Presenting RarezHut: The first(?) international used VK store!

[Lestat 2167]

I paid on May 14th, haven't received a shipping notice yet, or any word of a planned shipment at all.

[Seimeisen 4406]

Paid for a CD I got from a livestream on 5/5.

On 5/14, my CD still wasn't packed, so I asked for an inventory check to buy more CDs. Inventory check was done on 5/21.

I paid for the extra CDs on 5/21 IMMEDIATELY, at a time that I was financially uncomfortable to do so (I like to have a certain amount of money in my bank account). I was going to wait a few days to pay until I had more money, but decided not to because Panda wanted to bid on some auction.

I did ask them to hold off on giving a shipping quote when I paid. I requested a shipping quote a few hours ago today.

[BrenGun 2261]

Last messages I did got was at 25/5

I paid at 5/5 and 11/5.

Big amound of money 97 and 27 dollar.

I wrote today that I want to pay for the shipping costs, but that they can relax with sending it out.

I know the stuff will be send out.

However.

I more want to have a fresh sight on my money since other high money bills are coming up these weeks....

But I doubt that the stuff will arrive before my trip to Japan...

Anyway Val did start her intership and she is hell tired after the intership.

And panda seems to be hell busy too to do the stuff all himself.

But i truly hope that they hurry up or try to get some help from near people.

[Biopanda 2675]

Oh wow okay... let me take this one thing at a time here and try to address everyone's concerns.

 

First and foremost, we would like to apologize for the way that things from this stream was handled. As was mentioned a few times(but maybe not publicly?), right after the stream finished, some huge things came up life-wise. A friend of ours was getting kicked out of their apartment and we had agreed to let him stay here for a while, but doing so required us to literally rearrange the whole apartment. This was on top of Val starting her new job, so to say the least, our free time was stretched REALLY thin. We tried to get as many orders ready as we could within the free time that we had, but it wasn't nearly enough.

 

Now we're not going to blame this all on external issues, of course. The way this stream was done wasn't handled very properly and we suppose that deserves to be explained. For each CD that sells, we make a rip first so that if there are any issues with the CDs, as most are used, then we could contact the buyer and arrange for a refund. We greatly underestimated the response that this last stream would garner and there ended up being nearly 400 items sold. That's 400 items to rip, replace cases where needed and pack up... let alone the vast amount of time that is added when ripping and encoding cassettes/VHS are thrown into the mix. All of that on top of running out of shipping supplies and needing to reorder at the last minute has made this whole thing a nightmare for everyone involved.

 

That being said, many of the things that were taking up our time have been dealt with now, so we can dedicate all of our free time to taking care of the remaining orders. As it stands right now: there are 12 packages ready to go, so a large majority of the shipping quotes will be sent out today. We'll continue working on the remaining orders after that, so the rest of the invoices should be sent out by tomorrow or the day after at the latest.

 

Again: we deeply regret all of the issues that have come about with the recent stream. If we do another stream in the future, the whole thing will be restructured so that all of the work is done before the stream and the items are ready to pack up immediately afterwards.

[Champ213 1858]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I hope this will put some minds at ease. I can understand that other things may get in the way, but it was the lack of official communications that irked me and other people I talked to. I received my last invoice on 5/11 and paid pretty much within hours after that, yet I hadn't gotten any sort of update until today, and it seems I wasn't the only one.

 

Anyway, thanks for the clarification and I hope things will work out better again in the future. After all my first couple of orders from Rarezhut went pretty smooth.

[Ikna 1225]

I also hope things would run more smoothly in the future. I was waiting so long for the invoice, I was not especting to receive it today, hence my Paypal is empty now. I will pay within the next days or next week, once there is money on it again. But I wish I had received the invoice way sooner, so that a situation like this could have been prevented.

 

My tip would be to limit the amount of sold items. 400 was way too much. To be honest, it was really difficult to sit through 7 hours of streaming and the logistics behind it are just insane as well.

[BrenGun 2261]

I've just paid as promised.

 

And yes to sell 400 items, it's insane!

It was way to much for doing it in 2 times.

 

Next time do only a streaming from only 4 hours?

Be sure to have ripped everything.

 

And I know its a gamble for everyone, BUT even at those BIG real AUCTIONS a list will be always GIVEN before the auction which items will be sold.

Makes it also for people more easy to know if they should BE there.

(Aka then it's still a matter of WHEN it appears in the stream of course )

And maybe maybe... it's more easy to make a stable for every person who bought something directly from the stream.  Or to put the sold CD's on a different stable than the non-sold CD's.

 

Anyway I'm looking forward to a next stream or shop update. wanna throw more dollars from my paypal. but now there is nothing interesting left at the webshop. so I ended up to get a double copy of YUKIYA with Kreis Project - BROKEN e.p.

Nya just kidding, it's the first press (I guess 2x first press), so a bit more rare version than the 2nd press  . but yes gonna have 2 copies.

[Biopanda 2675]

How long to run the streams and how many items to show has always been an issue. For the last stream, we tried to cut down on that by going through the box first and taking out items that we didn't think would sell(I think there was about 100 or so removed). The time thing was a problem as well, as we wanted to make it long enough that it was physically possible without being TOO exhausting, but also keeping the total days for the stream to a minimum. We could have shortened the streams to 4 hours a day or so, but that would have required us to stream every weekend for 4 weeks or so and that would have added even more of a wait for most people. As far as cutting down the total items, that's really just dependent on how much we buy from Japan. As this last order was so huge, we were left with 500-600 items that we thought were worthwhile to show on the stream and had a good chance of selling(and apparently we picked our items a little TOO well given how many actually sold). The audience seems to be really divided as to the stream lengths as well. There have definitely been some people like yourself who find them way too long, while at the same time we've had others tell us that they loved them and wished we would have gone even longer or streamed more often.

 

It's a really tricky thing to handle with such opinions on both sides, but we aim to at least make it a smoother experience in the future. We were a bit hasty to get everything ready to stream last time, but in the future we'll be doing all of the ripping and case replacements beforehand so that the only thing that needs to be done after the streams is to toss the items in a box and send out the quotes.

 

Edit: The list thing as well is a possibility, but I'm not really sure how much it would help. If you were to know that something you wanted would be sold, it still wouldn't help you know which day to be there for or even what time. There's also the element of surprise that would be lost some, I guess. If people knew exactly what was in there beforehand, then there wouldn't be any "Holy shit!! You're selling that?!?" reactions to when we pull out rare things. At least personally, I find that to be some of the appeal with the streams as you never know what to expect and can be surprised.

 

Having a place for each person to put their items is definitely something that's going to be looked at in the future, though space is still a concern. We had about 40 different buyers during the last stream, so finding a place in the apartment where I could have 40 different stacks without having to walk across the room after each item sells would be a problem. With the last stream, we've been placing the sold items separately from the unsold items at least, so the sorting is a bit quicker and less painful than it was during the first stream when we weren't doing that.

[Lestat 2167]

Perhaps you could simply stick post-its on the items as soon as you sold them, with the buyer's name on it? It at least would give you an easier time sorting everything afterwards instead of having to go through entire stacks another time to see who bought what and how much.

[Biopanda 2675]

Perhaps you could simply stick post-its on the items as soon as you sold them, with the buyer's name on it? It at least would give you an easier time sorting everything afterwards instead of having to go through entire stacks another time to see who bought what and how much.

That's actually a rather good idea. I think we might have to try that next time... thanks!

[BrenGun 2261]

Maybe buying lesser from JAPAN would be an option

 

But the streaming time is simply a problem because of the WORLD time differences.  at week days, Friday/Sun included many need to work the next day.

That's also always a damn thing. since time difference with center europe is about 8-10+ hours. 

 

I for myself enjoy to watch a full stream. There is always something inside which I like.

But there are still people who are only looking for SOMETHING spectacular.

Maybe to publish a "band name list" would do wonder too? then it's still a surprise for us WHICH CD/DVD it will be. and then there are still comments like  OMG PANDA are you selling that?!!

 

 

For real? 40 BUYERS... it only felt like that only about 10-15 people bought stuff.

if having 40 buyers to make a Stack is simply to MUCH.  But yes keep the sold items separately from the unsold items. NEVER change that

 

 

But you already made the most important point for you and val.

That you have to check ALL items first before doing a stream. So that everything can be put in the box without need to be ripped first.

Simply don't be too hasty.

 

 

But don't dare to stream between August 28 and September 12. (laugh). Then I'm in freaking JAPAN.

[Biopanda 2675]

Maybe buying lesser from JAPAN would be an option

I don't think that's possible XD

 

Joking aside, that actually kinda is the case. The only way that we're able to offer things at such cheap prices while still making some profit is due to the fact that we buy and ship in such large quantities.

 

I think in the future, a band list beforehand would definitely be doable so that shouldn't be a problem.

[kyoselflove 2680]

Well, I hope I get my shipping quote soon because to be honest this whole experience has really made me want to not buy from you guys again.  No matter how much I loved the streams.

 

The thing that really got to me was the lack of communication.  I had to hear from the grapevine why I hadn't received my items yet and that's honestly fucked up.  At the very least, if you couldn't contact all of your customers, maybe you could have asked the mods to post a link at the top with the subject of the delays leading to a post.  And I also understand that shit happens, but you run a business and you should have thought things through.  Waiting over a month for a shipment is crazy, no matter what's going on.

 

From a customer's standpoint, it is very discouraging, and I kind of feel like you thought maybe since that we are a community and all friends that it would be okay. But it comes down to the fact that we were all paying customers and while some might not have minded (like I didn't for the first few weeks) I'm sure others are very disappointed.  Especially for the fact that my messages were ignored.  I almost wanted to ask for a refund but I figured it would be pointless because it would just be disregarded as well.  

 

I hope that everything works out in the end.  Because I never had problems before and it's a damn shame.

[BrenGun 2261]

@@kyoselflove

I can imagine why you are angry about it. However I saw Val and panda writing in this topic that we had to wait a bit longer.

 

 

I'm sorry there's been such a delay in getting shipping quotes out to people this time. Panda and I have had some life issues come up suddenly, and preparing for/dealing with those has been consuming most of our waking hours.
We'll hopefully be able to send out some more shipping invoices in the next few days.
Keiju asks for your patience

 

 

Other things are finally out of the way now for the moment, so we're working on packing up orders and sending out shipping invoices in the order that payments were received. Hopefully that means you'll be getting your invoices soon :'3

 

Of course they needed to update us better.  since they where only talking about a few days.

And after all we needed to wait 4 weeks in total.
4 weeks...

It sounds long, but it's still faster than I ask one of my Japanese friend, who did let me wait one year for a freaking MANGA which I did even pick up in Japan. haha.

And rarezhut feels like, getting stuff via "friends". Can take longer than normal webshops.

 

 

 

However I guess Val and Panda did learn again from this. And that they will have things better organized before doing a new show. 

[Valicious 572]

I am very VERY sorry about everything that has happened.

We have been posting updates, responded to everyone who has messaged us, and been trying to keep people in the loop. Please read Biopanda's post above for more information.

How have you been trying to get in touch with us? I handle the [email protected] email, and there have been no messages from you kyo. Email is the most reliable way because MH does not always notify or even indicate when new PMs are received. (I have not received any PMs from you either)

We know it's not supposed to be an excuse, but we were hoping that people would be more understanding when problems came up. As Biopanda discussed earlier, we could not have foreseen the response nor the myriad of issues that landed on us. Biopanda is the only one who is able to handle preparing packages as well.

These streams are still new things, there has been a lot of learning and changing done very quickly. Small businesses, no matter how professional, always struggle to cope with growth and expansion. We simply did not have the practices and systems in place for order fulfillment of this magnitude, and most fledgling businesses don't either when suddenly confronted with an increase of this scale this quickly.

We have a definite plan in place moving forward to ensure that issues like the ones that have been discussed will NEVER happen again. In fact, orders in future streams should have a quote (items PLUS shipping) sent out within only a day or two of the stream.

[kyoselflove 2680]

@@kyoselflove

I can imagine why you are angry about it. However I saw Val and panda writing in this topic that we had to wait a bit longer.

 

 

I shouldn't have to go through threads on a forum to figure out why I have no package.

 

 

I am very VERY sorry about everything that has happened.

We have been posting updates, responded to everyone who has messaged us, and been trying to keep people in the loop. Please read Biopanda's post above for more information.

How have you been trying to get in touch with us? I handle the [email protected] email, and there have been no messages from you kyo. Email is the most reliable way because MH does not always notify or even indicate when new PMs are received. (I have not received any PMs from you either)

We know it's not supposed to be an excuse, but we were hoping that people would be more understanding when problems came up. As Biopanda discussed earlier, we could not have foreseen the response nor the myriad of issues that landed on us. Biopanda is the only one who is able to handle preparing packages as well.

These streams are still new things, there has been a lot of learning and changing done very quickly. Small businesses, no matter how professional, always struggle to cope with growth and expansion. We simply did not have the practices and systems in place for order fulfillment of this magnitude, and most fledgling businesses don't either when suddenly confronted with an increase of this scale this quickly.

We have a definite plan in place moving forward to ensure that issues like the ones that have been discussed will NEVER happen again. In fact, orders in future streams should have a quote (items PLUS shipping) sent out within only a day or two of the stream.

 

 

I didn't know that I should contact you by email.  And thank you for messaging me.  I honestly wouldn't really have minded if there was communication.  

 

I understand that it is hard for a small business, I didn't mean to sound like a total bitch but I just kind of felt ignored and it pissed me off.

 

Well, I hope for the best in the future. 

[BrenGun 2261]

ahh just something plopped into my head.

 

I mailed you guys,

 

but when are people getting the RIPS? from tapes and VHS?

 

Don't forget to let people know

[Biopanda 2675]

For most orders, the rips will be sent to your email(assuming you didn't order a bunch of VHS tapes). Honestly, I'm just trying to go through orders as fast as I can at the moment which means that I'm just ripping the VHS and cassettes, but not taking the time to edit and encode them at the moment. Once all of the shipping invoices are out, then I'm going to go through and edit everything then send the rips to the buyers.

[BrenGun 2261]

I got 4 tapes 1 VHS.  not that much.

3 Tapes rips you already have. 

 

Well I hope to get the rips soon enough kinda before my stuff arrive at my home. but will take 100% 5 workdays or more.

But one light thing for ya guys.. I found my old TAPE PLAYER and that one is still working... so if not, then I'm still able to listen to it

But I also cannot wait to make a Japanese fan happy with some rare tape rips from our dear Yabuki

 

But anyway keep your head up and don't overwork yourself.

And keep us updated about the tape/VHS encode mastering.

 

EDIT!!

 

Anyway Thanks VAL for email.

There are 11 more orders that we need to ship out, then we will rip and endcode your VHS

Edited June 6, 2015 by BrenGun

[Seimeisen 4406]

@@Valicious I just sent an e-mail requesting a shipping quote on my order, since you mentioned it was the easiest way to contact you.

[Biopanda 2675]

All of the orders are packed up now and just need to be weighed, so we'll be sending the remaining invoices within the next hour.

[Valicious 572]

And the invoices are out!  

I cannot thank you all enough for bearing with RarezHut's growing pains and stumbles. One of the main reasons we do what we do is because of you guys.
When Panda and I sat down and gave a name to what used to be a smattering of sales on Livejournal, we agreed that our biggest goals in all this were to preserve and archive the existing VK that is out there and, perhaps most importantly, make owning physical copies of releases more accessible for everyone. We could not continue to do either of these things without your support, and I warmly thank you all.   
I know we've had some hiccups and hurdles in the past, especially recently, but it is my sincere hope that you will not be dissuaded in the future. We have some big things pretty planned, and we hope you will be with us in sharing them.

Now on to adding more items to the store! 

[Igyou_Hime 80]

I've only seen 1 stream, mostly because like the above said, it's waaaaay to long especially when I don't even know if there will be anything of interest. So I'm one of those who rather not get a surprise and would love to see a list of the items being auctioned beforehand...

[Lestat 2167]

I don't like to express this bout of dissatisfaction at all, but I feel like I am obliged to in this case. I still don't have an invoice, and I'm growing really impatient with this. You promised that invoices would be sent according to payment dates. I've seen in this thread and elsewhere that there were others who paid two weeks (or longer) after I did and they received their shipping quote on the spot, whereas I am still waiting, even now after you say that everything has been taken care of. I'll probably be more cautious to make another purchase in the future.

[Biopanda 2675]

Totally my fault there. I had told Val that your package was ready, as it was all sealed up and in the stack to have invoices sent. It was only right before the invoices were sent that I saw that Val had sold you some CDs from the store which she had forgotten to add to the sales software(which I use as a list when packing). I'm in the process of opening your package and repacking things with all of the proper items now. Terribly sorry again for the mixup x_x