Reordering Update

[JHemperly]

Thanks for the reply, Pubaa! I was gonna wait for a CC reorder page to come up, but if it helps the team, i'm all for doing a bank transfer. Can't wait for my Pandora!

 

[TheGrandPubaa]

Same here!

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

What about resending an email to all buyers about the situation SO all the people who didn't do the Bank transfer because they felt lazy will do it.
So the other people to who it really cause a problem to do a bank transfer can benefit from the Credit card transfer.

 

[j.pickens]

No offense to the Open Pandora folks, but in my dealings with the people there, doing an email to all their order email addresses would seem to be out of their capability, at present.
The front office seems to be your typical bricks and mortar office personnel.
Doing a 4000 address notification isn't as simple a task as one might think.
Certainly, the Gmail accounts that they are using would flat out reject an attempt at a 4000 email blast.
I know that in the US, when I tried to do a 350 email distribution, I had to use a dedicated email service, and I had to provide them with proof that every single address "opted in" to the email.
ISP's are really cracking down on the honest people to keep them from "spamming".
Of course, the dishonest spammers don't care, and work around it, but it makes us honest folks have to jump through hoops.

Kinda like getting on a frickin' airplane these days...

 

[Nightwind0]

If I'm going to do a transfer via Xoom, how do I know how much money to put in???

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

but a email to everybody wouldn't just be putting all the email in a bucket and writing one email and SEND ( that's how news letters works no ? ) ???

 

[Username]

No offense to the Open Pandora folks, but in my dealings with the people there, doing an email to all their order email addresses would seem to be out of their capability, at present.
The front office seems to be your typical bricks and mortar office personnel.
Doing a 4000 address notification isn't as simple a task as one might think.
Certainly, the Gmail accounts that they are using would flat out reject an attempt at a 4000 email blast.
I know that in the US, when I tried to do a 350 email distribution, I had to use a dedicated email service, and I had to provide them with proof that every single address "opted in" to the email.
ISP's are really cracking down on the honest people to keep them from "spamming".
Of course, the dishonest spammers don't care, and work around it, but it makes us honest folks have to jump through hoops.

I know what you mean, Windows Live mail has an email limit and only lets you send a certain number per day. Not sure about Gmail though.

 

[Frogboy]

I know what you mean, Windows Live mail has an email limit and only lets you send a certain number per day. Not sure about Gmail though.

Don't they own the openpandora.org domain? Why can't they send emails from there? And why aren't they for that matter?

 

[Brockway]

I remember someone posting that first name and last name must be both "Open Pandora Ltd", but I can't find that post any more. Maybe the one who posted it edited or deleted it?

I had the info in my post before, but I deleted it once I realized I had just posted someone's phone number, mailing address, and bank account information ON THE INTERNET.

Its Open Pandora LTD twice though. Email Jaquelline from customer service, she can give you the full box by box info.

The payment went through, used a credit card as the funding source. I'm just waiting for it to get to their account. It says it should take 2-3 days for it to clear. I added $5 to my refund amount just in case. It should just show up as a cash transfer to Craig and not credit since it goes through Xoom, right?

 

[yosh64]

hey

And another update, I have gone through the whole thread now , I hope I haven't missed any options. I also didn't mention any of the reseller options, just a little update for Xoom based on newer posts in thread.

Well I thought I would put together a summary of all the payment options mentioned throughout this thread, if I have missed any then please PM me rather than make a needless post.

Xoom
* See Chip's post (from another thread).
+ Can pay via credit card.
- Conflicting information about fees, may differ from country to country.
- Security/trust issues, see complaints refered to by truekaiser.

Google Checkout
- Not sure if applicable.

Money Bookers
- Not sure if applicable.
- Might only be available to those in europe.

Paypal, I think this is out of the question.
* See Chip's post.

COD (Cash on Delivery), I would assume this is out of the question also.

Western Union
- Not sure if applicable.
- Large fees, at least from Australia to United Kingdom, that being AU$43-$50.
- Have an option called "Direct 2 Bank", but only for banks within the country (according to atomicthumbs).

Evil Dragon's Store, I would also assume this is not possible.

HyperWallet
- Not sure if applicable.

Amazon Marketplace
- Not sure if applicable (see TaG's post).

NoChex, paypal like service
- Not sure if applicable.

Protex
- Not sure if applicable.

Cheques/Checks
* "Oh and yes we can take Cheques/Checks I assume, unless there is something stopping us taking international cheques." -craigix

Travellers cheque
- Not sure if applicable.

Mailing cashier's checks
- Not sure if applicable.

Personally, I advise you make contact with the Pandora crew before making any transactions, or rather wait to see what craigix recommends. This is to make sure you are sending the correct amount, I think you (or craigix) may end up paying more if you don't take into account certain fees. You may end up paying less than you should, and either you will have to pay the amount you owe yourself, or it will be passed onto craigix. If you are using a service they do not recommend, then this might be placing an unneccessarily large strain on craigix to pay these fees, which may be far less if instead you used a service they recommended.

edit
I also wanted to quote a couple of craigs posts for those who might have missed them.

We probably will set up accounts with a few of the suggested alternatives.

Using multiple banks would not work as they want to see a flow of cash of at least 40% not in credit cards, obviously they are no longer prepared to take the risks associated with credit cards - probably due to so many airlines, stores and travel agents going bust.

I did try to explain to them that we don't run a business where people come in and pay us in cash - it's all online - but they don't care.

As for a final unit, the keypad should arrive with Michael today or tomorrow, at which point he can built it and demo it.

Oh and yes we can take Cheques/Checks I assume, unless there is something stopping us taking international cheques.

And yes, it might be possible to push payments via a USA/Canada/Spain account so there is no transfer fee, I'll have a chat with the distributors there.

Thanks to those of you who are going to do the transfer anyway, I don't mind signing all your cases and if people are going to drop out obviously you will have moved up the queue too.

Don't worry - we are not going to be beaten by a bunch of bankers

I'll put together a post about making a bank transfer. Don't bother going via your own bank - it will be a lot cheaper using a bank which only does transfers - often a very small fee.

We will work on a number of other solutions too, eventually if people don't (or can't) reorder for whatever reason we will send out emails to the next batch of customers on the mailing list. But we will bend over backwards to try to help you first.

Having been selling online since 1996(!) I've never seen a situation like this before, and it does seem that the whole credit industry is falling apart - but we will get though it.

cyas

 

[Frogboy]

Anyone have any idea how many more orders need to be placed before reaching the 1800 mark? Just curious.

 

[j.pickens]

Don't they own the openpandora.org domain? Why can't they send emails from there? And why aren't they for that matter?

Try sending out 4000 emails and see how you do.
It matters not if they own that domain.
First, they aren't currently using their domain for email, they're using Gmail.
Second, if they try to use the mail service at openpandora domain, and if their ISP has spam controls, which most ISP's do, it will cough out the emails when the attempt to blast them out is made.
I'm not saying it can't be done, it certainly can, but you would need someone to set up the email system, validate the addresses to whichever service is used, and manage the whole deal.
This would require resources which may or may not be available to Open Pandora currently.

All conjecture on my part, but I could understand if they don't have or want to dedicate the resources to doing this at this time. They have this forum, they have their web page, they are using them to communicate.
I'm OK with that.

Here's an example of typical email limits by web hosting sites:

QUOTE
Mail server SMTP email send (rate) limit for popular web hosting providers
dots Why do you need to know your web host's SMTP email rate limit

If you run a web site and you plan to send out mass emails (for example, a newsletter), it is advisable to send the emails using an authenticated SMTP mail server that matches the nameserver records for your own domain name. This way, your outgoing emails will not trigger anti-spam filters set to identify phishing emails or spammers. For example, if you run a web site at www.my-web-site.com, our advice is to send the emails from a SMTP server name that resolves to the same domain name (like smtp.my-web-site.com).

However, to prevent spam, many web host providers enforce email send rate limits to their customers. The goal of this article is to show you the email send rate limit and options for most popular web host providers, such as GoDaddy, FastServers, HostWay, RackSpace, iPowerWeb and more.
dots Web Hosting Providers - SMTP limit and email rate limits

Important note: Please do NOT take this information for granted, as your host provider can change its mail server policy without any prior notification. It is always a good idea to contact your host provider and ask about the email send rate, before proceeding with a mass email campaign.



# GoDaddy Email Send Rate Limit & SMTP Restrictions

The following restrictions apply when sending emails from a web site / domain hosted by GoDaddy:

GoDaddy email send limit for shared web hosting - no more than 250 relays (recipients) per day. You can purchase additional relays, in packs of 50

GoDaddy email send limit for dedicated servers or dedicated virtual servers - no more than 1000 relays (recipients) per day.

GoDaddy other SMTP limits - outgoing messages sent via GoDaddy can not exceed 30Mb per email (including attachments)

GoDaddy email FAQ - http://help.godaddy.com/article_list.php?topic_id=168

GoDaddy SMTP restriction expiry method - the restriction is automatically lifted 24 hours after the email send limit was reached.

 

[krooked]

QUOTE
hey

Another update, I have gone through the whole thread now smile.gif, I hope I haven't missed any options. I also didn't mention any of the reseller options.

Well I thought I would put together a summary of all the payment options mentioned throughout this thread, if I have missed any then please PM me rather than make a needless post.

thanks, that is a great idea/ very helpful

 

[TaG]

A T-shirt saying: "I went through the banking fiasco and all I got was this lousy T-shirt (and a Pandora)" would be awesome.

They should sell those...

The emailing didn't ought to be a problem. There are also little programs out there to help send batches of emails based on text files etc so they could have 20 batches of 200 emails, all automated. All you need is a list of email addresses and an email.

 

[Bigun]

If I'm going to do a transfer via Xoom, how do I know how much money to put in???

That was my question, how much do we transfer?

 

[javaJake]

Chip asked that everyone hold off on Xoom until the first few payments go through. If it works, they'll give us the OK and possibly some instructions on how to do it.

 

[Brockway]

If I'm going to do a transfer via Xoom, how do I know how much money to put in???

That was my question, how much do we transfer?


It should be exactly what we got refunded, right? Thats what I did, well, plus $5 to bump it up to about 200 gbp.

 

[javaJake]

It should be exactly what we got refunded, right? Thats what I did, well, plus $5 to bump it up to about 200 gbp.
Xoom, however, has adjusted exchange rates. If you didn't account for that, you actually didn't send enough...

 

[purplepup]

Ok, I've done my good deed today and paid by UK bank transfer so that more people can order by CC (and get refund cover while I've lost it)
Blimey, it's a bit like 'giving' at Christmas to help others in need.

If you're in the lucky situation of being able to afford the risk, pay by transfer and lets just get this done and give the devs (and us) some headache relief.
We all want to see this succeed.

Happy Christmas Craig, MWeston, ED, Faith and team.
Here's hoping for an early, late Christmas present.
andora1:

 

[verm71]

hey

Another update, I have gone through the whole thread now , I hope I haven't missed any options. I also didn't mention any of the reseller options.

Here's another one for you.

A certified cheque in GBP may be cheaper than a bank transfer for me. I have to ask my bank.

Would you accept that?

Hi,

Yes we accept cheques. Please make them payable to OpenPandora Ltd.

Thanks

Debs