Delivery times for Sale books

I ordered some books from The Folio Society on 3rd January and live 22 miles away from their office and yet there is no sign of any impending dispatch of my order, let alone delivery.

Looks like Folio has sold a fair amount of stock in this sale and I am pleased for the business if this means it is doing well.

I ordered on the 3rd of January as well, 30 minutes after the Sale started and I received the books this morning. I live in the Netherlands, so books are definitely moving!

>1 English-bookseller:

I bought on Wednesday, got an email about shipping on Friday; another purchase on Friday, email today. I haven't received anything yet, though. (I'm in Germany.)

First order:
- made on Wednesday
- "your order has shipped" from FS on Thursday
- "we've got your parcel" from Evri on Friday
- "out for delivery" from Evri this morning (due to be delivered this afternoon, apparently)

Second order:
- made on Friday
- "we're expecting your parcel" from DPD this morning
- "your order has shipped" from FS later this morning

I placed my order on Wednesday morning (US time) and selected express shipping. I got an email on Friday that "my label had been printed." And the status has not changed since. Oh well.

I am very surprised to see that The Folio Society use Evri to deliver. Having had some painful experiences with them, I would not touch them them with a bargepole.

>4 PeterFitzGerald:

First order delivered today at 3.36pm, which is 5 days, 1 hour and 1 minute after I placed my order.

>6 English-bookseller: My heart sinks every time an online order is shipped with Evri. They used to be called Hermes and had to rebrand because their reputation was so bad.

>6 English-bookseller:
I believe they’re named Evri because there’s every chance of not getting your parcels.

Evri work really well for shipping from the UK to Germany, as does Hermes in Germany.

Wouldn’t hurt to contact FS customer service. They switched delivery companies last year so there was a bit of an adjustment. I made an order last year where i received no tracking code and no updates for a week. Then randomly found the books sitting at my front step.

My order was shipped on the 4th, yet Evri/Hermes have only just received the package at 19:34 GMT today, and I'm in the UK. I shudder whenever I have something coming from Evri/Hermes. I received an expensive art book from Folio last year and Hermes added a cut and gouge through the box and straight into the spine of the book.

I hope my Turn of the Screw LE and other books are undamaged this time.

>12 Thwack: This is often nothing to do with the couriers themselves. With online shipping systems an item is usually marked as shipped when the sender purchases/prints off the shipping label ,not necessarily when the item is actually collected by the courier. It is the same with eBay shipping, if you buy postage they immediately mark the item as shipped even if you buy it at 10pm on a Friday evening when theres no way it can actually ship until after the weekend when post offices reopen.

Odd how experiences differ. A few years ago I sent sixty-odd parcels to all corners of the UK using Hermes (now Evri), without a single reported issue: and I've received dozens of Evri deliveries in recent years, nothing lost or damaged, all arriving near the middle of the two-hour time slot. With other couriers, meanwhile, I've had a loss or two, and items put through or left propped against the wrong door when ours is clearly marked. I imagine much of it is down to the final courier, and here for Evri that's always been the same person.

My wee Folio order from Sunday is still "processing", but if it's passed to Evri I'll be confident it's in safe hands. And I swear they've never paid me a penny...

I orderd on Wednesday 3rd January at 7:26 PM. The Order was shipped on Friday 5th January at 1:18 PM. I got the notification from FedEx that "We have your package" on Monday 8th January. Now the package is in tranist and the expected delivery date is 16th January. So it will take almost two week for the express delivery, for which I paid £34.10, to reach me.

I made an order Friday morning and it didn't ship until just now. Not great, really.

>16 mazzyhope: Presuming you paid for next day delivery ? Otherwise i don’t see the problem with placing an order on Friday & it shipping 2 working days later on Tuesday morning…?

I ordered 3rd Jan (standard shipping to the UK). Folio emailed me to say the order was dispatched on 5th Jan. But the books still haven't showed up and when I check the Evri tracking it says "We're expecting it". So now I am waiting to see what FS customer service has to say.

Edit: sod's law that the Evri status changed to "We've got it" about 30 minutes after I wrote to customer support. But as always, I got a friendly, prompt and helpful reply from the Folio team.

>8 mazzyhope815: 'They used to be called Hermes and had to rebrand because their reputation was so bad.'

Granted. I think it depends on your local delivery person. Mines is okay, and I get all my stuff in good nick. But that's not a good business model. And certainly not a good public service model.

Basically, it's a bit shit.

I’m supposed to get my delivery today but since it’s FedEx I expect they’ll hold it for a month and then charge me $500 for storage costs.

Ordered on the 3rd, finally shipped only today, on the 9th. Thankfully, the now sold out Around the World in Eighty Days which I got for my 10-year-old shows as shipped. Phew.

I'm another who ordered on Jan 3rd and shipped (according to FS) on the 5th. I've as yet heard nothing from Evri, even though 2 other items ordered from other companies after that date have both been notified as being received by Evri (and delivered in one case). I have fingers crossed - Hermes were diabolical, but as Evri they do seem to have upped their game. This is actuall the longest any FS order has taken in recent years - I've found their shipping from London to Yorkshire to be really efficient in the past. If it wasn't for this, it would still be early days. I'm hoping/expecting it to be just the sheer volume of books currently being shipped.

Further to my above opening post I have heard nothing about delivery since my order was made on 3rd January.

My order was for over £2,000 and I am left wondering just how much I have to spend with The Folio Society to get a decent delivery service on my orders.

>17 antinous_in_london: I usually pay for next day delivery but I wasn't going to be home the next day so I chose the option that said "2-4 days". They then marked it as dispatched 2 working days later and said "allow up to 5 days for delivery", so we're up to 7 working days already. And further from that, the Evri tracking is showing that Evri haven't even received the package yet. If the options were "next day" and "maybe within a week, maybe not" I would have paid the extra £3 and just ordered the following day.

I ordered on a Wednesday and received my order the following Wednesday. That's okay for delivery to Germany, although it's a bit of a joke that we're forced to pay for express shipping and express means a week in this case. Others do as well and sometimes better than FedEx for lower fees.

As stated earlier, I placed my order on Wednesday 1/3, got notice of the printing of a label on Friday and then nothing. So I reached out to Customer Support and received the following response which I pass along for those who might be interested.

"It's been a very busy week at the Society as the sale orders on Wednesday put us in the 5000s as opposed to the usual 500 or so, which means we are unfortunately working a day or 2 behind as we are a small business and our warehouse team does not have the staff to pack such a large capacity in one day. We really do apologise for this. I can confirm, however, that we passed your order on to FedEx on Friday. We did give them a very high amount of packages though, which may be the cause of the delay."

As a postscript, I note that the FedEx tracking site today update the status and is reporting that they have the package and it is on its way.

Hide My Eyes and Anna Karenina both arrived safely today, a week after I ordered them with standard delivery. Am very happy with both.

>26 Redshirt: Thank you for your above post.

The explanation you were provided with by the Folio Society seems reasonable but I wonder why The Folio Society didn't post such a message on its website?

They might also have emailed all those with outstanding sale orders with something similar - perhaps even giving a revised expected Date of Arrival of each order.

Such simple messaging with customers is not Rocket Science or like trying to understand the Horizon software developed by Fujitsu for the Post Office!

Just received this message from folio:

"Thank you for your recent order.

I’m sorry to say that I write with a bit of bad news. We experienced a technical error at our warehouse earlier today which has prevented express orders from being collected. We are working on this as a matter of urgency and will have your order despatched with DPD as soon as possible but must warn that we won’t be able to fulfil our promise of next-day delivery. I do apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience that this causes.

We will refund you for the additional postage paid, as you have not received the service that you should have here."

>29 EdmundRodriguez: That’s the sort of honest and clear communication that for me deserves respect.

I'm not too bothered about delivery times, as the books will most certainly join the hordes of unread tomes, laughing at me from my bookshelves.

>31 LesMiserables: same!

>22 Willoyd: I'm another who ordered on Jan 3rd and shipped (according to FS) on the 5th. I've as yet heard nothing from Evri, ..... I'm hoping/expecting it to be just the sheer volume of books currently being shipped.
It seems it is. Just to update, I've just received an email from Evri saying that they've just received my parcel - so it seems the shipping notice from FS was a bit presumptuous. However.....

>31 LesMiserables: I'm not too bothered about delivery times, as the books will most certainly join the hordes of unread tomes, laughing at me from my bookshelves.
Exactly! In fact, I've just started Daniel Deronda, so it'll be a while before anything else gets looked at!

>26 Redshirt: Thank you for sharing this!

>31 LesMiserables: Hahahahaha! Yes exactly this...!

Although I am keen to get cracking asap on the Living Mountain after your stellar review. My folks are in Fife so the Cairngorms don't seem so very far away

>35 plasticjock: I remember the day I read this and the strange awe it inspired as I read.

All in one sitting on the couch. Never budged!

>36 LesMiserables: Is it normal for The Living Mountain to arrive in a plastic sheet folded around it, rather than the vacuum sealed all-around plastic which is more common? This is the first book I have received in this style.

>37 Thwack:

I don't as yet have an FS copy, but it's on its way.

Some volumes are like this.

Check out the community wiki page of this group which lists all production elements fir each book.

>37 Thwack:

Sorry misread your post. Normally shrink-wrapped but more regular buyers may have more knowledge of what are recent innovations.

>37 Thwack:
The FS changed from shrink wrapping their books in plastic to using a waxed paper wrapping about three years ago. Better environmentally.

I placed my sale order at 8am on 4/1 (Aus time), it has now been over a week and whilst I have had a dispatch email, the tracking updates haven’t moved at all. I’ve never had this before, so not sure if it’s the courier’s process or if it hasn’t really left the warehouse. Strange.

>41 jbuz:
My experience suggests that even when notification of shipping has been sent out, it's not necessarily left the warehouse, and won't for a while. In other words, I wouldn't rely on anything until you can track the courier - it's clear that FS's systems are rather stretched.

>40 wcarter: I see, I swear my copy of Roadside Picnic (easily within three years) came in the older plastic shrink wrap. I assume they are slowly phasing it out rather than an immediate switch over.

Pleased to receive an update from The Folio Society recording that the order has been shipped. That particular stage took eight days from the date of the order. No information on tracking received yet.

We know what these unacceptable delays are caused by. The Folio Society grossly underestimated the likely success of the Sale. The Folio Society has of course switched their focus from those of us who liked their more traditional choice of books - and at reasonable prices - to those who prefer more modern themes, trendy design features and have the money to pay higher prices.

With a half-price sale of many traditional books, it would appear that the demand has hugely exceeded their expectations.

Who would have thought it!

One week after ordering, Evri just informed me they have my package.

>45 mazzyhope:
Same here. Just to summarise my thread: ordered on 3rd; notified by FS that had shipped on 5th; notified by Evri that received 10th; delivered 30 mins ago (morning of 12th). Not as quick as normal, but 9 days not a disaster (although on the grumpy old man side other book sellers achieve far quicker for far less, sometimes free, on books with much tighter margins,,,,and I don't mean Amazon!). Packing excellent though!
Satisfied reaction to the books on the main sales thread.

I placed my order on the 3rd, and got a notice that it had been picked up from FedEx's distribution facility in Chicago yesterday. With brutally cold temperatures coming here in South Dakota, I hope they don't deliver it until late next week, for the sake of the poor delivery person.

>47 coynedj: Right? Sometimes I want to be able to reach out the delivery people and say, "It's not urgent! You can sit on this until the weather is better!"

Especially when it's raining. They don't want to get wet and I don't want my books to get wet either.

Mine has now gone from “departed Folio Society” for 9 days with no subsequent updates, to “sorry we have no record”. I feel like that’s ominous!

>49 jbuz: Uh oh!

Ordered on the 8th, arrived in California today. I ordered one LE (Edward Thomas poems) so I had to choose express delivery and I guess they are honoring express delivery.

>49 jbuz: Ominous indeed, and I have the same thing on the Fedex page. When I'd checked earlier, there was a link from the Fedex page to a DAI Post page. That page never showed any information other than a number, which I noted.

So now, I went to DAI Post and it says, "Shipment cancelled by the customer."

So I'll be calling FS today.

For the record, I'm in Australia.

>52 gistak: Oof I'm sorry to hear this. I hope you're able to get your package as soon as possible!

>53 BooksFriendsNotFood: Thanks, me too! Though if it's not here by Thursday, then I can wait a little while (I'm going out of town for 10 days). I was hoping to see them before I went away, but I guess it's not urgent.

>54 gistak: I would also be distressed in your place, especially since if it doesn’t come this week you have to wait an extra ten days! Whatever happens, I hope your books arrive in perfect condition so that they’re worth the wait :)

FedEx are becoming the usual problem. While other services allow you to input a safe place to leave packages or maybe even change the delivery day, they don't. You have to send them an email, and they didn't reply to mine. It's a lot easier with DHL, DPD or Evri / Hermes, to name a few.

Another great Evri experience today. Finally had an update that they'd deliver my Folio order between 11 and noon, so I made sure to be home during that window. Then got a delay notification but they'd deliver between noon and 1. Then another delay, now they were coming between 1 and 2. Then half an hour later got an email saying they can't deliver my order today after all and will update me later with my new delivery date.

Evri have always been like this going back to their Hermes days, they're consistently voted as the worst courier service in the UK, and in my opinion it reflects poorly on the Folio Society that they use them.

>57 mazzyhope815:
Evri have always been like this going back to their Hermes days, they're consistently voted as the worst courier service in the UK, and in my opinion it reflects poorly on the Folio Society that they use them.
I think it comes down to the individual courier. I discovered yesterday that our current Evri courier took over just at the point I noticed a distinct improvement in the service. That series of messages you quote suggests to me an issue at the courier end. It's certainly something I've heard suggested before.

>52 gistak: That sounds infuriating. I hope your volumes find their way to you swiftly and safely.

>58 Willoyd: I think it comes down to the individual courier...

That remains my impression. Our Evri courier has covered this patch of north Norfolk for six years, and today's delivery of Shackleton's Boat Journey was typical: an email arrived to tell me of a 4PM-5PM delivery window, and the electronic cock crowed at 4.32 to summon me down to the front door.

Well my order finally arrived and one of the books has a scratched slipcase and one of them is moldy... But they're both out of stock so the only option they gave me is to return them for a refund. Sigh.

Does anyone have experience with missing items in folio orders? Received my package today but it was missing the Wyndham Collection... already contacted customer service but will likely only hear back tomorrow

>61 mazzyhope815: Might one enquire as to which title was mouldy??

>62 AdPacem: Not this sale, but I did have a missing volume in an order some while back. It showed up in a separate package a few days later. I hope that your Wyndham set arrives soon - I have it, and quite like it.

>64 coynedj: thank you! Unfortunately it appears my order was only split into two boxes, and both arrived today, so I don't have much hope that it will still show up

Well, I got a shipping notice two weeks ago that my books shipped a couple of days after placing the order at the beginning of the sale. Today, I got a refund for one of the books that supposedly shipped (which was ordered well before it sold out). Still have no tracking number, so no idea when the books will arrive and what will actually be in the package... My excitement over the sale has suddenly turned to trepidation, especially since the book that got refunded was the one that I actually wanted.

>59 Thwack: Thanks. It's been a couple of days since they said they'd look into it, so I wrote again today.

When I phone them, I get a message saying that no one's available to take my call. No option to hold; they just end the call there.

Two of the books I ordered ended up being sold out, and my confidence is pretty low that I'll ever see them.

I'm in the UK. I ordered late on the 3rd (might even have been the 4th when it went through) and the books arrived on the 12th. No issues with their condition.

Just checked my order.
Apparently it has taken 10 days for my order to travel from the Folio Warehouse to FedEx in Basildon.
I ordered 12 days ago and yet to leave the UK for Australia.

Yeah I’m now 12 days in and haven’t had any updates. I spent $1,000 on the sale and I’m pretty confident I’ll be getting some of that back based on the experiences of others above.

>70 LesMiserables: Same situation here but I'm in Europe at least! Hope yours arrives soon : )

>67 HonorWulf: Interesting.

I had a bad sales experience a few years ago. Similar situation.

I complained that the couple of books I received were really just fillers and the handful of books I actually wanted ended up not being posted to me at all due to somehow out of stock, despite still selling them online. Inexplicable.

They were really understanding though, and refunded me the whole order, as it really was a car crash experience.

Latest update for me is that FS has said that my order is on the way.

They gave me a new tracking number, which says that it was shipped on the 12th (rather than the 5th, as the last one said).

Mind you, it seems to have taken three days to get to Basildon, but as long as all the books are there (still not a sure thing), I'll be satisfied.

Since we're talking about shipping, do any other Aussies routinely have problems with DAI Post failing to clear Folio Society shipments at customs? My last three parcels have been held up - the first because they assessed that there was $0.25 to pay for the free Folio diary, and this attracted an additional $88 in handling fees. The second parcel was just under the free threshold using the WMAG7 discount code, but Folio wrote the undiscounted value on the customs declaration. And now my January sale package is being held because they've calculated the value using non-sale pricing. I don't know yet if this is Folio's fault or their shipping agent's, but since I'm already paying Australian mark-up prices with taxes included and now taking great care to make sure the parcel value is well under the free threshold, it really annoys me.

>75 IainFyfe: Hasn't happened to me yet, but it could with this order! If they don't write the sale price (the "transaction price" that they're supposed to use), then it'll definitely be over the amount.

What do you do about it? Can you explain to to customs or something?

My books, ordered on January 3, arrived today in the U.S., cold but all well packed and without any damage. I'm going to let them warm up a bit before opening them.

Edit - they've been opened, and all (Doctor Zhivago, All Hell Let Loose, and Dune: Messiah) all look and smell wonderful.

I placed my order on 1/3, received a shipping notice from FS on 1/5, and today 1/16 received a message from FedEx that my box has been 'processed'. I did not spring for express shipping so I guess it got dumped in the corner of a warehouse.

>76 gistak: Good luck with yours! I had clarification from the shipper that Folio valued the transaction using the full price details, so I've email FS to ask that they stop doing that. This time round, DAI Post have actually been very responsive, and they've submitted my documentation to their subcontracted customs agent to get it cleared. No idea whether there will be additional charges for this yet - the first time this happened, I ate the charges and the second time FS paid them ($190!).

>79 IainFyfe: This may be the first time I've had a Folio shipment stopped at customs in Australia. DAI Post have already been in contact with me about it... What is the threshold limit by the way?

OT: I've also had a Taschen shipment held up at the same time. This is the first occasion I've ordered with them and I suppose from the invoice they don't include Australian taxes in the bill

I'm hoping this little hiccup isn't TOO expensive...!

>80 plasticjock: The threshold is AU$1000, beyond that you're liable for duty & GST. FS have already included the GST in the price, so there's nothing to pay there and I think that books are zero rated for duty, but you may be hit for a declaration processing charge and a quarantine processing charge, plus a nominal charge for any free items. If your actual transaction value is less than $1000, then there's a fair chance that the charges will be waived or that FS will pick them up if you ask. Good luck!

>75 IainFyfe: Very sorry to hear that. $88 'handling fees' is a disgraceful rip-off. It's also remiss of Folio to declare prices to customs higher than those actually paid by the customer.

>75 IainFyfe: Thats a brain fart chowder from both Folio and Customs.

>83 LesMiserables: I probably should quit before I have an aneurysm but Folio have just messaged me to say that they cannot put the sale prices on documents as they are required to quote 'verifiable values to customs'. This is bonkers, right? It's not just me?

>84 IainFyfe: I would try contacting them again, as I had the same issue and the representative I spoke with immediately acknowledged the mistake and sent me a corrected invoice for customs, which I then sent to the shipping company (Fedex in my case). Everything went smoothly afterwards, and I was charged based on the corrected invoice.

>84 IainFyfe:

That's rubbish. You pay customs on what you actually paid for something, not the price before the sale. I would contact them again.

I'd hate to have anyone at Customs open my book box, but there should be the FS despatch note in there, showing what you actually paid for the books. I don't know if that would help, bureaucracies being what they are.

I just got a slip in the mail from Canada post saying I owe almost 250 dollars on my folio sale order. I've made many orders over the years and this is the first time I've had a customs charge. I thought books were exempt from duty in Canada. Anyone else in Canada ever get duty charges on their folio orders?

>90 FrostyF33t: I've paid 5% customs + the $11 processing fee in Canada many times before.

Once they overcharged me and I was able to dispute it, you have to mail them a form (usually attached to the parcel or ask the post office). I got a refund in that case. Good luck!

>91 PartTimeBookAddict:
In the kindest way possible, this is incorrect. The books are bought at a dot-ca address and tax is already paid to the Canadian Government when ordering. Any amount of money is an overcharge because you aren't supposed to charged for customs AT ALL.

>90 FrostyF33t:
In the past, when I was twice incorrectly charged customs, I contacted Folio and let them know. They refunded me the amount and then went after the shipper to be reimbursed themselves. I'm sure they have a whole protocol for it.
Anyway, contact Folio immediately and tell them you've been incorrectly charged customs. If the rep tries to tell you there is nothing they can do about, talk to someone else. They will fix this for you but, unfortunately, there seems to be a few new customer service reps who have no idea what they're talking about, so make sure you're very clear you already paid tax and the customs charge was incorrect and you need their help remedying it.

>92 roserainford: That's good to know. No offence taken. I'm not a customs expert. So the TAX line item in the FS order is going to Canada and not UK?

I appreciate this info and will be better prepared in the future, especially since this was the biggest FS order I'v ever placed. Thanks!

>90 FrostyF33t: FS charges Canadian tax at source, and have a registration number writ large on the package to show Customs that the collection has been made. Anyone outside of Canada who does a certain amount of business in Canada is required to have a GST account. Most large companies avoid it like the plague .
Large outfits such as Fedex and UPS shepherd your packages through Customs, thus avoiding a double whammy on FS products, but exposing you to tax on another bundle that might well have slipped through tax-free. You are allowed to appeal double charges to Canadian Customs, but rarely with success. After 2 or 3 months sitting on it a civil servant will send you an unsigned form letter telling you that all imports are subject to tax, period. I had one successful appeal to three brushoffs, and I only ever appealed high priced LEs. Folio used to recompense members who had been overcharged, without asking for proof. Perhaps they still do. If so it goes some way to justifying the predatory Canadian selling price.

>93 PartTimeBookAddict:
The tax Folio charges goes to the Canadian government.
I wouldn't suggest trying to appeal to Canadian customs directly, though. They are, as one says, useless as a screen door on a submarine, can't find their collective arses' with both hands, etcetera.

Folio should refund the amount. The two times they did for me they asked for a copy of the receipt I got from paying the extra duty. Probably so they can appeal to the Canadian government personally. And honestly, let them deal with it, I don't have the energy.

>95 roserainford: All good to know. Thank you. The one time I did appeal, it was because they charged duty on the full price, not the sale price, I was refunded the total amount. I just took it as a lucky bonus, but know I know better.

>84 IainFyfe: That's wrong. What matters is the "transaction price."

Regardless of what they think something is worth, the legal amount is how much they were willing to sell it for. Their notion of value is imaginary. The price you paid is real.

>95 roserainford: Thanks for the suggestion. Props to the Folio society, they've agreed to refund the full amount. Hopefully they get their money back from the CBSA because it should be zero. The person from CBSA when I called offered that the only other solution would be to send it back to them for "re-assessment". The box at the post office already looks like it's been through hell and back, barely held together with multiple holes and crushed corners so I'm nervous about the condition of the contents inside.

My tracking tells me that my package has cleared Australian customs, so I guess they wrote the right price for mine. Happy news!

BUT... I'm sure it won't be delivered today, and I'm off for 10 days of travel. My daughter just asked whether she can open the box when I'm gone.

I cheerfully said "of course," but I'm writing her out of my will.

>99 gistak: LOL

>81 IainFyfe: Thanks for the insights and the good wishes. Fingers crossed I don't have to pay anything for the free magazines...!

I have the disconcerting tracking info as follows:

18th Jan 2024 10:28:00 ARRIVED IN COUNTRY / NON EU PRESENTED TO CUSTOMS 204 BRISBANE, AU
18th Jan 2024 09:53:00 CUSTOMS CLEARED 433 COOPERS PLAINS,QLD, AU

Somehow half an hour after clearing customs, the shipment has progressed to "presented to customs".

I know we are upside down in the antipodes, but this is baffling.

Books arrived yesterday safe and sound. Despite being stiffed on the one aforementioned book, I can't complain given how nice these look -- the Sharpe Trilogy in particular looks glorious together on the shelf.

I placed my first order Jan 3rd and my second order Jan 10th. A few days ago I received a tracking email. No idea if it is for my first or second order. Then today I received an email informing me of a refund because my copy of Outlaws of the Marsh was damaged and no copies left to replace it. I don’t know if they are sending the damaged copy or not or where the damage occurred.

>104 Atheistic: I had the same thing happen to me. I still haven’t received the order I placed on the 3rd (it’s seemingly been sitting in New York for a week), and though the order I placed on the 12th said it was shipped on the 17th and a tracking number was generated, FedEx still says it’s awaiting the parcel. Outlaws of the Marsh was in the 2nd order, which I’m guessing is still in the FS warehouse since I just got the refund notice.

>105 jsg1976: Exactly! It’s such a weird occurrence. I received an email for each order indicating that they had shipped.

My first order from this sale was delivered yesterday; nineteen days for standard shipping to Australia doesn't seem bad, especially since it was delayed due to Folio declaring the non-sale value on the green customs sticker. Standouts for me so far are the now out of stock Charles Van Sandwyck books and Captain James Cook's Journals, which as others have noted, are quite different from the previously published Voyages.

I made three separate orders with all delayed and unfortunately a damaged book in each - including Outlaws of the Marsh which now seems to be out of print despite there being 250+ copies available when I placed my order. I now have to send Folio photos of the damage…

>104 Atheistic: I wish they'd actually checked the books they sent to me instead of just sending damaged ones

>108 pse1:
>109 mazzyhope815:
How damaged? Minor or some big issues?

>109 mazzyhope815: i emailed about it and the Folio Society response was that the damage was noticed at the warehouse and that they won’t send out books in less that perfect condition

>110 Pax_Romana: one had a scratch right across the front of the slipcase, and one boxset had what looked liked mould across the top of the spine of one of the books that had completely discoloured the cloth and was visible on the plastic wrap in that spot as well.

>102 LesMiserables: I had the same thing (though different cities), but the books just arrived today, safe and sound.

Sadly, I had to view them through a video chat, but they look good!

Quick update - I also fell foul of the import tax overcharge that some have experienced recently, due to the full price of the books being declared and not the sale price.
After contacting Folio, they refunded me the cost of the postage which amounted to roughly the import tax overcharge. However, just to note, Folio said they were not able refund import duties directly, and also that the had to declare the full price of the books rather than the sale price - so this will likely occur again for future sales.

>114 Tamachan00:

That is just not correct. You to pay tax for what you actually pay, not what they might theoretically charge at another time, be it higher or lower. Unbelievable!

And I just took a look: They charged the correct EU tax, not one on anything but the correct / sale price. (They have to deduct that in advance.) Is this an Australian thing?

>113 gistak: Well that gives me hope. I'm 3 weeks out from 'despatch'.

I finally received my first package yesterday after ordering on the 4th, but the second package has been stuck on the same status for the past 6 days.

>115 SF-72: Its definitely not an Australian thing. Australian Customs guidance on this is completely clear that it’s the actual transaction value that should be used https://www.abf.gov.au/trade-and-goods-compliance-subsite/files/fact-sheets/valu... but when I raised this with FS, I was fobbed off. I don’t really understand why they’re doing this, because as you say, they’re calculating the prepaid tax correctly but the value given on the green sticker is wrong. I think there’s also an electronic submission that’s incorrect, because the shipping agency were able to list the detailed contents and non-sale values of my books.
I’d encourage anyone else affected by this to raise the issue with Folio. We really shouldn’t be dealing with additional import charges due to Folio filing false declarations.

>114 Tamachan00: That is ridiculous, and also not what they did for my order (which would have been well over the line at regular prices).

>119 gistak: I agree, but it's what I was told:

"Unfortunately, we are required by customs to provide an independently verifiable retail price for the books, which sadly, has to be the full price, rather than the limited-time discounted one.
Whilst we cannot refund duties and taxes for orders to Switzerland, we would be more than happy to refund your shipping costs as a gesture of goodwill. "

For me the above refund roughly covered the import charge (for books here you pay import tax on anything over 200 francs), but obviously there seems to be mixed responses/information coming back from Folio about this so your mileage may vary!

Anyway, I'm really pleased with the books I received - Shackleton boxset, Micrographia, Cook boxset and the Living Mountain are all fantastic books!

>120 Tamachan00: I don't understand that. I would have thought both FS's sales ledger and their invoice to the purchaser is independently verifiable. If that is genuinely not acceptable then how would one import a second hand book (or another product) purchased at auction?

This discussion covers one thing that I appreciate about the U.S. - there are no import duties on books. There are other things I don't appreciate, of course, but I don't want to get into politics.

>122 coynedj: really ? That's wonderful 😍

In case this will be useful to others: I am located in the US and the value of my order listed by Folio on custom forms (they used regular, non-sale prices) must have exceeded some threshold, triggering FedEx to require me to fill out the importer form and charging me the additional "Merchandise Processing Fee" and "Disbursement Fee" (none of this happened with my December order, which was considerably less expensive).

I contacted Folio, paid FedEx, submitted the payment receipt to Folio and was reimbursed right away.

Overall - smooth customer service experience (minus the initial mis-pricing snafu, obviously).

>124 vorod: I believe the threshold in the US is $2500 for formal goods.

>125 HonorWulf: Thank you! Good to know! Definitely would not have triggered it if the sale prices were used to fill out the customs form :)

I wonder if the non-sales prices used might be related to their contracts for postal insurance/replacement values and therefore affecting customs as a knock-on effect? I’m trying to see how any of this would make any sense otherwise.

Hello! Have any of you ordered from Folio's web store to European Union, Belgium/The Netherlands in particular? How was the experience with customs? I presume that VAT is being paid directly on the website? Have a lovely weekend! :)

EU yes, those countries no. But the way I understand it and the way it's done in my experience / for Germany, they charge the VAT when you're purchasing and afterwards it's delivered without a fuss.

>129 SF-72: Thank you for the reply! That's great to hear, as I remember reading about some initial complications just after the Brexit with additional customs fees, charged after reaching destination countries

>130 drizzled:

It's been working well for me so far. I think FedEx once wanted a confirmation of what I paid, but I've never had to pay any additional fees. I think that's why FS use express shipping only for the EU these days. Those companies are well equipped to handle pre-paid customs fees. Though I've been getting a lot of Royal Mail parcels, which are then handled by the regular German mail carrier, where that also works perfectly well. That's used by The Broken Binding, an independent book shop that's been publishing their own editions and has a subscription service, too. I would certainly appreciate having the choice again when buying from FS since express shipping is so expensive.

Becoming a tad frustrated with FS customer service. I emailed them to request a size 10 to the derriere of the courier who apparently picked up my order in Brisbane 8 days ago. I'm literally 45 minutes from the depot where the parcel supposedly rests awaiting delivery.
They replied that 'We can see it has cleared customs and is on its way."
Yeah, I can read a tracking entry too, but not too helpful.

>132 LesMiserables: Yikes. Well, not to rub salt in the wound, but I've got all mine and am happy with them!

>133 gistak:
By design or accident, my order arrived yesterday, all in good shape. It managed to bypass me, make its way to an inland city, then head back to me again.

>134 LesMiserables: They went on walkabout.

Indeed. Remarkably none the worse for it.

Just a funny anecdote: I've just received a call from a customs agent.

I was fearing that my latest order (The Shining + Misery) would be stopped and I needed to go to customs to release it. But it was not the case: the agent told me her son was a fan of Stephen King and that he had asked her where I got that Shining Edition. I hope I converted someone to FS!

>137 dyhtstriyk: That's both hilarious and awesome.

I received today the replacement for my first order from the sale, which made it to Chicago on the 18th and then vanished before arriving at my house. Even worse, by the time it went missing and FS sent the replacement, 3 of the books in my order had sold out. So it took me a month and 4 days to get (most of) my first order.

Between my two sale orders, I had attempted to buy 11 books in the sale. One got cancelled and refunded before it was shipped out because they oversold their stock (Outlaws of the Marsh), and 3 were lost in the mail (Doctor Zhivago, Sharpe’s Tiger, and Oryx & Crake). I don’t mind missing out on Oryx & Crake that much, as that was just kind of a last minute add, or even Outlaws of the Marsh, because I’m not sure I would have actually ever read it, but I am bummed about the other two (particularly because I now have the other two Sharpe books orphaned, and I’m missing the first one in the series so I can’t read those until I find a copy of Tiger).

Thankfully, there were still copies of the Shackleton’s Antarctica set and Shackleton’s Boat Journey (only 2 left in stock as of writing this post) they could send. Those were the ones I was most excited for in the sale, and they arrived safe and sound.

>139 jsg1976: I wouldn't worry about the loss of the Sharpes as each one is much the same book, set in very similar situations ... sometimes with a new spritely woman attached - God Knows why - to our hero...

I conjecture that the Sharpe 'novels' may have been the product of an early version of ChatGPT...

But I am sorry to read about the loss of Zhivago and O&C.

>139 jsg1976:

What rotten luck, really.