Mr Snuff UK postage

@matteob I apologize if anything in my comment came across as crass, as this wasnt intended at all by any means.

@ArtChoo I have been well thanks for asking. You make a solid point about this being one of the few places left to advertise tobacco, one which I had no considered (and surprisingly) had not even occurred to me prior to your post. I understand that MrSnuff isnt doing anything for free and does profit largely indirectly from this site. The whole “in case you weren’t already unaware” comment was more of a fun fact than directly implying anything.

@matteob Toque will custom make you 500 grams any snuff you want. You want a mentholated  chocolate peanut butter with coffee on a rustica mixed base he can probably do that for you.  

When I spoke to Roderick awhile back he mentioned he was pretty swamped at moment and was unable to do custom orders. I would love to do another, though maybe @Roderick could shed some light.

I guess it always pays to shop around to get the best deal.

I am thinking it is best to buy in bulk so that shipping costs are a lower % of the overall price you pay. But of course if you are new to snuff you might not know what you like best & so why would you buy a bulk of something you are not sure if you like it?

Luckily I know what I like and have contacted the producer directly and can buy bulk direct from them for a sensible price.

But in the early days you just have to shop around, try as many different types until you get to know what you like and bite the bullet that shipping costs are going to be a significant % of your overall price you pay.

Yes, ridiculously expensive. Sometimes it was cheaper to have certain snuffs bought from snuffstore.de. In fact after ordering a few times I just stopped buying from there because the very idea of expensive national postage was somehow insulting. Anyway, once in a while, they featured snuffs on the brink of extinction that I just couldnt afford to miss.

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I still don’t get it - there is a UK based site which is geared for international sales rather than national, as such their shipping method is set up to be less expensive for international customers but it increases the national shipping cost.  

Why is that insulting?  If they had to charge far more for international shipping in order to have lower national costs, when they are actually targeting international and not national customers, that would make no sense at all.

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^^^ I couldnt agree more!

I fail to see the link between national (UK) and international when it comes to balance shipping costs. I thought it is ridiculously simple to have implemented an algorithm that automatically deals with this distinction at checkout (MSS has it for example but it is based on parcel weight).  Maybe I am stupid or maybe that warehouse is in China.

Personally I find the shipping cost  at MrSnuff to be a bit on the high side ( especially tracked option ) but getting a 15% off auto discount helps a lot to offset that. Plus you also have to figure that in the USA it is very difficult to obtain dry snuff, even domestic products. So, all in all, it doesn’t bother me. I tend to order large amounts, so the cost doesn’t seem so bad , relatively.

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I thought MrSnuff had seen the error of their ways a few months ago, and I placed orders with them for snuffs which were marginally cheaper than equivalents from UK mainland stores. Then a thread kicked off about how the prices were “obviously” wrong, and insinuating that we were dishonest for having placed orders at those prices. The guy setting the prices was apparently sacked, and the site was “corrected” to listing them at 60%+ higher than other sites I was buying from. I continued purchasing from elsewhere, and haven’t placed an order at MrSnuff since. If they are the prices he wishes to sell at, then good luck to him and all his customers. While ever I have better priced options available, then those companies will get preference for my custom. It’s no trouble to me who I buy from, I’ll just spend my cash as wisely as possible. I fully appreciate that MrSnuff supplies hard to obtain snuffs to places who have little or no other means on getting their hands on it, and that remains the focus of the business. That is perfectly understandable, and they can run their business however they wish, but the bulk of my several kilo stash came from elsewhere. I hope to continue to support other UK businesses whenever I get some disposable income.

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@Gilliat even if they have a franking machine, it will be with a contract with a shipper.  I don’t know if they do that or have shipping labels from a courier - but either way, that will be based on a contract which gives cheaper international shipping.  Think of any sort of contract, but take a mobile phone as example: If you text more than you call, you’d go for a contract which gives you more texts even if that means that calls are more expensive - it’s okay, because you text more than you call.  If the target for the company is international shippers, their contracts for shipping will favour international destinations rather than national ones.  National shippers will have it inverse.  

They COULD have two shipping methods, of course.  But why would they?  They have a store aimed at national customers, so the other can concentrate on international - hence the particular arrangement for shipping costs.

I agree, it is annoying if you want a particular snuff but have to pay more for shipping - but that is not insulting.  I think it’s more insulting to make judgments without knowing how the business in question is set up and what sort of decisions they had to make regarding delivery and why.

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They do actually say “Royal Mail First Class” in their listing. Royal Mail don’t charge the price quoted to send a few tins of snuff domestically that is all I was saying.

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I’ve never been an online vendor but I do order just about everything I own from the internet. I’ve also found shipping costs to be very confusing on many different items. My “theory” is that some online vendor add additional fees to their shipping fees to cover their expenses and stay in business. 

I think there’s one type of online vendor who’s “warehouse” is a spare bedroom and who’s “office” is their kitchen table. I think this type of “one man show” can make a profit on the retail markup alone and only charge customers what they pay for shipping and handling. 

I think other vendors pay for commercial warehouse space and employees. I don’t believe they could stay in business with just with a normal retail markup on such a niche product as nasal tobacco. I also believe that all the tobacco regulations have completely shut down the “one man show” online tobacco vendor. 
As a small businessman myself, I don’t believe anyone gets into such a niche business to get rich. I believe they do whatever necessary to keep the business alive after spending countless hours getting it up and running.

These are just my personal opinions, nothing else.

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Another thread gone fishing, with people misreading and confusing the subject.
AFAIK snuffstore.co.uk is the european store for mrsnuff.com
I dont have any of their boxes or invoices on hand, but if I remember correctly they are based somewhere in Ireland.
I was not trying to degrade their business, and their customer support was quite responsive (they even refunded the value of some expired Molens de Kralingse I bought once) and always got some bonus points (or whatever they called them). So all in all, apart from their shipping rates to mainland UK, I have no complaints and would probably buy certain snuffs from them again if they would be around in a few years after I finish my stash.

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By way of short explanation:

we have had to outsource our fulfilment. This means that in addition to RM charges you might get at the post office:

(all figures in GBP):

per shipment charge of 1.50

per pick charge (ie every tin): 0.45

Management fees: 100 pm

Storage fees: 1200 pm

Inbound fees: 5.00 per SKU

RM Postage: cost plus 10%

Returns charge: 2.00 per item

If you order, for example, 4 tins then that will cost us 1.50 + 1.80 + Postage (+10%) + proportion of monthly fees.

We can’t compete with a bloke operating for out of his garage and not charging for his labour, and not adding anything to actual postage charge.

Hope that clarifies.

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@MrSnuff, thanks for the info! Personally, I think your loyalty program is a great idea that works if you are a regular snuff consumer.

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It’s a crazy world.

@MrSnuff

Good Morning  MrSnuff  .

Although the English are regarded by Napoleon and the French as  “a nation of shop keepers”,and I probably should know better,  I am a little confused with some of the abreviations used in your accounts on 14th July .

Could you please enlighten me as to what  100 pm    and    500 per SKU   mean?

Cheers.

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SKU is an item number, the barcode on items is a type of SKU. I assume thats what the warehouse charges per product kept in the warehouse. I guess pm means per month

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@ArtChoo

@n9inchnails nailed it

:slight_smile: