funded Reaper Bones 5: Enthusiasm and Commentary thread

[Sirithiliel]

did hte QnA give any useful info on what's held up in the containers?

[Inarah]

4 minutes ago, Sirithiliel said:

did hte QnA give any useful info on what's held up in the containers?

 

Items mentioned: the busts collection, campground scenics, Nathavarr, ghost ship.  There's also a huge amount of restock and new releases they've been waiting for since last year. 

 

Big news: On July 5th the Pledge Manager will reopen.  Something like 1700-2000 people failed to fill out the Pledge Manager and Reaper is giving them one last chance to get in there and say what they want and close their order. People who pledged during the KS and who log in during this period will get their items at KS price.  

 

The PM will be open to existing KS5 backers who can also add to their pledge at late backer prices. This will be a new order and will ship separately from your first KS5 pledge. 

 

The PM will also be open for new Late Backers, with limited item availability, at late backer prices. 

 

The PM will be open ~90 days, and it will take another ~90 days beyond that to fulfill those orders.  If you don't close your order after the 90 days Reaper is going to assume the open pledges are a donation. 

 

Reaper does not expect to have a lot of "leftover" KS items to put into the store after fulfillment. They are actively trying to avoid product left in the warehouses. 

 

Australia ships starting July 5.  Despite social media reports to the contrary, they are not ready to ship, even though they have the product.  

 

Smaller US orders and PO boxes are going USPS. Larger orders are going UPS. 

 

[Pochi]

2 hours ago, ratsmitglied said:

 

Was any reason given for why the shipper decided it was ok to hold onto the items for an extra month?

Or is it just part of the regular service from [redacted]

No reason given whatsoever. So they've had it for 3 weeks already and "might" start shipping around July 5.

[Cyradis]

1 hour ago, Great Khan Artist said:

I've found that the magic customs number seems to be just over 100$. If you are under that, you avoid customs on your Reaper orders. You get the mini of the month and free shipping at $80, so I aim for that number and customs hasn't hit me yet.

 

Eh. I don't think my post office has a magic number regarding CanadaPost. Mom listed stuff at ~$150 declared value. Masks were like ~$60. Those both got hit. But an order from Michael Kontraros (from Europe, perhaps different) of well over that got nothing. That's all CanadaPost just being finicky. UPS... who friggin' knows. 

 

UPS failed to alert me that I had an urgent envelope to pick up last week. I only got it because they stated they had delivered a bunch of research equipment (adviser prepaid the fees), but they hadn't. They left a note on the apartment door with wrong date on it and told me to pick up equipment at location. I went there for pick up. Guy took forever to find my stuff, then handed me a large envelope beat to hell labeled Urgent... from my mother... and UPS had spelled my name wrong on envelope. Not a box of rock epoxy. Whiskey tango foxtrot?! Finally he goes and gets the box of research stuff. I go open envelope... it is my mom's legal will and final directive in case something bad happens to her, and she'd paid extra to get it to me expedited. I never would have gotten it except I had to pick up research stuff. Eventually she would have told me, but y'know, what the heck UPS?

 

As you may see... I have little faith in UPS near me.

 

1 hour ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

 

You're BC, aren't you?  I think BC is a GST/PST (provincial sales tax) province, so if that's correct then you ought to only be on the hook for the 5% GST (plus the $5 handling/brokerage fee).  Depending on how much you got that may still be a fair penny, but it's at least better than HST or 15%.  If you're unsure what the difference between HST and GST/PST is, GST is the actual tax on imported goods federally but some provinces combined (harmonized) their sales tax with the GST at point of sale and for imports.  This was basically a deal they made when having them separate cost a combined 19% point of sale in some places, so to ease that but still keep the revenue they then combined it so everyone's overall tax burden is therefore lessened with a smaller number than before for most things but a higher number than before on international imports .  That's why if BC is a GST/PST province then they should be only counting the GST for imports but still GST+PST at point of sale retail.    

(tl;dr - your taxes owed on your Kickstarter, percentagewise, should actually be less than if you bought them at your FLGS for the same price)

 

 

Yep, BC. From the link you sent, seems like I may be on the hook for 12%. And knowing UPS and their "brokerage fees" it may go worse than that. Might be better than in shop, but in all honesty, I get a lot of the Bones figures in KS specifically because of the lower cost per figure. Makes sharing easier and less guilt about abusing them on a table. I like being able to hand a friend or new hobbyist a figure and saying "go for it!" Otherwise lately I am moving to more display models than Reaper tends to do. These are my clunkers. Oh well. It is what it is. Not blaming Reaper really. They gotta do what they gotta do and we all signed up knowing that we may be hit with whatever our countries throw at us on customs and whatnot.

[Great Khan Artist]

@buglips*the*goblin

I'm wondering about Canadian PO box shipments. It is possible to ship via USPS or Canada Post for those of us who only have rural addresses? Getting the courier to deliver can be a nightmare, depending on who it is. 

[buglips*the*goblin]

Correction edit:  The information provided in the below post has been superceded by a chart of expected fees & taxes, found in this post:  https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/89441-reaper-bones-5-enthusiasm-and-commentary-thread/&do=findComment&comment=2020168

 

 

15 hours ago, Cyradis said:

And knowing UPS and their "brokerage fees" it may go worse than that

Sorry, I was unclear on this point, but the $5 should cover the brokerage fee.  So it should be that plus the taxes and nothing more.  

 

15 hours ago, Cyradis said:

Yep, BC. From the link you sent, seems like I may be on the hook for 12%.

 

So I went to look, and BC is a GST/PST province.  In case my previous explanation was a bit byzantine, that means BC calculates GST and PST (provincial sales tax) separately.  So when you go to the store in your area, you pay the provincial rate and the GST (federal) at the same time for a total of 12%.  But because BC separates them, for your cross-border import you should only be on the hook for the federal GST portion - which is the 5%.  

 

For me as an HST province I have to pay the full 15% because there's no distinction applied between provincial/federal for that assessment, so I pay the 15% and the province and federal gov't divvy it up later.  

Edited June 23, 2021 by buglips*the*goblin

[buglips*the*goblin]

19 minutes ago, Great Khan Artist said:

@buglips*the*goblin

I'm wondering about Canadian PO box shipments. It is possible to ship via USPS or Canada Post for those of us who only have rural addresses? Getting the courier to deliver can be a nightmare, depending on who it is. 

 

Is it a community mailbox P.O. or a post office P.O.?  (I presume a post office P.O. since the community ones normally use the street address and not a P.O. number)

 

While waiting on your reply which might need me to clarify things specific to you more, there are essentially three ways delivery might occur.  Reaper uses UPS and USPS (those exclusively).  So it might be sent USPS, depending on how their system recognizes a P.O. Box as an address.  But I think it's likely to be UPS in either case, since that's probably the simplest and most elegant solution.

 

Depending on how rural your rural is, that essentially gives you for a package of significant size (I do not know how much you got) either home delivery or pick-up at the post office.  If you do not usually get packages at home, or if your mailing address provided to Reaper is a P.O. Box then it will be pick-up at the P.O. (I presume you do not have a UPS store in your area, but if you do it could theoretically wind up there instead).  

 

Where this gets a little squirrelly is with the taxes owed.  My recommendation is to sign up at UPS.com.  I don't normally recommend such things, but I had to do this after my house fire in order to intercept and redirect my Reapercon 2018 package to a neighbour since it couldn't be delivered to en empty house foundation (for some silly reason).  Since I did that, anytime I get something due with taxes I get a notification and can sign in and pay before delivery.  Way less hassle.  You can also additionally sign up for MyChoice, which lets you set some delivery options.  Those options might be helpful to you, or at least give you a clearer idea of what to expect.  

 

(Incidentally, UPS's payment system is much nicer than FedEx's which apparently has yet to realize we're 20 years into the 21st century and is abysmal.  Whatever else anyone can say about UPS, that website and pre-delivery pay is a breeze)

 

That's all a lot of info, but I have to cover a lot of bases with the answer.  For the tl;dr - I expect it will likely be UPS, it will likely be dropped off at the appropriate location for you to pick up, your adventure with all this will be made much easier by signing up to UPS.  I'll see if I can get some clarity as to how P.O. Boxes (in particular Canadian ones) will be handled.  

[Sirithiliel]

1 hour ago, Inarah said:

 

Items mentioned: the busts collection, campground scenics, Nathavarr, ghost ship.  There's also a huge amount of restock and new releases they've been waiting for since last year. 

 

 

 

hmm okay. i might escape being delayed but we shall see

 

restock eh? maybe i'll FINALLy get more Bones raptors

Edited June 23, 2021 by Sirithiliel

[ratsmitglied]

1 hour ago, Pochi said:

No reason given whatsoever. So they've had it for 3 weeks already and "might" start shipping around July 5.

So standard service from [redacted] then.

[Pochi]

1 minute ago, ratsmitglied said:

So standard service from [redacted] then.

I wasn't sure which emoji was an appropriate response...  or . But yeah.

[Pezler the Polychromatic]

33 minutes ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

 

Is it a community mailbox P.O. or a post office P.O.?  (I presume a post office P.O. since the community ones normally use the street address and not a P.O. number)

 

While waiting on your reply which might need me to clarify things specific to you more, there are essentially three ways delivery might occur.  Reaper uses UPS and USPS (those exclusively).  So it might be sent USPS, depending on how their system recognizes a P.O. Box as an address.  But I think it's likely to be UPS in either case, since that's probably the simplest and most elegant solution.

 

Depending on how rural your rural is, that essentially gives you for a package of significant size (I do not know how much you got) either home delivery or pick-up at the post office.  If you do not usually get packages at home, or if your mailing address provided to Reaper is a P.O. Box then it will be pick-up at the P.O. (I presume you do not have a UPS store in your area, but if you do it could theoretically wind up there instead).  

 

Where this gets a little squirrelly is with the taxes owed.  My recommendation is to sign up at UPS.com.  I don't normally recommend such things, but I had to do this after my house fire in order to intercept and redirect my Reapercon 2018 package to a neighbour since it couldn't be delivered to en empty house foundation (for some silly reason).  Since I did that, anytime I get something due with taxes I get a notification and can sign in and pay before delivery.  Way less hassle.  You can also additionally sign up for MyChoice, which lets you set some delivery options.  Those options might be helpful to you, or at least give you a clearer idea of what to expect.  

 

(Incidentally, UPS's payment system is much nicer than FedEx's which apparently has yet to realize we're 20 years into the 21st century and is abysmal.  Whatever else anyone can say about UPS, that website and pre-delivery pay is a breeze)

 

That's all a lot of info, but I have to cover a lot of bases with the answer.  For the tl;dr - I expect it will likely be UPS, it will likely be dropped off at the appropriate location for you to pick up, your adventure with all this will be made much easier by signing up to UPS.  I'll see if I can get some clarity as to how P.O. Boxes (in particular Canadian ones) will be handled.  

Good to know. Did Reaper state why they're sending each Canadian order individually instead of bundling them up and shipping them over? We never had to worry about extra fees before this, and it seems unusual to send so many packages by courier considering how heavy the shipping traffic is.

[Divaricatus]

1 hour ago, Inarah said:

The PM will be open to existing KS5 backers who can also add to their pledge at late backer prices. This will be a new order and will ship separately from your first KS5 pledge

Any idea what late backer prices are? Like 50% more than KS prices? (Still a steal then)

[buglips*the*goblin]

Just now, Pezler the Polychromatic said:

Good to know. Did Reaper state why they're sending each Canadian order individually instead of bundling them up and shipping them over? We never had to worry about extra fees before this, and it seems unusual to send so many packages by courier considering how heavy the shipping traffic is.

 

Previously Reaper loaded pallets and sent those pallets to local distribution centers to break up and send out.  Whatever happened with that, the only thing that has been stated is that Ed said during the Q&A tonight that it "didn't work out, either for us or them".  So presumably the logistics of doing them as pallets was no better (indeed possibly worse) than just feeding them into the system as they fulfill.  How exactly they get from Denton to us is eldritch magick I don't know.  

 

As for the taxes and fees, I haven't gotten much out of Bones kickstarters since Bones I.  I only got Ma'al Drakkar from IV and that one was free.  So I've been out of personal experience with the tax loop for the KS for a while.  My understanding, however, is that we have been subject to said taxes and fees for several kickstarters.  This may or may not be correct.  However, I can definitively state that it is perfectly in line with ginormous boxes I've sent home from Reapercon and AFAIK those go through the same UPS system.  This also applies to regular Reaper orders which may come UPS instead of USPS (I've had two like that).  

 

So the fees and taxes might be new, and might be part of the new set-up.  I didn't really see them as unusual since said taxes and fees are routine for me anyway.  If we did not previously owe taxes and fees for any kickstarter, then that would have been part of the original agreement made with UPS during Bones I.  At some point, I don't recall when exactly, that contract came up for renegotiation.  This new arrangement might be part of that.  It's a lot of moving parts and I'm not privy to any of the real inner working deets.  

9 minutes ago, Divaricatus said:

Any idea what late backer prices are? Like 50% more than KS prices? (Still a steal then)

 

I don't know the exact numbers, except "less than retail but more than initial backers".  

[Pezler the Polychromatic]

3 minutes ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

 

Previously Reaper loaded pallets and sent those pallets to local distribution centers to break up and send out.  Whatever happened with that, the only thing that has been stated is that Ed said during the Q&A tonight that it "didn't work out, either for us or them".  So presumably the logistics of doing them as pallets was no better (indeed possibly worse) than just feeding them into the system as they fulfill.  How exactly they get from Denton to us is eldritch magick I don't know.  

 

As for the taxes and fees, I haven't gotten much out of Bones kickstarters since Bones I.  I only got Ma'al Drakkar from IV and that one was free.  So I've been out of personal experience with the tax loop for the KS for a while.  My understanding, however, is that we have been subject to said taxes and fees for several kickstarters.  This may or may not be correct.  However, I can definitively state that it is perfectly in line with ginormous boxes I've sent home from Reapercon and AFAIK those go through the same UPS system.  This also applies to regular Reaper orders which may come UPS instead of USPS (I've had two like that).  

 

So the fees and taxes might be new, and might be part of the new set-up.  I didn't really see them as unusual since said taxes and fees are routine for me anyway.  If we did not previously owe taxes and fees for any kickstarter, then that would have been part of the original agreement made with UPS during Bones I.  At some point, I don't recall when exactly, that contract came up for renegotiation.  This new arrangement might be part of that.  It's a lot of moving parts and I'm not privy to any of the real inner working deets.  

Thank you, that answered all my questions. For now, I'll go with the status quo: hope for the best, prepare for the worst, blame Buglips.

[ksbsnowowl]

49 minutes ago, Sirithiliel said:

 

restock eh? maybe i'll FINALLy get more Bones raptors

Me toooooooo.  My 3 year old will be stoked. 

35 minutes ago, Divaricatus said:

Any idea what late backer prices are? Like 50% more than KS prices? (Still a steal then)

Roughly +20% - 30% the original KS price.