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Also $97-something USD here. I don't mind the few dollars difference in price, but if it is something you would want to correct I want to help make you aware

Bikefanatic wrote:I think I was over charged a lil bit. The total price converted to USD came to $97.50 each instead of $95.

That is not Lotrek's fault. The paypal exchange rate is always 1% ish worst as this is a way they make money. It has nothing to do with Lotrek or his store

Bikefanatic wrote:I think I was over charged a lil bit. The total price converted to USD came to $97.50 each instead of $95.

??? Strange. Currency conversion gives $95 = Euro 89,271. I have set the price@ 89 euros.

Yeah like I said paypal is notorious when it comes to exchange rates I once saw a 4% diffrence a few years back

EDIT: The current rate online shows 1 US dollar = .94 Euros

Paypal used this today on my transaction 1 US dollar = .9126 Euros They take their cut 3% difference

Same here I had to pay an exchange rate as well!!! Came out to like $97.8? I think? For sure $97.?? Though. But everyone has to make $$$$ somehow. I could afford 1 and just hope I got there early enough to get a low number even though it was an hour after the release haha...thanks to all this snow we got!!...

I wanted to be early for a low number but i got screwed by time conversion.... so in fact i was 30 min late...
Usually it's 6 hours time difference between EST & CEST.

But right now it's only 5 hours because USA already has summer time since March 12.
Here in Europe we switch to summer time on March 26.

Back to deck:
No Problems with your shop.
The embossed tuck looks nice. Hopefully no problems come up and we get these decks soon.
Good luck Lotrek.

Lotrek wrote:

Bikefanatic wrote:I think I was over charged a lil bit. The total price converted to USD came to $97.50 each instead of $95.

??? Strange. Currency conversion gives $95 = Euro 89,271. I have set the price@ 89 euros.

I used a credit with no foreign transaction fee with PayPal to charge 89 Euro and it came out to $95.00 exactly billed to my cc (amex exchange rate). Seems like it's PayPal making the money on conversion rate if you choose to pay in USD.

I just grabbed a deck and added a black/bronze uncut. It was just under $125 USD.

badpete69 wrote:Yeah like I said paypal is notorious when it comes to exchange rates I once saw a 4% diffrence a few years back

EDIT: The current rate online shows 1 US dollar = .94 Euros

Paypal used this today on my transaction 1 US dollar = .9126 Euros They take their cut 3% difference

You're right. It's not his fault. I know Paypal takes their cut, I didn't figure it'll be this amount but it makes sense since it's a larger purchase then usual.

$95 or $97, whatever we got charge for ($97 for me), we knew it'd be expensive but worth it.

Good luck on getting the silver foiling finally done on Black Gold decks!

My understanding is that this deck is finished, so when can we expect to start seeing shipping notifications Lotrek??

Cheers,

Cardians wrote:My understanding is that this deck is finished, so when can we expect to start seeing shipping notifications Lotrek??

Cheers,

I don't think we will see any shipping until he closes the buy window today and then, if not all of them were bought, he will run a kickstarter, and then shipping will likely not happen until after that. I think we are waiting to find out if he will go to KS or not

There will be no KS as the deck almost sold out during the 24h presale. Pretty impressive! Only a few decks were left...
You will get your tracking numbers as scheduled, next Friday 24 March.

Thank you all!

And big thanks too, to Smeagol of Underbool ....

Thank you !

And once more Lotrek managed to fail on his word....

New shipping date: 31st March. Fingers crossed!!!

sms69x wrote:And once more Lotrek managed to fail on his word....

New shipping date: 31st March. Fingers crossed!!!

Lol at least he didn't say "guarantee" this time.

A week delay is completely within reason for the Lotrek process.
Most Kickstartists wouldn't even give an update if there had been a three week delay.

sms69x wrote:And once more Lotrek managed to fail on his word....

New shipping date: 31st March. Fingers crossed!!!

But the cards are improved even more plus he got help from his printer. It's a win for a week delay (hopefully last delay).

He does have to stop finding improvements causing delays and apply them to future decks.

It never ceases to amaze me that every time Lotrek comments on UC or sends out a mass email from his website, I hear an ever so slightly violin playing.

This update is total BS. Waits to the day of shipping to inform everyone of his imperfection(s). I read somewhere that he was a FULL-TIME card maker. Makes me wonder, are you sure?

This is the email I received when I questioned him regarding my shipment of the Red Misaligned decks.
When I receive an email like that, wait for his announcement to buy pre-sale and further read on March 17th that shipping will commence March 24th (only 7 days ago) to only find out there's NOW issues!?! Why couldn't this update come sooner. According to Lotrek's shipping update, he's been hand-polishing each sheet all week.

This is completely unacceptable and unprofessional on many levels.

I understand he wants to put out the very best quality for his decks and expects nothing less, but these continued delays, not with just this deck but so many others, is putting Lotrek in the same catagory of JR which is accountability. Can't believe anything he says.

I guess when your only producing 100-150 decks @ $90/deck, you can continue to take hits from your $10k+ budget to produce a deck.

Another week, another excuse.

Cardians said:

"This update is total BS. Waits to the day of shipping to inform everyone of his imperfection(s)."

-NOT imperfections. I just want to do the best I can for a $95 deck although the 5 foils even without varnish at all would be impressive enough. Since I see room for improvement, I cannot rest unless I do it. That's why I printed ICONS 5 times (if I'm not forgetting anything).


"to only find out there's NOW issues!?! Why couldn't this update come sooner."

If you consider the amount of work I had to do, I'm surprised I didn't send this update even later. Plus, I wanted to be as precise as I could giving the new shipping date. I cannot keep changing dates forever. I could "hide" and remain silent for a week until the decks were shipped, saying some BS like "I was sick" or "my auntie died". Not my style.
Improving something that is already good isn't what you would call "an issue". Misalignment, misprints, bad cutting, wrong pips etc are issues. None of these happens here.

"According to Lotrek's shipping update, he's been hand-polishing each sheet all week."

-Not polishing. That would be impossible. Just applying a thin sealing film of varnish to protect the foil from the press.

"I understand he wants to put out the very best quality for his decks and expects nothing less, but these continued delays, not with just this deck but so many others, is putting Lotrek in the same catagory of JR which is accountability. Can't believe anything he says."

-Unfortunately you have a point here and there is not much I can say to defend myself. No matter why, a delay is a delay and it sucks for all. But I believe you'll forget about it when the decks arrive

Some of the comments here seem a bit harsh. I'm fine as long as the deck is improved, and I guess Lotrek is still learning so hiccups are bound to happen. I don't mean to push any more buttons here, but what's the status on the grotest black mass, inferno and bronze editions?

Those who can, do.
Those who cannot, hyperventilate ....
Those who advocate calumny and deflection may go master their sorry selves, in private.

Let us collect, or no, but spare us yer synthetic sincerity.

Discuss.

I'm happy to receive Lotrek's decks, I have several of them in my collection and I'm proud of them. So far, I received all the decks I have pledged for and I like them. That's the only thing that matters for me. If I'm not wrong I was supposed to receive tracking info a couple of days ago and now I read here that there will be a delay. Well, I'm not upset or worried, I will just wait the new deadline.

pablo19 wrote:Some of the comments here seem a bit harsh.

I think Lotrek get's the most allowances from this community out of all of the creators that make mistakes. I have seen much worse for much less. I think Lotrek has justifiably earned himself a reputation for being unreliable in delivery, right next to the reputation he has earned for quality. Both are equally earned, both are equally valid. Both are to be expected from his projects

Justin O. wrote:

pablo19 wrote:Some of the comments here seem a bit harsh.

I think Lotrek get's the most allowances from this community out of all of the creators that make mistakes. I have seen much worse for much less. I think Lotrek has justifiably earned himself a reputation for being unreliable in delivery, right next to the reputation he has earned for quality. Both are equally earned, both are equally valid. Both are to be expected from his projects

I agree. Which is why I've been saying for years now that he should PRINT the decks before he sells them. He will not be creating decks in vain because we will buy every last one of them so money shouldn't be an issue. Golden OATH was almost that but hopefully his next projects will have a few less early leaks/teasers until the decks are 100% ready-to-go.

I agree 100% about a deck being 100% ready to go. All the bugs, kinks, mistakes, extras can be added and tried out before announcing the project so on release date, it's perfect.

This may been mentioned but Randy Butterfield is great at this. Having the release date, order the cards, get a tracking number and boom, get your decks already.

I understand artist want to have their work best as possible. For us collectors, buyers, etc. we don't need to know the whole process of the deck being created. Some designers want us to feel like we're witnessing the creative process or the magic happening during or before something is funded but it's not always necessary. The final product is what matters. No problem with showing us the proofs or actual tuck cases but that's when the deck is near completion.

Bikefanatic wrote:For us collectors, buyers, etc. we don't need to know the whole process of the deck being created. Some designers want us to feel like we're witnessing the creative process or the magic happening during or before something is funded but it's not always necessary. The final product is what matters. No problem with showing us the proofs or actual tuck cases but that's when the deck is near completion.

I'd rather have updates like Gio's or Lorenzo's, and others creators, so I know the project is moving along and get to see any changes they make for the better. No updates cause me concern.

Justin O. wrote:

pablo19 wrote:Some of the comments here seem a bit harsh.

I think Lotrek get's the most allowances from this community out of all of the creators that make mistakes. I have seen much worse for much less. I think Lotrek has justifiably earned himself a reputation for being unreliable in delivery, right next to the reputation he has earned for quality. Both are equally earned, both are equally valid. Both are to be expected from his projects

Unfortunately, I agree 100%. My goal is to keep the reputation of quality only and get rid of the other one. The main reason for my problems is that there is no playing card industry in Greece. So I have to supervise almost everything but still, problems may occur. For which I don't know where they came from. For example, in Liturgy Treasure I had no problem in varnishing the foiled back. In Golden Oath, I had. I used exactly the same foil, same quality stock, same foiling workshop. No idea what happened. So I had to go through this crazy "hand sealing" process. Tomorrow I'm getting the cut decks and I'll start preparing packages for Friday.

But all of you who say I must have the decks 100% ready before I announce the sale, are totally right. This is what I plan to do from my next self-funded deck. It's an OATH!

Lotrek wrote:This is what I plan to do from my next self-funded deck. It's an OATH!

Plans and promises. You're scaring me Lotrek.

Did anyone receive tracking from Lotrek?

Friday March 31st has come and gone unless it's still Friday in Greece (somehow).

Guess the April Fool's joke is on us. What's going to be the excuse this weekend...?

Cardician_82 wrote:Did anyone receive tracking from Lotrek?

Friday March 31st has come and gone unless it's still Friday in Greece (somehow).

Guess the April Fool's joke is on us. What's going to be the excuse this weekend...?

Mike made an announcement that Lotrek has come down with a case of pneumonia.