Valicious
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Posts posted by Valicious
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For non-US customers, what are our options for shipping method? The same as RH?
Before placing an order, could we eventually have a simulation of our order with the shipping fees? (I explain: it should be really appreciated to know an estimation before receiving Charge 2 and having the "FJ stroke", you know what I mean? The "Charge 1: That's so cheap!!" to "Charge 2: omfg da hell is this?!!" XD).
I don't find any other question. I would defo give it a try tho, next month maybe.
The "Charge 1" is just the singular amount that we give you. The "Charge 2" is entirely handled by us. When your items are delivered to us, we will combine them with any items from the RarezHut stream or store. The main benefit for non-US customers is that they can combine RH Imports orders and RH stream/store orders, rather than paying for separate shipping for each.
If you are really curious, you can always estimate the weight of your items, then use https://postcalc.usps.com/ to estimate shipping from zip code 87114.
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Introducing a new type of shopping service! One without prohibitive shipping charges! This is primarily geared toward people in the USA, but there is a way to make it work for those outside the US.
It operates in the same way as a regular shopping service in that you email us your desired item, we'll send you back a price quote, you'll send us the money over PayPal, and we'll buy the item. (We plan on making a webpage with a fee calculator to minimize back-and-forth messaging.)
At the cost of slightly-higher per-item fees, customers in the US will pay shipping from New Mexico rather than Japan. We only charge an extra 3% fee to help cover PayPal fees, as well as a nominal 100 yen per CD and 200 yen per VHS. (On top of what FromJapan charges) The customer ends up saving a lot of money because the additional per-item fees pale in comparison to international shipping costs.
As with other RarezHut services, we can provide the digital copies service if the buyer would like.
Digital copies:Along with any cassette/VHS purchases, we offer high-quality digital copies made with professional-grade equipment free-of-charge. We realize that not everyone has the means to play these aging formats, but we aim not to let that get in the way of you being able to enjoy them!Q: How are you able to do this? How do you make money from this? This seems too good to be true.
A: The short answer is, we don't expect to make money from this. We have been brainstorming ways to make owning VK easier for the average fan for over two years now. While RarezHut's webshop and streams do help this, it doesn't help the fan who wants newer releases. Leveraging our existing relationship with FromJapan, we are able to charge the smallest-possible per-item price increase over multiple orders in order to pay for international shipping.
Is this a lot of work for absolutely no profit? Yes, but we believe it will benefit the health of the community. Could this spectacularly backfire and end up COSTING us money? If we only get one of two orders then it very well will, but I believe it is still worth pursuing. Great reward (a service to MH and the fandom as a whole in this case) has never come without that initial leap into the unknown.
Q: Can I only buy stuff from certain places? What types of items will you buy, just CDs/DVDs/VHS/tapes?
A: If we can place an order through FromJapan, then we can get your stuff for you. This includes (but not limited to) PureSound, band webshops, Amazon.co.jp, and more. While CDs/DVDs/VHS/tapes make up the majority of our orders, we will certainly work with you if you want to order clothing or toys for instance.
Q: How do you handle auctions? Can I still buy from Yahoo Auctions through you?
A: You absolutely can! For auctions that involve bidding, simply tell us the amount of the bid you want to place (or you’re max bid), and we will place it. We will make every effort to place a bid the moment we receive your email, but we ask that you do keep in mind that we are humans and still subject to that pesky habit called sleep. If the auction ends at a lower price than your max bid, we'll refund the difference.
Q: How much longer would this whole process take compared to if I were to just order things by myself?
A: One of the ways we get a lower per-item shipping cost is that we end up shipping giant crates with hundreds of items. Our giant crate shipments are typically once/month, so we will announce a date when our next shipment will go out, and people have up until a week before that date to place their order. We use FedEx priority to get the package stateside, which only takes about 3 days.
LET'S NOT FORGET OUR NON-US CUSTOMERS
Paying a higher-per item fee PLUS shipping from the US doesn't make sense. What some of RarezHut's EU costumers have chosen to do is have us order their items like normal, then include them in the shipment that they buy off our streaming auctions or our store.
The offer to combine shopping service orders with stream and store orders extends to our US customers as well of course.
ORDER SCHEDULE
THE DEADLINE FOR ORDERS TO GO OUT IN THE NEXT SHIPMENT IS October 24TH, 2016
WE WILL BE SHIPPING EVERYTHING TO NEW MEXICO ON November 5th, 2016
If you don't make the deadline for this shipment, don't despair. A new shipment window will begin as soon as this one ends.
Please email us at [email protected] to place an order, and we will respond as soon as humanly possible.
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Here's a sneak peak of SOME of the rarez for tomorrow's stream because we love you all so much. Don't miss it! 11AM MST/6PM GMT
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Will you be able to get exclusive shop bonuses ? or web shop items? or live limited items? or are the itens limited to only FromJapan?
We would certainly be able to get exclusive shop bonuses and web-shop things, as those are both things that we can get through FromJapan. Live-limited stuff is a no-go, unfortunately, since that would require someone in Japan to go to concerts. If you want to pay to fly Panda to Japan, then I'm sure he'd pick up whatever you want though
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How well would you balance shipping service duties and RarezHut business duties, especially around stream season? This looks like it could become quite time consuming if it becomes popular and it's just the two of you AFAIK.
Sorry for not responding to you in my last post.
Our new stream schedule places streams every other month. The intervening months are going to be spent on the webshop. (adding inventory, increasing functionality, etc) It's like we've become old pros at packing and shipping due to the streams, so we're not worried about that.
I know balancing time and completing everything quickly is a legitimate and timely concern, so I'll go into more detail. (pun fully intended) Here is our existing schedule with the shopping service as well.
Month One:
week 1: catalog and research OUR new inventory, sort shopping service orders and pack them up, send out shipping quotes and mail out packages as quotes are paid, plan next FromJapan crate and start taking orders.
week 2: creating music playlist for stream, checking software, handpicking stuff for giveaways
STREAM WEEKEND, send out invoice, fall into a light coma
week 3: work on misc stuff, manage payments/reminders for invoices, doing inventory prep for packing supplies
STREAM WEEKEND, pack up everything (20+ orders), get shipping quotes, send out invoices+quotes, fall into a mild coma
week 4: send out packages as we receive payment, finalize and ensure everything we bought is at FromJapan, send the next big crate on it's way to us. (then immediately cry as someone has a giant sale right after)
Month Two:
week 1: catalog and research OUR new inventory, sort shopping service orders and pack them up, send out shipping quotes and mail out packages as quotes are paid, plan next FromJapan crate and start taking orders.
weeks 2-3: work on webshop functionality, add more products to webshop
week 4: finalize and ensure everything we bought is at FromJapan, send the next big crate on it's way to us. (then cry as ANOTHER big sale starts)
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I'd perhaps be interested if you offered different shipping methods, Val (and Panda), because you always choose tracking without discussing it with the customer and this heavily increases the price. I've never lost a single package before in the mail, and I am certain that other people overseas would appreciate it as well.
Just to address this quickly, but the shipping that we almost always use for our international customers IS the cheapest available... it's just standard US post. As of maybe 3-4 years ago, tracking became free and included on all packages sent via USPS. Unfortunately it really is just that expensive to ship from the US
I will be 100% honest with you Val, and don't take it personally (it's not the way I want it!): I totally hate your streams auctions system, I did it once, and I left before the end, I find it slow and annoying (the auction system, not the fact that we can see panda joking around or whatever, I think it's pretty cool). I feel like....you know, I feel like you put all the good stuff in these auctions, and it's difficult to spend 2h+ /3 days sitting and waiting eternally for the stuff that you would eventually want (because well, you could have things to do). And the RH update, well later then. I prefer the traditionnal system.
We've been working on things in the background, so there's a lot that's not apparent at the moment. Panda has been working to completely redo the RarezHut webshop as we are both not very happy with how it currently is... this is why there hasn't been any store updates in a while. Until the new store is up, we've been focusing mostly on the streams since it seemed like the best way to sell our new inventory in the meantime. Once the new site is up, the inventory will be split between what goes on the stream and what goes directly on the site. We're also looking into other ways that we can improve our streams(they're still a work in progress, after all) and any suggestions there are very appreciated
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hypothetical situation:
We announce that we have an open FromJapan order that will ship out Feb 20th, and people have until Feb 13th to get their orders in to guarantee they go out in this shipment.
We charge 13% (if over 1000 yen, otherwise 15%) on top of FromJapan's per-item fees (200 yen/item, internal shipping), you end up saving though because you are not paying EMS shipping or the percentage of the shipping fees that they charge you.
I'm not from the US, but I would love to give it a try anw =)
But shipping fees between US and France are completely crazy tho. :/
If you ever feel like checking out the RarezHut store or streams, we can always combine anything you special order with your store/stream order. The prices on the store and stream are quite cheaper than you'll most likely find in Japan too. So it evens out some
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I was thinking of leaving this thread up for a few more days to get more feedback and generate more discussion. I'll then create a MH Market thread (separate from the main RarezHut one) with more details such as shipment times and windows. If there is enough interest and demand for this service, we may even be able to lower our rates.
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I started a new thread for a discussion of the specifics of my plan.
Sorry uglymouth, there goes all your money :V
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Ok guys, here's my grand plan. I welcome any questions and feedback as I'm probably explaining this terribly. The purpose of this thread it to start discussion and get feedback.
Introducing a new type of shopping service! One without prohibitive shipping charges! This is primarily geared toward people in the USA, but there is a way to make it work for those outside the US.
It operates in the same way as a regular shopping service in that you email us your desired item, we'll send you back a price quote, you'll send us the money over PayPal, and we'll buy the item. (We plan on making a webpage with a fee calculator to minimize back-and-forth messaging.)
At the cost of slightly-higher per-item fees, customers in the US will pay shipping from New Mexico rather than Japan. We only charge an extra 15% for items under 1000 yen, and 12% for items over 1000 yen. (on top of what FromJapan charges) The customer ends up saving a lot of money because the additional per-item fees pale in comparison to international shipping costs.
Q: How are you able to do this? How do you make money from this? This seems too good to be true.
A: The short answer is, we don't expect to make money from this. We have been brainstorming ways to make owning VK easier for the average fan for over two years now. While RarezHut's webshop and streams do help this, it doesn't help the fan who wants newer releases. Leveraging our existing relationship with FromJapan, we are able to charge the smallest-possible per-item price increase over multiple orders in order to pay for international shipping.
Is this a lot of work for what MAY be a few cents profit? Yes, but we believe it will benefit the health of the community. Could this spectacularly backfire and end up COSTING you money? If we only get one of two orders then yes it very well will, but I believe it is still worth pursuing. Great reward (a service to MH and the fandom as a whole in thise case) has never come without that initial leap into the unknown.
Q: How much longer would this whole process take compared to if I were to just order things by myself?
A: One of the ways we get a lower per-item shipping cost is that we end up shipping giant crates with hundreds of items. Our giant crate shipments are typically once/month, so we will announce a date when our next shipment will go out, and people have up until a week before that date to place their order. We use FedEx priority to get the package stateside, which only takes about 3 days.
LET'S NOT FORGET OUR NON-US CUSTOMERS
Paying a higher-per item fee PLUS shipping from the US doesn't make sense. What some of RarezHut's EU costumers have chosen to do is have us order their items like normal, then include them in the shipment that they buy off our streaming auctions or our store.
The offer to combine shopping service orders with stream and store orders extends to our US costomers as well of course.
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Could you guys take this survey I wrote? It's only four question, and it would help a lot. (even if you answer No to the first question, go ahead and finish it)
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We gave these away yesterday, the winners won by simply being in the chat. Come join us today for your chance to win!D'espairsRay - SquallV.A. - Matina Prelude:2~en effort of resalt~
clow_eriol and Zeus reacted to this -
And we are live! First item was a Plastic Tree Singles Collection CD that sold for a whopping $4
www.rarezhut.net/stream
Come join in!
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This is so good. FromJapan has a well-deserved Love/Hate relationship with me.
Seriously, FromJapan. You charged me extra to ship this in a large box because 'that was the most convenient packaging at hand'?
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New YouTube video is up!
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I just found this when going through stuff for tomorrow's RarezHut streaming auction. Come get it for a few bucks!
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We all see fashions and styles that we would love to have ourselves, but style can come with considerable work sometimes. The goal of this thread is to promote exercise, getting in shape, constructive feedback, and provided the motivation needed to achieve the healthy look you’ve been wanting.
Did I mention you can win free VK stuff? Because you totally can.
Prizes donated by RarezHut. Visit them by clicking on the banner below. Also check out their thread in The Monochrome Heaven Market
We are the largest internationally-based store for used Japanese Rock and visual kei music. We have been working hard to deliver a store to meet the needs of the international visual kei and Jrock community, offering a wide selection of products at a very low prices.
Make a post with your fitness goal and where you are now. Pictures of what you are shooting for can help others visualize what you want. (Pictures of yourself are completely optional)
Post updates! What have you been doing for your workouts? Have you noticed any positive changes since you’ve started? Everyone who posts at least one update each week will get one entry into a drawing at the end of the month. More details on the drawing and prize below.
Want a second entry each week into the monthly prize drawing? Those who provide regular constructive feedback for others will receive another entry into the monthly contest. Feedback should be polite, but it should also be critical. Feedback that only consists of “Great job!” doesn’t really contribute much, suggestions for improvement and areas to work on are examples of great feedback.
Lastly, we are using a bit of an honor system here. If you didn’t do a workout, don’t post and say that you did. We’re all trying to improve and support each other, let’s keep things positive.
Now for the part we’ve been waiting for.
A winner will be randomly chosen at the end of each month using a random number generator. Once chosen, I’ll look at the last.fm or any wanted list they have to determine which prize they get.*congratulations to allisapp for winning for March*
April's Giveaway entries
Week 1 1st - 7th
Week 2 8th - 14th
Week 3 15th - 21st
Week 4 22nd - 231sth
---------I've tried several different workout trackers and logs in the past, but my favorite by far is Fitocracy. It has hundreds of exercises in its database, so adding them is a breeze. The biggest feature (and my favorite) is that is makes working out into a game. You log your workouts, get points, level up, complete quests such as running or biking a certain distance, and it's all free. There's the social aspect too. You can join groups, friend other Fitocrats, and even challenge others to duels. There's an optional paid membership called "Hero mode" and individual coaching, but the free features are still more than amazing
https://www.fitocracy.com/
Our very own MH group on Fitocracy
https://www.fitocracy.com/group/19063/?about -
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Introducing RarezHut Crowd Rewards
We have the greatest customers in the world, and we want to continue to give back. For every $200 we sell during the livestreams, we will raffle off a free CD.
Prepare yourselves for a tidal wave of free VK, all you have to do is show up <3
I was thinking about doing an MVP system that rewards whomever spent the most that weekend, but I figured a system that rewards a collaborative effort fits more into the spirit of things.
Next up, Monochrome Heaven-wide giveaways! (as soon as I finish brainstorming on exactly how)
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I wish. It's actually a "fake" vinyl. There's a cardboard record in there with little hub in the middle holding the CD in place. It's still really cool though!
We generally try and keep the exact contents of the stream somewhat of a surprise, but I can at least tell you that it's a full album
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I'm terrible when it comes to procrasti
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I learned that I need to sleep more, and I'm getting terrible black circles under my eyes.
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Ban the person above for having a face in their username
Discussion for my crazy plan for a shopping service with free stateside shipping
in General Discussion
Posted
IS LIVE!!!
There's a thread in MH Market for it
http://www.monochrome-heaven.com/index.php/topic/39950-rarezhut-imports-a-new-kind-of-shopping-service/