Hi everyone.
I haven't been around recently due to work and family commitments. But it's great to be back finally.
Anyway if shipping costs could be reduced to Australia then that would be awesome especially as like a lot of others here in Oz I have a lot of larger items on order.
As someone who has around 30 statues (the majority of which were purchased direct from SSW), the killer for me has always been the postage. These statues have cost me on average more than double the price than someone from the US.
A good example is the Balrog which cost me around AU$800 and was ordered directly from SSW.
As I have most of the ROTK lineup on order including Gandalf/Shadowfax, Sauron and the Morgul Lord I dread to think how much these statues are going to end up costing me when postage is taken into account and I realistically may have to cancel some of my orders and try to find somewhere local to purchase them instead.
The problem however is that by ordering from elsewhere I run the risk of missing out altogether on the statues I really want. I have already suffered this experience the hard way when I missed out on my Aragorn statue because the local distributer failed to secure their order for me. Even though they had my order for around 6 months. I am currently waiting for my beserker statue from the same company and fingers crossed I dont get messed around again. I know other people here on the board also have orders with this company so fingers crossed we end up receiving our orders.
I even contacted SSW direct to try and purchase their last Aragorn statue from the UK Warehouse and was told that items in the UK were for European customers only and that the US warehouse was for US customers only?????? I live in Australia????? Why should I have been limited to only purchasing from America and not the UK when I live overseas in Australia and will have to import the statues into the country anyway?????Go figure?????? (End Rant)
Anyway an Australian warehouse would be awesome as it would solve a lot of the problems that myself and a lot of other Aussies have suffered and may in fact be the only way I can realistically continue to order products from SSW.
30 statues x on average AU$350 = AU$10,500.
This is a very rough figure but it gives you some idea of the sort of money involved. I love these statues but realistically may have to stop collecting them as the price once postage and the exchange rate not to mention import duties are all taken into account is getting to the point of being too ridiculous to continue this obsession, epecially as the prices of the staues themselves have all risen and a lot of larger/heavier pieces are coming out.
Come on SSW help us overseas collectors out.
