IST (instocktrades.com) problems

[gohei_]

I just read that ToW share the same customer support/email adress as IST, can anyone confirm this?
Maybe I need to direct my emails that way in order to get a response?

[Johnatellodi]

What happened to IST? I've been waiting on an order to ship for over 20 days now.

[JCinOntario]

Does it already show as shipped? You can always log into your account and check the status and tracking number.

[ARkadelphia]

I just read that ToW share the same customer support/email adress as IST, can anyone confirm this?
Maybe I need to direct my emails that way in order to get a response?

Confirmed.

[gohei_]

Confirmed.

Thanks for the reply.
I did eventually get a response to my emails, but it took some time.

[SJNeal]

This isn't a problem per se, and I clearly haven't been paying attention, but when did IST stop giving the extra 2% off multiple orders placed in the same week??

[gohei_]

This isn't a problem per se, and I clearly haven't been paying attention, but when did IST stop giving the extra 2% off multiple orders placed in the same week??

I placed an order last week and I've seen the 2% banner everytime I visited the site after. I think the discount isn't added until you are ready to checkout though.

[slop101]

ARGH. My IST order has been in "PRE-shipment" for almost two weeks now!

[thecoffeeman]

ARGH. My IST order has been in "PRE-shipment" for almost two weeks now!

Yeah, I'm having a similar experience with an IST order having been placed several days ago with no update on it being shipped yet.

[SJNeal]

I placed an order last week and I've seen the 2% banner everytime I visited the site after. I think the discount isn't added until you are ready to checkout though.

Weird. I placed an order on 1/11, and I've logged back in every day since, no banner. And usually the prices listed show the discount (44% instead of 42% for instance) on all the listings, but nothing...

Maybe it'll show up when the order actually ships. *shrug*

[UCLAMike92]

I encountered a similar problem. When multiple omnibuses were released on January 5, I purchased one in a single order with the expectation that I could purchase the remainder with the 2 percent discount in an immediate subsequent order. The discount, however, didn't appear. After purchasing the remaining books (without the discount), I found the following on IST's FAQ:

Q) How do I earn an extra 2% off my orders?

A) There will be a banner on the homepage announcing when the extra discount promotion is running. The promotion works this way:

Place one order during the promotional period. Each order placed after this order will qualify for the extra 2% discount as long as each order is placed within 8 days of the previous order. You can have a string of orders with an extra 2% discount.

For the qualifying order, there may be a delay of approximately an hour before you will see this discount reflected on our website or in your cart during the checkout process. The extra 2% discount is not effective until it is reflected on our website. We will not honor
price adjustments for the interim period.

Based on this answer, if you're not currently in an eight-day discount period, it will take approximately one hour after your discount-initiating purchase for the discount to appear for subsequent purchases.

Here's the link to the FAQ: https://www.instocktrades.com/home/help.

[SJNeal]

^ ^ ^

Yeah, but I am inside the 8 day period. I just logged in and tried to add some items to my cart and check out, just to see if the discount would pop up, and nothing.

Not the end of the world I guess - it's not as if I have a shortage of books to read. A shortage of space, on the other hand...

[kodave]

^ ^ ^

Yeah, but I am inside the 8 day period. I just logged in and tried to add some items to my cart and check out, just to see if the discount would pop up, and nothing.

Not the end of the world I guess - it's not as if I have a shortage of books to read. A shortage of space, on the other hand...

Wow, you're on to something.

I ordered a book on 1/5 that's been picked and scanned, but not shipped. I ordered another book on 1/13 and received the extra discount (not sure what my 1/5 order status was at that time, but that was obviously my last day of the 8 day window). Now 2 days later, there is no more 2% discount, but perhaps that's because the book I ordered on 1/13 is still waiting to process. Maybe they're not giving out the 2% discount until the book is picked and scanned to avoid people getting it for books that go OOS or never come into stock or something?

[Balakin]

Apparently they just recently changed how this 2% works, here's an explanation of it at 1:17:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GLl0R1xLlM

Not sure if any of it is new info since I never used IST but maybe it helps.

[kodave]

Apparently they just recently changed how this 2% works, here's an explanation of it at 1:17:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GLl0R1xLlM

Not sure if any of it is new info since I never used IST but maybe it helps.

Thanks for sharing - there's some useful info but still some unanswered questions.

The biggest change there is that it used to be if you made an order at Tuesday at 2 pm, the 2% discount would be good until 8 days later at Wednesday end of day (11:59:59 pm Central Time). Now the 2% expires that next Wednesday at the same time you placed your original order 8 days prior.

It still doesn't explain the extreme lag in showing the 2% discount. I assume one of their goals is to cut down on people that buy one Omnibus at 42% off then immediately turn around and buy more books at 44% off. That's got to hurt them in terms of whatever shipping costs they choose to absorb since that otherwise would have been a single order.