Arion Press - Booksgiving Sale

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Arion Press - Booksgiving Sale

1venkysuniverse
Nov 23, 2020, 4:39 pm

Arion press books are currently being discounted by 20% with the code 'BOOKSGIVING2020' and ends on 27/11/2020.

Fine print: One-time discount per household. Cannot be combined with Subscriber discounted pricing. Limit of two copies per fine print title or artwork. Limit of ten copies per trade edition title. Excludes consignment books and commission projects. Arion Press reserves the right to cancel orders placed that exceed the described limits of this discount offer.

2elladan0891
Nov 27, 2020, 11:46 pm

Although I think the majority of AP titles are overpriced even with the 20% discount, I figured this is about as close as I can get to the subscriber price without being one, succumbed, and placed an order for one of their more reasonably priced books - The Moonstone. I've been lusting for it for quite some time. This will be my second AP book.

Btw, surprised AP didn't promote this black friday deal on their website. I'd think that's where most people who wanted to check if AP ran thanksgiving sale would go. I saw it on their instagram, but not all of their potential clients follow them on social media.

3kdweber
Nov 28, 2020, 12:44 am

>2 elladan0891: They emailed to everyone on their mailing list. I'm not a subscriber but I am on their mailing list. I did attempt to buy two books but the process failed and then I decided against following through with telephone calls. I have two dozen AP titles of which only one was bought directly from the AP and that book was on sale with a 30% discount.

4filox
Nov 28, 2020, 6:14 am

>2 elladan0891: I think a fair price for Arion books is about half of what they charge to non subscribers. You can usually get Arion books at about that price in auctions if you're patient enough.

5ultrarightist
Nov 28, 2020, 12:02 pm

I picked up a copy of The Leopard.

6elladan0891
Nov 28, 2020, 1:47 pm

>3 kdweber: I was surprised to find out paypal was the only payment option. I understand Hoyem wasn't really interested in selling his books, but I'm surprised credit card payment options weren't added when the website received the desperately needed revamping after Hoyem's retirement.

>5 ultrarightist: That would be my next choice! Can you please share your thoughts on paper when you receive it?

>4 filox: That's one of the problems with Arion's business model. By stubbornly refusing to move stock and letting it sit for decades, they are eventually competing against the secondary market.

7abysswalker
Nov 28, 2020, 2:02 pm

>6 elladan0891: Paypal is not the only option. If you email them, they will send you an invoice which provides several other payment options.

(I know this because doing so is the only method to place an international order.)

8abysswalker
Nov 28, 2020, 2:03 pm

>5 ultrarightist: I would be curious to hear a comparison of the Arion Leopard to the LEC Leopard, if you are familiar with that edition.

9elladan0891
Nov 28, 2020, 2:45 pm

>7 abysswalker: Oh, I'm sure there are ways to jump through hoops. One could probably call them during their business hours too. What I meant is that it's very surprising they didn't add credit card payment option when they upgraded their website. Currently, if you want to place an order through the website you have to use paypal. It wasn't a problem for me, but if you're a business, particularly one selling luxury product, you need to ensure that buying experience is smooth and without unnecessary hurdles, otherwise you're invariably losing sales. Just see post #3 above - an online purchase failed for one reason or another, and AP missed out on several hundred dollars.

And it's even worse in cases such as this when time-sensitive deals are involved. The sale was a very short-lived one, running and expiring during a holiday when nobody is in the office.

10SebRinelli
Nov 28, 2020, 3:20 pm

This is the first Arion sale I‘ve ever witnessed in the past 3 to 4 years. I ordered Frankenstein and Odes of Horace (I have the Book I printed by The Greenwood Press). As an international customer, I had to purchase through e-mail which wasn’t a huge issue for me.

11Pellias
Nov 29, 2020, 7:46 am

I once again thought of buying `The Sundial` but forgot about the whole sale this past week

Maybe next year then, or the year after that, meanwhile maybe I stumb over a copy secondhand.

12elladan0891
Déc 7, 2020, 8:26 am

Has anyone who ordered during the Thanksgiving sale received at least a shipping notice yet?

13SebRinelli
Modifié : Déc 7, 2020, 10:56 am

>12 elladan0891:
No. I‘ve written them yesterday, response pending.

14elladan0891
Déc 7, 2020, 11:34 am

>13 SebRinelli: Arion Press. We love our books so much, we hate selling them!

15goldenbowl
Déc 7, 2020, 12:06 pm

>12 elladan0891: I haven't either, glad (I suppose) to find I'm not alone...
>13 SebRinelli: please do keep us posted if you hear anything

Thank you!

16Dr.Fiddy
Déc 7, 2020, 12:10 pm

>12 elladan0891: You’re not alone...

17Sport1963
Déc 7, 2020, 3:34 pm

>12 elladan0891: Nothing yet. Tick tock....

18ultrarightist
Déc 7, 2020, 4:25 pm

Nor I.

19Sport1963
Déc 7, 2020, 7:41 pm

Have not received shipping notice for Sea of Cortez yet either.

20SebRinelli
Déc 8, 2020, 1:58 am

I have received an answer:

”Your order of Frankenstein and Horace’s Odes is in the queue for being packed and shipped. An email will be sent to you as soon as tracking has been set up. The Arion marketing, sales, shipping, and customer relations departments are currently a team of one – me. I am working hard to get orders out as quickly as possible, but the holiday order volume and pandemic restrictions are making it a difficult challenge.”

Seems like their booksgiving sale was a great success.

21elladan0891
Modifié : Déc 8, 2020, 11:08 am

I got a similar response. On one hand, I'm happy the sale volumes were higher than they anticipated, as I only wish success to them. On the other hand, it highlights serious problems in their management and operations. I was hoping they'd start getting their crap together with the new management, but I guess not. There is nothing more important for a business than shipping orders out. If they got so many orders that the only person usually tasked with shipping can't cope with the volume in weeks (more than a full working week has passed, and she still has no clue when all orders will be fullfulled), this should have been all hands on deck situation, with everyone pausing all other work and jumping in to help ship orders to the customers. The fact that the marketing/sales/customer relations person, of all people, doesn't understand that, and that the new company boss either doesn't understand either or doesn't bother checking company's sales and operations, is very, very concerning. The marketing/shipping person shouldn't be posting stuff on instagram almost daily, she should be packing orders, having previously, a full week ago
A) alerted the management about high volume of orders and requesting immediate help
and B) notified all customers who placed orders about shipping delays caused by order volumes, ensuring them the press is doing everything they can to fulfill the orders as soon as possible, and asking all customers with sensitive delivery dates (birthday gifts, Christmas presents, etc.) to contact the press to make sure their orders reach them on time.
The new boss, being the head and leader of a small company, should be there packing orders too, along with binders and printers. This is basics of running a successful business. They are small, but they are not a mom-and-pop shop. Bibliophiles are often patient, generous and understanding, but c'mon.

22Sport1963
Déc 8, 2020, 1:13 pm

>21 elladan0891: Arion is a small operation that's been hit hard by Covid. Like a lot of other small businesses they're facing extraordinary circumstances. I guess we will just have to be patient.

23elladan0891
Déc 8, 2020, 3:12 pm

>22 Sport1963: Unless everyone except the marketing/shipping person got COVID, which doesn't seem to be the case judging by their social media posts, coronavirus has nothing to with this. Pandemic restrictions is a cheap excuse that doesn't make sense. If they can walk around the building taking pictures of themselves printing and binding books, they can pack orders.

Again, I'm not picking on them. I wish them well. I'm just saddened that they're holding themselves back as a business (and only just slightly annoyed as a customer).

24Sport1963
Déc 8, 2020, 7:33 pm

Just got an email that Don Quixote from Booksgiving has shipped.

25Dr.Fiddy
Déc 9, 2020, 3:10 am

>24 Sport1963: Me too. Can’t wait... 😊