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Canadian cards mold group buy interest? (1 Viewer)

TheDuke

TheDuke

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Fellow Canadians. Would you be interested in a Canadian cards mold group buy?

The advantage would be the cost savings on reshipping. For example, I ordered 1275 chips from the big cards mold group buy and paid $180 CAD to have them reshipped from the US. In contrast, I just paid $42 CAD to have 1500 chips shipped to me within Canada.

I've run group buys in the past (over at the blue place) and would be happy to take the reins. Or assist if anyone else wants to take the lead.

Info about these chips can be found here:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...ramics-master-consolidated-info-thread.65544/

Depending on volume, looking in the neighborhood of ~30¢ per chip (USD). Reshipping costs would be extra on top.

Do we have enough interest to get this off the ground?
 
A Canadian GB just ran. They may be able to provide pointers and may know of others who didn’t make their cutoff. I think the shipping and payment dynamics were slightly different for them. Let me try to find who it was.
 
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but we just went down this rabbit hole before xmas. End result was our canadian GB is half US members, and the chips are landing in and being reshipped from the US. The sea shipping rates from China to the Canada are substantially higher and you run this risk of import tax/duty. It is based on the provincial tax where it lands, so you might get a pass in Alberta, but the shipping issue remains.

Edit: checked email for firm numbers.
Estimate to canada for ~13k chips:
DHL air 1600usd
Sea container 800usd
Same order landing in Washington: 450usd.
 
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vanislander said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but we just went down this rabbit hole before xmas. End result was our canadian GB is half US members, and the chips are landing in and being reshipped from the US. The sea shipping rates from China to the Canada are substantially higher and you run this risk of import tax/duty. It is based on the provincial tax where it lands, so you might get a pass in Alberta, but the shipping issue remains
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Do you know what the shipping quote for Canada was for your order? How big was the order in terms of chips? Was it double/triple vs the cost to the US? I would have thought the US-China trade war would have made some kind of impact as to make it comparable. Is it so prohibitively expensive as to offset the 4x reshipping differential that I noted? Depending on scale (ie. size of overall GB) it may work in our favor when it comes to the vast cost difference in reshipping (domestic Canada vs from US).

Just checked the CBSA website. It doesn't appear that poker chips (if classified as a toy/board game) are subject to duty. Per the website it would only be subject to GST (5%) coming into Alberta.

Another factor for savings for a Canada specific GB is the avoidance of the usual cost of currency conversion of CAD to USD when collecting funds (PayPal, credit card Co., etc. - they all charge some kind of fee).
 
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I edited my original post to include the quotes and quantities.
13k chip to Canada:
DHL Air freight $1600USD
Sea container $800USD (on an even slower boat than US somehow...)
13k chip to USA by sea: $450USD

There was some weirdness regarding what CBSA called it. It wasn't "duty" but something to do with new goods landing in Canada being subject to an import tax. It was based on federal/provincial tax so Alberta was less exposed. We didn't have any Bertans in our group, so we were looking at 12-14%.
This also brings us to another problem. We were not able to get above 10k chips from just Canadian members. This was in December, demand may have increased with all the delicious pron being posted but at the time we just didn't have the numbers so we opened it up. The initial intent was to have it land in Canada, but once we saw the shipping/tax constraints it became less practical. One of the mercans heroically stepped up to be re-shipper.

Last note, with the 5kg max on Canadian flat rate boxes you end up shipping multiples and the cost goes up. One can go to the post office and get a specific price based on the box/weight you bring in that is more reasonable, but from a re-shipper's perspective this is not practical. You want to know (and recieve) the cost of reshipping before you get to the post office. Flat rate boxes are the only way to do this. The alternative is to bundle up all the packages and take them in for individual quotes then either: ship them all immediately without receiving payment from end user, or leave the post office with >13K chips in your trunk, get the money sorted, then return to the post office to ship.

hope this is helpful, let me know if you've got any specific questions
 
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Thanks for the info!

It would come down to actual order numbers but I think savings on reshipping should offset the front end shipping cost and 5% GST.

I just paid $42 shipping for 1500 chips for domestic Canadian shipping vs $180 I paid for 1275 chips from the US. Say we have 10 Canadians on board that's ~$1400 in collective cost differential. Enough to offset the increased front end shipping cost. In terms of taking longer, all of these orders are taking a long time so a bit longer is not an issue (for me at least.)

Yeah, flat rate in Canada is pretty useless. Large flat rate box is $30 (with 5kg limit you noted). It's much cheaper to just ship regular parcel post (as noted in my $42 (~15kg) example).

I've reshipped GBs in the past and getting quotes from CP (via website) was not an issue. Not sure if things have changed but it was an accurate/easy process in the past. I'm not really concerned about getting payment before or after for reshipping. I don't think anyone on this site participating in a GB (and first having faith that the GB leader is not going to just run off with the initial $) is going to stiff me on reshipping afterwards.

I guess this is all moot if people have already had their fill of these chips and there's not enough interest... But can anyone really have too many chips? :unsure:
 
TheDuke said:
I guess this is all moot if people have already had their fill of these chips and there's not enough interest... But can anyone really have too many chips? :unsure:
Click to expand...

These chip costs are well within the impulse purchase territory for many people. As more new sets roll in by the day it excites more people to buy more sets. And I think the vast majority of people who have received their sets are pleasantly surprised by the quality and colors. A lot of people have decided to buy more after they receive their first one.
 
Eloe2000 said:
These chip costs are well within the impulse purchase territory for many people. As more new sets roll in by the day it excites more people to buy more sets. And I think the vast majority of people who have received their sets are pleasantly surprised by the quality and colors. A lot of people have decided to buy more after they receive their first one.
Click to expand...
These chips in hand definitely surpassed my expectations.

I was really surprised by the vivid colors. I really am impressed with the feel as well. Really like the texture and the feel with the mold is great.

I prefer these over the Nevada Jacks and Chipco sets I've owned in the past. I think the mold makes a big difference vs flat chips.

Overall, a great bang for the buck.
 
I ordered as part of the GB that sean ran. I am very happy with my cash set. I ordered 1120 chips and I am thinking of getting a Tourney set. So YES I AM INTERESTED!

The shipping is brutal I am so sick of the outrageous shipping prices, but the chips are worth it... just asinine to think how much shipping costs are.
 
I would be down to get some chips. I need to top up my cash set just a bit but as well I would join @T_Chan with the WSOP Tribute set if possible (My whole order should be around 800-1K in chips if that helps).
 
Ok, now that I'm at a computer I can go a bit more into it.

So I am going to be ordering a set from one of the overseas vendors, not sure which on yet, and should be able to also arrange my own shipping and customs clearance. I'm planning to get some tributes made, probably mostly cash and some tourney with my own take on the edgespots. Still a work in progress.

Screenshot 2021-02-19 22.23.00.png
 
Part of my concern as well is that I don't have a sample of these. I do have a sample of the Diamond mold from Sunfly, and I really dislike those. I also have a Scrub Donkey sample on the Plain mold from China, and I do like those. They are heavier (9.8g vs 9.3g for the Diamond mold) and have a lot more texture.

The price is appealing, but it doesn't make sense to purchase chips I won't like.
 
CdnBeerLover said:
Part of my concern as well is that I don't have a sample of these. I do have a sample of the Diamond mold from Sunfly, and I really dislike those. I also have a Scrub Donkey sample on the Plain mold from China, and I do like those. They are heavier (9.8g vs 9.3g for the Diamond mold) and have a lot more texture.

The price is appealing, but it doesn't make sense to purchase chips I won't like.
Click to expand...

FWIW this is the same company that did the Scrub Donkey chips. The SD chips were on the textured plain mold. The cards mold chips are “untextured” (there is no textured cards mold) but still definitely have some texture and grippiness. It’s actually really difficult to tell the difference between the textured and untextured plain mold chips from this maker as has been discussed in other threads and I can verify myself.

Also, these are 9.8g

374C6011-40EB-4334-B8D2-64813DA84B91.jpeg
 
T_Chan said:
Ok, now that I'm at a computer I can go a bit more into it.

So I am going to be ordering a set from one of the overseas vendors, not sure which on yet, and should be able to also arrange my own shipping and customs clearance. I'm planning to get some tributes made, probably mostly cash and some tourney with my own take on the edgespots. Still a work in progress.

View attachment 640058
Click to expand...

Just wondering if you’d be interested in ordering these chips in bulk if others are on board with your tourney design?
 
davethesave said:
Just wondering if you’d be interested in ordering these chips in bulk if others are on board with your tourney design?
Click to expand...

I don't see any reason why not. I assumed other Canadian orders would want to jump on board with my order. I've just been quite busy these days so it's a bit of a back burner project.
 
I believe the colors are set, just the edgespots might be re-worked. This is just a 2nd draft I made up and still going through possible revisions. Feedback is welcome ;)
 
@vanislander i was just told you guys ended up not using Tina for your buy and I know you were having the shipping cost issues. What ended up inspiring the change? I am just about to do an order of 20k and want to be aware of any speed bumps. Thanks!
 
T_Chan said:
I believe the colors are set, just the edgespots might be re-worked. This is just a 2nd draft I made up and still going through possible revisions. Feedback is welcome ;)
Click to expand...
Maybe different edgespot for the 1k. The 1, 5, and 25 have 1/4 spots. Maybe have the 1k have edgespot similar to the 100 and 500.

Perhaps the same thing for 5k, 25k, and 100k. Have similar (but progressive) edgespot designs.
 
Eloe2000 said:
@vanislander i was just told you guys ended up not using Tina for your buy and I know you were having the shipping cost issues. What ended up inspiring the change? I am just about to do an order of 20k and want to be aware of any speed bumps. Thanks!
Click to expand...
We combined w another GB that was suggesting another manufacturer. Chip pricing was slightly lower and a few guys who had used them vouched for their quality. No issues w Tina, we just found a cheaper option.
 

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