Ultimarc products

[CGRemakes]

I would like to know if this is something that you all would be interested in.  I personally have heard nothing but good things about the Ultimarc products, but one thing that discourages me from ordering from them more is that it is very expensive to ship product to the US, and to my knowledge there are no US based redistributers.  If I were to purchase a large quantity of some of their products (I believe there is a US based redistributer of I-Pac's, so I probably wouldn't buy those) to sell to US based users (which I believe most are) would this be something that would be worth doing?  This would greatly cut down on shipping fees for US based users.  If everyone would prefer to just order from Ultimarc, or there is already a US based source, or if Ultimarc prefers that I not do it, that's cool as well, it's just something that I was thinking about.

[Tiger-Heli]

I would like to know if this is something that you all would be interested in.  I personally have heard nothing but good things about the Ultimarc products, but one thing that discourages me from ordering from them more is that it is very expensive to ship product to the US, and to my knowledge there are no US based redistributers.  If I were to purchase a large quantity of some of their products (I believe there is a US based redistributer of I-Pac's, so I probably wouldn't buy those) to sell to US based users (which I believe most are) would this be something that would be worth doing?  This would greatly cut down on shipping fees for US based users.  If everyone would prefer to just order from Ultimarc, or there is already a US based source, or if Ultimarc prefers that I not do it, that's cool as well, it's just something that I was thinking about.

You might want to PM SirPoonga, I think he mentioned something about a US distributor for I-PAC's about a month ago, but I don't know details.

[CGRemakes]

Yea, there is a US distributer of I-Pac's:

http://www.gamecabinetsinc.com/

but I don't think they do joysticks or anything else.  

[SirPoonga]

You might want to PM SirPoonga, I think he mentioned something about a US distributor for I-PAC's about a month ago, but I don't know details.

Currently in the working, will be a great price.  I know who it is but ain't telling!  Hopefully it isn't fluff.

But there's also the key wiz built int eh us

[AndyWarne]

You will find that the cost that we charge for shipping is not that much different for the cost of shipping via a tracked service such as UPS within the USA. And no other fees such as import duty are charged in the USA so there would be virtally no cost saving. Yes USPS would be cheaper but not tracked and probably more trouble than it's worth. We used to ship by mail but it's frustrating for both parties when the package seems do dissappear for days on end and you can't tell where it has got to.
You could email me about this to discuss further.

[Magnet_Eye]

shipping within the united states via UPS is cheaper than from the UK.

thats that.

so, lets get a US distributor.

Andy... hopefully will work with someone on this.

[Richy]

It's not even cheaper for us europeans, because we have Tax to pay on it.

[Snarbald]

Yea, there is a US distributer of I-Pac's:

http://www.gamecabinetsinc.com/

but I don't think they do joysticks or anything else.  

I bought an I-pac from them and the shipping was so high I might as well ordered directly from UK (probably would have gotten here faster too)

[b3atmania]

It's a pity Ultimarc products are shipped using Airbourne Express which is the worst service courier I ever had the misfortune to deal with:
* They only deliver during workdays during daytime. Exactly, the time most employed people work.
* When they fail to deliver the parcel, they leave a note asking you to make an appointment for delivery. It's a toll-number which are blocked on my private lines and work lines. They state costs (EUR 0,15/min!) but don't tell you the duration of the call in advance. Major rip-off.
* Calling them, you'll find them non-coorperative. They will not commit to a agreed time so you basically have to take the entire morning or afternoon off to take delivery of the parcel. They also won't deliver on weekends or evenings. They even had the nerve to suggest I come pick up the parcel myself at their Amsterdam outlet (120km drive back and forth) if delivery was problematic!

Ultimarc/Andy: Your products are great, but the shipping is really the pits. May I suggest registered airmail? Which is about the same price and is delivered on weekday evenings or saturday. The Royal Dutch Mail has discovered what Airbourne has not: people work during the day, so they will deliver in the evening or weekend. Also their tracking phone numbers are toll-free!

[_Iz-]

I had mine delivered to my work. It came faster than the package I ordered from Happs the same day. I have absolutely no complaints about ultimarc's shipping...  

[Brax]

It's a pity Ultimarc products are shipped using Airbourne Express which is the worst service courier I ever had the misfortune to deal with:
* They only deliver during workdays during daytime. Exactly, the time most employed people work.
* When they fail to deliver the parcel, they leave a note asking you to make an appointment for delivery. It's a toll-number which are blocked on my private lines and work lines. They state costs (EUR 0,15/min!) but don't tell you the duration of the call in advance. Major rip-off.
* Calling them, you'll find them non-coorperative. They will not commit to a agreed time so you basically have to take the entire morning or afternoon off to take delivery of the parcel. They also won't deliver on weekends or evenings. They even had the nerve to suggest I come pick up the parcel myself at their Amsterdam outlet (120km drive back and forth) if delivery was problematic!

Ultimarc/Andy: Your products are great, but the shipping is really the pits. May I suggest registered airmail? Which is about the same price and is delivered on weekday evenings or saturday. The Royal Dutch Mail has discovered what Airbourne has not: people work during the day, so they will deliver in the evening or weekend. Also their tracking phone numbers are toll-free!

They just left it at my door. Far less hassle than any other courier I've dealt with. The others all charge a brokerage fee that's near 60% of the value of the item. Airbourne Express is a dream compared to that.

[AndyWarne]

b3atmania, I think your comments are a little unfair. I don't know of any courier service that will deliver in the evenings or at a specified time.  Some will deliver on Saturday but generally charge extra for this. Why not have it delivered to your work address? Getting the address changed is no problem. I could have done it or yourself on the phone or by email.
There is no way I am going back to using mail for Europe. At one stage when we were using mail, everything we sent to France was going missing! We also had problems with most other European countries.
Dutch mail seems to be unusally good from what you say, but it would not really be practical to separate Dutch orders and send by mail. You mention tracking but mail is generally not tracked, certainly not in most countries.
In general, our shipping starts at $12 which for a 3-4 day tracked international service I think is hard to beat.

[Magnet_Eye]

i think the problem is if you buy, let's say, a j-stik for $15, who wants to pay $12 for shipping? I don't. And that's why i didn't buy one.

shipping should not cost the almost the same amount as the product. For a $15 item (one joystick), i would think shipping would be like $5-7 max. Or should I say, that's what I would personally expect to pay.

I also agree Airborne isn't the greatest. How much is UPS or FedEx? Probably too much overseas I assume.

This is why, i believe,  we need a distributor in the US to keep costs down.

[CanStick]

Being in Canada, the shipping costs getting things from the States is about the same amount as from Ultimarc, and I must say, the package I received from Ultimarc got here quicker (from England to boot!) than a package coming from the States (in which I actually paid a higher shipping cost).

I must say that I had no problems whatsoever with Airbourne Express.  I had the package in my hands less than a week after I ordered it...most packages coming from the States (with higher shipping costs) usually take a week to a week and a half...

For me, $12.00 shipping is more than reasonable...

[_Iz-]

Being in Canada, the shipping costs getting things from the States is about the same amount as from Ultimarc, and I must say, the package I received from Ultimarc got here quicker (from England to boot!) than a package coming from the States (in which I actually paid a higher shipping cost).

I must say that I had no problems whatsoever with Airbourne Express.  I had the package in my hands less than a week after I ordered it...most packages coming from the States (with higher shipping costs) usually take a week to a week and a half...

For me, $12.00 shipping is more than reasonable...

I agree. I was going to order a $6 cd case NCIX had on sale and the freight on that was more than $12 and they're only 4 hours away! $12 for an international order is very reasonable. You just need to plan ahead to maximize your money. Get everything you want in one shipment...

[CGRemakes]

I believe USPS does have an optional tracking system for a little more (40 cents, I believe), so that is an option as well.  I haven't actually gone to all the different carriers to calculate costs, I was going to figure if there was an interest or not, but I'm pretty sure USPS even with the extra 40 cents is still the cheapest method.

[u_rebelscum]

I also agree Airborne isn't the greatest. How much is UPS or FedEx? Probably too much overseas I assume.

FWIW, Airborne was recently bought by DHL.

My experience shipping (was before airborne was bought, though):
I used to ship small <1 lb to 5 pound packages for work.  Airborne was the cheapest, UPS next, and FedEx the most expensive for these sizes shipping within the US.  Most customers wanted UPS, which cost them $15 for a $10 item (airborne ~$10, fedex ~$18).  We got delivery complaints in a far higher pecentage of the UPS shipped orders than airborne orders.  UPS then hiked the shipping prices for us, so we dropped using UPS, and our total delivery complaints dropped.

My experience receiving, both personal and at work:
Airborne. No problems.

UPS: one major problem, a few minor.  The major problem: one shipment was 2 business days late + a three day weekend because it went, after correctly arriving to the hub that deliveres to me, to another nearby hub, back to my hub, and then delivered to me.  Five days late!

FedEx: three problems.  Most recent (approx. a month ago), an shippment was 2 days late because it got "lost in a truck".  Tracking said it was in a truck for delivery on the due date, but never delivered.  No change the next day in tracking except the expected date was, of course, one day after the original date.  Still nothing.  Next day, tracking said it was put in a "truck for delivery" again, and finally I received it.

FWIW, all three would leave a note if no one was at work, but leave the package at the door at home.  I here it varies from neighborhood to neighborhood albout leaving the package at the door.

My personal shipping preferences: USPS priority mail, airborne, UPS, snail mail, fedex, in that order from most to least.

My two cents.

[BillyJack]

Yeah, well I had problems with Airborne.  They should've left my package at the office of my apt. complex.  Instead I got to pick mine up in the dumpster behind the complex.

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=7505

Yeah.

BillyJack