Quoted from unigroove:Earlier today I sent out the newsletter below:
A month ago I announced that Pinball Magazine No. 5 was printed and available in the Pinball Magazine webshop. Since then many orders came in, and I already shipped several batches of orders, which since then have started arriving at destinations in Europe and the U.S. If you ordered a copy: I'm looking forward to your feedback about the magazine. As I was working with a new system for creating address labels, I discovered a few minor errors, but those affected I already reached out to. In case something went wrong with your order, please do contact me so I can see how we can solve the situation.
When Pinball Magazine No. 5 came out, I also informed you that I was working on having the magazine become available through Amazon, which I expected to result in cheaper pricing. The overseas shipping costs are quite steep since the magazine weights 47 ounces, so I was looking for a way to reduce shipping costs and the combined total price of the magazine plus shipping.
Since then I have been trying to work with Amazon to ship inventory to their distribution centers. Initially, I prepped boxes of magazines to send to Amazon, when I was informed that each copy should be prepped as ready for individual shipping. So I did that, and I changed the dimensions and weight of these packages accordingly in Amazon's system. At that point, it turned out Amazon was charging close to $15 in fees, which didn't even include shipping costs. As I'm also facing costs to ship the magazines to Amazon, which would be added to the magazine price, the Amazon pricing per magazine turned out to be more expensive than it is in the Pinball Magazine webshop. And shipping still wasn’t included in the Amazon price. So I asked a bunch of questions to Amazon's Seller helpdesk, and initially, they were very helpful. When I started asking questions about the fees being applied to the magazine, for which all they have to do is pick it off the shelf, slap an address label on it and ship it out, they went silent.
As many in the U.S. have, per my suggestion, patiently waited to place their order of Pinball Magazine No. 5, and possibly previous issues as well, I’m now at the point where I’m advising you: just order in the Pinball Magazine webshop (www.pinball-magazine.com/shop/) as it will be cheaper than Amazon after all. I apologize for the delay in informing you on this, but I really wanted the Amazon thing to work.
As you may know, I also made a Limited Edition set of postcards available for the first 500 orders of the magazine. For those wondering: there are still sets of postcards available, and I'm pretty confident that if you order your copy of Pinball Magazine No. 5 this week, you're still receiving the postcards as well.
While Pinball Magazine usually ships incoming orders once a month, due to a minimum quantity of required orders to qualify for more economical postal rates, I expect to be shipping several batches of incoming orders this month and during the first weeks of October. So if you haven't ordered your copy of Pinball Magazine No. 5 yet, please do so now, and you should be receiving your copy shortly.
Please note that Pinball Magazine No. 5 is also available with the following companies:
Freddy’s Pinball Paradise – Germany
Pinball Universe – Germany
The Pinball Resource – U.S.A.
The magazine will also be available with Rob Anthony / Pinball Classics at his booth during Pinball Expo, next month in Wheeling, IL.
Speaking of Pinball Expo: I did a brief interview with Pinball Expo organizer Rob Berk, who was attending the IAAPA Euro Attractions Show in Amsterdam this week. This interview will be part of Pinball Magazine’s monthly pinball industry update newsletter and the new Pinball Magazine & Pinball News podcast. Both will be available the first week of October.
Since I just mentioned Pinball News: Martin Ayub wrote the first review about Pinball Magazine No. 5, which he published on the Pinball News website. Do check that out if you want to know what you can expect of the magazine. I’m expecting more reviews from various sources in the coming weeks.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back in a few days with the monthly pinball industry update and link to my IAAPA Euro Attractions Show report.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
Pinball Magazine
I am sure this has been said many times but Thank You for creating such an Amazing book to grow this hobby and preserve the wonderful history of the many creative talents that created it. I couldn't begin to guess how many Thousands of hours it took to collect, edit, write, and produce something this monumental. To call it a magazine is a huge understatement. Sincere bravo to you for creating this for all to enjoy. Thanks!!