Swiss/EU Cards Mold GB Interest Thread (2 Viewers)

[cpac54]

Gauging interest for a Swiss-based group buy (interest from Euro-based chippers welcome).

Between myself and another person (non-PCFer) I'm good for at least 2000 chips.

In the interest of not letting the GB get all too big, complicated or time intensive for me:
- I'll probably cut this off once we hit the 10,000 chip mark. The early bird gets the worm!
- Strong preference for using existing card molds designs or designs that are ready to go. Don't want to wait around for designs to be made.

There's a good summary here of the important details, done up by @Eloe2000: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...ramics-master-consolidated-info-thread.65544/

Original GB here (be warned, it's 150+ pages...): https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/custom-artwork-group-buy-us-can-cards-mold.58260/

Important info (courtesy of Eloe2000's post):

Minimum per design/denom:

25 chips (chips can be ordered in any quantity above 25 chips. They do not need to be multiples of 25).

Note: based on what I've read, I'd recommend ordered a few more chips per denom than you need, just to cover for possible breakage during shipping, or to replace the odd spinner.

Cost:

I recommend you assume a little variability in the pricing. Honestly it seems a little on fly. But it also seems it has gone up a couple pennies since GB1. As of 11/23/20 I had a rough quote of:

39mm cards mold:
$0.28 at > 10,000
$0.30 at > 5,000
$0.32 at > 2,000

Shipping:

Approx. $0.11-0.15/per chip via DHL to Europe from China depending on qty. ordered (air freight is the only option for Europe).

Order would be shipped to me in Switzerland.

Re-shipping costs from Switzerland to European locations would be extra. Up to 15kg runs approx $55 to most European countries (which is about 50% cheaper than having chips re-shipped from the U.S.A.)

Colors:

Pantone colors. May be safe by using CMYK. 33 sets of color sample wheels are floating around.

Designs:

Should be submitted as .AI files. You are not limited by any design characteristics. Cards mold inner inlay area is 25mm.

Design tool here:
http://poker.is-great.net/edges.php?i=1
http://poker.is-great.net/index.php

There are a number of "ready-to-go" designs out there if someone doesn't want to go the custom route. Check out this link here from Eloe again: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...-consolidated-info-thread.65544/#post-1303539


DEADLINE:
I have my order ready to go, as does another non-PCFer. I'll aim to submit an order by mid-May 2021. Please confirm your interest by Friday, May 7th.

Any questions? Just ask!

 

[cpac54]

Interest:

@cpac54: 2200+ confirmed (Starlite "bird cruise" tribute set)
@MrWitti: 600-1000
@Pinball: 600
@Majodr: tbd
@BillyBluff: tbd
@Orangetechno: tbd
@MeikCat: tbd
@jdfoto: tbd

 

[Marius L]

I have already ordered 1300+ of these as part of the first GB, but have not arranged shipping yet. If it makes sense financially for me and the group I would be in for combined shipping. I'll watch this with interest and see how it evolves at least.

 

[Majodr]

Interested

 

[BillyBluff]

Certainly interested...

 

[cpac54]

Interested

Certainly interested...

Sounds great, gents! Once you've had a chance to think about possible designs and quantities, please let me know. Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Caveat: it's my first time organising a GB and dealing with the cards mold manufacturer, so if I don't have an answer right away, you can be sure I'll find it out and get back to you.

 

[Orangetechno]

If this goes ahead I would find it hard to not order a set

 

[MeikCat]

Interested too.

 

[jdfoto]

Interested. Thinking of making my own, but also like the starlite "bird cruise" tribute too.

Here are the links to the chip design tool from the other thread as well:

http://poker.is-great.net/edges.php?i=1
http://poker.is-great.net/index.php

 

[Racer96]

You may want to contact them to see if they can do slow shipping option (cheaper) to EU. When I ordered my 2000 chips, they said they could only do fast shipping, which cost around $290 for 2,000 chips.

Also, if you are doing a paypal transaction, they will charge you a fee. They are asking for a bank transfer to avoid that, I believe.

 

[cpac54]

You may want to contact them to see if they can do slow shipping option (cheaper) to EU. When I ordered my 2000 chips, they said they could only do fast shipping, which cost around $290 for 2,000 chips.

Also, if you are doing a paypal transaction, they will charge you a fee. They are asking for a bank transfer to avoid that, I believe.

Thanks, I'll plan to reach out to Tina and clarify that. $290 is pretty steep for 2000 chips, but my understanding is that shipping per unit gets much cheaper at the 10k chip mark. Appreciate the heads up.

 

[Marius L]

Thanks, I'll plan to reach out to Tina and clarify that. $290 is pretty steep for 2000 chips, but my understanding is that shipping per unit gets much cheaper at the 10k chip mark. Appreciate the heads up.

The expensive shipping is also why I have not arranged shipping for my chips yet as well. She said their only option currently was to use DHL, if I remember correctly, and that gets expensive real fast. If there is a price break/different shipping option for 10k chips that would be very nice to lower the cost.

 

[cpac54]

Just a quick update: I've sent the manufacturer an email just now to confirm pricing and shipping to Switzerland, as well as lead times. I'll update the OP as soon as I hear back.

 

[cpac54]

So, I've had some emails now back and forth with the manufacturer. It's a bit of a "good news, bad news" situation for us on the European continent.

Good news: unit pricing for the chips is confirmed as the same as above

>2000pcs: unit price usd0.32

>5000pcs: unit price usd0.30

>10000pcs: unit price usd0.28

Bad news: as @Marius L hinted at, shipping options to Europe are limited and expensive.

For an order of 10000 chips, we're looking at $1000 usd (or 0.10/chip). Same unit price for 15000 chips.

This puts the total cost per chip at $0.38 usd/chip not including duty/customs fees and re-shipping costs. Re-shipping up to 15kg from Switzerland would run approx $55.


To compare that to the alternative of joining a U.S.-based GB:

Example 1: 1000 chips x 0.30 (shipped to U.S.) = $300. Re-shipping to Europe: 2x MFRB = $150. TOTAL $450 not incl. customs fees ($0.45/chip)

Example 2: 800 chips x 0.30 (shipped to U.S.) = $240. Re-shipping to Europe: 1x LFRB = $100. TOTAL $340 not incl. customs fees ($0.425/chip)

So, it appears that it's roughly the same or very slightly cheaper when factoring re-shipping from Switzerland.



So, given all that. I'm happy to go ahead an organize this if there's enough interest and we can reach 10,000 units. Otherwise, I'll hop on with a U.S.-based GB.
With that in mind, if everyone can let me know by this coming Friday, December 4th if they are IN or not, that would be great.

 

[Marius L]

Thanks for doing the research @cpac54 . Its similar to what she told me for my order of 1300 chips, but a bit lower at least. I got quoted $185 shipping for those 1300 chips, which would add about 15c to the price per chip (not ncluding customs fees). Unfortunate that there was no bigger pricebreaks at a higher volume...

Feels pretty awkward that it might be cheaper to actually have these shipped to the US first, then reshipped to Europe..

 

[BillyBluff]

If you ship via the US then there will be two lots of customs/VAT charges. That can't be efficient?!

 

[Marius L]

If you ship via the US then there will be two lots of customs/VAT charges. That can't be efficient?!

As far as I'm aware there's no custom charges into the US for these chips, right?

 

[BillyBluff]

As far as I'm aware there's no custom charges into the US for these chips, right?

No tax on round plastic discs imported from China into the US? What a dream!

 

[Marius L]

No tax on round plastic discs imported from China into the US? What a dream!

The dream indeed

(I'm not 100% sure though)

 

[cpac54]

Thanks for doing the research @cpac54 . Its similar to what she told me for my order of 1300 chips, but a bit lower at least. I got quoted $185 shipping for those 1300 chips, which would add about 15c to the price per chip (not ncluding customs fees). Unfortunate that there was no bigger pricebreaks at a higher volume...

Feels pretty awkward that it might be cheaper to actually have these shipped to the US first, then reshipped to Europe..

At the very worst, it's the same to have sets re-shipped, which is absurd, I agree.

I think the difference must be that there are cheap shipping (as in actually on a boat) options to the U.S.A., while it appears the only option to Europe atm is air freight with DHL, which is significantly more. She did mention that prior to COVID, there were cheaper options to Europe and that there likely will be again in the future, but not atm.

 

[Marius L]

At the very worst, it's the same to have sets re-shipped, which is absurd, I agree.

I think the difference must be that there are cheap shipping (as in actually on a boat) options to the U.S.A., while it appears the only option to Europe atm is air freight with DHL, which is significantly more. She did mention that prior to COVID, there were cheaper options to Europe and that there likely will be again in the future, but not atm.

Yeah. She told me that as well, that they used to have a slow shipping option to Europe as well, by trucks/railroad or something.

Honestly for me, I am not in a rush, so I'll just sit tight for a few months and see what happens with freight costs. Maybe things start to normalize once the vaccines have been rolled out to a good amount of the population, and hopefully shipping prices will come down again at some point. She told me she was ok with storing the chips there for a while after they are produced (which they are not yet anyways).

 

[Racer96]

One thing that she did with my shipment to France, was she marked the value way down (without any prompting from me) , she just did it. I ended up paying $0 in VAT.

Mine were shipped by DHL. 2 boxes with about 1000 chips in each. She also mentioned that it is because of current shipping restrictions, and that she hoped one day to have a slow shipping option available again.

And come on, I hinted at the shipping also

 

[jdfoto]

Thanks for the info and the effort. Gonna hold off here for now, and wait for more favorable shipping terms. Still getting used to getting hit by these damn import taxes.. (Moved to Switzerland 2 years ago) Got hit for 68 francs the other day on a package a friend sent to my wife and daughter. They declared the value of the items on the declaration, and did not select gift..

 

[cpac54]

So, just a quick update here. I'll be going ahead with my own order here - given the small cost savings of buying these with a U.S. group buy and having everything re-shipped, it's just more convenient to make an order directly and have it shipped to me.

I'll be putting in a larger order on the cards mold of the Starlite tributes of roughly 2200 chips (a large cash set and 20x player tournament set).

I have my artwork ready to go, but if someone wants in, I'm happy to wait until artwork is done. Just let me know. I suspect it probably only makes sense though for Swiss-residents given the re-shipping costs and possible double import fees @MrWitti, @Pinball @jdfoto @BillyBluff @MeikCat @Orangetechno @Majodr

Cheers!

 

[MeikCat]

Thank you for all the effort @cpac54 . At the moment I'm out.
Thansk for all!

 

[BillyBluff]

Thanks for trying @cpac54. Given the sh!tshow that is Brex!t, double duty/VAT is a real possibility . I'll place my order directly with Tina once the artwork is ready.

 

[Pinball]

I am out on this. Matsui offered me 3-colour chips for the price of 2-colour chips and I will follow this road.

Thanks for your efforts @cpac54

 

[jdfoto]

Thank you thank you @cpac54 gonna stay out, but maybe come play your way at some point.

 

[MrWitti]

Ich muss leider passen. Kriege in vernünftiger Zeit nichts zusammen, danke fürs fragen.

 

[cpac54]

Hi all, bumping this thread, as I'm far enough along now that I'll be putting together a small order in the next month with Tina.

My intention is to have the order shipped directly to Switzerland, as that's just easiest for me. At the moment it's myself and one other non-PCFer who will be ordering a total of approx. 2000 chips.

If any Swiss-based members want to hop on, you're more than welcome! I plan to get an order in latest mid- to end of May. Preference would be for orders using existing card mold designs vs. waiting for custom designs to be made. I'll be ordering the Starlite tribute chips myself.

Any Euro-based members are welcome to hop on too, but of course there would be additional costs for re-shipping from Switzerland to Europe.

I've updated the OP with all relevant information. If you're interested, let me know by latest Friday, May 7th.

Tagging Swiss members and/or those who previously showed interest: @MrWitti @Pinball @hebor22 @jdfoto @Sambukan @Majodr @BillyBluff @MeikCat @Orangetechno (sorry if I missed anyone!)