Will they have a black Friday sale?

I hope we're just reading too much into things and it's all just honest mistakes and misunderstandings. Only time will really tell but yeah... fingers crossed by new year everything will be smooth and spiffy again and we can go back to loving Makie labs.
They're working hard, must be a big hoarde of gremlins to fight.

Presumably the shipping situation and all the glitches will settle down once the server switch has all the bugs ironed out, and then it'll be plain sailing. That's the hope anyway. Fingers and toes crossed! Cuz I still gots me a load of dolls to make real and I don't want the most interesting toy company around to stop being so interesting.

I finally got a response that they will refund the $20 shipping because I've been trying since the "sale." After a bunch of tries, I got my doll to show up in the US website and was able to place my order. I am so glad to have this done!

That's great news DocC!

Now this sounds more like the old MakiesLab that we all know and love.

I've contacted them to ask about my wig order - it's been stuck in processing since 19th November. I said I knew they were busy, I'd just like to check nothing went wrong. So hopefully that will get straightened out soon.

It's been strange and a little bit sad seeing how fast things went downhill - it really does seem like a case of growing quicker than they could handle, so hopefully they can regroup and fix things.

I hope so, and I hope they can get all the bugs out of this new website soon.

I got a call from DHL this morning, saying that I have a scheduled delivery for Dec. 9th.

The only thing it could be is a Makie order, no one else I know uses DHL.  Since they rattle off the tracking number so fast, and you can only get it to repeat once, (and it repeats it just as fast), I wasn't able to write down the tracking number.

I figured it was my first order, so I went to my old email where the order confirmation notice was sent, to look for the shipping notice from MakieLabs.  No notice.  

I need the tracking number so that I can stick out a note for DHL to leave the package if no one answers.  

Lol, I think DHL must hire Menehune, the Hawaiian equivalent of a Brownie or Pixie, to deliver the packages here.  

They come in the wee hours of the morning, barely knock real softly...just once, and run for their truck almost before they've finished knocking!  It's almost like they can't stand to be seen by human folk.

Anyway, I contacted support and asked them if they could confirm that my order had shipped and let me know the tracking number.

I just hope I hear back from them with the tracking number before the 9th., otherwise I'll have to sit up all night by the door, so I can spring up and open it as soon as I hear DHL sneaking up with my package!

I keep hoping for DHL to show up with replacement torso, i've heard nothing about that reprint. *sigh* I don't like this lack of communication, it's concerning. Hoping I get a text some time this week because i'm getting antsy. The last tiny fragment that was hanging on and keeping the neck mostly together finally came away the other night so now it's well and truely broken. I need to buy some glue.

DocC wrote:I finally got a response that they will refund the $20 shipping because I've been trying since the "sale." After a bunch of tries, I got my doll to show up in the US website and was able to place my order. I am so glad to have this done!

That is absolutely wonderful news! It also gives me a reason to not give up on them entirely just yet. Things are definitely looking up.

JRyu, you have delivery drivers that knock once and then disappear too? The FexEx driver that comes to our house does that. He/or she leaves my husband's sensitive work packages on the stoop for everyone to see. I'm always terrified that we will come home from an outing and a package will have been stolen.
I have all of my packages shipped to our mailing address, because the delivery drivers won't just leave something there if the shop is closed. I can also call the shop ask them to let me know when a package arrives if I don't have a tracking number. The peace of mind is worth what we pay for the service.

Not sure if anyone noticed, or if it's on the US site only, but there have been major price cuts in the store. For example, the $36.99 photographer career pack is now $14.80. The page shows both prices, making me think that this, too, is only temporary. Not sure if this balances out the new $20 shipping. Might have to see when I get paid, haha...

EDIT: Just saw the post on instagram indicating a last minute sale with select items marked down 50%.

yeah finally the sale we were promised. All shop stuff (so everything but Makies themselves) are at least half price and it's awesome. I'm sorely tempted though not totally sure I can afford to take advantage. But nghhh... archaeologist set..
Shipping isn't cheap though, they've gotten rid of their flat first class rate and it's ALL DHL signed for which is £8:60. Rather a lot if you're only buying some outfits or shoes or something.

Pissed off no one alerted me about the coming sale when I placed my big order 3 DAYS ago. But I just figured out it would have only saved me $24 in the end cause I surely wouldn't have gotten free shipping. Okay, the math calmed me down.

It's a shame about the shipping, otherwise I would have picked up a few things in the sale. The veterinarian and photography packs probably. As it is, I can't really justify courier shipping, it becomes too much.

It's a bit off-topic for this thread I suppose, but I'm surprised that the 3DP and the IM focus isn't the other way round. As in using IM to produce a large number of standard accessories (like the shoes Makies come with by default), and keeping 3DP for the bodies to allow for future body customisation like body sliders. There's a huge amount of cost/set-up involved with making molds either way, so I would have thought it would be better to do accessories so that the eventual savings could be passed onto customers. It's hard to justify the expense of the accessories and clothes when more detailed and better constructed 1:6 scale accessories are available elsewhere, in comparison to the bodies which are a unique shape and therefore I wouldn't be going elsewhere for a body. (I must admit to having started to wonder how one might hybridise a makie though)

That's all a bit besides the point though. The sale puts everything at much more of an accessible price-point, the careers packs especially, but that shipping turns me away. D:

Well, there is always the option of doing a group order, like BJD people do.  

Many of the BJD companies offer free shipping for orders over a certain amount, like $200.00.  Pretty easy if you are ordering a doll, not so easy if all you are ordering is a couple of wigs and some shoes.

So one person sets up a GO (group order) people then place their order with the GO leader who adds it all up to make sure the total is enough to qualify for free shipping.  If needs be the leader may add a couple of items to reach the required amount.  

Each person sends the GO leader a paypal payment for his or her part of the order.  The leader then places the order, once all the payments are in, and sends a paypal payment for the order total.

After the order arrives, the leader goes through it, makes sure everything is correct and undamaged.  Gets everyone's part of the order packed up ready to send, and calculates the shipping costs for each person.  

As soon as you send a paypal payment for the cost of shipping your stuff on to you, the GO leader sends you your stuff.

Something similar could be done for ordering accessory sets, wigs, etc. from the Makie shop.  You could just split the $20.00 shipping up between the group, i.e. Four people = $5.00 each, Five people= $4.00 each, etc.  

When the stuff comes, the Makie GO leader would check the order to make sure all the items are there, correct, and undamaged.  Get everything packaged, then figure out the least expensive cost to send each person's part of the order.  You send a paypal payment for that shipping and the GO leader sends you your stuff.

The more people in the group the cheaper your share of the initial shipping cost, if you have ten people, that's just $2.00 each, plus the cost for sending it on to you.  Even if you had the GO leader send your part of the order by Priority mail, I think priority mail + the $2.00 or even $4.00 would still be cheaper!

I imagine you could do the same in the U.K. too, and everyone would probably still come out ahead on the shipping costs.