Topic: ImportCDs.com

[Achim]

Well, the last time I had an issue with one of their orders was last November. Quite some time had past since shipping that I got concerned. They responded quite quickly at the time and asked me to wait a title longer, which turned out to be correct, the shipment(s) arrived shortly after.

Pretty much all my shipments from ImportCDs.com have been substantially slower than from Amazon. Almost like they ask the snail mail peole not to hurry  But I am not usually in a hurry and they are cheaper in the end...

If they didn't answer your mails, that is a point of complaint...

[GSyren]

I'm more upset about the fact that they don't ship my copy of Danny Kaye: The Goldwyn Years that I already paid for, than about not getting email replies.

I've used their "Notify me when in stock" function, so I know they received 11 copies on Jan 29 and 21 copies on Feb 14. Now it's out of stock again. Still no indication that my copy has been shipped. Their shipping notification by email worked on the previous order, even though the order history page didn't update (and still hasn't).

I'm not placing any more orders with them until I have received this title.

[GSyren]

Latest development regarding ImportCDs.

I contacted Paypal and asked them to impress upon ImportCDs to either ship the item or refund it.
Two days later I get a refund from ImportCDs. "Backordered items, if not fulfilled within 21 days, are automatically cancelled." Yeah? It's been 82 days and it was f**king not automatic! And what's more, the item is currently in stock!!!
I wish I could trust ImportCDs with more orders, but with customer service like this... 

[Achim]

I am very sad to hear about your bad experience.

Luckily so far all my orders have eventually arrived and the one that didn't was replaced by them without a hitch. They are quit e substantially cheaper than Amazon for me (in average), so I hope they'll not follow the way Planet Axel went...

[GSyren]

Yes, well, I ordered the Danny Kaye box set from Oldies.com instead. They don't have the extensive stock that ImportCDs have, and I have had some issues with their customer service, but at least they have always shipped what I ordered. It's been a few years since I last used them, so we'll see how well they perform now. They are usually cheaper than Amazon, and at least on this item they were cheaper than ImportCDs, but the shipping cost is higher, unless you buy a lot. Higher per order cost, lower per item cost. But then again, bigger orders means increased risk of "getting caught" by customs. 25% VAT plus c:a $15 fee is no laughing matter...  

[Edit] Oldies have cheaper shipping on 4 single disc items or more. But shipping for box sets ("heavy items" in ImportCDs terms) is calculated differently. [/Edit]

[Achim]

The shipping is a big part why ImportCDs.com is cheaper for me. Amazon has rather larger per-item costs... Amazon is often cheaper in the unit prices, but then ImportCDs.com catches up when it comes to shipping.

I usually order in such way, that each package is around USD100. That way customs are not a problem. If I go higher, I'll have to pay some custom duties. Most orders this way can have anywhere from 5-10 items, depending the various unit prices.

[GSyren]

You'te lucky. The "safe" limit over here is about $30 (incl shipping). Anything over that is a gamble.

[Achim]

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I just wanted to order from ImportCDs.com again after quite some time and they didn't accept my address (which had previously been used!). From what I can tell is, that their overall management has changed to "DirectToU LLC", which seems to have caused them also to have a new website design. The site simply kept saying, that there is a problem with the provided address, without being any more specific, no matter how much I changed it, trying to accommodate the requested format.

Well, long story short, they lost a customer. I deleted the Wish List and removed all my personal data from the site. My they will go the way Planet Axel went before them...


I'll have another look at some other providers I used before (DeepDiscount.com and DVDEmpire.com) and see how their pricing compares these days...


EDIT:
Hmmmm, unfortunately both mentioned sites are still more expensive than Amazon. Even worse, DeepDiscount.com appears to be owned by "DirectToU LLC" as well (maybe that was the reason I previously left them...?).

So, do any of my fellow "international orderers" have other recommendations of online shops, which you use besides Amazon?

[GSyren]

Have you looked at oldies.com?

[Achim]

Have you looked at oldies.com?

Thanks, I hadn't, but now I have.

Their base prices seemed higher, but often this can be compensated by shipping costs. Which was rather weird, as their shipping prices are very different than others. While the "per item charge" is lowest I have seen, the base charge was higher than everyone else. (Depending how many items are within an order, this might still work our favorably though.) But that was also where I noticed, they don't ship to Taiwan


Then I looked at some other sites in my bookmarks (forgot about those yesterday):
Tower.com: Pricing seemed competitive, for those I sampled. Shipping costs are not explained, only calculated at check-out. Their website was very slow on my computer and I don't like that the search result list does not show prices. (I LOVED going to Tower when I lived in the US. They had this huge store in Boston which I could go and browse in for hours...)
DVDPlanet.com: Prices are slightly higher and shipping is probably on par with what Amazon charges.
CD Universe: Prices not competitive.

It was a bit sad to see, just how many of the links I had collected in the past were dead...


EDIT:
  Now I understand why they calculate shipping costs at checkout... When clicking on "Proceed to checkout" I was transferred to Amazon.comand asked to "Please confirm that you want to add the item(s) listed below to your cart." No wonder the pricing seemed so competitive...

What I don't get: Why even do this? Why pretend you are your own store, but at checkout actually hand everything over to Amazon...? By not using their own checkout and just shipping through Amazon they are missing out on all the customers who maybe want to avoid Amazon...

[GSyren]

Founded in 1980, OLDIES.com (and Nina's Discount Oldies) is a family-owned and operated company.

Given this quote from the oldies website, perhaps you could email them and ask if they would make an exception and ship to Taiwan? Smaller businesses are often more flexible than big corporations. It worked with Planet Axel, so maybe it will work for Oldies. It doesn't hurt to ask.

[Achim]

Founded in 1980, OLDIES.com (and Nina's Discount Oldies) is a family-owned and operated company.

Given this quote from the oldies website, perhaps you could email them and ask if they would make an exception and ship to Taiwan? Smaller businesses are often more flexible than big corporations. It worked with Planet Axel, so maybe it will work for Oldies. It doesn't hurt to ask.

i forgot about that, Planet Axel did make an exception for me...

I'll consider it, after all, their prices were higher.