AG Product Ideas!

[GreyMyst]

Originally posted by Kathrine:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Add the rest of the EU countries to the shipping list, not just UK.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">YES!!!!!!!!!!! I you do only one thing, this should be it, you could make so much money without really spending any (seems to go along with Mattel's philosophy [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

-Kathrine</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They use UPS, and UPS charges MUCH more to ship to those places. They get cut rate shipping because they have a HUGE contract with UPS that gets them reduced rates. Inclusion of any other countries would need a contract negotiation.

Plus Mattel doesn't even ship american BARBIES outside the US. With Barbie there is 2 differant lines, the "international" line and the US line even though they are ALL made in China. The international has extra packaging and labeling to meet the EU and other countries requirements.

It would also add yet another layer of testing and certifactions, because the EU is stricter on what is imported than Canada and the UK.

[dornroeschen]

Thanks GreyMyst for the explanation, but please do explain too why AG can ship to the UK - which is part of Europe and the EU - and not to the rest of the EU?

The whole UPS philosophy doesn't make any sense to me in this respect. Does AG ship to the UK because of the old connections when Felicity's story begins - when the US was still a part of the UK? AG also ships to Australia, which isn't part of the US either - or not yet?

It would be interesting to hear how AG ships to Australia. Rincewind could you let us know?

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 22, 2005 04:36 PM: Message edited by: Miki_ ]</font>

[aggirl479]

OOH! Big news! Last night, my mom and I were going through the new AG catalog (I didn't get mine, but my grandma did, so she gave it to me [img]tongue.gif[/img] !), and my mom told me that back in May, before we went to AGPNY, she talked to a customer service person about AGP, and they said that after the new AGPLA opens, they will probably start work on an American Girl Place in Florida, or in that general area! HOORAY for all you Floridians! I got so mad at my mom for not telling me sooner! LOL! Of course, this is not official yet, but I would think that they would put an AGP down south. YAY!!! Too bad they're not going to put one in Pennsylvania, not with one up in New York [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] .

[GreyMyst]

Originally posted by Miki_:
Thanks GreyMyst for the explanation, but please do explain too why AG can ship to the UK - which is part of Europe and the EU - and not to the rest of the EU?

The whole UPS philosophy doesn't make any sense to me in this respect. Does AG ship to the UK because of the old connections when Felicity's story begins - when the US was still a part of the UK? AG also ships to Australia, which isn't part of the US either - or not yet?

It would be interesting to hear how AG ships to Australia. Rincewind could you let us know?

<font color="#051E50"><font size="1">[ September 22, 2005 04:36 PM: Message edited by: Miki_ ]</font></font>

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm almost sure the UK has differant rules because of the huge amount of commerce going back and forth from the US. An exemption or something. I'm not sure, I just know when I've shipped things the UK was MUCH easier and faster than the rest of Europe. AUSTRALIA I have no clue on, that makes no sense to me.

[Kathrine]

I understand shipping would be higher, BUT it would be the custumer who'd pay not AG.
I just figure that if I'm willing to pay for it, they should be willing to send it.
And as Miki said, if this is because of EU-laws it still doesn't explain why you can have things send to the UK. I think someone has to do some re-reading of EU-legislation this weekend....
-Kathrine

[GreyMyst]

Originally posted by Kathrine:
I understand shipping would be higher, BUT it would be the custumer who'd pay not AG.
I just figure that if I'm willing to pay for it, they should be willing to send it.
And as Miki said, if this is because of EU-laws it still doesn't explain why you can have things send to the UK. I think someone has to do some re-reading of EU-legislation this weekend....
-Kathrine

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">EVERYONE would pay. Because of the UPS contract they get lower shipping rates. Include more countries, everyone's rates go up.

There are LOTS of factors relating to which countries they ship to.

[aggirl479]

*Bump*

[Suzanneao]

Here are some more ideas for American Girl's Product Devlopment Department:
1) A "points" program (A certain number of points per dollar spent for AG products, to be accumulated and redeemed on future purchases or for free shipping, etc.) -- Let us sign up for this and give us a Customer Number.
2) Make Felicity's new Meet outfit available separately.
3) Re-instate the Sweet Dreams Collections for the Historical Girls.
4) An Italian-American Historical Girl.
5) An Asian-American Historical Girl.

[dornroeschen]

Originally posted by GreyMyst:

EVERYONE would pay. Because of the UPS contract they get lower shipping rates. Include more countries, everyone's rates go up...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Not necessarily, because other US companies that offer international shipment have completely different shipment rates for the rest of the world than for the US. I have used Barnes and Noble and the US amazon and they shipped to the rest of the EU. You might want to argue now that amazon has connections in Europe already - true, but Barnes and Noble hasn't. So there is no reason that the UK would have different treatment as the rest of the EU.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 23, 2005 12:21 AM: Message edited by: Miki_ ]</font>

[aggirl479]

Hehehe! *Bump!* [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]