gift shop information
This page contains details about the Renault 4-Play gift shop, including shipping charges and customs & excise duties. If you have any further questions, please see the customer service pages on the CafePress.com website, or contact me using the email address at the bottom of this page.
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[about the gift shop]
[about CafePress.com]
[shipping] [customs
and excise] [faq's]
about the Renault 4-Play gift shop
This shop offers a variety of Renault 4 related products featuring unique designs. It is run in conjunction with CafePress.com, who deal with the order processing, printing, payments, shipping and returns. They host the actual shopping site where you can purchase products over a secure server. For this reason, it is important that you refer to their support section for any queries or further information. I can only assist personally with basic enquiries regarding my image designs, or general problems related to how the service operates in conjunction with my site.
The range of gifts on offer is limited to the products supplied by CafePress.com, and these change from time to time. I cannot promise to provide every item they make available, as producing the appropriate designs for the items is very time consuming. However, if you have any suggestions for products or designs then please contact me using the email link at the bottom of this page. The images I create are of the highest quality, so in the unlikely event of any complaint you should contact the support team at CafePress.com, as any corruptions in the print or material quality are beyond my control. Please note that I cannot be held responsible in the event of any grievance or legal matter concerning your use of the gift shop. I have no responsibilities for the fundamental operations of this service, or any obligation to supply the information on this page, and these notes are compiled as extra reference for the benefit of customers. All information presented here is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of publishing, but in the event of any discrepancies I advise you to follow the terms and conditions laid out by CafePress.com.
It was an aim ever since launching the Renault 4-Play website in April 2000, to have a gift shop feature. This was delayed for some time due to the many difficulties inherent in setting up such a service. Traditionally, I would have had two options for accepting payments for products; spend a lot of money on a PO Box to receive payments and orders, or set up a complex e-commerce site and deal with all the intricacies of credit transfers. Of course I would also have to pay up front for the manufacture of personalized gifts, which I cannot afford, then process all the orders, deal with VAT, postage, shipping, returns.......and so on. The CafePress.com service offers a unique alternative where my only worry is designing the images and configuring my account details. Anybody can create their own shop, even if they don't run a website - see the FAQ section below.
CafePress.com (also known as CafeShops.com) are a California-based company who specialize in the customization and worldwide sales of high quality gift merchandise. They are also the first such operation to tie this in with an Internet development kit, enabling anybody to set up their own secure shopping site and customize the products. Thousands of individual web shops are part of this operation, and any number of personalized gifts can be manufactured on demand for their customers. Designs are printed using the images created by store owners for each product, and according to other criteria specified by them from the options made available.
All the information you may need regarding the products can be found on the CafePress.com website. Payments can be made online with a credit card via their secure servers, or by sending a cheque in the post. They set all the base prices for their products, and are also responsible for setting shipping charges. However, any customs and excise duties levied on goods are dictated by the laws governing the country or territory in which customers reside.
As the CafePress.com operation is based in California, delivery charges are inevitably cheaper for local customers. However, the majority of visitors to Renault 4-Play are located in Europe and other parts of the world, and slightly increased rates apply to these destinations. There is usually a higher cost to pay for the first item of any order, which means the average cost per item can be lowered if two or more gifts are purchased together. Delivery costs are clearly highlighted during the order process, and a complete list of worldwide shipping charges is available on the CafePress.com website. Most international orders should be dispatched within two weeks, but as a standard rule please allow up to 28 days for delivery.
It is possible that extra duties could be levied on goods imported from abroad, depending on your country or territory of residence. I am not aware of any UK customers, including myself, who have had to pay such charges for purchases from the Renault 4-Play shop. If your country does levy a charge however, there will typically be many different rates payable according to the type of product. It would be impossible for me to provide a complete list of duty rates and necessary costs, if applicable, for every location around the world. Neither Renault 4-Play or CafePress.com has any control over such charges. As an example, you may find that a t-shirt has a duty rate of a few per cent, whilst a mouse mat might be classified under computer peripherals and be free of duty. If you are in doubt as to what rates may be applied, you should check with your local or national customs and excise office.
Q1) All the prices stated on the CafePress.com site are in US dollars.
How much will I be charged if I live outside the US?
- For currency conversion, you can refer to http://finance.yahoo.com/m3
for up to date exchange rates. With exchange rates fluctuating daily, you
may find the overall cost of your goods to equal more or less depending on
when you order them. The cost will be based on the current rate of exchange
at the time of processing. UK customers should consider that an item priced
at $12.50 will probably equate to somewhere around 8 or 9 UK Pounds ($1 =
£0.55~£0.70). US Dollars are currently of a similar value to Euros
($1 = ~€1). If you pay by credit card, your card issuer may add a small
surcharge for the conversion to your currency. This would typically be one
or two per cent of the total of the transaction. Note that customs and excise
duties, if applicable, are charged separately when the goods enter your country,
and are usually payable upon delivery.
Q2) Do CafePress.com store owners make any profit on customer purchases?
- I have the option to add a profit margin for myself, but I have chosen to
keep this to a minimal value. This is because the extra shipping costs incurred
by the majority of my customers outside of America will increase the overall
charge. CafePress.com set a base price on each of the products offered, which
may vary from time to time, and it is a standard feature of the program to
enable store owners to levy a profit margin on all product types individually.
I have set the product prices only fractionally above the base price offered
to me. This is solely to justify the enormous amount of time and effort that
has been spent on creating this service.
Q3) How are the shipping charges calculated?
Shipping charges are higher for the first item of an order, and so average
costs per item will be lower if more products are purchased at one time. The
quality, range and price of products offered by CafePress.com is superb, so
even with shipping charges added the Renault 4 gifts can be as affordable
as similar items you might find in a local store (although of course you would
be hard pressed to find anything related to the Renault 4 on sale elsewhere).
The printing process employed by CafePress.com involves dye sublimation for
products such as mugs and mousemats, and digital transfer for all apparel.
These processes are similar in quality to screen printing, with no image cracking,
peeling or fading. Just consider the higher prices people will pay elsewhere
for lousy products, simply because they've got some meaningless designer logo
stamped on them, then consider what a special and unique item your R4 gift
would be. And it will be delivered to your door, so no traipsing around shops
in the rain!
Q4) Can I start up my own store with CafePress.com?
- Yes, anybody can open a store and customize it however they like. You don't
even have to make it publicly accessible, and so can use it merely for creating
and ordering your own gifts if you wish. A simple referral scheme operates,
whereby I can make some much needed extra cash as a result of anybody starting
a store from my recommendation, so please enter renault4play
in the referral field upon setting up your store. Thanks.
| click here to continue to the renault4play gift shop |
If you require any further information, please see the customer service pages on the CafePress.com website, or contact me by sending an e-mail to 4play@renault4.plus.com
LEGAL NOTICE:
No persons are permitted to copy, modify, resell, rent, license or otherwise
profit from the products, or any part thereof including the original image
designs offered through this website or CafePress.com. Peter Gumbrell retains
the copyrights on the original images provided on the products in the Renault
4-Play gift shop. Any photos sent to this website by visitors which are used
on gift shop products remain the copyright of the sender or original owner.
Generally, only original images designed by the creator(s) of Renault 4-Play
are used on the product designs, and other material is only incorporated where
it would likely be appreciated by the original owner or sender. Any infringement
of these conditions shall be pursued to the maximum extent permissible by
law.
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