Jump to content

Confirmed orders for "The Index of Japanese Swordsmiths"


Would you be interested in a confirmed purchase of the 2 volume: Index of Japanese Swordsmiths?  

48 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you be interested in a confirmed purchase of the 2 volume: Index of Japanese Swordsmiths?

    • Yes, I would be willing to purchase a copy of the high quality, hard bound, offset printed books at $100 plus shipping.
      29
    • Yes, I would be willing to purchase 2 copies of the high quality, hard bound offset printed books at $100 plus shipping.
      9
    • Yes, I would be willing to purchase 3 copies of the high quality, hard bound offset printed books at $100 plus shipping.
      6
    • Yes, I would be willing to purchase 5 copies of the high quality, hard bound offset printed books at $100 plus shipping.
      1
    • Yes, I would be willing to purchase 10 copies of the high quality, hard bound offset printed books at $100 plus shipping.
      1
    • No thank you, I am happy to purchase the current versions available or already own this set.
      2


Recommended Posts

I have offered to accept all Canadian orders and then reship them to people once the shipment arrives. I think that shipping a couple of boxes to one location followed by individual shipping of books to people in the same region is a feasable way to go. OTH the USPS flat box media rate is hard to beat!

A few volunteers could take care of the shipping problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 183
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Hi guys,

There is no USPS flat rate media box. There is media rate, which will be very affordable for customers in the USA (less than $10 I think), but no media rate outside the USA. There are flat rate boxes for priority overseas but at the probable weight of this set, flat rate would be more expensive than standard priority. If I'm correct about the weight of the package, priority with insurance to most anywhere outside the US will be over $70.

So here's a thought. What if everyone ordering pays the same for postage and insurance, regardless of where they live? Maybe a 1 book order would be $40 post; a 2 book order $55 post. I don't have the actual figures, of course, but when the time comes they could be gotten. This means US customers would subsidize the rest of the world, but if the books were printed somewhere else it would be the US customers who were subsidized; it somehow seems fair.

Grey

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So here's a thought. What if everyone ordering pays the same for postage and insurance, regardless of where they live? Maybe a 1 book order would be $40 post; a 2 book order $55 post. I don't have the actual figures, of course, but when the time comes they could be gotten. This means US customers would subsidize the rest of the world, but if the books were printed somewhere else it would be the US customers who were subsidized; it somehow seems fair.

Grey

 

Grey, this is a brilliant idea and could really get the shipping problem out of the way. But of course we have to ask the opinion of the US based members who expressed interest in this venture.

 

If Brian has nothing against your proposal, I guess a new topic would be the best approach. 1 copy for the flat price of 140$ shipped anywhere in the world, if the copies ordered by the US based members are at least equal in number with the copies ordered by the rotw members.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Denis,

Once we know the weight of 1 set we can calculate postage costs for multiple sets, somehow figure how many orders of each multiple are US and how many are ROTW, and see what figure works for each multiple. If postage for 1 set is $40, postage for 2 might be $55, 3 might be $70, etc.

We also have to remember that many of us will be paying from ROTW with paypal and that will add 4% to the total. Maybe we average that among everybody also.

If we do this book there will be tons of stuff to figure; I'm sure there are snags we haven't thought of yet.

Grey

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With you on this Grey.

 

Its a catch 22

 

How much will the 2 book set weigh? Till printed its a guesstimation.

 

I for one, don't mind a case of me making an extra postage payment, as a subsidy to cover outlandish costs elsewhere. But having said that, that in its self is a can of worms. One now has to deal on a set by set basis, and to where ever!

 

The earlier idea of a central delivery point to one of us in each country, could be a go, with internal distribution at local postage rates. This would reduce the number of drop points and allow at least some idea of rates.

 

My last post arose due to the thought of those who have ordered quite a few sets! The initial costs have to be borne by them selves, they then passing out the books locally, will also want to recover postage costs within the set sale. Those costs must be reduced to make the purchase viable, or someone has just bought themselves a library.

 

As you so rightly say "there will be tons of stuff to figure" but input, like this board can produce is needed. Impatience leads to haste, and haste gets you nowhere fast.

 

Nota bene: This book set, is intended to be a 'Special Edition' of an existing available work. That speciality has to be a marketable alternative to the original.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

How much will the 2 book set weigh? Till printed its a guesstimation.

 

 

No, it's not. Once the paper is chosen it's simple math.

 

 

I volunteer to be a mailing center for usa as long as it doesnt cost me anything.

 

Nice. :) This partially solves one of the biggest problems. Just be aware this will be a time consuming task, plus the boxes coming from the printer will be quite heavy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Denis, read the relevant posts on page 7 and 8, we have yet to decide if the paper is going to be 70#, 80# or 85#.

 

That's 104g/m2 , 115g/m2 and 120g/m2, as you can see there's a 15% weight increase between the thinnest and the thickest papers considered for this project.

 

After we decide which paper to use we can easily estimate the weight of the set, based on the number of pages (divided by 2) and the surface of a page. (adding something for the covers and binding, of course).

 

Personally I'd go with 85# since the price difference is minimal and the increased quality would make quite a difference in the book's general feeling as a quality item.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would go for #80 weight.

I am leaning towards the idea of selling 150 copies at a flat rate. That's about the only way this could happen. Let's say maybe $140 per set including shipping anywhere. Then $130 per set if you take 2, $120 if you take 3, and down to about $120 for 4 or more. Need to do some calculations. Yes..local would subsidize some of the international postage. But then international orders would make the whole project viable..so it's a trade-off. It's a LOT of work for someone to pack and dispatch that many parcels, so that person would need to be compensated.

But to sell 150 copies, we would need to run a Indiegog campaign. Reach the target, it goes ahead. Don't reach...it doesn't. Their fees need to be worked in too.

Going to try and find out how much the 2 volumes would weigh if done in #80 Finch white uncoated.

 

Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian, Indiegogo would charge 4% plus 3% for credit card processing and in our case we would pay this money for nothing. Since we are already using this forum as a platform to raise the $ required for the project.

 

What we need is one reputable person (preferably US based, to avoid excessive paypal fees) who would collect the money and then pay the printer. If the required amount is not raised, he will simply refund those who already sent the money. I don't see how this could be more simple.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, but no.

I'm not taking the chance of people not paying, and finding out we have less than we need, and having to bother someone with accepting and passing on payments and all the other complications that come with taking "I promise" orders. Can you imgine 1 person having to refund 100 depositors? Not going to happen, so get over it.

With Kickstarter or Indiegogo or or of the others, people pay up front. If we don't get the 150 sold, then none of the money is collected. If we reach it, then the money is paid out. That makes it the easy choice. Paypal or credit card fees are going to be an issue whether it goes to the facilitator or the online processor. We'll factor it in.

 

Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, but no.

I'm not taking the chance of people not paying, and finding out we have less than we need, and having to bother someone with accepting and passing on payments and all the other complications that come with taking "I promise" orders. Can you imgine 1 person having to refund 100 depositors? Not going to happen, so get over it.

 

 

Brian, don't you think that this decision should be made by the volunteer? (if anyone well known and respected by the community comes forward, of course)

 

If no one volunteers for being the middle man (so to speak), then yes, we will have to go trough Indiegogo or any similar company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. You find someone well known and respected in the community who wants to use his bank account to accept over 100 orders, consolidate and sort them, and then send it on to a printer whilst managing the excess, and distributing it to the guy sending out the books, as well as Markus for his royalties, and then keeping a record of any balance and calculating his banking fees for all of this. I'm happy to hear from volunteers.

Of course, if we don't sell all 150, he has to refund everyone individually across all continents, making sure they don't incur any expenses in the currency calculations and making sure he doesn't incur any banking costs in the transactions. He will also have to be able to accept credit cards and Paypal, and have the facility to refund on both.

No prob. Volunteers?

 

Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dwolla has been around for a long time. Looked at it a year ago. It tried to be a Paypal competitor, but not going far, as it isn't available to anyone outside the US, and is just an extension of Veridian Credit Union. You can't use Paypal or a credit card to pay with it.

 

Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. You find someone well known and respected in the community who wants to use his bank account to accept over 100 orders, consolidate and sort them, and then send it on to a printer whilst managing the excess, and distributing it to the guy sending out the books, as well as Markus for his royalties, and then keeping a record of any balance and calculating his banking fees for all of this. I'm happy to hear from volunteers.

Of course, if we don't sell all 150, he has to refund everyone individually across all continents, making sure they don't incur any expenses in the currency calculations and making sure he doesn't incur any banking costs in the transactions. He will also have to be able to accept credit cards and Paypal, and have the facility to refund on both.

No prob. Volunteers?

 

Brian

 

Stephen volunteered for a time consuming and backbreaking job. And generally speaking the whole project was based from the start on a lot of volunteer work, even if you thought otherwise. So I don't see why we should dismiss so quickly the idea that someone could volunteer to be the "middle man".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adrian

 

I see your point and agree to an extent, but this will be a case where the proof of the pudding is in the eating!

 

But! with the way Brian listed what would be needed to be done, it certainly would not attract me to the job, I already have a life.

 

We could be waiting some while on this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you somehow implying that people who volunteer for far bigger tasks (then collecting a few payments for a non-profit project) don't have a life?

 

Seriously now, this sort of negativism isn't going to get us anywhere.

 

We could even split this task between a few volunteers, so no one gets overwhelmed. Someone to gather payments from Canada, someone to gather payments from the USA, someone for the EU and someone for the ROTW. There are enough people on this board who are known in this community for decades and are above any suspicion, if 4 of them would be willing to make the effort of collecting about 20-25 payments each we could get past this problem ( tbh I doubt there will be more then 80 payments for 150 copies, considering the poll and the added orders trough the topic).

 

 

As long as we keep being positive about it and keep looking for good solutions, this will happen. If we start looking for reasons why this is difficult and may not happen, then yes, the chances decrease rapidly...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Adrian, Personally, I don't really care if this happens or not, but I don't think Brian is attacking you at all - he is only stating the legitimate issues that there may, or may not be an answer for. If this project can't be done in a carefully planned, and relatively painless manner for the volunteers involved, then it's proably not worth it. Jumping into something like this and just hoping that everything works itself out would not be smart, IMO...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...