charges not necessarily going to Big Finish. Since the downloads are available to hear them sooner it would hopefully offset the delay on physical copies?
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Sept 3, 2016 10:50:49 GMT
I suspect this new shipping rate way of doing things hasn't been *fully* implemented and could be still evolving. Hopefully postage relief incentives will be applied to configuration plans such as: long term pre-orders, subscriptions and bundles. Loyalty program - anyone? I was wondering if they might offer an arrangement where you can choose to have whatever titles you have coming via subscription or pre-order, to ship all on a single date each month instead of getting nailed for each release and the extra charges not necessarily going to Big Finish. Since the downloads are available to hear them sooner it would hopefully offset the delay on physical copies? When I first started ordering from BF I used to regularly sent sales emails requesting orders to be bundled together. Thing with this is I don't think anyone is unsympathetic to the realities BF faces as a small business but as usual the problem lies in how this change in policy has been rolled out. As I've noted, I'd just like be provided with some options as it relates to shipping. The whole this is the way it is now , it could be worse and just buy more to help mitigate this fee doesn't strike me as particularly helpful advice. Or the problem could just be with me.
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Post by andrew on Sept 3, 2016 21:03:19 GMT
I've done the sums and turns out the new UK postage costs will more often save me money.
I mostly place large orders and qualify for the 10% discount. They always had postage costs much higher than the new £4 cap so there's money saved there.
Example:
Doom Coalition 3, Torchwood Outbreak and Third Doc 2 are out this month and next.
Pre-ordering total: £65 Under old postage system: £65 + £6 postage less £7.10 discount = £63.90 Under new postage system: £65 + £4 postage less £6.90 discount = £62.10
I buy now usually to listen to much, much later, so I seldom need to have download access on day of release.
I've been using this large order at the end of the month approach for a while. It'll save me a few pounds now on pre-order prices.
That saving either gets me a free box set once a year or will offset the increased cost from single item purchases such as the weekly offer when new episodes are on tv or when a weekend sale has one or two items I need. Such orders will go from £5.51 per item to £6.25 (£7.25 if £6 becomes the new norm for sale prices).
My next big order will take my annual total of orders with BF to over a grand so I still feel I'm supporting them plenty. Where pre-ordering does offer a saving I do so - the bundle for Hinchcliffe 2&3, for example.
I'd like to perhaps see pre-orders have a staged price increase so that those who are ordering months or years in advance get a reward for doing so. The present system of a box set being £20 from day of announcement right up to month after release does not seem to offer much incentive to buy at the announcement stage.
Only downside to one order a month is it means only one chance to receive the latest Vortex with the order!
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Post by kamica on Sept 5, 2016 9:25:52 GMT
7,75 € per order fee is to expensive for me. Sadly I have to buy from amazon from now on.
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Post by Digi on Sept 5, 2016 14:44:01 GMT
Ugh, I just encountered this for the first time when attempting to pre-order the newly-announced Torchwood Archive title.
$24.10 - Torchwood Archive $2.58 - Shipping & Handling Fees $11.20 - Per Order Charge
So hang on...not only are they double-dipping--charging for shipping & handling, and then again for "per order"--I now have to pay $14 in shipping on an item that's only listed for $24 in the first place?
F--- that.
I work in logistics, I understand that shipping isn't always cheap. But they're a business and customer service is at least as important as the product itself. Billing in this way is going to do one thing and one thing only: discourage sales. Longtime customers will balk at the price jump, and prospective new customers looking to try out something new and cheap will be put off by the excess charges. It won't put them out of business by any stretch of the imagination, but it'll pinch, and it'll do so right when they're trying to capture a new market of fans (nuWho fans who have never heard audio drama).
I'm glad I have a lot of stuff already pre-ordered, because for my part, it looks like I'll be sitting out new releases for a while. Now I'll need to find enough items to make it worth the shipping cost before ordering, and in addition to that, decide whether the list-pricing for the individual items that I'd want to add to that order are priced at a level I can afford. Money--mine, at least--is a finite resource. And I may have to look into shopping elsewhere for better prices, where in the past I exclusively bought direct from BF because I wanted to support their business.
Very disappointing.
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Post by mark687 on Sept 5, 2016 15:05:52 GMT
Ugh, I just encountered this for the first time when attempting to pre-order the newly-announced Torchwood Archive title. $24.10 - Torchwood Archive $2.58 - Shipping & Handling Fees $11.20 - Per Order Charge So hang on...not only are they double-dipping--charging for shipping & handling, and then again for "per order"--I now have to pay $14 in shipping on an item that's only listed for $24 in the first place? F--- that. I work in logistics, I understand that shipping isn't always cheap. But you're a business and customer service is at least as important as the product itself. Billing in this way is going to do one thing and one thing only: discourage sales. Longtime customers will balk at the price jump, and prospective new customers looking to try out something new and cheap will be put off by the excess charges. It won't put them out of business by any stretch of the imagination, but it'll pinch, and it'll do so right when they're trying to capture a new market of fans (nuWho fans who have never heard audio drama). I'm glad I have a lot of stuff already pre-ordered, because for my part, it looks like I'll be sitting out new releases for a while. Now I'll need to find enough items to make it worth the shipping cost before ordering, and in addition to that, decide whether the list-pricing for the individual items that I'd want to add to that order are priced at a level I can afford. Money--mine, at least--is a finite resource. And I may have to look into shopping elsewhere for better prices, where in the past I exclusively bought direct from BF because I wanted to support their business. Very disappointing. Yes I'm a UK customer so it doesn't effect me but I was working out the prices as almost double the retail price with shipping for overseas customers regardless of what they bought.
Very suspired BF haven't changed courier service (can't be the best value for money for them ether surely £6.50 plus the postage rate per order) even more surprised that they haven't put out a more detailed but personable explanation of the changes.
Regards
mark687
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Post by Ela on Sept 5, 2016 15:11:51 GMT
Yup, that's what I've worked out, also, mark687. Every release I've tried to order on CD, the shipping charges end up basically doubling the price of the CD. Glad I'm mostly a download only customer. I only buy CD when that's the only format available, and I think, at this point, I already own most of the CD only releases.
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Post by nottenst on Sept 5, 2016 15:36:28 GMT
I was just looking into a new 4th Doctor CD subscription:
Fourth Doctor Adventures - Season 6 (CD) starting with release '6.01. The Beast of Kravenos' - $99.61 Shipping & Handling Fees - $59.94
Season 5 was $99.49 with postage fee of $11.37
If I do Season 6 as download it will be $65 total.
I think I will have to stop getting the CDs of this range.
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Post by agentten on Sept 5, 2016 16:19:16 GMT
I'm not sure yet how this is going to work out for me, but it's definitely going to change how I order. Previously, I tended to pre order as soon as releases I knew I would want were announced. Consequently I have a nice docket of pre orders right now, including the super subscription. I went ahead and ordered some releases from last weekend's CC sale, but I was more cautious about which releases I actually decided to get because the extra charge ate into how much I planned to spend.
For pre orders I can imagine saving them up and perhaps making a larger pre order every three months or so, hopefully minimizing the additional charge across several releases.
The main question in my mind regards the quick, smaller sales. I'm still filling in holes in the monthly range and the Companion Chronicles and when smaller sales would come up I would get one or two releases that I needed, but that won't really result in much savings with this new charge, which means I need to buy larger quantities, which means participating in fewer sales as I wait for specific kinds of sales that would still allow savings even after the extra charge.
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Post by muckypup on Sept 5, 2016 16:44:47 GMT
I don't want to upset any of non uk members, but you are a very tiny proportion of BF market in physical product.
When I got upset about the reducing of the download price to a straight £ to $ etc. Dear old Paul spragg explained that the only way they could grow the oversea orders was to reduce the downloads price to encourage customers, as price, shipping, wait times, broken items, lost items & customs were prohibitive for most & BF. That was the reason the price change had come about. The biggest proportion of overseas went download with only a fraction wanting CD's unlike the UK market.
So I can understand that getting a decent shipping price from the carrier is a problem if you are only sending a few hundred parcels a month.
I think the wording of the shipping costs is confusing, but I do think they are being straight with us customers.
It's a shame but brexit has thrown up all kinds of problems, for all the gains overseas make in the lower value of the pound a whole handful of other troubles are thrown up.
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