Today is the day - our new shop has just been launched!!
Please check it out and see if everything works to your satisfaction.
If you notice any problems or inconsistencies, any flawed English translations or whatever else could go wrong, be sure to let us know (contact@northern-silence.de) and we'll correct them ASAP.
We checked and double-checked pretty much everything but one never knows... If you receive emails that look funny or somehow strange please forward them to us and we'll correct the errors in our system.
If you have suggestions for improvements - let us know! This shop is like a newborn baby and will certainly grow as time goes by. With your help we can make it more and more perfect, so you enjoy spending time here and maybe even order something once in a while.
Those of you who used the old shop will notice some differences besides the obvious improvements in layout and usability.
Here are the major changes:
- The discount system with free items was no longer viable, so we are now offering different cash discounts for all orders over 50 Euro, which are based on the chosen payment option. The one with the smallest fees (SEPA bank transfer) gets the biggest discount (10%), then follows Sofortüberweisung as well as the Credit Cards (Visa & Mastercard) and UnionPay (8%) which will be implemented in November, and the payment option with the highest fees (PayPal) gets the least discount (5%).
So you never have to pay fees, no matter which payment option you choose, and instead get a discount if you order for 50 Euro or more. This is done instead of offering free shipping, simply because shipping costs vary widely from country to country and according to the weight of an order. Which brings me to the next big difference:
- Everything is fully automated, with instant payment upon checkout, so you no longer have to wait for an email with payment details before you can pay (except when you choose SEPA bank transfer), and we are able to ship your orders more quickly because a lot of work is now taken over by the software which we formerly had to do manually.
- Shipping costs are calculated automatically by weight, which includes weight of all items in your shopping cart + the weight of the packaging.
- Standard packaging (bubble mailers etc.) weighs approx. 30g and is included for free. Vinyl is always shipped double-boxed for better protection. Vinyl packaging weighs approx. 240g and the minimal costs for it are added automatically to your total once you put the first LP into the shopping cart.
- We're planning to add Youtube videos to many items so you can listen to the albums right here in the shop and don't have to search for them on Youtube or Bandcamp. Apart from that we'll add the labels to many releases so you can search by label if you have a favourite one and see a list of all their releases that are in stock. Some have been added already and more will follow when time permits.
- From now on I will use the blog to inform you about new releases. The old website will stay active for the time being, but it will no longer be updated.
That's all I can think of right now in terms of major changes but you'll probably notice some more. If you've read this whole blog post I thank you very much for your attention and wish you a great time using our new shop!
Thanks again for dropping by and enjoy your stay!
Torsten
