Wow! Thank you for sharing all this! So informative#creepyhollows wrote:SHIPPING TIMES
Our shipping times are approximately 30 days at all times. We can get orders out as quickly as 2 weeks or as late as 6 weeks. This has been the way for years. The misconception is the order volume is the reason we run behind, that's a partial factor, the 30 day shipping time is an average because it really takes at least 2 weeks to fully be confident in the security and quality of all bindings, and depending it can take up to 30 days. Work on all orders starts after 3 days. Your conjuration or binding may not be done in one sitting, it may require multiple actions to reach the full potential of the binding. Even if it's a prebound we still vet the situation and make sure the spirit or spell is right for the person. We touch every, single binding and order. We're not boxing and shipping pencils and mugs, these aren't things you would want rushed or have a quick job done and just shoved in the package. Even if you said that's what you wanted I wouldn't want my name on something done half-ass and I know Ash is the same way.
Some people think the discounts and the sales are why it takes 30 days, or that we're in over our heads. That's not true. It's been a 30 day shipping time frame when when we had 1 employee almost 10 years ago to now when we have 8-10 staff members at any time. The shipping window hasn't changed for all the reasons explained above. We hire more staff, make procedure changes, and go to great lengths to keep CH as efficient as possible. We spare no expense in making sure CH meets everyone's expectations.
This is in regards to regular CH bindings and not for third-party offers or for in-depth readings or services.
HOW DISCOUNTS WORK
We have multiple areas of the site that explain how it works and I will link them below.
To give you a simple overview this is how it works in the shop. It's easy once you understand how it works and all discounts are shown right in the cart.
Sale discount - If there is a sale you will see the sale icon at the top of the shop page which usually tells you exactly how much the discount is.
Membership discount - If you have a membership assignment you will see this discount taken off in the cart only. It will appear under the sub-total of your cart.
Coupon discount - If you have a coupon code you will enter it in the cart and you will see this discount taken off under the sub-total of your cart.
Example: There is a 50% off sale going on, you have Loyal Customer membership, and you have a 25% coupon code.
You see a $100 binding in the shop and you add it to your cart. You will now see the price in the cart screen is $50. If you scroll to the bottom of the cart you will see the actual total is now $35. You enter your coupon code and now your cart total becomes $26.25
You will receive the $100 binding for only $26.25
Links for reference:
How Discounts Work: http://shop.creepyhollows.com/pages.php?pageid=9
Customer Loyalty Program: http://shop.creepyhollows.com/pages.php?pageid=21
Shopping Guide: http://shop.creepyhollows.com/pages.php?pageid=13
Member Discounts: http://shop.creepyhollows.com/pages.php?pageid=20
HOW FREEBIES WORK
Freebies are awarded on the "Discounted Subtotal" which you can see in the cart and on your invoice. The "Discounted Subtotal" takes into account all the discounts mentioned above.
The sale price discounts individual items and that is the price you see next to the item in the cart, but the membership discounts and coupon discounts take a percentage off the total so they aren't awarded until the end of the cart.
The shop software is not sophisticated enough to remove freebies once all discounts are deducted from the total. This is why freebies will sometimes remain in your cart even though your order total doesn't qualify. We send all the freebies you qualify for with your order.
HOW VESSEL SELECTION WORKS
First & foremost if you have a spirit binding we default to what the spirit requests. They don't always request something, but if they do we honor that request above your request because it provides the best possible case for bonding.
It's very important that you fill out your customer bio in the shop to the fullest extent. When work orders are written the Creepy Crew uses your preferred vessels to choose the vessels for your bindings when a selection is not made in drop-down. If you dislike something like a color, type of gemstone, allergy to a certain metal, etc please tell us! Anyone who works on your orders reads this section and takes everything you provide into consideration.
For specific metal selections we follow these guidelines:
- If you would like stainless steel or pewter the price of the item, after all your discounts, needs to be $4. If you select pewter/stainless in the drop-down but your order does not qualify we use an alternate gemstone based on your profile preferences.
- If you'd like a sterling silver vessel the price of the item, after all your discounts, needs to be $15. If you select sterling in the drop-down but your order does not qualify for sterling we use pewter or stainless steel.
- If you would like a 10k gold ring or pendant the price of the item, after all your discounts, needs to be $200. If you select 10k gold in the drop-down but your order does not qualify for 10k gold we use sterling silver instead.
Vessel Examples: http://shop.creepyhollows.com/pages.php?pageid=14
CONJURATIONS & BINDINGS
From this thread: http://www.creepyhollows.com/phpBB3/vie ... 3&p=140360
We try to keep a healthy rotation in the work cycle which is why sometimes we don't update a category of spirits for 2 weeks or more. It's easier to schedule work so we are working with Angels, or Creatures, or Gargoyles, for a slot of time. We also have a fairly even split of doing magic work and spirit work; some weeks one more than the other.
We organize our work as efficiently as possible. We print a week's orders and we schedule by spirits and magic to be performed. Of course for spirits or magic that is already conjured or cast it doesn't apply. But, for custom work of spirits or spells we organize the work so we are working with Angels, Gargoyles, Vampires, etc during one sitting. If I have 10 orders for people who are looking for Sterling Angels I work with those at the same time. Each person is presented separately and if time allows I will do conjuration work for the pre-bound spirits after the custom work is finished. If I don't then those are the times you see the Angel category not updated for awhile. Same for Ash. We try to be as efficient as possible because everything takes time.
Depending on the entity depends on the time for conjuration setup. Obviously we've been doing this so long we could do it in our sleep (well, I wouldn't recommend that literally LOL) but set up for any conjuration typically takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes and the length of conjuration depends on how many people we have looking for that specific type of entity and how many entities respond.
Using the Sterling Angel example again:
Let's say I have 5 people looking for Sterling Angels. Once in conjuration I present the first person's name. One of several things will happen when someone is presented: there's already an Angel that was calling to that person and so they respond right away... several Angels respond and the one most close to the person's energy is chosen... or nothing responds at that time and that person is cycled into the next group of people.
Of course for those conjurations when there is a spirit already calling to them and they present to me as soon as I present that person's name the actual binding process takes a few minutes to 10 minutes depending on the spirit type. However, we prepare our vessels with our unique blend of spells for protection & privacy before we start conjuration. If you are going to cast & conjure at the same time you can expect to add at time to the conjuration process.
For the times when we have to decide among several spirits that respond that can add anywhere from a few minutes or more. And for the times when there is no response we present the name several times, if nothing comes forward they are placed in the next group for the next conjuration time.
There are entities that are far more frequently requested than others. We work with the mainstays often and so we can accomplish the requests more efficiently. We work with Dragons, Unicorns, Vampires, Gargoyles, Nymphos, Volkhs, Wraiths, etc on a regular basis & can present multiple people's requests during one session of conjuration. For lesser requested entities like Hippocampus, Bannik, Harpies, Brownies, etc we may only have 1 request for each so we perform those conjurations on what we call the random day. Which means we're going to be moving from conjuration to conjuration of different entities throughout the day.
For work that is pre-bound with spirits we will have days when that is all we do for 18 hours. We move from conjuration to conjuration of each entity types and between us both we can accomplish several hundred 4 days time at 18 hours a day. Of course we do not do these days consecutively or we may collapse from energy drain. LOL We try to balance the casting work & conjuration work. Casting work is obviously a bit easier because we can enchant multiple vessels at the same time with the same spell. You can't do that with spirits.
Sometimes custom work can move more quickly if it is an easy presentation & conjuration. It can move into a longer time frame if we are making more than one presentation or if the entity for conjuration is more difficult. We are only 2 people so we accomplish as much as we can and in times when we have a large influx of orders it's going to take us more time to get the work done for everyone.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk