Quick question for @MrSnuff: why have you suddenly stopped shipping to a whole host of countries and, on top of that, geoblocked users residing in said countries from even being able to view the store’s webpage? Inquiring minds want to know…
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I’m clearly not speaking for them, but I wonder if this is related to various countries banning the import and export of tobacco products?
Hi
We removed a long list of countries from our valid destinations because of a combination of high returns and low sales for those countries.
The remaining countries are shown below:
Valid Destination Countries - MrSnuff UK
- France, Germany, Iceland, Isle of Man, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Valid Destination Countries - MrSnuff (USA)
- Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, United States
We put in geo-blocking because otherwise customers from blocked countries would only find out they were blocked when they came to pay at the end of the checkout, which would be frustrating.
That said, I think we could do better explaining this on the geo-block message so I will see about clarifying this.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Thank you for replying to my query, and congratulations on assuming this role. I am glad to see that Dave did not just let the business pass into oblivion. Good on you for taking hold of the reins, and I wish you much success moving forward. Your willingness to take the initiative to engage here as you have done is laudable, and a smart business move to boot I think.
On the geo-blocking: there are more than a few nasal snuff enthusiasts who use e-tailers’ websites like yours for reference, to see what new products are available (even if they cannot buy them), and to feel connected to the broader snuff enthusiast community by having access to the same information that fellow enthusiasts happen to have access to, simply by virtue of living in one of the few countries to which you ship. This is not the only online forum where nasal snuff is discussed, and I personally have seen complaints from some diehard enthusiasts lamenting them being shut out of having access to one of the few repositories of current information on what nasal snuffs are currently out there and available.
I realize it is very niche, but showing a little goodwill goes a long way with everyone, and I think you would earn some goodwill from the broader enthusiast / hobbyist community if you could find a way to allow our friends who are currently geo-blocked to be not be geo-blocked from accessing the site. VPNs are a workaround, but not available to everyone and sometimes unreliable.
On a related note, if you happen to have an account on Reddit (Dave had one), please consider engaging with the membership of the r/nasalsnuff subreddit. That community is quite thriving, and would be happy to hear from you, I would say.
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Could you not setup the geo blocking so that instead of blocking them it displays a red banner on their top screen stating shipping is not available for their country?
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There are ways and means. If you know someone in one of the countries it delivers to, get your delivery there and pick up from them. If not, maybe something like a parcel motel would work. Get it delivered to one of them, visit that place, and collect.
It’s more effort but possible.
I also wonder are Mr. Snuff being a little too guarded. My understanding is they sell snus, too. Or very similar products. I looked into Irish legislation and, from what I could tell, all forms of chew are illegal here. But there’s nothing whatsoever banning nasal snuff. Perhaps it’s just a case of having an additional website that has exclusively nasal on it but no chew that can be accessed (and bought from) by people in its current banned list.
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I will review the geo-blocking. I am thinking that the suggestion from @n9inchnails is a good idea. Maybe a warning pop-up would be better. That would restore access whilst still letting people know at the start of their user-journey that they we don’t deliver.
Thanks for the feedback.
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