Snus Central vs Premiumsnus

[chadizzy1]

Hey everyone, can any of you Snus Central customers help me out with an answer? I ordered yesterday morning for the first time from SC, and my order still says "pending" on their site. Every time I order from buy snus, I check their site the next day and it has already shipped by 1AM my time, in other words, as soon as Sweden is open for business. In Snus Central do orders say "pending" until they are delivered? or will it say shipped? Does SC typically hold up an order because products are not in stock like Northerner does? I know I shouldn't have waited so long, but finances are a bitch, and here I am, an inch away from being completely out of snus, and my order is "pending". I sent them an inquiry but wondering if anyone has any personal experience they would care to share. Thanks, Roo.

Odds are your order shipped today and when you get your UPS info it'll show being delivered tomorrow. Usually any MaKe WeBo site ships in about 2 days.

[ABW]

It will show as shipped when the orders complete. I have to say they have some serious customer service. The young lady named Anika puts up with all my changes and does it very quick.. As you can see on my order below that just shipped..

I changed it like 3 times because I am to impatient to wait for the 05/06. If something is out of stock they will not ship it until it's in but they sent me a email telling me that so I don't know about yours.. I sure it's on it's way if they had everything..


08/12/2011 Pending *
08/12/2011 Pending 8/12/11: Per customer, hold order until everything is in stock. He wants the order all together in one shipment. by Moe via Larry
08/15/2011 Pending General and Oden's will be replaced by 4 cans of Mocca Pomegranate as requested.
08/17/2011 Pending 10 x 05 and 10 x 06 will be replaced as requested:

2 x Taboca Portion Snus
- Quantity: 1 Can $5.77
5 x General Ekstra Sterk Portion Snus
- Quantity: 1 Can $18.44
5 x 02 Strong Lab Series Portion Snus
- Quantity: 1 Can $17.45
3 x Thunder Frosted Strong Mini Portion Snus
- Quantity: 1 Can $7.17
2 x Granit Strong Portion Snus
- Quantity: 1 Can $6.70
5 x General Smooth White Medium Portion Snus
- Quantity: 1 Can $17.65
1 x General Long Sterk Portion Snus
- Quantity: 1 Can
1*x Thunder Frosted Long + Strong Portion
- Quantity: 10 Cans $21.99

08/17/2011 Shipped *

[Mr. Unloadingzone]

Why your SnusCentral.com order may be pending....

@ Roo and sirloot - Thanks for your orders! There are a couple of main reasons your order won't be shipped within our usual 24 hours.

• If one of the items on your order was in stock when you put it in your shopping cart but out of stock when you actually put in the order. If we know we will be out of a particular snus for more than 24 hours, we turn it off on the site.
• The most common is if one of the items on your order is a new snus which has not been released yet. Check our Pre-Order page for the estimated arrival dates of new snuses. If you have ordered a new snus which won't be arriving the week your order was made, Annika will email you asking if you want to wait or remove that snus from the order so that it can ship immediately.
  • we can only split-ship orders that go Swedish Post...which does not include the US, thank you stupid PACT and TC Acts.
  
  

BTW, snus release dates are given in week number by the manufacturers; not calendar date. In Sweden, this is Week 33. From where I am in Texas, Sweden is also 7 hours ahead of me. If you contact the store in the afternoon or evening your time, it may be the middle of the night there.

Any questions, shoot Annika or Moe an email at info@snuscentral.com. They will get back to you very quickly.

Thanks again!

[GoVegan]

Now that is what I call customer service!

[Roo]

Hey thanks Larry, I just emailed Annika and/or Moe and asked that any item that is not in stock be replaced with Odens Extreme Portions. Hope that works!! Thanks again for your reply.

[Mr. Unloadingzone]

Odens Extreme should be in stock so that will be no issue. Thanks again for your order, Roo!

[Snusdog]

Larry,

I have a general question that you may be able to help me with.

I built up a pretty good stash before Pact went through and have been living off that for a while now so I have not made any big snus purchases for a while.

Yesterday I was just browsing several snus sites..............yours, Buysnus, Northerner, and the snuson shop

As I did so I was shocked at just how much the prices have increased across the snus world since my last big order

I understand why shipping went up......................but could you as a seller give us a little insight on what has cause such a profound increase over the last year or so in the price of snus itself. Did Sweden impose a steep tax increase recently on snus production (I remember a increase a while back when every one moved from 50g to 45g tins) but the price jump I am talking about has been well after that. I am wondering if it is taxes, other factors, or a combination of the two.

I can't help but feeling a bit gorged by the snus companies at this point so I thought you might be able to shed some insight on this

and let me stress again for our members...............this is a general question..............I am not asking Larry why his prices are high and every body else's are low (that is not the case at all)..................the situation is not limited to any one store.................it is a general across the board increase that has effected every store and site that I know of.............I am only asking Larry because as the proprietor of one of these shops he might be able to shed some insight on the industry-wide situation.

Larry any info you can offer on this would be greatly appreciated

Thanks bro

[whalen]

Good question DOG! Been on my mind too! I do believe I remember Larry mentioning this on his site a while back. A good synopsis never hurts though. I too have a rather Large PACT stash that I am working through, and some recent purchases were outrageous (but very fresh)

Thanks to Snuscentral/Make webo I was able to get free shipping and the lowest prices around. The shipping was lightning fast too. The super fresh snus was a shock after years of Getsnus. Very pleasant other than getting about a third less snus for my usual money, and this was the best deal around.

I only bought GN products since they are simply great, and yes I am drinking the cool aid! Extreme 59 Kanel is the bomb!

[chadizzy1]

This is Larry's article about it from 2010:
https://www.snuscentral.org/latest-s...ish-match.html

[Snusdog]

Yea I read that a year ago

however all it really said is that snus prices are going up and no one is saying why.

I was hoping Larry might give us an update and his opinion about the cause of this constant increase.

Or if Jimmy, GN, or anyone else wants to weigh in that would be great as well

[legry]

i gotta tell ya, I just love snuscentral. Always superfast, order always right, prompt e-mails if there's an issue with your order. I use them everytime and everytime it is perfect. And now that they have oden's extreme loose there's no need to go anywhere else. Perfect.

[Mr. Unloadingzone]

Hey Snusdog!

If you haven't checked out snus prices since PACT, you must have been stunned at today's prices. Aside from the different business plans and profit margin strategies of all the on-line snus stores, there are some common points which have affected everyone across the board.

* The Swedish Krona is not tied the Euro even though Sweden is in the EU. The Krona has been stable while the value of the US dollar has been and continues to tank. Prices have gone up but the loss in value of the dollar has amplified that for Americans.

* Tobacco taxes continue to rise in the EU and US. Since most EU counties use weight-based taxation, that means we get less snus and have to pay more money for it. Right now, it's looking like Sweden is going to raise the tobacco tax on snus and cigarettes another 12% in January 2012.

In the recent case of Lab Series 05/06, their pricing is based on the just increased tobacco tax in Norway since that's the only country were the Lab Series is sold over-the-counter. If SM gave the eStores a lower price taking out the Norwegian taxes, people would just buy it on the internet in bulk and smuggle it into Norway which would really piss Norway off. It would also cause a huge accounting nightmare for SM who would effectively have to maintain two separate inventories of 05/06 on paper for Swedish business tax purposes. .

* Complying with PACT isn't cheap. Shipping costs aside, legal and accounting bills have shot up big-time for the eStores. The age verification process and order process now require additional steps which means either hiring more customer service people or taking 2 or 3 times the time to get orders out.

For example, pre-PACT when we all bought our snus by Swedish Post (and bitched about how long it took and not having tracking #'s :-) ), if we ordered in-stock snus mixed with out of stock or not released yet snus, SnusCentral.com and most other stores could afford to split-ship the order to at least ship out the snus that was in stock. Today with UPS required, we just can't afford to do that. This means Annika and her now-expanded team email every customer whose order is not completely in stock and follow through with our customers. This takes time which takes more people which increases operational costs.

There is a whole other issue of manufacturers following American snus manufacturer's lead by decreasing portions/snus weight per can while maintaining high retail prices to increase their profit margins. Part of that is the cost of doing business in the US; part is increasing their profits. We can thank the poor uninformed folks buying RJR Camel SNUS and Altria Marlboro/Skoal so-called snus for setting the US market price so high for so little snus.

The SnusCentral.com business model has always been low profit margins=low consumer prices + great customer service = high volume + better pricing and specials from the manufacturers = us to be able to drop profit margins even more and absorb a good portion of the increases. We're sticking with the model and our prices; especially single can prices but most roll prices too, are well below most other stores. Keeping our store manager Moe Unz out of trouble is expensive, but there isn't much we can do about that. ;-).

Hope that answers some of your questions. For perspective, gas prices in my home town have dropped to $3.29 a gallon; about a $.75 drop from 6 months ago, which makes me very happy.....until I remember that a year ago, gas was around $2.60/gallon.

[Mr. Unloadingzone]

i gotta tell ya, I just love snuscentral. Always superfast, order always right, prompt e-mails if there's an issue with your order. I use them everytime and everytime it is perfect. And now that they have oden's extreme loose there's no need to go anywhere else. Perfect.

Thanks legry. We love you too.

[Snusdog]

Larry that is a fantastic and very thorough answer. It certainly helps to clarify the bigger picture. Thank you for taking the time to give such an in depth response.

I am often baffled by the business model that seems to pervade a lot of the manufacturers. I know there is a great deal that is beyond their control (taxes, currency values, etc) but it looks like volume sales verses high end specialty sales will almost always be the safer and more profitable model. I can't imagine that even a company as big as SM can lose all of Europe and not feel it. I am also certain that the price hikes in America have cut into their sales here as well.

It looks like it would be to their advantage to drop prices in places where snus can still be sold and thereby generate a new market base for their product (both for the present and the future). I mean cutting profit margins today in order to increase market shares and sales for years to come just seems the smart thing to do (kind of like having a pressure valve that helps stabilize and keep things at as near a constant as possible--- absorbing the shock increases and folding them back into the system at a gradual and controlled rate---- which then gives the external factors time to self correct). What does not seem smart is to maintain or increase your prophet margin as multiple other factors are also increasing price...............thus shrinking your market both today and for the future.

Anyway..............thanks again for your reply...............it really was helpful.

[Mr. Unloadingzone]

I'm glad. Everything you say makes perfect sense....unless you make tobacco or pharmaceutical products it seems. SM is pricing the new US c-store products (General Classic Blend and Nordic Mint) above Camel SNUS in the three US test markets as part of their marketing plan. They are trying to position General as a premium product over Camel (which it is regardless of price of course).

The flip side of the argument is the late Discreet Snus. It was and is the only true Swedish-style, steam pasteurized snus ever made in the US. Retail price was $0.99. It failed. What all this proves, I think, is that if you are introducing a new tobacco product category unknown of in the US 5 years ago, you have to be willing to spend a lot of money, lose a lot of money, and be patient. Reynolds was the only one willing to do that.

Now that snus is becoming known and the whole reduced harm tobacco product debate is so loud, others can now enter the market on RJR's coat-tails if they can execute. I don't see any reason why Classic Blend and Nordic Mint should not significantly increase SM's market share in the US barring FDA or Congress really screwing things up.