Golden Tarot

lark

I reordered mine from Amazon just to see what would happen and the order still stands .
So maybe they have found out the deck will be delivered.
I haven't gotten a second cancellation yet.
Kraai give it another try and see what happens.
 

Khatruman

lark said:
I reordered mine from Amazon just to see what would happen and the order still stands .
So maybe they have found out the deck will be delivered.
I haven't gotten a second cancellation yet.
Kraai give it another try and see what happens.
Ohhh, I am sure if you re-order it, the order will stand---at $25. The problem is I pre-ordered it early at a discounted price, which I am sure many people did. Now, in order to get it from them, you must pay the full retail price. That is why, in my opinion, Amazon mysteriously got notice that it wouldn't be released just days before it finally would be. Otherwise they couldn't ask those of us who locked in a pre-order at a discount to now have to pay full price.

Sounds like sneaky corporate maneuvers to me.
 

Khatruman

Kissa said:
I am not sure your theory is right. I pre-ordered some time ago (but not as early as many of you I guess) at the $25 price and they still cancel my pre-order.
Well, they couldn't cancel some pre-orders and not cancel others, especially if they cancelled only the discounted orders. Otherwise, it would be blantant deception. They would have to cancel all pre-orders to wipe out the discounts.

Consider this too: They didn't simply cancel my order, they wiped out all record of my order in the first place. When I do a history check on Amazon of past orders, it doesn't list the Golden Tarot at all. The order I made, which included another item, shows the second item, and even the free shipping since it was over $25, but nothing to even indicate that I had pre-ordered the Golden Tarot. The only record I DO have is my own confirmation e-mail at the time I ordered it.

Amazon has been terrible when it comes to ordering tarot decks, in my experience. Seems every deck I pre-order runs into a problem, usually Amazon doesn't know it's been released until I get the publisher or creator to hound them a little on it.
 

lark

Khatruman what are you going to do now?
Did Amazon reply to your email yet?
 

Khatruman

lark said:
Khatruman what are you going to do now?
Did Amazon reply to your email yet?
Right now, it's a waiting game, until Amazon acknowledges the deck's release. Once that occurs, I am going to write to them, attach my original e-mail confirmation of my pre-order, along with the price at which I pre-ordered it, and politely tell them, "Here was the agreement for sale that was made. I expect you to honor it."

I'll tell you how that turns out.
 

Lee

I hate to sound like I'm proselytizing, but all of this is why I much prefer to deal with the folks at Tarot Garden. Sometimes it's more expensive than Amazon, but you're actually dealing with real people, and very nice, conscientious, and knowledgeable people, too. I've bought many decks from them and every single transaction has been a positive experience for me. They even put up with me when I order things and then change my mind and un-order them. I really can't recommend them enough.

-- Lee
 

Aure

Today I got an e-mail from the online shop I've been using and they thanked me for an update on the Golden Tarot. They have now made it available for pre-ordering again, I guess it will be labelled soon as 'available'. :)

I love this deck so much that I will probably order two decks or then I will order another one later!

Retrokat, there are some things I'd like to know. What size are the cards? In the introduction it says that the cards have gilded edges. Is the gilt durable? I'm so worried that the gilding would wear off since I have some books with gilt in the covers and it has worn off.
 

Aure

Oh, just something regarding Tarot Garden, I would love to order from that place but I'm not sure what the payment methods are, so...
 

Jeannette

Aure said:
Oh, just something regarding Tarot Garden, I would love to order from that place but I'm not sure what the payment methods are, so...
We accept pretty much every (legal) payment method there is, although for non-cash payments in currencies other than US$ (that usually means check/cheque or money/postal order in EUR, Yen, etc.), we now have to include the equivalent of a US$ 5 bank fee to cover our own deposit and conversion costs.

Direct payments by credit card or online payment services, check or money/postal order in US$, and cash in any currency incur no additional fees.

Oddly, with the dollar so very weak against other currencies these days, including the Euro, we're actually running a bit less expensive for European customers on some of the massmarket titles, even when differences in shipping cost are taken into account. But it just sort of depends...

-- Jeannette
The Tarot Garden
 

retrokat

Hi Aure,

The gilding (so far) seems pretty durable, although it must wear off in time the same way it does with any book that's edge-gilded. I've also managed to batter the corners of my box a bit already by carrying it around unprotected in my bag at school.

Hopefully that will just add to the deck's character. I lost my old, battered Rider Waite I'd had since my teens and a shiny new one just isn't the same!

Of course I'm going to keep a "good" copy of my deck as well that I won't actually use.

The sizes (measured from the real thing) are:

Deck: 2 7/8ths inch x 4 13/16ths inch x 1 1/4 inch deep
Box: 3 3/8ths inch x 5 1/4 inches x 2 3/8ths inch deep

or in metric:

Deck: 7.5cm x 12.3cm x 3cm
Box: 8.5cm x 13.3cm x 5.8cm

I'd already made deck-sized bags, I'm going to start making bigger ones to fit the box too as I personally prefer to carry my GT around with the box & book. It's such a gorgeous box, and it protects the deck well but keys and even the sturdiest of cardboard boxes are *not* a good combination swimming around at the bottom of a shoulder-bag!

Re the Amazon thing - the vast majority or pre-orders were at $25 and considering the amount of people who will now order from another source mean that it was unlikely to be a profit-making decision by Amazon to cancel the pre-orders. More likely, it's because USGS had committed to a release date and then (due to the avalanche) not met it. Instead of asking why, Amazon automatically cancelled it (probably because several other "release dates" have also been suggested in the past and then not happened). The timing, just days before it finally did get released, was just an ironic twist of fate - and we Australians love a little irony, so I'm fairly philosophical about it.

As long as people get their decks, I'll be happy. And it definitely shows the advantage of using a small, specialised online retailer over a huge impersonal company. I have Amazon links on my site as it's my only way to attempt to cover the costs of running the site, but I'm more than happy for people to order through Tarot Garden (hence me signing copies for them). Jeannette's been so great!