Issues with "ForFansByFans.com" (guild wars 2 merch)

Hello!I feel in love with GW2 and ordered some shirts and pullovers from ffbf.com, I was linked there by the guildwars2.com ads. I ordered and had paid instantly via PayPal. After 25 days of no activity (it was christmas...) I mailed them to ask about my order. They told me that they were currently producing orders from the week i ordered and should be getting a tracking number within 2 days. That was a week ago. So I mailed them again today, and now they are telling me that it will take 2 more weeks, no explanations given.Also their communication (mail style, no signature, misspellings etc) is aaaaaawwwwwwwful!So, did anyone order from there? Did You get Your stuff and did You have to wait for long with similar answers? Are they fake? Do I need to make a fraud report to PayPal?Please help, thank You

The link in this official Guild Wars 2 news post goes to forfansbyfans.com. It seems to add up to about six weeks, if the two weeks they're telling you now is accurate--if there was an estimated delivery window when you ordered, how close that fits with six weeks will probably help you decide whether to continue to try to work with their customer service, or process a cancellation through PayPal.

I ordered Quaggan mugs as Christmas presents for my daughters with a ship date of 12/22. As the Christmas approached I started to get worried, but they shipped on 12/19 and arrived before Christmas.

Well thanks, it was a relief to hear that they really exist and send stuff to people.So now 4 1/2 hours after they told me I would have to wait for 2 more weeks, a few minutes ago, their warehouse sent me the shipping confirmation!Very strange, but I'm happy and confused now.I would have waited a month, I don't care, but what a mess that mails was ....Cheers

Also I learned that PayPal has a 180 day limit on reporting issues with Your PayPal-payed orders anywhere, initiating buyer-seller contact and offering councelling if You and the seller can't agree to a solution alone. So it's probably always okay to stay cool about things...

Hello,Thank You for Your concern!No, the package has not yet arrived :*( The tracking @usps showed a 7 day hold-up in Luxembourg, since January 24th it shows "processing in Austrian facility". I assume it is a bordertax or customs issue. However, I was planning to give it 2 weeks before contacting the FFBF.com-support, as I cannot place an inquiry @usps from outside the USA, but I am afraid of that mail conversation.Lets hope for the best.Cheers

I am not happy with them as I ordered 2 items... one arrived no problems and the second (the Choya) I had to pay customs import tax for it which worked out as nearly the cost of the order I did. AND they were rude to me when I queried it. Been with GW since 2005 and never had issues with games or merchandise. I've had 2 charrs with no issues but a pre order Choya cost me a lot more than was expected. Don't trust ordering with them in Europe as get ripped off.

@Ari.4672 said:I am not happy with them as I ordered 2 items... one arrived no problems and the second (the Choya) I had to pay customs import tax for it which worked out as nearly the cost of the order I did. AND they were rude to me when I queried it. Been with GW since 2005 and never had issues with games or merchandise. I've had 2 charrs with no issues but a pre order Choya cost me a lot more than was expected. Don't trust ordering with them in Europe as get ripped off.

Well, import tax is not something, the seller could do anything about, it's determined by the country you're importing it into. It might depend on where do you ship it from and the cost of the items, so you might want to find out about your country's import tax limits to optimise your orders in future.

its about how it's mailed - when it was ordered as a gift it should come as one - the charr did and didn't get charged.... twice I add....

Yey, yesterday the packet arrived, I picked it up today. It was indeed a 12 day hold-up @customs...Basically, all in all im happy. Everything I ordered was undamaged in that pretty worn, opened and resealed, 27-day-travelled and mistreated box. And they added a few gimmicks for free and without asking (the nicest being Walking Dead earrings, an armband, a stretch cloth necklace, some kind of handbag-like iphone6-case in unicorn style on a long braid - my niece will probably like that stuff - and 2 patches, not worth too much, still a very friendly gesture).

The shirts and hoodies feel nice, the fabric seems to be of good quality, pretty thin on both, personally I like this very much on the shirts, less on the hoodies. The prints feel between ok and extremely good (more simplistic prints with less large colored spaces are especially awesome) and look like advertised, I picked a few favorites already :). Some colors (of the prints) are a bit off, but nothing serious, most likely due to the printing technique. If someone requests I can give final quality ratings after seeing them in daylight, wearing and washing them like 2 or 3 times.The only thing I didn't like at all is that 2 of 5 hoodies are 50/50 cotton/polyester instead of the advertised 80/20, the other 3 are 80/20 indeed, the quality difference is not too big but noticeable. All shirts are 100% cotton like they should be.

Im not an expert for taxes or customs, but it feels weird to pay taxes 2 times for 1 item. I don't know if ffbf could have declarated differently (there's no taxes listed on their "what we call invoice"...) or sell with other conditions to abroad (I don't think, when selling to an individual), but in fact I had to pay about 1/3 of the initial price extra in import and value added taxes +customs fees. I will try to get an invoice with taxes denoted and claim some back @tax returns from the annual tax declaration. I don't count on it tho, as to not be frustrated with either some amateur business management or laws. Also it's not about the cost for me but about value, and how can I count the value of these clothes which look awesome, are created by some individual artist and are probably unique in my home town, if not country.

PS: Don't get me wrong on the "amateur business" part. I know its called for FANS by FANS, not for FANS by PROFESSIONAL CLOTHING INDUSTRIES AND RETAILING. I have sympathy for small businesses with unique products. But I am used to and like a professional attitude in business matters, although that's definitely not the main reason for making business with someone. :pensive: Maybe they let me help improve their business, I will discuss matters with them anyways...

Cheers all

It's a reasonable request that any vendor who offers to ship things overseas has plenty of information about how their goods will treated upon arrival, including wait times & fees. However, to be fair even to large businesses, the amount of local laws and variations depending upon which inspector evaluates the package can be difficult for anyone to understand.

If FbF reads this thread, I hope that they'll put together a FAQ on a per country basis, using examples from their own customers and support team members. They could divide countries into:

• We understand the rules well and they are...
• We have had variable results shipping to these countries. Buyer beware.
• We haven't shipped often to these countries. We're sorry that we cannot (yet) set reasonable expectations for you.

PS I wouldn't read too much into the name "Fans by Fans." If the company grows to 500 employees some day, it would still have the same name. It's fair to expect any company to take responsibility for setting your expectations as best as they can, especially if they know they cannot control all aspects of international shipments.

At the risk of derailing the thread...

It is partly the buyer's responsibility to know or at least inform themselves about their country's customs. Regardless of who you are, you can be considered an importer even if the item is for personal use. Your mileage will vary and will depend on your country.

I do agree that FFbF could be more open/transparent/informative but such is the norm for fulfillment companies, unfortunately.

Good luck Enkornok if you're going to follow up with them, and it's nice to know that you got some extra goodies in the package :)

@"Saphykun.3206" said:It is partly the buyer's responsibility to know or at least inform themselves about their country's customs.Partly? No. That's fully the buyer's responsibility.

Even if they gave a warning like "Beware, the total value of your order exceeds the destination country free import category. Your package may be held hostage by bureaucrats, until you pay them to release it", there's nothing the seller could do about the package being captured by customs.