Special SNOW sale!!!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Okay Matt - Need some help here...ordered up six Traditional garter ties but in the Pay Pal process they never gave me a chance to put in the word SNOW - at least that I saw...never got the place to write in comments that I'm used to when ordering with Pay Pal. So - trust you'll honor your SNOW deal on my order...???

And, Jeez Louise, $18.50 for shipping six garter ties seems a bit excessive? There goes my rebate thingie right there? Seems they'd be light enough to go USPS to my POB for a few bucks.

Sorry if you missed the "optional instructions" section -- I know it shows up whenever we get an order through on our end.

I'll be sure to send you your rebate, Ron, don't worry! Thanks for supporting us!

[berserkbishop]

Hmm wish the move hadnt made me so darned broke. How long is this deal going to run?

Bishop

[chasem]

I will be monitoring the gift shop sales coming in over the next two days. And between now (approximately 7:45pm Saturday) through to 5pm on Monday (Eastern Time), on any purchase made on line through our gift shop, if you type in the word "SNOW" in the "optional instructions" section of your order, I will apply the following rebate:

there ya go

[turpin]

Finally ordered a Ferguson-Britt sporran that I've been lusting after. Glad to support the STM, and thanks for the exclusive sale, Matt!

[Riverkilt]

Yup, I saw the link thingie but the way it was worded seemed like it was for folks with a certificate or something and the way I read the original post was to put the word SNOW in special instructions - which of course I expected to pop up like when I originate the Pay Pal transaction...that expected feature didn't show up on the STM originated pages...

Just wanna be sure I get it...though still not particularly happy about $18.50 shipping for six wee garter ties....will endeavor to right my mind and think of it as some sort of donation to the cause...

I think one of the reasons I so enjoy Highland Games is shopping the vendors to see if I can save enough money in shipping charges to offset the price of admission.

We have met the enemy and it is "shipping and handling" charges....

[SFCRick]

Ordered a pair of diced hose, the rebate will take care of the shipping- I missed the last free shipping offer and have been waiting for the next one, thanks Matt

[Riverkilt]

Weird, just ordered two XXL Vancouver Olympics cotton hooded sweatshirts and the shipping charge from Jax, FL is $4.99 for both. Scratching my head over the $18.50 shipping for six garter ties from Franklin, TN....something I don't understand for sure....sorry, just can't help but wonder and ponder...

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Ron,

I'm very sorry you feel like our shipping and handling charges are unfair. This seems like a pet peeve of yours, and I can understand and sympathize with it. But the fact is we need to charge a fee for the service of shipping products to our customers. The cost of shipping is more than the base amount of postage you need to put on the box. There is the cost of packing materials. Then there is also the man hour cost of finding your order, packaging it, producing the shipping label, and getting it into the hands of our carrier.

A lot of businesses that specialize in mail order seem like they offer a really great shipping rate, when in fact a lot of their processing and handling costs are actually built in to their profit margin for the item itself. We can't do that. We have a physical store. We want the price on the item to be the same regardless of whether you see the item in our store on the shelf, at our booth at a Highland Games, or on line in our gift shop catalog. So we have to build in all the processing costs of your order into the handing fee, not into the price of the item itself.

We also have the problem of dealing with an inventory of different items, which have different weights, require different levels of packaging, etc. And we ship to people all over the world. We simply cannot afford to pay a web developer to create a system for us that would calculate a fair and accurate shipping charge based on the specific items in your order and your exact geographical location. Yet we have to have some set means of calculating shipping and handling charges. So we have come up with a pricing scheme which covers our costs, and which we think is fair and in line with what other comparable businesses charge.

Does it sometimes mean that an individual order gets charged more for shipping and handling than it actually costs to ship them the package. Unfortunately, yes, sometimes it does. And it also means that sometimes an individual order gets charged less than what it costs to ship them their package. But most of the time, the shipping charge is pretty much in line with the actual shipping cost, so the system we have seems to be working for the moment.

Keep in mind also the fact that we always give free domestic shipping to any order over $200. And we often run "free shipping" specials over our web site. And we give a lot of free unadvertised services to folks, such as breaking multiple-item orders into more than one shipment without any additional charges, or having a package rerouted in transit because a customer has given an incorrect address. This costs us money but we have never once charged a fee for this courtesy. Then there are the behind the scenes things that no one sees or hears about, like when an order must be shipped out today but the pick-up has already occurred, I've often gotten in my car and driven to another location that I know has a later pick up time to drop off a package for a customer.

So, again, sorry if you are unhappy with the shipping charges, but we list them plainly for anyone to see before they buy. We don't want anyone to get hit with any surprises. I also want to point out, Ron, that you've been a good customer of ours for a while now, which is a fact that we very much appreciate. But we've not changed our shipping charges for a long time. There is nothing new here.

And really, this thread is supposed to be about a special deal we are offering for X Markers today and tomorrow; one in which we are saying thanks for supporting our museum with your gift shop purchases.

Fact is, we don't have to offer specials like this at all, but we do, and I think it is a good thing that we do. I'm very grateful for all of you who have chosen to take advantage of this special offer and support the museum at the same time.

[Tattoo Bradley]

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[Geoff Withnell]

Matt, you support XMarks as much as XMarks supports you. When I started this addiction, a lot of your posts and eritings gave me a lot more confidence. Anyway, bought two new ties, one to go with my new Ancient Douglas kilt and one solid.

Geoff Withnell