I just got this email from a customer who purchased a lifetime buyers club membership. He was irate after totally misreading how our listings are laid out and thought our prices were not what he expected. I figure if he misread them then maybe others are misreading them also.
So, to perhaps help point out where things actually stand, here is that little email dialog. It is actually pretty telling about the bargains we offer our members ...
New Safecastle club member:
"Yeah, so I took the bait....
"I purchased the lifetime membership for $49 and started shopping. But before I put things in the cart, I thought I'd best compare.
"MH Diced Beef on sale for $419, works out to $69 per can "on sale" with the little fire logo. When I did a quick search, I found The Ready Store has it for $55, and Emergency Essentials has it for $50. A $19 /can difference.
"Your EverSafe MREs 12 pack case is $110, but Amazon has it for $74, and Charlie Surplus for $85. $25 - $36 savings over your sale price? Shipping can't be $25.
"MH Green Beans, #10 can comes to $24 on sale. The Ready Store is $20 and Nitro-Pak is $19.
"I'm confused. If you are running a big sale, how is it that 3 random products are so far overpriced beyond normal competition that it isn't even close?
"Emergency Essentials ships for $12 total on orders over $120. That's easy to do, so shipping free in comparison doesn't seem to be a selling point. Ready Made Resources uses actual shipping, but the base prices are good. And Nitro-Pak is free over $249, again, another easy figure to reach when stocking up.
"Am I missing something here? Are there additional savings I'm not seeing? I'm very close to asking for a membership refund. Give me something to grab on to, here..."
Vic, Safecastle founder:
"Randy--it looks like you are misreading our listings ...
"First off--everything always ships free.
"MH Diced Beef, case of 6 cans=$272.96 (the $419.94 price is the MSRP) We don't sell single cans but breaking it down for you, it comes out to $45.49, shipping included. Not only that, our members are enjoying this year's points program that essentially is worth 5% back on all purchases.
"MH Green Beans case=$97.46 ... broken down to $16.24 per can, shipped.
"Eversafe MREs case, $71 shipped.
"Looks like we soundly beat every example you listed, but we do guarantee low prices on MH food anytime. If you happen to find a price lower out there, we'll beat it and you'll still be able to apply that purchase to the point program. ;-) "
* NOTE: I can't spend a lot of time searching out other sellers' prices and I'm sure that there are a few lower prices on some things that can be found somewhere from time to time. We're not Wal-mart, we are a very small business that tries to give our customers and members the best deal we can swing.
I just thought I'd share this little dialog. I don't intend to spend more time looking at prices and responding here ... we are absolutely swamped with orders. I had to do so with this customer obviously, and as long as I did, thought someone else might find it useful here in understanding how our listings should read.
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