Pathfinder 1E Paizo vs Amazon.com

[JoshuaFrost]

Let's see...

Ordered July 25th... GameMastery Module: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale with an estimated shipping time between : September 10, 2007 - October 9, 2007...

Ordered July 23rd... GameMastery Module: Crown of the Kobold King with an estimated shipping time between: February 11, 2008 - February 13, 2008

Seems the old Paizo distribution channel ain't always up to full speed with Amazon still.

Joe,

We're still working on it, though! We just had a meeting about it early last week and have a plan in place to fix it. Our communication channel to Amazon goes via a distributor and is slooooooow. I hatessss it. Hopefully we can fix that too.

To address other concerns in this thread:

A word on Amazon.ca: they have a warehouse or warehouses in Canada. Amazon has warehouses in Australia, the UK, etc. Paizo has one warehouse in Washington State, USA. That's why Amazon can do the crazy things they do with shipping, speed, etc. internationally.

I would challenge any "foreign" customer who had a bad experience with paizo.com more than a year ago to give us another chance. We've grown and our knowledge of international shipping has grown too and I can honestly say that we've improved our shipping methods. THAT being said, any time something crosses a border, it has a % chance of getting hung up for one of any of several thousand technicalities. They don't happen often, but when they happen it's annoying. Also, never use UPS for orders shipping outside of the US. Just sayin'.

Why isn't Paizo a deep discounter and why IS Amazon? Amazon isn't also a manufacturer that has to worry about its image with the larger retail community. The day Paizo deep discounts, is the day we lose a high percentage of our retail accounts in hobby distribution. We have no plans to EVER deep discount, nor will we. We give a small discount to offset shipping and sometimes we run a sale or two, but we're not in this business to put retailers out of business. We support the retail chain and will continue to as long as there are brick-and-mortar stores.

Hope I answered everyone's questions.

Cheers,

 

[Arnwyn]

We're still working on it, though! We just had a meeting about it early last week and have a plan in place to fix it. Our communication channel to Amazon goes via a distributor and is slooooooow. I hatessss it. Hopefully we can fix that too.[?QUOTE]
I'm keeping my fingers crossed!


And since these were my concerns:

A word on Amazon.ca: they have a warehouse or warehouses in Canada. Amazon has warehouses in Australia, the UK, etc. Paizo has one warehouse in Washington State, USA. That's why Amazon can do the crazy things they do with shipping, speed, etc. internationally.

Oh, I know why, believe me. But as a consumer, it is what it is. That's why I choose Amazon.ca - for the speed, reliability, and convenience (not for any discounts, incidentally - I'm fine with paying normal retail).

I would challenge any "foreign" customer who had a bad experience with paizo.com more than a year ago to give us another chance. We've grown and our knowledge of international shipping has grown too and I can honestly say that we've improved our shipping methods. THAT being said, any time something crosses a border, it has a % chance of getting hung up for one of any of several thousand technicalities. They don't happen often, but when they happen it's annoying.

Not to fear, I haven't ruled you out - but it is still a last resort for me if Amazon.ca can't do anything about it because: 1) it's still in $US, 2) the USPS [not even going to mention UPS] hates Canada, both in terms of speed and shipping prices, 3) there is still a border involved [size=-3](and 4) you botched up my Pathfinder sub so that I had to email customer service, and that was only a month ago)[/size].

But, like I said - I won't necessarily be deterred if desperate.

Also, never use UPS for orders shipping outside of the US. Just sayin'.

Word!

 

[JoshuaFrost]

(and 4) you botched up my Pathfinder sub so that I had to email customer service, and that was only a month ago)

And hopefully they resolved the mistake immediately and all is, once again, right with the world.

 

[Arnwyn]

And hopefully they resolved the mistake immediately and all is, once again, right with the world.

Yes indeed, and it just recently arrived and is in my hot little hands! (I knew you'd look at my teeny 'just a ribbing, nothing to see here' little print!)

Best customer service on the planet, AFAIC.

 

[boerngrim]

I had a strange experience with Amazon once. I preordered the FR adventure The Twilight Tomb. They showed an estimated ship date of about one week after the release. When it didn't arrive in a reasonable amount of time I checked on the order. The new estimated delivery date was over a month later. I cancelled the order and picked one up at Walden's.
That's really the only bad experience I've had with Amazon.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Hope the force is with ya Joshua.

But some of your notes are interesting.

I demand a % table of things that can go wrong when shipping to a foreign country!

Joe,

We're still working on it, though! We just had a meeting about it early last week and have a plan in place to fix it. Our communication channel to Amazon goes via a distributor and is slooooooow. I hatessss it. Hopefully we can fix that too.

To address other concerns in this thread:

A word on Amazon.ca: they have a warehouse or warehouses in Canada. Amazon has warehouses in Australia, the UK, etc. Paizo has one warehouse in Washington State, USA. That's why Amazon can do the crazy things they do with shipping, speed, etc. internationally.

I would challenge any "foreign" customer who had a bad experience with paizo.com more than a year ago to give us another chance. We've grown and our knowledge of international shipping has grown too and I can honestly say that we've improved our shipping methods. THAT being said, any time something crosses a border, it has a % chance of getting hung up for one of any of several thousand technicalities. They don't happen often, but when they happen it's annoying. Also, never use UPS for orders shipping outside of the US. Just sayin'.

Why isn't Paizo a deep discounter and why IS Amazon? Amazon isn't also a manufacturer that has to worry about its image with the larger retail community. The day Paizo deep discounts, is the day we lose a high percentage of our retail accounts in hobby distribution. We have no plans to EVER deep discount, nor will we. We give a small discount to offset shipping and sometimes we run a sale or two, but we're not in this business to put retailers out of business. We support the retail chain and will continue to as long as there are brick-and-mortar stores.

Hope I answered everyone's questions.

Cheers,

 

[Sir Falke]

I live in Argentina. Up to the previous year, Amazon was ALWAYS my only way to buy books, and their prices and service was (and still is) excellent, at least for me. And with the exchange rate between the USD and the pesos, every discount is three times as valuable for me. There was no other reliable choice, and that's why I couldn't get Ptolus, for example (if it wasn't in Amazon, I'd not buy it).

I knew Paizo through being a Dungeon subscriber for a couple of years. Each magazine took about 3-4 months to arrive... Until this year. Then took only 1 month, IF it arrives at all (Although customer service was always nice enough to send replacements by normal mail, which did arrive). But, nonetheless, I took my chances and ordered some books from them and I'm very glad I did. Their customer service is top notch and their shipping times are almost the same as Amazon's. And sometimes they have books which Amazon doesn't have anymore, like Stormwrack. And the first Pathfinder issue took only two weeks!

So, I buy from Amazon for most WotC books because of the discount, and buy from Paizo everything else because of their service and amability.

 

[JoeGKushner]

And today's e-mail...

Unfortunately, we are unable to ship the
item(s) as soon as we
expected and need to provide you with a new estimate of when the
item(s) may be delivered:

Jason Bulmahn (Author) "GameMastery Module: Conquest of Bloodsworn
Vale (Gamemastery Module)" [Paperback]
Estimated arrival date: 10/20/2007 - 10/30/2007

 

[JoeGKushner]

So much for the company being able to work with Amazon....

We are sorry to report that we will not be able to obtain the
following item(s) from your order:

Nicolas Logue (Author) "GameMastery Module: Crown of the Kobold
King"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601250487

Though we had expected to be able to send this item to you, we've
since found that it is not available from any of our sources at this
time. We realize this is disappointing news to hear, and we apologize
for the inconvenience we have caused you.

We must also apologize for the length of time it has taken us to reach
this conclusion. Until recently, we had still hoped to obtain this
item for you.

We have cancelled this item from your order.


Something for anyone looking to order such products from Amazon by this company in the future.

 

[Turjan]

I have the feeling that amazon gets worse and worse in this regard. I had a Necromancer book (a White Wolf one, not one of the others), and this arrived just now after half a year wait (last delivery estimate was January 2008). But it's not only RPGs. I've been waiting for three DVD sets since May 9 now.

The most annoying point is that, in all cases, they claimed to have the item in stock when I ordered. This misinformation is what makes me somewhat hesitant when it comes to placing new orders with them.