Hey everyone,
just a short note (I will add more later) - the Lupinity Wolves 2014 calendar is now available... on Amazon!
The supporters / voters already know this for a while and enjoyed a 20% discount for their help in the meantime.
Now, the calendar is available for everyone on Amazon UK -> www.amazon.co.uk/Calendar-Lupi… and on Amazon Germany -> www.amazon.de/Kalender-Lupinit…
I decided to team up with Amazon this time and see how that goes. The good thing is, you get the full Amazon service and of course FREE SHIPPING to Germany, the UK and 15 other eligible EU countries (see update below!)
Check it out!Unfortunately, Amazon US is completely separate and I can't list the calendar there without paying another full pro seller account, with is extremely costly. Sorry guys, you have to order at Amazon UK too, but the good thing is: while shipping is not free for non-EU-countries, it is MUCH cheaper than any shipping rates I could get. For example, shipping to the US is 6.98 GBP, while I can't get anything below 15 EUR...
[Updated] This year, a lot of things changed. The most important changes are:
Paper quality
First of all, the paper quality is one third heavier than in the 2012 calendar. I'm glad to report that this fixes the problem with curling pages on wet or cold walls that sometimes occured with the old one. I have a test calendar in the back of my car, directly in the rear window, exposed to sometimes about 60°C and direct sunlight, as well as one in humid conditions, and both are still in perfect condition after the first 3 weeks
Print quality: finish
In the 2012 calendar, I decided to choose a Matte finish due to popular request. I re-evaluated the options, tested several other paper types and finishings, and finally came to the conclusion that a glossy finish looks much better while still not being shiny and that it's still possible to write down personal notes even with pencils. So, this year the finish is 250 g/m² glossy, which is also the highest quality available at this moment.
Print quality: cover
In order to give the cover of the calendar an extra shine and a nice haptic, I decided to spend some extra money on a UV coating that just looks spectacular. I used that on many other prints before, so I know how great it looks and feels while touching it does not leave any fingerprints. I would have loved to use that on the whole calendar, but besides making the calendar much more expensive, this would also make it impossible to note down anything in the calendar (unless you used Sharpies or similar permanent markers)...
Protection
To protect the calendars from any damage, especially because they are this time handled and shipped by Amazon, each calendar is shrink-wrapped individually. That was very costly unfortunately, but necessary to ensure a perfect result.
ISBN
Unlike the 2012 one, this calendar has an ISBN (international standard book number). This is also very expensive for individuals, but since I wanted to see if I can get it listed by Amazon (and whether it's worth the immense effort after all), this was a necessity. Besides Amazon, other retailers also need an ISBN to index and process an item in their stock.
And the most important thing that didn't change: despite the higher costs, I decided to leave the price unchanged - that's a high risk for me, especially because the print run is considerably higher this year, but I hope it'll work out if I can find more retailers interested in offering the calendar.
A word on the Amazon listing
The Amazon listing of the calendar is quite an adventure for me. Since I order a lot off Amazon myself and was always happy with their professional packaging and delivery times (and the free shipping of course), I thought this would be a nice thing to try for the calendar in order to give you the best possible experience when buying one.
This is an expensive endeavour, and chances are I will lose money on that experiment. Amazon is targeted at retailers that offer plenty of products year-round and they charge a rather high monthly fee for the account as well as enormous fees on each sold unit and for handling, packaging and shipping. Amazon earns way more money on each sold calendar than me, but I guess that's how they grew that big...
And a request...
As you might have noticed, I'm listed as some sort of third-party seller for my own calendar
Amazon does that on purpose with new sellers for the first 90 days. In those 90 days you have to earn a higher status. Good feedback on the products and service is crucial for that (which is odd, since the shipping and customer service is provided by Amazon themselves...).Also, I honestly stand no chance on Amazon against all the mass produced calendars that are not yet on the market, but as soon as they are, they will sell thousands of copies and my listing will probably just get overrun
No one knows me, no one knows my photography, no one knows the quality of the calendar and if it's worth a look. Again, feedback is crucial for people to see what this calendar is all about.So I do have a request: if you buy a copy of the calendar this year, could you please also consider leaving reviews and customer feedback? Just honestly write what you think and what's probably useful to other wolf enthusiasts considering buying one. It would be awesome if it was a five star rating, but if you think the calendar doesn't deserve 5 stars, then feel free to put in any other rating that you feel appropriate. Especially in Germany, buyers seem to be quite reluctant to review it, while on the UK platform, I was very surprised and happy to see a review of it by Monty Sloan
and some of you have already put in a review of their own too, thanks for that!!Amazon France, Italy or Spain, anyone?
Oh, and another request: if anyone from France, Italy or Spain would love to see the calendar listed locally on their country's Amazon pages, I could do that right away - but my French is quite rusty and my Italian and Spanish practically non-existent
Thus, I cannot translate the product description in French, Italian or Spanish quite well. If anyone of you is able and willing to help, we can probably make it happen Since France, Italy and Spain are not in the list of countries eligible for free delivery from either UK or Germany (which is really odd in my opinion!), a listing in these marketplaces would mean you (and other people from your country) could then order the calendars with free shipping... so please help if you can?
[Update on free delivery by Amazon]
I just had a look at Amazon's free delivery service.
For orders placed on Amazon UK, delivery is free to the following European destinations: UK, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Gibraltar, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.
For orders placed on Amazon Germany, delivery is free to the following European destinations: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland.
