Semois Pipe Tobacco: US Group Buy

[mredmond]

I'm all for covering Massis' share. Thanks again, fellas and lady for working out the details!

[wisemanpipes]

massis, my pleasure to cover your order. you have been excedingly helpful. THANKS
david, i know you said pm but ill pay by check if you want. just got a big ol stack of em in.
man, paypal can be sucha pain sometimes

-evan

[taharris]

I'm happy to help cover Massis' order.

Thanks for doing this.

Todd

[Ocelot55]

Yup, Massis deserves his share gratis. I think this is the time to stock up. I doubt I'll be able to get this stuff in the future unless we work out a long term deal.

[d.huber]

Hey guys,

Sorry that information is coming from me in fits and starts but I just realized that the duty tax on cigars is 52.57%. We can still do the cigar order, but I propose that we ship it separately. Otherwise, we may risk getting charged the cigar tax on everything, which would not be fun. This will substantially increase the cost of these cigars for those who want them.

A box of Bouchons is $65.56. With the duty tax, they are $100.14.

Also, based on info from Scottie, we should split the order. We're totally fine on weight, but we are over $1k, which may cause issues when entering the country. This will increase shipping costs, but with 13 of us participating, it shouldn't sting too much.

I'm finishing up a google doc with ALL of our order information and will share it shortly so everyone can see totals for their orders as things stand now. Each individual cost reflects the duty taxes and shipping from Massis to me to you.

[wisemanpipes]

with chicago around the corner, you sure picked a busy time to spearhead this David! lol

[d.huber]

Also, to further complicate things, I checked PayPal fees and they only apply if you're using a credit or debit card to transfer funds. If you're transferring directly from a bank account or PayPal balance, there is no fee.

SO, if everyone is comfortable with PayPal, it will be the easiest way to transfer funds.

If you plan to use a credit or debit card to transfer via PayPal, please PM me so I can keep track of who I need to charge the 2.9% fee to.

Also, if you do not have a PayPal account, please PM me.

[d.huber]

with chicago around the corner, you sure picked a busy time to spearhead this David! lol

Lol! No kidding!

I'm excited to be doing it though. I think we're all going to be really happy getting to try this exotic tobacco and I feel very good about taking care of the logistics.

I do apologize to everyone for the haphazard way that information is becoming available. I ask for everyone's patience and understanding as this is the first time I've spearheaded a group buy. Trust that I'm divulging information as it becomes available to me and am keeping meticulous track of everyone's orders.

Learning is fun!

[ajpl]

I'm also completely fine with pitching in for Massis' order. It's the least we can do.

[sethile]

Perhaps things have changed, but at one point you could not use PayPal for tobacco purchases. I know several dealers had issues with this. Our deal hear is different than a purchase, but it certainly might create a problem with your account unless something has changed with PayPal's policies on tobacco purchases....

[d.huber]

Perhaps things have changed, but at one point you could not use PayPal for tobacco purchases. I know several dealers had issues with this. Our deal hear is different than a purchase, but it certainly might create a problem with your account unless something has changed with PayPal's policies on tobacco purchases....

Great point, Scott.

For this reason, it will be EXTREMELY important that tobacco not be mentioned in any way what-so-ever when you transfer funds for this group buy.

[Massis]

Paypal will know nothing about tobacco.

Everyone can transfer their money to David on paypal, he can then transfer it in one go to my paypal after which I will withdraw it to my bank account. This should be free according to paypal.

I will than hand it over to Vincent either by bank transfer or cash, whatever he prefers.

Guys, please take into account that i WILL have to convert all your dollars to EUR, which will be at the daily exchange rate and includes a conversion fee which is 2.5% if I'm not mistaken. I'm afraid this is something we cannot move around.

Also David: shipping will remain similar, 5kg is €33 aka exactly half of shipping a package of up to 10kg

[wmolaw]

Paypal will know nothing about tobacco.

Everyone can transfer their money to David on paypal, he can then transfer it in one go to my paypal after which I will withdraw it to my bank account. This should be free according to paypal.

I will than hand it over to Vincent either by bank transfer or cash, whatever he prefers.

Guys, please take into account that i WILL have to convert all your dollars to EUR, which will be at the daily exchange rate and includes a conversion fee which is 2.5% if I'm not mistaken. I'm afraid this is something we cannot move around.

Also David: shipping will remain similar, 5kg is €33 aka exactly half of shipping a package of up to 10kg

David, your prior price list was in dollars. That was correct, right? OR should it have been in Euros? (On p. 4)

[d.huber]

Paypal will know nothing about tobacco.

Everyone can transfer their money to David on paypal, he can then transfer it in one go to my paypal after which I will withdraw it to my bank account. This should be free according to paypal.

I will than hand it over to Vincent either by bank transfer or cash, whatever he prefers.

Guys, please take into account that i WILL have to convert all your dollars to EUR, which will be at the daily exchange rate and includes a conversion fee which is 2.5% if I'm not mistaken. I'm afraid this is something we cannot move around.

Also David: shipping will remain similar, 5kg is €33 aka exactly half of shipping a package of up to 10kg

David, your prior price list was in dollars. That was correct, right? OR should it have been in Euros? (On p. 4)

I already converted it to dollars for us 'mericans.

You can see prices in Euros via those links to PDFs I included earlier.

More details soon!

[d.huber]

Scottie did us all a huge solid and contacted some of her friends in the shipping world and we've got some new details that will really help us all out.

By shipping through USPS, UPS, or FedEx, we can avoid paying duty tax. In order to do this, we will be splitting the whole order into three shipments, 2 boxes of pipe tobacco and 1 box of cigars (including bouchons). As a precaution, I'm still asking everyone for the $2.80 duty tax on pipe tobacco. If this works as it should and we are not charged the duty tax, I will return this fee.

The four of us ordering cigars will be splitting the cost of shipping them as well as the duty tax on small cigars ($50.33 for up to 1000 cigars). Everyone ordering pipe tobacco will split the cost of shipping for the other two boxes.

I've divvied up the conversion fee as well and we're nearing final costs. I'm still waiting for a few people to give me final order numbers. Once I receive those, I'll post a link to the google doc to this thread.

All funds will be transferred to me and I will transfer funds to Massis. He will be driving down in about two weeks to pick up the order. He will then ship to me and I will distribute the order here in the US.

As a reminder, if transferring directly from your bank via PayPal is not an option for you, please let me know asap.

I have received specific cut requests from two people so far (taharris [thin cut] and wmolaw [thick cut]). If you have a preference, please let me know asap. If I am not notified of a preference, you'll receive the medium cut which is what I'm ordering.

Update OP.

[wisemanpipes]

i know im only one person but im going to throw this out there. i have found that USPS has been fantastic as of late, not to mention that my PO BOX doesnt associate with UPS or FEDEX and will just return to sender. may i ask that my order is shiped to me via USPS. i am really sorry for being a PITA, but otherwise i wont get my order
thanks (i assume david?!)
-evan
also send me my balance and ill send you paypal or whatever you want

[d.huber]

i know im only one person but im going to throw this out there. i have found that USPS has been fantastic as of late, not to mention that my PO BOX doesnt associate with UPS or FEDEX and will just return to sender. may i ask that my order is shiped to me via USPS. i am really sorry for being a PITA, but otherwise i wont get my order
thanks (i assume david?!)
-evan
also send me my balance and ill send you paypal or whatever you want

No worries. Once the order reaches me I'll be shipping flat rate via USPS to everyone in the USA.

[staffwalker]

Be sure you don't tell post office you are shipping tobacco, they don't allow tobacco. I sold a couple of pipes to a guy in Ft Worth. When I sent them to him tried to put in a tin of tobacco I thought he might like. The Post Office guy said anything breakable, being a wise ass, I said no just a couple pipes and a tin of tobacco. Can't ship tobacco, he said. So I took it to the nearest grocery with a mini PO inside. Anything breakable, she said. I said nope. She applied stamps and away it went. I had no idea idioticy had affected the PO but apparently so.

[Massis]

just for taharris: as far as I know (it says so on the packaging) the thin cut is rolling tobacco to make cigarettes from...

[d.huber]

Be sure you don't tell post office you are shipping tobacco, they don't allow tobacco. I sold a couple of pipes to a guy in Ft Worth. When I sent them to him tried to put in a tin of tobacco I thought he might like. The Post Office guy said anything breakable, being a wise ass, I said no just a couple pipes and a tin of tobacco. Can't ship tobacco, he said. So I took it to the nearest grocery with a mini PO inside. Anything breakable, she said. I said nope. She applied stamps and away it went. I had no idea idioticy had affected the PO but apparently so.

Thanks for the heads up, Bob!