Varuste Order Invoice/International Wire Transfer Help

[snow-mark]

Hmmm….I’m eying some skis there since not many places have them in stock. Wonder if it’s more headache than it’s worth.

[JohnSKepler]

Hmmm….I’m eying some skis there since not many places have them in stock. Wonder if it’s more headache than it’s worth.

No. At least, is wasn't for me. I've already been out on my equipment four times this year and it is supposed to snow tonight and again over the weekend. Had I not been slightly inconvenienced (compared to the zero-effort purchases to which we've become accustomed) I may not have been out yet at all.

[Stephen]

Hmmm….I’m eying some skis there since not many places have them in stock. Wonder if it’s more headache than it’s worth.

I’m not sure what the “more headache” is?
Without leaving home, I can order skis and have them show up at my house in 4 or 5 days, and pay less (including no sales tax) than buying local.

I have nothing against buying local (and do when it makes sense) but have to think that retail consumption is going to look a lot different in 20 years than it does today. It already looks a lot different than it did 20 years ago.
It seems like it makes more sense to keep a broad range of merchandise in central distribution locations, rather than many smaller retail locations.
We’re in changing times.

[snow-mark]

Hmmm….I’m eying some skis there since not many places have them in stock. Wonder if it’s more headache than it’s worth.

I’m not sure what the “more headache” is?
Without leaving home, I can order skis and have them show up at my house in 4 or 5 days, and pay less (including no sales tax) than buying local.

I have nothing against buying local (and do when it makes sense) but have to think that retail consumption is going to look a lot different in 20 years than it does today. It already looks a lot different than it did 20 years ago.
It seems like it makes more sense to keep a broad range of merchandise in central distribution locations, rather than many smaller retail locations.
We’re in changing times.

Fair enough. I went ahead and ordered skis and skins from them and saved about $150, even with shipping, compared to standard msrp in the US (not that my size is in stock anywhere in the US). And the amazing thing is that they got here in three business days!

The only annoying thing was that they went on sale on Varuste the next day so I could have saved more. Maybe I could have asked them to honor the sale price but I didn’t try.

I’m a happy customer.

[JohnSKepler]

Fair enough. I went ahead and ordered skis and skins from them and saved about $150, even with shipping, compared to standard msrp in the US (not that my size is in stock anywhere in the US). And the amazing thing is that they got here in three business days!

The only annoying thing was that they went on sale on Varuste the next day so I could have saved more. Maybe I could have asked them to honor the sale price but I didn’t try.

I’m a happy customer.

I'm interested in how you paid. Both of my credit cards fraud-protection terminates the sale. This time I was running out of time on a really good sale. The wait time for the credit card company was over an hour. I used the wire transfer option. (Yes, the sale was that good.) They sent me an invoice and I wired the money to them yesterday from my credit union. I don't even know if we did it right! I'll give it a few days and see if they ship my stuff. I don't feel like they are crooked, I just think it's an inefficient way to do it as it becomes a disconnected, multi-step process.

I ordered a set of Gamme 54 in the size I was looking for from Sport Albert in Germany a few weeks ago. No problems. I wonder if there are some financial concerns doing business with Finland from the USA. Or maybe the agreements just aren't as far along as they are with Germany.

I think it'll work out but it might take a few more emails. I'll let y'all know!

[lilcliffy]

The only annoying thing was that they went on sale on Varuste the next day so I could have saved more. Maybe I could have asked them to honor the sale price but I didn’t try.

My limited experience-
Varuste will not do this↑
They even have their policy on this posted on their website.
A bit crappy- made that mistake once- worth monitoring their site for the significant discounts!

BTW-FYI-
Neptune Mountaineering will honor an unexpected discount-
Neptune gave me their Black Friday discount retroactively on my Rabb 68!

[Stephen]

Maybe I could have asked them to honor the sale price but I didn’t try.

My limited experience-
Varuste will not do this↑

BTW-FYI-
Neptune Mountaineering will honor an unexpected discount-
Neptune gave me their Black Friday discount retroactively on my Rabb 68!

This policy of retroactively matching prices for some period of time may be a US Retail thing.
Like I posted earlier, I discovered the fact that Varuste has a 15 EUR FedEx shipping discount on orders of 250 EUR, or more (I had just ordered 225 and could have added 25 more gear for just 10 more in cost).
I wrote them saying “Wish I had known that, can you refund me?”
Answer, No, but I’ll comp you 15 in discounts for future purchases.
I don’t have any future purchases in mind, but that seems to be the case before every order…
____________________

On the Credit Cards:
@Woodserson thinks the problem is at the credit card issuer level, like Visa or Mastercard.
All I know is that I tried a Mastercard, got an “Enter the validation code” screen (from credit card), and that failed three times.
Then tried a Visa card, it failed, I got a Fraud text to confirm I had tried to made the purchase, Confirm Y for Yes, N for No, replied “Y,” and was then able to successfully make the order payment.
I’m pretty sure the problem is NOT on Varuste’s end.

FWIW…

[JohnSKepler]

On the Credit Cards:
@Woodserson thinks the problem is at the credit card issuer level, like Visa or Mastercard.
All I know is that I tried a Mastercard, got an “Enter the validation code” screen (from credit card), and that failed three times.
Then tried a Visa card, it failed, I got a Fraud text to confirm I had tried to made the purchase, Confirm Y for Yes, N for No, replied “Y,” and was then able to successfully make the order payment.
I’m pretty sure the problem is NOT on Varuste’s end.

FWIW…

I agree completely. Not Varuste.

I used to get those texts but they stopped for some reason. Maybe it's as easy as going to my settings and receiving those texts. I'll check. It would be a LOT easier than that wire and avoid the wire charges. I imagine I'll hear something soon. I'm not really worried about that.

[snow-mark]

Fair enough. I went ahead and ordered skis and skins from them and saved about $150, even with shipping, compared to standard msrp in the US (not that my size is in stock anywhere in the US). And the amazing thing is that they got here in three business days!

The only annoying thing was that they went on sale on Varuste the next day so I could have saved more. Maybe I could have asked them to honor the sale price but I didn’t try.

I’m a happy customer.

I'm interested in how you paid. Both of my credit cards fraud-protection terminates the sale. This time I was running out of time on a really good sale. The wait time for the credit card company was over an hour. I used the wire transfer option. (Yes, the sale was that good.) They sent me an invoice and I wired the money to them yesterday from my credit union. I don't even know if we did it right! I'll give it a few days and see if they ship my stuff. I don't feel like they are crooked, I just think it's an inefficient way to do it as it becomes a disconnected, multi-step process.

I ordered a set of Gamme 54 in the size I was looking for from Sport Albert in Germany a few weeks ago. No problems. I wonder if there are some financial concerns doing business with Finland from the USA. Or maybe the agreements just aren't as far along as they are with Germany.

I think it'll work out but it might take a few more emails. I'll let y'all know!

After my credit card purchase failed, I called my bank, had them call me back when my place in line came up, and had them preauthorize the purchase (plus a few hundred bucks in case I got crazy!). Then it went thru just fine.

I wander why they don’t have PayPal?

[snow-mark]

The only annoying thing was that they went on sale on Varuste the next day so I could have saved more. Maybe I could have asked them to honor the sale price but I didn’t try.

My limited experience-
Varuste will not do this↑
They even have their policy on this posted on their website.
A bit crappy- made that mistake once- worth monitoring their site for the significant discounts!

BTW-FYI-
Neptune Mountaineering will honor an unexpected discount-
Neptune gave me their Black Friday discount retroactively on my Rabb 68!

Neptune is my local shop (about 10 mi away) and I love it. I would have paid full price there but they have been sold out of almost everything! Good to know they’ll honor a sale price like that.

Varuste’s prices are so good and I don’t understand why.