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$200+ shipping cost here for within the US, over 25% of my pledge cost. Seems high, even with ordering the mat sets.

Mine is 10 bucks shipping for a 19 dollar order (blood asp box, JF dice, visigoth fighter).

Sure am glad I didn't go big, though now i'm worried about my much larger Leviathans pledge later in the year.

 Sabotage! wrote:
My shipping is 84 on a 400 dollar total, shipping to the upper north center of the US. There are 13 force packs, the box set, and a fair number of salvage packs…..so it is a fairly big box. I just shipped a box of about half the size from Minnesota to Florida using the cheapest USPS option and it was 40 bucks, so the shipping in my case isn’t too far from what I was expecting.

That said, when you use large scale distribution you usually receive a price break as opposed to an individual walking into the local post and shipping a single package. Also there are some people I have seen posting truly obscene numbers that on pledges smaller than mine.

This just goes to show that their shipping calculation method is all kinds of screwed up. My 275 pledge, with no add ons, should be smaller than yours, but they want 99.41 for shipping to Seattle. That's at least twice what it should be, if not near three times.

400 dollars shipping on 1000 worth of product. I can no believe how incompetently they are handling this. I hope you all payed with a credit card so you can dispute the charges. I know I will.

QML is literally located in the next county over and they want 90$ shipping on less than $275 of product (since part of that product is digital anyways).

BTW on tax on shipping for Floridians.

However, delivery charges are generally exempt from Florida sales tax when the charge is separately stated and the purchaser has the option to pick up the item or arrange their own third-party transportation services.

Every other delivery I have ever had falls under this but thanks to Catalysts incompetence....

There's a reason Catalyst hasn't sent out an update telling people they have their shipping charges calculated. Or asked people to pay them. Or even encouraged anyone to click around BackerKit to go see the current estimate.

Tinfoil hat theory: It's not the shipping what has going up dramatically but the handling.

I've read that Liya didn't ship in bulk but in boxes increasing the workload of Quartermaster Logistics that now have to open the boxes, inventory everything, fulfill the pledges, and then shipping.

So they slapped the estimated extra handling costs to the amount they sent to Backerkit before they informed Catalyst, and called a day.

It could be an explanation, but pending an official statement from the powers that be it's just a theory.

M.

 Miguelsan wrote:

I've read that Liya didn't ship in bulk but in boxes

What does that even mean? What would "shipping in bulk, not boxes" consist of, in this scenario?

We've seen plenty of videos of Liya packing boxes. There appears to be ~12 Force Packs per box, with around 1000-1200 boxes produced per Force Pack. The contents of each box is clearly labeled.

That's obviously still a gakload of product to organize and pick through, but I can't really imagine what a "bulk" alternative would be. A shipping container jammed with loose, soggy Force Packs that are crushing everything below the fourth layer from the top?

First as I said grain of salt.
As bulk I meant exactly what you say, pallet with 20 boxes, x number of force packs per box. All ships together, later on it's shorted.

But what happened according to this rumour is that Liya got told to put x number of force pack Y, x number of force pack Z for pledge 1, same for pledge 2... under the idea that Quartermaster would complete the pledges with the extra stuff before shipment.

Is it wasteful, and ilogical? Very much, but maybe someone along the way thought it was a great idea having the Chinese side shorting the Forcepacks beforehand, and conflicting messages got sent in the need to meet the June date.

Again, it's just a rumour.

M.

I see what you're saying now, but it doesn't sound credible. It would have to mean that Liya boxed and palleted all of the product and then unpacked everything and re-sorted it. Even the Imperium of Man would stop in the midst of that and say, "this seems inefficient."

 Altruizine wrote:
I see what you're saying now, but it doesn't sound credible. It would have to mean that Liya boxed and palleted all of the product and then unpacked everything and re-sorted it. Even the Imperium of Man would stop in the midst of that and say, "this seems inefficient."

Spoiler:

You would be totally right, but then I've been ordered to to stuff in very inefficient ways at my old job, only to get chewed later on for being inefficient by those same incompetent bosses.

M.

Confusing...

Shipping total: 104$
VAT: 129$
VAT Shipping: 26$

Totals: 259$

Am I to pay that amount for the shipping?!?! That's 54% of the value of the pledge I did!!!
Also, wasn't this project supposed to have local hubs, with at least one being inside the EU? If Catalyst forces me to pay 260$ for the shipping then they can say good-fething-bye to any future money from me as I'll just print the mechs instead.

Panzerkanzler wrote:
Confusing...

Shipping total: 104$
VAT: 129$
VAT Shipping: 26$

Totals: 259$

Am I to pay that amount for the shipping?!?! That's 54% of the value of the pledge I did!!!
Also, wasn't this project supposed to have local hubs, with at least one being inside the EU? If Catalyst forces me to pay 260$ for the shipping then they can say good-fething-bye to any future money from me as I'll just print the mechs instead.

This should absolutely being highlighted and brought forward to the people in power at CGL/Topps/IndyMedia/whatever. They will absolutely loose their consumer base and never win them back. Me myself was too thinking about a 3D-Printer. And until now i thought CGL had done a lot of things right and revitalised the dormant BT-Franchise.

Chaoticus maximus wrote:

Panzerkanzler wrote:
Confusing...

Shipping total: 104$
VAT: 129$
VAT Shipping: 26$

Totals: 259$

Am I to pay that amount for the shipping?!?! That's 54% of the value of the pledge I did!!!
Also, wasn't this project supposed to have local hubs, with at least one being inside the EU? If Catalyst forces me to pay 260$ for the shipping then they can say good-fething-bye to any future money from me as I'll just print the mechs instead.

This should absolutely being highlighted and brought forward to the people in power at CGL/Topps/IndyMedia/whatever. They will absolutely loose their consumer base and never win them back. Me myself was too thinking about a 3D-Printer. And until now i thought CGL had done a lot of things right and revitalised the dormant BT-Franchise.

I actually own 2 3d-printers but don't use them to print minis (I print terrain, custom bits and such) for the games that I play since I want to support the companies making them. But everything has limits and a shipping cost which is 54% of the pledged value is just too much. Lord knows there are plenty of great mech STLs out there and they don't cost much either.

I was short on cash at the time of KS and Backerkit, so I only got the Security Lance, the Battlefield Objectives, the Blood Asp and the Visigoth. Shipping to Ireland is $16.91 and Vat on shipping alone is $3.89. if that's shipping from Europe it's reasonable for me.

A local shipping hub does not mean your not going to pay VAT if your in the EU or UK

(the days when a compnay could import in bulk, paying VAT of the production value of the pledges rather than the retail value have ended)

all a local hub should be good for now is reducing the cost of the shipping (the 'on the water' bit is the cheapest part, the 'warehouse to doorstep' but is the expensive part)

well that and cutting out the need for the shipping company to collect the VAT, which some companies charged excessivly for (hello Fedex)

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:


well that and cutting out the need for the shipping company to collect the VAT, which some companies charged excessivly for (hello Fedex)

After the Clan KS I got an invoice from DHL or Fedex, don't remember which, saying that I owed them money for collecting the import fees that I had already paid. Since then I've been wondering if they were double dipping, charging Catalyst their brokerage fee, and then charging me again.

M.

 Valander wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
My shipping is 84 on a 400 dollar total, shipping to the upper north center of the US. There are 13 force packs, the box set, and a fair number of salvage packs…..so it is a fairly big box. I just shipped a box of about half the size from Minnesota to Florida using the cheapest USPS option and it was 40 bucks, so the shipping in my case isn’t too far from what I was expecting.

That said, when you use large scale distribution you usually receive a price break as opposed to an individual walking into the local post and shipping a single package. Also there are some people I have seen posting truly obscene numbers that on pledges smaller than mine.

This just goes to show that their shipping calculation method is all kinds of screwed up. My 275 pledge, with no add ons, should be smaller than yours, but they want 99.41 for shipping to Seattle. That's at least twice what it should be, if not near three times.

Yeah, it is quite strange. I have a buddy outside in Illinois who is considerably closer to the shipping hub, and had a smaller order, and yet his price was 20 dollars higher than mine. I also saw some guy (also in Washington State) with 700 dollars of product was being charged 322 for shipping. Hopefully Catalyst will get this sorted, because some of these estimates are bonkers. I also see the company is charging sales tax on shipping, which is legal in most states, but virtually no one does it. I'm guessing the company they are working with is doing "long math" to inflate every charge as high as they legally can.

 Sabotage! wrote:
I also see the company is charging sales tax on shipping, which is legal in most states, but virtually no one does it.

Every purchase I've ever made on Amazon or eBay has charged sales taxes on shipping. It's up to each state to decide if they charge sales taxes or not and what is exempt from those taxes but I've never heard of a state not collecting taxes 'just because' when there is a law in that state that taxes shipping.

In regards to the shipping stuff, CGl has recognized something odd is going on with the shipping charges, and is going to look into it as soon as they get back from the holiday break (because it got found right as it started. bad timing that.)

I suspect that we'll have word by Wednesday. i get the feeling that somebody input the calculations wrong myself. which given the 24,000 some people who backed, could take some time so inspect and sort out.

I do wonder if they knew the S&H charges had been loaded into BackerKit by their third party, given all we were being asked to do was confirm our shipping addresses at the time, not pay for S&H.

Pledge Level $275.00
Pledge Level Upgrades $16.00
Add-ons $81.00 (4 items)
Shipping Total $70.19
VAT $70.68 - correct for Germany
VAT Shipping $13.34 - correct for Germany


83$ is about as much as USPS asks, from what I can tell (not having VAT included in pricing is confusing as a German :-D)

 Ghaz wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
I also see the company is charging sales tax on shipping, which is legal in most states, but virtually no one does it.

Every purchase I've ever made on Amazon or eBay has charged sales taxes on shipping. It's up to each state to decide if they charge sales taxes or not and what is exempt from those taxes but I've never heard of a state not collecting taxes 'just because' when there is a law in that state that taxes shipping.

I’m not sure what state you live in, but maybe there is a law requiring that it be collected there? Most places don’t collect any tax at all on out of state purchases. And aside from eBay I don’t think I have ever bought anything in state that has. Definitely does not seem to be the norm where I live, at least at places I buy product from.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Sabotage! wrote:

 Ghaz wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
I also see the company is charging sales tax on shipping, which is legal in most states, but virtually no one does it.

Every purchase I've ever made on Amazon or eBay has charged sales taxes on shipping. It's up to each state to decide if they charge sales taxes or not and what is exempt from those taxes but I've never heard of a state not collecting taxes 'just because' when there is a law in that state that taxes shipping.

I’m not sure what state you live in, but maybe there is a law requiring that it be collected there? Some States are taxable (but not required), some are required, some it is illegal, and others are very circumstantial. Most places don’t collect any tax at all on out of state purchases. And aside from eBay I don’t think I have ever bought anything in state that has. Definitely does not seem to be the norm where I live, at least at places I buy product from.

My buddy and I live in the same town and have the same pledge level, only difference being that I added another coin onto my pledge.

Somehow my shipping is $24 more than his.

Yeah - whatever formula their "fulfillment house" is using to work it out is very broken.

 Sabotage! wrote:
I’m not sure what state you live in, but maybe there is a law requiring that it be collected there? Most places don’t collect any tax at all on out of state purchases. And aside from eBay I don’t think I have ever bought anything in state that has. Definitely does not seem to be the norm where I live, at least at places I buy product from.

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/tax-information

What states now charge Internet Sales Tax?

There are currently 46 jurisdictions where eBay is obligated to collect and remit to the respective authorities for marketplace transactions.

The only US states not listed are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. So if I make an online sale via eBay or Amazon, I'm paying my state's sales tax (not the sales tax of the seller's state).

 Ghaz wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
I’m not sure what state you live in, but maybe there is a law requiring that it be collected there? Most places don’t collect any tax at all on out of state purchases. And aside from eBay I don’t think I have ever bought anything in state that has. Definitely does not seem to be the norm where I live, at least at places I buy product from.

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/tax-information

What states now charge Internet Sales Tax?

There are currently 46 jurisdictions where eBay is obligated to collect and remit to the respective authorities for marketplace transactions.

The only US states not listed are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. So if I make an online sale via eBay or Amazon, I'm paying my state's sales tax (not the sales tax of the seller's state).

Yes, eBay does do this - I already mentioned this. I guess if you only ever shop on eBay and Amazon this might be your experience. Most places I shop at just charge a flat rate, or have USPS options (which has been far more reliable than UPS in my experience), which cannot be taxed. The only way eBay gets around that is because they say they are taxing "the service provided by the seller," rather than actually taxing USPS options. I've only shopped on Amazon a couple times in the last five years, and the shipping was always free (I'm actually wondering why you would shop on Amazon if you didn't get free shipping.).

 Sabotage! wrote:
Most places I shop at just charge a flat rate, or have USPS options (which has been far more reliable than UPS in my experience), which cannot be taxed.

USPS shipments can be taxed, as that's how the bulk of what I purchase online is delivered. One thing to take into account is that smaller sellers may not meet the sales threshold to require taxes to be collected.

 Ghaz wrote:

 Sabotage! wrote:
Most places I shop at just charge a flat rate, or have USPS options (which has been far more reliable than UPS in my experience), which cannot be taxed.

USPS shipments can be taxed, as that's how the bulk of what I purchase online is delivered. One thing to take into account is that smaller sellers may not meet the sales threshold to require taxes to be collected.

You might want to look into that. If your seller is buying postage from the USPS directly it is illegal for them to charge local sales tax on the postage.

Happy April 1st...

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