Maelstrom's email wrote:Another price rise is looming from Games Workshop - on the 31st of May, in fact - and us lot at Maelstrom Games (www.maelstromgames.co.uk) would like to ensure you can grab as much as you can whilst prices go up by giving you a cracking 17.5% off UK RRP voucher on all Games Workshop products this weekend!


YOUR GW PRICE RISE BEATER VOUCHER
----------------------------------------------------------
Your 17.5% off UK RRP discount voucher ends on Monday 24th of May 2010 at midnight (GMT) and it's a great chance to grab yourself those Games Workshop products you really fancy before they go up in price!
It will only work on Games Workshop items - Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer 40,000, Lord of the Rings and Citadel Hobby - so please don't expect it to work on anything else! It will not work on Games Workshop Direct items, either.
Apart from the above, the voucher will work on pre-orders and, crucially, you'll still earn Moneyback - although tiered discounts are disabled when using a voucher of course.

Your voucher code is: GW-BEATER

To use this voucher simply register on the webstore, www.maelstromgames.co.uk (if you haven't already), copy and paste the code into the appropriate field in your basket when you have selected the items you want, press 'REDEEM', and the webstore will do the rest. You are not limited to one purchase and, indeed, we would ask you to recommend us to your friends with this voucher!

Remember though that this voucher is intended for the webstore only - it does not apply to any of our auctions or shop inventory items on eBay.

Happy Ordering!

Wow just want to point out that 17.5% discount off Europe price is like 35% off USD , 45% off CDN , and even more for Aussies.

Definitely the time to buy before price hike *or just treat this like special sale of the year :3

Good point, Luna.

At those prices I actually could condone doing The Nine Nazgul mounted on fellbeasts. $37.60 USD each.

Still expensive, surely. But a lot easier to swallow than almost $60 each.

Hmm does anyone know how Maelstrom declare the value for custom sheet?

Im also assuming since its web store they dont have any price tag on the boxes right xD

( because im scared of customs and their tax ^^l )

Just buy them on eBay.

LunaHound wrote:Hmm does anyone know how Maelstrom declare the value for custom sheet?

Im also assuming since its web store they dont have any price tag on the boxes right xD

( because im scared of customs and their tax ^^l )

Last time Ipurchased from maelsrom was when the eldar codex came out for 4th ed. It was a couple boxes of shining spears.
IIRC it was the typical cusotms sheet that said "toy soldiers" and the price declaration reflected the actual price paid.

Any legit business should declare the price paid for the items shipped. That is legally (in accounting terms) their value for customs.

LunaHound wrote:( because im scared of customs and their tax ^^l )

I'm sure we've had this conversation before, but what is your country's threshold?

For example, in Oz, it's $1000. Once you hit $1000+, you pay import duty. Anything below that and you're sweet, so you just break up the orders into <$1000 batches and go from there.

Do you have such a threshold?

I'm buying some boxes tonight to carry me over the next 3-4 months (with the stuff I bough tin the last month)

Ork Nobs
Bikers
Death Company
1 other thing, not sure what yet.

Oooh! Oooh! Get me something!

An Honoured Imperial set will do - the statue thingy, you know!

Hah, I'm buying the Nid dex, a Hive Tyrant, two boxes of Hormagaunts, a box of Gargoyles aand some Howling Banshees (I need something on the side). Also a few paints.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

LunaHound wrote:( because im scared of customs and their tax ^^l )

I'm sure we've had this conversation before, but what is your country's threshold?

For example, in Oz, it's $1000. Once you hit $1000+, you pay import duty. Anything below that and you're sweet, so you just break up the orders into <$1000 batches and go from there.

Do you have such a threshold?

I dont know whats the threshold but i have been taxed anywhere from orders between $70 to $600+
It almost feels like its not the amount that determines when they tax me , but when ever the custom picks their lucky lottery winners.

Again the voucher has been extended, this time you've got until the 27th to order.

I just put in an order from the US - a Rhino and a Devastator Squad ($65 GWS price) came out to $37.73USD, using the promo code and a mysterious 8.30GBP credit I had (I don't think I've ordered with them before? but I did sigh up at some point) and had free shipping. Even without the mysterious credit I had, the price is very competitive with the Warstore, and the conversion rate means you'll actually get charged less then the final price is listed if you change it to USD - so a bit less then the Warstore in the end.

Remember, Capital One doesn't charge international currency conversion fees!

This discount is the same that the one in the other thread right?

LunaHound wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:

LunaHound wrote:( because im scared of customs and their tax ^^l )

I'm sure we've had this conversation before, but what is your country's threshold?

For example, in Oz, it's $1000. Once you hit $1000+, you pay import duty. Anything below that and you're sweet, so you just break up the orders into <$1000 batches and go from there.

Do you have such a threshold?

I dont know whats the threshold but i have been taxed anywhere from orders between $70 to $600+
It almost feels like its not the amount that determines when they tax me , but when ever the custom picks their lucky lottery winners.

different tax limits can be on different shipping methods..
example in russia
express delivery via courier limits to ~160usd (including shipping value itself)
other kind of shipping ~320usd (but as i know its not for single package, but per some time frame like month or three months)

so better for you, to check your tax laws)

Nice!

I suggest you research your country's import and customs duties on the relevant government web sites.

Just plaecd an order and there was no mention of 17.% off. VAT was charged at 15% so I've no idea what is going on! 15% VAT stopped in, what - January?

LunaHound wrote:
I dont know whats the threshold but i have been taxed anywhere from orders between $70 to $600+
It almost feels like its not the amount that determines when they tax me , but when ever the custom picks their lucky lottery winners.

This is why I never order international. If I knew what it was going to cost me I probably wouldn't have a problem, but I can't stand the uncertainty.

Box Gretchin
Box Nobz
Box Bikers
Box ork Boyz (I culd have bought the battle set but don't need a trukk ATM)
Box Death Company
Space Wolf Codex

As of when I ordered not a single thing was in stock, so they must be getting hammered with orders.

Now I need to decide on the ork clan....

What... Time zone are they in? It's 00.05 here =o

Riffzor wrote:What... Time zone are they in? It's 00.05 here =o

Don´t worry for the time, the voucher has been extended till Thursday 27th . They always extend it

@ qn about customs sheet
Last box of stuff that i got from them had "printed material" as the item type with the total value of the order.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

As of when I ordered not a single thing was in stock, so they must be getting hammered with orders.

I think they order a majority of stuff in when they get demand for it.

Hellfury wrote:

LunaHound wrote:Hmm does anyone know how Maelstrom declare the value for custom sheet?

Im also assuming since its web store they dont have any price tag on the boxes right xD

( because im scared of customs and their tax ^^l )

Last time Ipurchased from maelsrom was when the eldar codex came out for 4th ed. It was a couple boxes of shining spears.
IIRC it was the typical cusotms sheet that said "toy soldiers" and the price declaration reflected the actual price paid.

For those of you still wondering:

H.B.M.C. wrote:Oooh! Oooh! Get me something!

An Honoured Imperial set will do - the statue thingy, you know!

What is the point It will sit in its grey plasticness and never get painted

@mal

Yes thats exactly what i was asking,

What was your actual value of that order?

And was the declared value + gift a request from you? or they do it automatically?

Thanks ^-^v

LunaHound wrote:@mal

Yes thats exactly what i was asking,

What was your actual value of that order?

And was the declared value + gift a request from you? or they do it automatically?

Thanks ^-^v

The box seems to be the smallest they use (I have one on my desk now), so the real price would not be much bigger, if different.

Unfortunately, last night was slow at work, so the boredom coupled with my poor impulse control lead to me ordering more stuff. I wound up with a Nightbringer, Telion, the new river trolls, a devastator box and some gretchin. All in I wound up with $174.50 GWS price worth of stuff for $109.80 shipped. Sadly, I realize that if these were the normal GWS prices, my shopping would be even more out of hand. I'm sort of glad this is over in two days

sonofruss wrote:What is the point It will sit in its grey plasticness and never get painted

Your point being?

For the statue get some testors model master brass or bronze metalizer and sealer in 2 hours it will look like a brass or bronze statue and not a plastic statue.

Ordered up a Valkyrie and a blister of Advisors. Only shame is that the moneyback system isn't working, oh well, it's €6,-- now.

oh snap, seems as Maelstorm will be only normal way to get minis in russia) as they lowered all limits to 160usd.

Already ordered a alot of ork stuff and with the it being extended i might just get some more .

Some prices just to reinforce how much i hate the GW pricing system for australia.

1 Ork battle force
3 ork Buggies
2 Ork battlewagons

Maelstrom 17.5% discounted prices
$232 Aus
$188 US
$131 pounds

Normal maelstrom prices
$262 aus
$212.9 US
$148.5 Pounds

GW aust price
$465 aust
$377 US
$263 pounds

That is a pretty insane price difference.

2 Bastions
3 Landing Pads
2 Honoured Imperiums (can that even be a plural?)

AUD$190, slightly better than half price were I to buy it here.

GWOZ is fethed.

Very much so H.B.M.C

I had typed a few lines of rant but figured its all been said before and we all know the idiocracies of GW.

Hmmm, still no figures have arrived and it looks like I was charged the full price! I got my order well within the discout time. Not a happy bunny!!!

Sharpasaspoon wrote:Hmmm, still no figures have arrived and it looks like I was charged the full price! I got my order well within the discout time. Not a happy bunny!!!

Well that's certainly not their fault. Did you put the code in? Ordering stuff during the sale means nothing if you didn't put the code in.

So uh... anyone actually get anything from this sale yet? Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since i ordered, and 2 weeks that my order has been in "packing" status.

For comparison, I ordered an Army Transport bag from The Warstore on Monday, and it was on my doorstep Thursday morning. Going forward I think I'd rather pay the few extra bucks, if this is how they roll.

I'm still waiting for mine... however not a single item ordered was in stock when I ordered.

I have notice the last 4 or 5 months they have slowed tremendously in getting stuff to me.

It used to be 7 to 10 days and it would arrive, now it seems to be about 3 weeks.
Which is getting annoying as they are still about 40% cheaper than retail in Oz.

however I have so much to get done 3 weeks wait is almost no problem at how.

In saying all that I'm buying the WHFB 8th ed book from a FLGS for 10% off on release day. I can't wait 3 weeks for it to arrive from Maelstrom. I have an 8th ed tourney in mid August and 1-2 weeks to learn the rules is just not enough.

I'm also at the three week mark with no dispatch notice as yet :(

Yeah. I'm going with the Warstore for my rulebook copy. 20% off and $5 shipping Priority. I just don't trust overseas ordering enough to want to save a few dollars.

You're very insular, aren't you? "Don't trust overseas shipping", I mean... what? You sound like someone who doesn't use a credit card on the internet because you can't trust people.

And for those of us in Oz, it's not a 'few dollars'. It's 50%+ of the cost.

And your OMFGMaelstromisthebeststoreever is fairly tiring. Seems lately Maelstrom has been slow to get orders out, even for items in stock. Not as great as you make them out to be, are they?

You love maelstrom, I love the warstore. Neither one is better than the other. For me it's a few dollars. I don't like to deal with overseas shipping and I'm fairly lax with my cc (in fact i had to cancel one due to stolen account number) so quit assuming, okay? Even when I trade I don't trade outside the US.

You remind me of Shuma. You just HAVE to attack my posts whenever you can, don't you? You could have left the first part of your comment out but of course that wouldn't be in character to not attack people. Must be nice to ride the coat tails of the mods and get away with personal attacks whenever you want.

Hmmpf.

To be fair though Maelstrom do need to work on their order times, every order I have made over the last year or so has taken noticeably longer than the last which is getting a bit frustrating (and I know it isn't shipping taking longer). It appears that despite the fact that I pre-ordered the new Fire Prism well in advance they still haven't managed to get any in stock.

Having said that its not going to make much difference to me in the long run as the 40%+ discount they offer over NZ prices is easily worth a couple of weeks wait.

Oh I'm sure for aussies Maelstrom is a godsend but the more stories I hear of orders taking weeks and being only a couple of dollars cheaper than Neal prices things but able to get me my stuff in 3-4 days makes me not even want to consider anyone else.

Soul Grinder is $56 shipped to the US from Maelstrom but could takes weeks if recent trend is starting to be the norm. SG from Neal shipped is $49.60. Tell me again how Maelstrom is so great H? Again, apparently good for Oz and others in Europe but not for those in the US. GW-Beater voucher would have brought that down to $38.75 but if I want a SG for the weekend I'll swallow the $9 difference. If I don't care when I get my stuff than $9 would be a nice savings.

Yeah, I'm starting to be in Fateweaver's boat. I did save money on my order, but to be honest, I'd rather pay more and get it in a timely fashion. Unless they have some massive discount code I'm likely to avoid them in the future.

And, I also "don't trust overseas shipping" - not because I distrust people who live on former penal colonies. I work at a helpdesk at night, and so get a lot of Australian callers. They are my favorite callers because they are always laid back, never yell, and are generally cool. (compared to my US based callers, who tend to never miss an opportunity to be a-holes, especially from the NY office... as a former NYer, I have learned to hate my fellow NYers, which is kinda ironic).

It's because it's freaking slow and can't be tracked.

I'm generally of the attitude that as long as the stuff arrives in good condition I'm willing to wait longer than normal for the very generous discount that Maelstrom offer, but like others have said, they just seem to be getting slower and slower. At some point I'll take my business elsewhere, which is a shame because in every other way Maelstrom have been spot on.

Could be a number of things, too many orders, too little time for a small operation perhaps.

Wouldn't surprise me if GW were short stocking them and holding things back from them based on amount of sales from these folks eating into the Aussie and European local sales. GW has a track record of doing just that to the bricks and mortars stores, slowing down their sales to a crawl while the new GW gets everything on time.

Hmm, Neal never has that problem. I've gotten from Neal as fast as ordering direct from GW (sometimes faster as UPS doesn't deliver on Saturdays).

Withholding stock sounds like conspiracy theory crap.

Fateweaver,

I'm inclined to believe in incompetence over conspiracy as a rule. However, I've had Neil tell me personally that GW has appeared to short stock him at least once. I buy his explanation as my local FLGS has had short stocking occurring with him about three times per year. He'll get 0-3 items but one can go into the local GW not 3 miles away and they'll have 20.

Edit: I'm still waiting for my order from Maelstrom that I placed during the sale as well. However, one item was out of stock and I knew going in it was going to take awhile.

I think it depends on the item in question.

I know my 'old' FLGS had issues getting things like army boxes or splash releases--simply because they required the shop to do a headcount of who's interested before the releases.

Which does make a kind of sense as to why they did it that way, because otherwise they just kinda sat there on the shelf. When the shop closed down, they still had three unclaimed Orcs & Goblins, two Lizardmen, and four Empire army boxes for WHFB.

I wonder whatever happened to those?

I think the QQ'ing should be at an end with this statement

If you want to get it in a timely fashion, buy locally.

If you want to get a discount, but can wait, buy globally.

Yes?

And if you want it at the speed of light, order from GWUS.

I can wait a couple of extra weeks as long as items arrive and I get HUGE discounts, its not a problem and I think the consumism culture as made many of us to be intolerant to the waiting.
If it was a medicin or something really urgent and important I would be very pissed but little toy soldiers? Nah.

caddock wrote:Could be a number of things, too many orders, too little time for a small operation perhaps.

Wouldn't surprise me if GW were short stocking them and holding things back from them based on amount of sales from these folks eating into the Aussie and European local sales. GW has a track record of doing just that to the bricks and mortars stores, slowing down their sales to a crawl while the new GW gets everything on time.

I see this pop up again and again.

GW do not restrict supply or short ship etc. Of course they can make errors on orders but they are few.

GW Trade have different stock allocations to GWs own retail channel. In Europe we only dont get something if its a) Out of Stock, or b) We dont order it. Note they only allow independents in Europe to order once a week.

If you see a LGS moaning about supply from GW, please be aware they might be trying to pass the buck.

Had the Warstore has a bit of an advantage over european retailers as they are als a Distributor and not just a retailer of GW goods. GW wont allow us to distribute in Europe as their trade network is already well established.

Fateweaver wrote:Oh I'm sure for aussies Maelstrom is a godsend but the more stories I hear of orders taking weeks and being only a couple of dollars cheaper than Neal prices things but able to get me my stuff in 3-4 days makes me not even want to consider anyone else.

Soul Grinder is $56 shipped to the US from Maelstrom but could takes weeks if recent trend is starting to be the norm. SG from Neal shipped is $49.60. Tell me again how Maelstrom is so great H? Again, apparently good for Oz and others in Europe but not for those in the US. GW-Beater voucher would have brought that down to $38.75 but if I want a SG for the weekend I'll swallow the $9 difference. If I don't care when I get my stuff than $9 would be a nice savings.

Just buy it in the USA. It avoids any customs hassles too.

My discount order, placed 24th May, arrived on 10th June. None of the stuff was in stock when I ordered it, so I expected a gap between ordering and shipping. It was posted first class and probably took 1-2 days between posting and arrival because I live in the UK. If you live overseas you have to expect a longer posting time.

I know people are eager to get hold of their stuff but if you are depending on having a particular kit by a particular date, because you want it for an event, you can't rely on internet retailers.

Truth be told, even GW shops only hold a limited range, so these days you can't count on being able to walk in and just pick up anything.

Hmmm... funny to hear people say they're still waiting on their orders from May - I've received 3 packages from Maelstrom since the 17.5% sale, all have arrived within 4-5 days from ordering. Maybe I just got lucky as to what they had in stock?

I had one occasion last year when an order got delayed...emailed them, polite response, parcel 4 days later !

I will only buy new GW models from Maelstrom now, either over eBay or their store - going into a GW store or ordering direct from them is NOT an option, due to the price difference (especially with the discount vouchers every 2 months!) I agree...GW OZ is fethed...

Won't deal with the Warstore...BAD experience, and not good for Aussies.

And sorry if that puts me in the"OMFGMaelstromisthebeststoreever" camp....(just hope no-one thinks I'm attacking their post... )

Padre^.

rich1231 wrote:
GW do not restrict supply or short ship etc. Of course they can make errors on orders but they are few.

GW Trade have different stock allocations to GWs own retail channel. In Europe we only dont get something if its a) Out of Stock, or b) We dont order it. Note they only allow independents in Europe to order once a week.

Rich I appreciate your post but it is quite contradictory. They have done this to B&M stores in the past, at least in NA. The second line of yours I left is exactly how they accomplish it. They only make so many models and allocate all to their retail before the FLGS stream. There is an awful lot of the official GW having 20 of something and the store around the block being told there were none available. Some stores may be passing the buck surely but not all. GW has had predatory practices in the past and I was suggesting it could be possible that it would do so again. I am glad that isn't the case for you.

And since everyone called me on the statement as a conspiracy theorist and totally overlooked the first thought I put out I'll point it out again. Is it too many orders for a small shop to handle all at once? Is it, as another poster phrased it, incompetence over conspiracy? Or is it just impatience on the buyer's part as it takes weeks to get stuff sent from the UK to North America. I know when I've had things shipped it took a minimum of two weeks, though that was from people and not businesses.

rich1231 wrote:GW do not restrict supply or short ship etc.

You sure about that? Because there's a guy who posts here under the name rich1231 who disagrees with you:

rich1231 wrote:Note they only allow independents in Europe to order once a week.

See rich, this rich guy disagrees with you.

Caddock,

Contradictory?

you mention they have restricted supply in the past to other stores? Apart from anedotal evidence, can you support that claim? Its quite a claim.

This time of year will be the busiest or near the busiest time of year for UK webstores for a variety of reasons.

If GW stores sell an average of 20 for a new release, and there are 300 stores... then they might get 6000 items allocated.
Most indies might take 4 or 5 of said item and you then get the larger internet accounts taking 2-500. There have been times that we are told an item is a splash release and there is one allocation and thats it. We tend to take larger amounts of those than would be normal. Obvioulsy Im talking for Wayland, I would assume Maelstrom are as sensible.

If you (as a trade account) place your order late on the day when these limited items are released you might find that the trade allocation has been snapped up by the larger accounts, and a few days later more stock tends to get allocated from the retail chain.


And HBMC.. ordering once a week is not really limiting supply, telling us we could only order 100 items a week etc would be. And you are being a pedant

There is a comprehensive explanation of Maelstrom Games delivery issues posted on The Warhammer Forum couple of months ago. In short: as of May 2009, delivery times have been slowed down due to new terms by Games Workshop.

For me, this means that I am going to order my WHFB 8th edition directly from Games Workshop. However, I will continue to support Maelstrom Games for non-GW or non-hurry items.

Nothing personal intended, I know the Internet is harsh filter sometimes...I'll put the part I think is contradictory up again:

rich1231 wrote:
GW do not restrict supply or short ship etc. Of course they can make errors on orders but they are few.

GW Trade have different stock allocations to GWs own retail channel. In Europe we only dont get something if its a) Out of Stock, or b) We dont order it. Note they only allow independents in Europe to order once a week.

Those two sentences contradict each other. Your whole last post explains how they do it. I can't blame them for feeding their stores first but it happens and they restrict shipping to other stores to make sure their stores get some first. Trade don't get stuff if it is out of stock, it will be out of stock when GW decide that their stores need more of it than outside trade and allocate it all there.

Your anecdote that they don't isn't any more valuable for proving anything it's a story from one trade vendor. Even if Tom Kirby himself said they did or didn't it would be technically anecdotal until either side passes some validity tests or some real evidence shows up.

None of that matters here because this a toy soldiers board where I said I wouldn't be surprised if GW was screwing with a supplier that we 'anecdotally' know is taking sales away from GW's own stores in the more expensive markets. I say that based on anecdotes of their past behaviour.

Again Occam's razor as mentioned in other posts, it could be a slew of other simpler reasons, all the way down to, they just had a rough patch or can't handle the new found volume.

I'm pretty sure they restrict their own stores to filling "an order once a week" too.

It's common sense to do an overall order once a week(usually on a Thursday or Friday, then restocking on Monday/Tuesday) as things go out of stock--rather than placing an order every time one particular thing goes out of stock every day of the week.

A store manager in a chain should have minimal input to ordering in this day and age unless someone special requests something.

The inventory control system should know when something goes under a preset threshold and needs replacing, which would show up in the distribution center's lists for what needs packing for which truck, bound for which store. The truck may still only need to leave once per week though of course.

Big sale items with expected big demand should be fed from the top down, with input from store pre-order lists which should be computerized too.

In an integrated chain like GW this should/could extend all the way to the factory to make sure things don't get made until needed.

Caddock,

dont worry I didnt take it personally.

Allocation stock internally and externally is different to restricting supply. Can we agree to disagree on this point. Other practices re trade terms would be unwise of me to comment on here.


Re ordering.. target stock level, adjusted for seasonal variances. Order to that stock level plus back orders.. is pretty much the only way to work it.. but... some of the surges we have seen in sales of obscure stuff really do surprise us.

GW are extremely low tech in their information exchange with trade accounts. We have XML feeds for orders products etc that we can plug in anywhere and they cant do it. We used to have to phone our orders in.. imagine reading product codes and quantities out for 2 hours ... deep joy...

caddock wrote: Is it too many orders for a small shop to handle all at once? Is it, as another poster phrased it, incompetence over conspiracy? Or is it just impatience on the buyer's part as it takes weeks to get stuff sent from the UK to North America. I know when I've had things shipped it took a minimum of two weeks, though that was from people and not businesses.

It's not impatience when we're entering week 3 of it not leaving the store. I expect and understand a 2 to 3 week delay in shipping overseas. I also expected and understood that if I got stuff that was out of stock from Maelstrom, it would be a week or so until it arrived to them and could be shipped. This is not the problem.

I don't expect or appreciate my order coming into stock a week after I ordered, and then it sitting in packing for going on the third week now.

I also dismiss the argument that it is too many orders for a small shop to handle at once, for several reasons. First off, they have run lots of sales like this before, such as the summer one last year, and know what they have on hand. Second off, they extended the sale, again knowing what they had in stock and what they did not. Finally, no one put a gun to their head and told them to run a sale, and certainly no one is preventing them from sending out an email saying hey, we got flooded, so expect a small delay, sorry.


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NAVARRO wrote:I can wait a couple of extra weeks as long as items arrive and I get HUGE discounts, its not a problem and I think the consumism culture as made many of us to be intolerant to the waiting.
If it was a medicin or something really urgent and important I would be very pissed but little toy soldiers? Nah.

I don't buy this argument either. You're free to embrace mediocrity if you wish, but to me, my money is valuable, I worked hard for it, and I expect my business to be taken seriously regardless of what I bought, whether it's from Amazon, Newegg, or any other site.

Ouze wrote:[
Automatically Appended Next Post:

NAVARRO wrote:I can wait a couple of extra weeks as long as items arrive and I get HUGE discounts, its not a problem and I think the consumism culture as made many of us to be intolerant to the waiting.
If it was a medicin or something really urgent and important I would be very pissed but little toy soldiers? Nah.

I don't buy this argument either. You're free to embrace mediocrity if you wish, but to me, my money is valuable, I worked hard for it, and I expect my business to be taken seriously regardless of what I bought, whether it's from Amazon, Newegg, or any other site.

Talk about overthtop conclusions
Lets see, I will just discard 40%+ savings because I cant wait a couple extra weeks... err no thank you sir I rather embrace "mediocrity" than be a blind consumist. In hard economy times makes perfect sense to trow away money because you cant wait 2 weeks for TOY soldiers.
Not only that but were do you see mediocre service? Its cheap, good communication, and most of the times when no big promotions is in place is fairly quick... not only that but it carries a wide range of diferent and more obscure products.

If you have hard time making money then spend less, thats what I'm doing

NAVARRO wrote: Talk about overthtop conclusions
Lets see, I will just discard 40%+ savings because I cant wait a couple extra weeks... err no thank you sir I rather embrace "mediocrity" than be a blind consumist. In hard economy times makes perfect sense to trow away money because you cant wait 2 weeks for TOY soldiers.
Not only that but were do you see mediocre service? Its cheap, good communication, and most of the times when no big promotions is in place is fairly quick... not only that but it carries a wide range of diferent and more obscure products.

If you have hard time making money then spend less, thats what I'm doing

1.) Having an item come into stock, and then sitting on it for over two weeks is mediocrity, imo. Certainly running another sale when you were apparently overwhelmed by the last big sale is mediocrity, imo. Other businesses don't act like this, and then say well, "you're just ordering _____ so we can roll this way". Why feed them steak, when they'll eat poop?
2.) Maelstrom is selling a Space Marine Battleforce for £45.00. That's about $66 USD. The Warstore sells that exact same battleforce for $72. That's more like 8.2% off, not "40%" off. Yes, I know that Maelstrom has free shipping, but it appears you get what you pay for.
3.) I hardly have a hard time making money - that's exactly my point. In the above referenced battleforce example, it's worth it for me to pay a lousy extra $8 or whatever to have it in a few days, or a week. If you don't have a problem with a company taking your money and giving you terrible service so you can save the price of a Happy Meal, good on you, glad you're happy - but don't pretend that it's reasonable for everyone else to feel the same way. My time isn't worthless. Again, I'm not peeved about a long ship time - no problem - it's the nearly 3 weeks in packing that I'm peeved about. Of course, some people are saying that they got their orders delivered, and the status just never changed, and still shows "packing" - again, mediocrity.
4.) Obviously, my experiences only represent a US viewpoint. For AUS or other regions, I understand it's a very different situation and I'd be inclined to order from them no matter how damn slow they were.

I too am experiencing delays with an order, but I have noticed that although the quoted 40% discounts for AUS is awesome, not all items have the same discount.

One example would be Stormvermin, full price in AUD at Maelstrom but about $30 cheaper, including shipping from a US eBay store.

For American users, I think they are trying to compare apples and oranges. For almost everyone outside the USA, it is better to order from Maelstrom - their prices are good and their free postage means that everyone can take advantage of them.

For anyone in the US, order from the Warstore - the discount is not quite as good and there is postage, but you will get it a lot faster, which seems to be pretty much the only gripe I've seen here with Maelstrom - the price difference between MS and WS "making up for" any delay you may get from MS.

But to be honest, you do get what you pay for. It just depends on what you value, a bit of extra saving (which will vary greatly depending on where in the world you are and your dollar/GPB saving +/- shipping costs), or a faster shipping.

It just appears from this thread (and other similar ones) that our friends over the pond would rather pay a bit more and get it faster, while most of the rest of the world are happy getting it cheaper (sometimes significantly), but having to wait a bit.

So please, can we give it a rest now?

Ouze wrote:

NAVARRO wrote: Talk about overthtop conclusions
Lets see, I will just discard 40%+ savings because I cant wait a couple extra weeks... err no thank you sir I rather embrace "mediocrity" than be a blind consumist. In hard economy times makes perfect sense to trow away money because you cant wait 2 weeks for TOY soldiers.
Not only that but were do you see mediocre service? Its cheap, good communication, and most of the times when no big promotions is in place is fairly quick... not only that but it carries a wide range of diferent and more obscure products.

If you have hard time making money then spend less, thats what I'm doing

1.) Having an item come into stock, and then sitting on it for over two weeks is mediocrity, imo. Certainly running another sale when you were apparently overwhelmed by the last big sale is mediocrity, imo. Other businesses don't act like this, and then say well, "you're just ordering _____ so we can roll this way". Why feed them steak, when they'll eat poop?
2.) Maelstrom is selling a Space Marine Battleforce for £45.00. That's about $66 USD. The Warstore sells that exact same battleforce for $72. That's more like 8.2% off, not "40%" off. Yes, I know that Maelstrom has free shipping, but it appears you get what you pay for.
3.) I hardly have a hard time making money - that's exactly my point. In the above referenced battleforce example, it's worth it for me to pay a lousy extra $8 or whatever to have it in a few days, or a week. If you don't have a problem with a company taking your money and giving you terrible service so you can save the price of a Happy Meal, good on you, glad you're happy - but don't pretend that it's reasonable for everyone else to feel the same way. My time isn't worthless. Again, I'm not peeved about a long ship time - no problem - it's the nearly 3 weeks in packing that I'm peeved about. Of course, some people are saying that they got their orders delivered, and the status just never changed, and still shows "packing" - again, mediocrity.
4.) Obviously, my experiences only represent a US viewpoint. For AUS or other regions, I understand it's a very different situation and I'd be inclined to order from them no matter how damn slow they were.

Calm down you give the impression you are a bit way to stressed for the topic at hand.

1) Jezz lol... eat poop? ist that your overall view on this? Sometimes they break in parcels the instock and outofstock items, sometimes when parcels are small they wait until everything is available to ship all in one parcel... makes sense to me specially since its free shipping... And I for one will not biatch about big sales, the more the better! but yeah I see your point you cant wait a couple extra weeks so you rather not have big sales Talk about distorted prespective.

2)Well check the discounts/ extra money back and vouchers at mael and see GW spain prices, I rest my case... Some years ago I used The warstore and even if its a great store and I like neal, that solved the several times they sent to wrong address ( even if i stated always on mails they were shipping to wrong addresses and to be carefull now) the shipping gets ridiculous huge the more you ordered and then you should still flip a coin to see if customs picked it up (50% chance) delaying orders and gauging prices by a fat custom tax. So NO The warstore doesnt deliver me what I pay for in Maelstrom by a long shot.

3)You said "but don't pretend that it's reasonable for everyone else to feel the same way" Dont be creative with me now ok? Were did I said you or anyone should be satisfied like I'am with Mael? I stated my personal opinion about it and expressed I was personally satisfied with what Mael provides thats what you do on a forum... express personal opinions not express grosse generalizations like you seem to be doing on point 4)

4) you said "my experiences only represent a US viewpoint" LOL no mate your experiences represent YOUR view point not US ones.
Sorry for playing a bit with your words mate.

Hope you are clarified and more relaxed now, seriously buy were you feel like it I for one buy at, Mael, sarting at Waylands(loving it), used Battlefield berlin, THe warstore, ludik bazar, antenocitii to name a few... all of them have good points and bad points going on for them but none of them I would ever lable mediocre... you know why? Because they are honest about their business and try to serve you the best they can under their limitations.
But yeah go for the all or nothing sterile type of conclusions/ statements if that feels right for you.

1.) My view is that when you rationalize poor customer service by saying things like "well, they are just plastic army men" you're sort of hurting everyone else who is not satisfied with poor service. It really shouldn't matter what the product is, but that's my opinion and we all have one.

2.) I mentioned I get that my experience may not be shared by people in different regions. So far as the examples you gave as far as possible problems, I ordered on 5/24, everything came into stock and my order was combined on Jun 3rd and it went into packing, where it remains still.

3.) Are you really calling me out for taking liberties with your words by extrapolating out conclusions you didn't explicitly state, one paragraph after claiming "i don't like to wait for shipping so I'd rather not have big sales"? And then repeating it by claiming I use "gross generalizations" in the next paragraph? I mean, if you want to play that game, I understand it (and enjoy it!), but I don't pretend to be above it.

4.) I stated that "from a US viewpoint". As I'm a US citizen, what I said was literally accurate. I never claimed to speak for my entire country.

It's not that I have some burning hatred of Maelstrom, whom I obviously thought highly enough of to give them my business after reading favorable reviews here on Dakka. If it does turn out that it shows up in the next day or so, and it's just that their site never gets it off the "packing" status, then I'd even order from them again, as their prices are sometimes better then others. So far as the rest, SilverMK2 has the best wrapup in my opinion. I agree with you - we should buy where we feel like it - but part of that is being able to have a reasonable expectation of what your experience would be.

Maelstrom is awesome for Aussies, I got my order last week and now hoping the 15% will be extended so I can but the new rule book. for me I dont mind so much the waiting theres always other projects and in the end its just toys, until then I have other things to think about like work and family

I've had 1 order from MS which took forever - they were waiting on a coupe of things to come into stock. After a few weeks (3-4?) they split the order and sent out everything they had. The other part of the order came in stock the next week or so and I got it within a couple of days.

Overall I don't think (other than that one order) I've had to wait more than 2 weeks to get an order through from MS, even when things have been out of stock.

If you are having an issue with their shipping/dispatch times, send them an email. I've only ever had good replies to my (admittedly few) questions.

But as you say Ouze, you do expect a certain level of standard from any business you enter into a contract with. It is sad that MS lets delivery times slip quite a long time for some orders without, seemingly, any particular reason.

Ouze wrote:1.) My view is that when you rationalize poor customer service by saying things like "well, they are just plastic army men" you're sort of hurting everyone else who is not satisfied with poor service. It really shouldn't matter what the product is, but that's my opinion and we all have one.

2.) I mentioned I get that my experience may not be shared by people in different regions. So far as the examples you gave as far as possible problems, I ordered on 5/24, everything came into stock and my order was combined on Jun 3rd and it went into packing, where it remains still.

3.) Are you really calling me out for taking liberties with your words by extrapolating out conclusions you didn't explicitly state, one paragraph after claiming "i don't like to wait for shipping so I'd rather not have big sales"? And then repeating it by claiming I use "gross generalizations" in the next paragraph? I mean, if you want to play that game, I understand it (and enjoy it!), but I don't pretend to be above it.

4.) I stated that "from a US viewpoint". As I'm a US citizen, what I said was literally accurate. I never claimed to speak for my entire country.

It's not that I have some burning hatred of Maelstrom, whom I obviously thought highly enough of to give them my business after reading favorable reviews here on Dakka. If it does turn out that it shows up in the next day or so, and it's just that their site never gets it off the "packing" status, then I'd even order from them again, as their prices are sometimes better then others. So far as the rest, SilverMK2 has the best wrapup in my opinion. I agree with you - we should buy where we feel like it - but part of that is being able to have a reasonable expectation of what your experience would be.

1) Dont understand how my personal opinion about my personal experiences and the fact that I dont consider 2 extra weeks delay for a luxury/ non essential item enough to call the service mediocre... "hurts everyone"
I do put things in prespective and cannot hold against them for sometimes having delay problems on shipping toys because the consequence is infinitly smaller than not delivering a medicin on time!
But i respect that you disagree and consider every item or product outhere equally important. I dont.
I guess its a bit of what I mentioned in first posts, consumism culture has made many of us intolerant to waiting.

WHen you use a service you avaluate it the way you really want to, I tend to look at the sum of all factors and not just some, as such mael is really high on my recomendations list.


3) I'm yet to understand why you consider "but don't pretend that it's reasonable for everyone else to feel the same way" or why Im "hurting" everyone with my comments... I have not said you should not be pissed with Mael shipping instead I told you "im not" its a big diference from " you should or shouldnt". And yes I played with your words a bit just to make things a bit less serious and more fun here... Im not above it but I try to not to fall into generalizations. Hard when you read mostly Black/white conclusions/remarks.

4) I know thats why I said I was sorry for playing with your words... Just couldnt help it


My espectations are satisfied with Mael... could they improve? hell yes, but as is its a very good option if you want to buy toy soldiers at very good rates. Wayland is getting very close.

I got my order today, which surprised me since I never got a notice that they had been dispatched. That puts them at just over the 3 week mark.

If you don't like the service with Maelstrom, why don't you guys just order from Wayland, the discount is better (20%) and the postage is damn cheap. I usually get my items within two weeks, across the sea. If something about a company doesn't please you, try others.

People use Maelstrom because of the constant sales.

poipo32 wrote:If you don't like the service with Maelstrom, why don't you guys just order from Wayland, the discount is better (20%) and the postage is damn cheap. I usually get my items within two weeks, across the sea. If something about a company doesn't please you, try others.

I have to agree with this following great experience I have had today. First I will say that I am usually loyal to no business except that which will offer me the best deal. There are only GW's and very small businesses [i.e. bike shops and the like] that sell hobby stuff as a side line. Mostly I shop at Maelstrom Games, for the usual reasons; P&P included, decent discount, cash back, price match etc.

While comparing prices for a some Guard tanks noticed [just a few weeks ago] that Wayland Games is actually based locally to me in Southend. How I missed that for two years I don't know? I had even been past it probably a dozen times going to Southend RFC, talk about right under your nose!

So I pitched up there today to check out their [small but perfectly formed] shop at the front of the warehouse. Sure enough lots of GW and FoW stuff on display plus a few other odds and sods. I quickly picked up the half dozen or so kits I wanted and then noticed that there was no one there for me to pay? I waited patiently contemplating how many box sets I could carry and how far I would be able to run with them on my chubby little legs. I then discarded larceny as a new career choice and perused the FoW stuff. This was clearly a clever marketing trick by WG as I then added a couple of Vietnam US airborne blisters to my pile of booty [dam you impulse buying!].

Realising I would be skint if this carried on I made my presence known to the staff in warehouse and was joined by Jerry and Adam who were then able to furnish me with a battleforce box from the stores and allow me to pay.

All very good, but here is where the visit really got interesting as Jerry asked if I would like to have a look around their new warehouse. I was really impressed with the set up, it all looked very organised to me, lots of ranges and lots of stock. I really appreciated the time that Jerry took to show me around and chat about what WG are all about, including the points that rich1231 made above about the weekly orders.

To top it all off when asked whether the had any distilled water to thin airbrush paints they even gave me a bottle of Vallejo acrylic thinner to try out gratis!

Overall the discount was good, the customer service was great and the free stuff was win. If I had to add P&P to that I suggest that I would probably still come out better than MG and they have stock.

In all honesty I will still use MG for the price match service for RPG's but my wargaming purchases will now be made at Wayland.

Thanks to Jerry and Adam and a good work fella to rich1231 for running a great business, I wish you every success.

[sorry to dump a wall-o-text about Wayland in a Maelstrom thread but it seemed relevent ]

I jsut noticed that Gw items in Maelstrom have gotten a price increase, or is it only me ?

As an addit to my post on 12th June.

My order shipped overnight (my time).

20 days after placing the order.

Thats really lame in anyone's book.
They get restocks at least a couple times per week from GW.

I just got an email that my order has finally dispatched, 23 days after ordering.

Interestingly, the shipping confirmation email shows the total of my order as 81.68GBP, which is interesting since when I first ordered it was 76.68GBP. Since I'm not getting any international transaction alerts, it doesn't look like they have added on any ex post facto $7.30USD charges, and it's just that the prices have changed from when I ordered until when they posted, but still, incredibly sloppy accounting.

I got my dispatch notice today, which is strange as I received the order yesterday. I don't suppose I'm lucky enough to end up getting my order twice, but you never know.

JUst recieved my dispatch notice today. Though it was placed on the 23rd May, it will be worth the wait.

poipo32 wrote:If you don't like the service with Maelstrom, why don't you guys just order from Wayland, the discount is better (20%) and the postage is damn cheap. I usually get my items within two weeks, across the sea. If something about a company doesn't please you, try others.

Just FYI, Waylands gives a constant discount of around 25-26% on all items, not 20% which is the norm for other discount retailers.

That is why WG is king.

Not if you live in a different country they're not. Shipping to UK? Not a huge issue. Use whoever ends up with the lower price?

Shipping to the other side of the planet? I'll take 'free' over 'something other than free' any day of the week.


And here's an oddity for you:

I put together three orders to check prices - one to GWOz, one to GWUS and one to GWUK. All were for the same items (Iron Warriors Iron Father + Planetary Empire's Tiles) and when converted into AUD$, the GWOz one was $140-ish, the GWUS one (including shipping) was $130-ish, and the GWUK was $88.

Any idea why GWUS charges so much for shipping? Sure, they're fast (and GWUK is... sketchy when it comes to shipping times), but $40+ faster?

Luckily shopping cart + check out option is quite easy and fast to do.

If shipping fee is an issue , we can always tally up the final total and choose the cheaper shop.

Usually larger orders from WG will end up cheaper than MG

Got my order today, put it up three weeks ago. They spent a full week putting my two orders together though. I can see they said "feth it" after on day seven, as they squished my blister in between two large boxed sets.

As I have posted in the thread related to the previous sale, I had to wait about 2 weeks for a package of items in stock. A couple of days after the arrival I received the mail notifying the shipping of the out of stock items, and it has taken from a Friday to a Monday to reach my door

But this were all items bought during the GW-Beater.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

I put together three orders to check prices - one to GWOz, one to GWUS and one to GWUK. All were for the same items (Iron Warriors Iron Father + Planetary Empire's Tiles) and when converted into AUD$, the GWOz one was $140-ish, the GWUS one (including shipping) was $130-ish, and the GWUK was $88.

Any idea why GWUS charges so much for shipping? Sure, they're fast (and GWUK is... sketchy when it comes to shipping times), but $40+ faster?

How are you getting shipping quotes from GWUS and GWUK? I thought their new online format forced you to pay in the currency used in the location shipped to?

I'd much rather order from us/uk.. or are these just calculated for localized comparisons?

Re: The late packages issue: I wrote the company an email asking what was already at their warehosue and what they were waiting for and they replied that there was a problem of some sort with the Killa Kans, so I asked them to ship the order without them and it was at my plae in 3 days. Mind you, I live at the other end of Europe. Overall communicatino with the company has always been great, too.

Only good experiences on my part.

Hollo wrote:How are you getting shipping quotes from GWUS and GWUK? I thought their new online format forced you to pay in the currency used in the location shipped to?

Because when you go through the order system it'll you for a few extra shipping details to calculate shipping charges. It starts with a flat rate (£10 for UK) and then either reduces it or decreases it depending on where you are. UK actually goes down (not by much - £9.36 was the total), but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than GWUS, and I can't work out why.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Not if you live in a different country they're not. Shipping to UK? Not a huge issue. Use whoever ends up with the lower price?

Shipping to the other side of the planet? I'll take 'free' over 'something other than free' any day of the week.


And here's an oddity for you:

I put together three orders to check prices - one to GWOz, one to GWUS and one to GWUK. All were for the same items (Iron Warriors Iron Father + Planetary Empire's Tiles) and when converted into AUD$, the GWOz one was $140-ish, the GWUS one (including shipping) was $130-ish, and the GWUK was $88.

Any idea why GWUS charges so much for shipping? Sure, they're fast (and GWUK is... sketchy when it comes to shipping times), but $40+ faster?

What is the shipping cost of Wayland Games to Australia? Because I order from Wayland in the U.S. and it's only ever been £2.50 if I remember correctly.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Hollo wrote:How are you getting shipping quotes from GWUS and GWUK? I thought their new online format forced you to pay in the currency used in the location shipped to?

Because when you go through the order system it'll you for a few extra shipping details to calculate shipping charges. It starts with a flat rate (£10 for UK) and then either reduces it or decreases it depending on where you are. UK actually goes down (not by much - £9.36 was the total), but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than GWUS, and I can't work out why.

I think the shipping changes because they alter carriers. USPS costs them nothing to ship via, but for International Orders and orders past a certain weight limit they swap over to FedEx, which actually charges them pretty heavily for shipping.

Doesn't matter what I order (one blister or 10 battle forces), it always sits at US$30 and never goes lower, only higher.

That's odd then.

Kanluwen wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Hollo wrote:How are you getting shipping quotes from GWUS and GWUK? I thought their new online format forced you to pay in the currency used in the location shipped to?

Because when you go through the order system it'll you for a few extra shipping details to calculate shipping charges. It starts with a flat rate (£10 for UK) and then either reduces it or decreases it depending on where you are. UK actually goes down (not by much - £9.36 was the total), but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than GWUS, and I can't work out why.

I think the shipping changes because they alter carriers. USPS costs them nothing to ship via, but for International Orders and orders past a certain weight limit they swap over to FedEx, which actually charges them pretty heavily for shipping.

Our Oz and Nz Airmail rates have just been reduced further.

In the UK you can already get 40k products for considerably less than Maelstrom charges (yes I know about the pricematch policy but it's a lot of hassle and time to go through for 1p).

Primarily, therefore, I use it for hobby supplies and non 40k stuff. The slowness of their processing, however, has gotten me to the point where i'm going to spend a lot more time looking around at other alternatives before going back to them. 6+ days just to process an order isn't acceptable when there are plenty of companies who will ship something within 24 hours of it being ordered.

So, nice company in general but it seems to be endemic that they're very. very slow to do anything. Add in that they're not the cheapest and it becomes an easy choice to start shopping around for all my non-40k hobby items as well.