Can non-US customers sell/transfer their proofgrade vouchers?

Community Support
1

As an EU customer I’m already being penalised by getting my GF much later than the US. But I get less benefit from the proofgrade vouchers because the shipping cost is going to wipte most/all of that benefit. I can’t see that shipping proofgrade materials to international customers will be cost effective.

So, my question is - will I be able to sell and/or transfer my proofgrade voucers to other glowforge users?

If not, (a) can international users get some other compensation for the delays or (b) could it be made so we could?

3 Likes
2

I think you can also buy from the catalogue with the credit as well. I would much rather have material though but postage and taxes will probably make it worth almost nothing. Not sure how buying designs is taxed, if at all.

1 Like
3

I’m going to move this to Problem and Support so a help ticket will be created, if thats okay with you.

I like the idea of being able to sell your vouchers. I’m planning on buying more proofgrade, so I would definitely be willing to buy a voucher at cost.

4 Likes
4

I’m expecting that if we can sell them it will be at less than their face value.

I know people are nice, but why would you pay actual value to turn dollars into vouchers, so if we are able to do this at expect it to be a discounted value.

1 Like
5

OK, about moving it to P&S

6

Yes. There’s a $50 credit that’s only good in the design catalog but the $20-per-month-of-delay credit can be used in either the design catalog or the Proofgrade store. I used mine on Proofgrade but in some cases it may make more sense to use it all on the catalog. (Hopefully there will be a lot more in the catalog by the time orders ship outside the US; right now there’s only a few dozen designs listed.)

2 Likes
7

my estimated ship is Jan 2018 - i was a day 2 buyer :frowning: - but I don’t know if I could use $240 worth of catalog designs… $50 of inventables products is also not much use, 10% discount on materials the same…

all in all that $300+ vouchers that I won’t be using on materials.

Its just a double penalty to international users, we get our machine much later and can’t use the compensation (on top of the high shipping and taxes).

2 Likes
8

I have to agree here. I know other solutions have been asked for (shipping with the machine etc) and denied for what I understand are good reasons. But given that we are having to wait longer than others I would like to see @dan at least address this issue. Without a way to use this bonus for effect it becomes a fairly hollow gift.

Having said that, I also don’t want to come across as “I demand more free stuff”. We are being promised something to make up for the inconvenience which is a nice gesture. I would just like to see the gift have parity for everyone.

For what it’s worth, I doubt I will be buying many designs as I plan to a) create my own and b) make the same thing a lot

1 Like
9

That was a very nice way to ask about it :slightly_smiling_face:

…I’m not sure if Glowforge can do anything to help, but there has been talk in the past of setting up some kind of an exchange that lets local customers here in the US buy the credits off of the international users, at least for the Instructables gift certificates. I believe those use a code that can be transferred.

The problem that I think Glowforge is going to have doing the same thing has to do with how their store setup works (which they are probably leasing). I’ve seen how purchases and credits work through it, from having a PRU, and the credits are automatically assigned to the account of the purchaser, and there wouldn’t be any way to transfer them. They show up only when you place an order and are applied automatically to reduce the total. It’s obviously been programmed in.

I’m not sure if the credits can be transferred through a program, so it would be asking Glowforge to assign personnel to manually make adjustments, and they would have to do that specifically on a case by case basis, since they wouldn’t know who bought someone else’s credits.

Glowforge would probably have to hire more people to deal with it. They would have to be paid a salary and benefits. And that would likely cost Glowforge a lot more than the amount they’re already paying in international goodwill refunds.

Glowforge is already spending more on the internationals than on the locals, because of the research into shipping methods, legal restrictions and certifications in an attempt to get the units to international customers. International customers are asked to pay for shipping costs, but not all of the costs of compliance.

They’re a new company, not an established one that has all of these things worked out over years of research, and they’re running very lean. The large discounts we’re getting through pre-ordering mean they don’t have a lot of extra money to hand out to us by way of apology for the delays. It probably costs just about what they asked us to pay for the machines to have them manufactured.

I’ve been a little concerned that they’ve been as generous as they have. And it’s unfortunate from the customers’ standpoint that it looks like the international customers are getting a raw deal, but in reality, they are spending much more on the international customers just to try to get them the machines.

So anyway…that’s my take on what’s going on. I know it looks unfair to the internationals, but I don’t know if they will be able to do anything else.

1 Like
10

Actually, wasn’t there an option to take it in cash when it was announced?

11

I think that was the referral credits.

1 Like
12

Yes I must have mixed them up.

13

I will let folks know if I get an official answer

1 Like
14

What if I give the person outside the US my shopping list & PayPal them the money for their store credit, they purchase using my address as their shipping address, and send me a copy of the invoice?

If the person outside the US fails to complete their end of the bargain, then I can get a refund via PayPal.

I realize this only works for proofgrade materials and spare parts. Unfortunately, we have a few months to work out the details.

6 Likes
15

Well, being nice is important to me; but it’s also supportive of the community here and I’d be spending that money anyway, so what’s the big deal about giving you $100 vs giving that $100 to GF? I’m not out anything for it (maybe some minimal effort to Paypal it) but I’d get to help someone else out at the same time. Seemed like a no-brainer. That was what I did for internationals selling their Inventables gift certificates.

I would do that too in order to get around the issue of trying to have the credit transferred in the GF store (which is the hurdle I thought might prevent folks from being able to buy someone else’s store credit). Good idea.

3 Likes
16

Good idea if people are willing to do it. It does get around the current store limitations.

17

As international customer i consider to spend my credits on a replacement tube. Would it be perhaps possible to give the credits a longer validity? I believe it’s now end of 2018, perhaps to end of 2019? So i can order the Tube when i need it. Because shelf-life of the Tube. I think this would be makeable without too big effort.

BTW: Big Applause for this whole Forum/Members. I enjoy the constructive discussions here. Not obvious these days. Thanks.

10 Likes
18

This is the best forum I’ve ever used!

1 Like
19

I’ll tag @dan so he can consider the suggestion. He probably won’t be able to say whether or not it is feasible right now, but it’s something they can think about. :slightly_smiling_face:

Good idea to buy a replacement tube before you need it too. I always do that with critical parts on my 3D printers.

1 Like
20

I’d be happy if I could combine my delay credits for proofgrade materials with the shipping of the PG samples so that it could be one shipment with the goal of everything costing less. Is that possible @dan ?

1 Like