Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[RedHarvest]

Cannot wait for preorders for Rapid Fire and Gloria to go live!

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by grahams76

Same happened to me but got hit by customs charge and the outrageous Royal Mail £8 handling fee. Ordered two Twilight Time blus for $15 each. Full value got shown on envelope. Result - I get charged £13. Last time I order from SAE.

Well that's the killer. The last time I got hit by Canada Customs on a Kino order, it wasn't "duty" at all. About 50% of the twenty-odd dollars they charged me was tax, the other 50% was their service fee!

[MortimerBrewstr]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Well that's the killer. The last time I got hit by Canada Customs on a Kino order, it wasn't "duty" at all. About 50% of the twenty-odd dollars they charged me was tax, the other 50% was their service fee!

The customs form on this most recent Screen Archives order did declare the full paid value of the purchase (4 titles at $15 each), however, I coincidentally had some of my old Screen Archives shipping boxes kicking around (I save them to ship other things out). They were quoted the exact same way, but no customs fees on those ones.

I wonder if this was more of a 'one off' or a sign of darker things to come.

What's everyone's experience with Canadian customs on orders direct from Twilight Time? Their shipping is a bit more, but the one order I've made from them arrived very quickly with no customs fees. (However, it was only 2 titles).

[Tae]

Originally Posted by MortimerBrewstr

What's everyone's experience with Canadian customs on orders direct from Twilight Time? Their shipping is a bit more, but the one order I've made from them arrived very quickly with no customs fees. (However, it was only 2 titles).

During the recent Fox sale, I placed a 9-title order with SAE, and a few days later a 2-title order with TT (my first order with TT). The order from SAE had the full amount listed on the label and I got hit by customs, but the order from TT was under-declared (the full amount was listed as $10USD instead of $25). I wonder if the number of titles makes a difference, or if TT, being a smaller site than SAE, has simply decided to take their chances and continue under-declaring...

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by MortimerBrewstr

The customs form on this most recent Screen Archives order did declare the full paid value of the purchase (4 titles at $15 each), however, I coincidentally had some of my old Screen Archives shipping boxes kicking around (I save them to ship other things out). They were quoted the exact same way, but no customs fees on those ones.

I wonder if this was more of a 'one off' or a sign of darker things to come.

What's everyone's experience with Canadian customs on orders direct from Twilight Time? Their shipping is a bit more, but the one order I've made from them arrived very quickly with no customs fees. (However, it was only 2 titles).

I checked an old box I had too and it had marked the items (about 5-6) of them as "CDs" with a value of "$19". Those older orders of yours must have been newer than mine because it was something I always noticed in the past.

Getting hit with Customs is a crap shoot though. Having things marked "properly" does make it a bigger risk that you're going to get hit with fees but I've had dozens of other packages (my last Kino sale order for example) sail through unmolested.

Originally Posted by Tae

During the recent Fox sale, I placed a 9-title order with SAE, and a few days later a 2-title order with TT (my first order with TT). The order from SAE had the full amount listed on the label and I got hit by customs, but the order from TT was under-declared (the full amount was listed as $10USD instead of $25). I wonder if the number of titles makes a difference, or if TT, being a smaller site than SAE, has simply decided to take their chances and continue under-declaring...

I would guess that either Twilight Time are being Customs friendly for now but that might change if they start getting blowback from the "authorities" OR that listing a $25 order as $10 is not as big a deal as listing an $80 order as $10.

[Reddington]

If I remember correctly, a customs form is signed "under oath" by the shipper, making it unlawful to misrepresent the declared value. Also, eBay sellers can report buyers for requesting that an item be undervalued on a customs form.

[MortimerBrewstr]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Getting hit with Customs is a crap shoot though. Having things marked "properly" does make it a bigger risk that you're going to get hit with fees but I've had dozens of other packages (my last Kino sale order for example) sail through unmolested.

I guess this really is what it comes down to - luck of the draw. I've never been dinged for Kino orders, and those are consistently (just) over $100. I've got three orders coming by way of Canada Post from the Barnes & Noble Criterion sale... I guess we'll see how that pans out.

[MortimerBrewstr]

Also, RCRochester - love your avatar. Singin' in the Rain is one of my top 5 favorite films.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by MortimerBrewstr

I guess this really is what it comes down to - luck of the draw. I've never been dinged for Kino orders, and those are consistently (just) over $100. I've got three orders coming by way of Canada Post from the Barnes & Noble Criterion sale... I guess we'll see how that pans out.

I've been hit on a couple of Kino orders that were also (just) over $100 but at least with those the shipping was free plus some have had as many as 15 movies, so it's not as frustrating. I've also been dinged on a Deep Discount order as well one time.

[Reddington]

Just read Beaver's review of Cinderella Liberty. Never seen it, but I had a big crush on Marsha Mason after catching The Goodbye Girl on British TV as a teenager (I watched it as I was a huge Dreyfuss fan, and actually loved the film and still do). It's been a while since I bought a TT title around release date; I think I need to place an order.

[gregmtl92]

Originally Posted by MortimerBrewstr

I guess this really is what it comes down to - luck of the draw. I've never been dinged for Kino orders, and those are consistently (just) over $100. I've got three orders coming by way of Canada Post from the Barnes & Noble Criterion sale... I guess we'll see how that pans out.

Since B&N charges tax to Canadians you should be OK, I think?!

[MortimerBrewstr]

Originally Posted by gregmtl92

Since B&N charges tax to Canadians you should be OK, I think?!

We'll find out shortly, I hope.

[oildude]

[rognvaldr]

I just order Inferno $15 and Miss Annie Rooney $9.95 (do they own that company now?).
Any idea when the next sale will be? Although I need a minute cause I went crazy on the B&N sale.

[Dailyan]

Hmm that's peculiar: The Hospital, Inferno and The Train are 15 bucks on TT's site right now.

[plateoshrimp]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Hmm that's peculiar: The Hospital, Inferno and The Train are 15 bucks on TT's site right now.

Peculiar indeed. All three are listed under "Sale" on Twilight Time and all three are still $29.95 each at SAE. I wonder if this is some kind of glitch.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by plateoshrimp

Peculiar indeed. All three are listed under "Sale" on Twilight Time and all three are still $29.95 each at SAE. I wonder if this is some kind of glitch.

Those 3 titles were apart of the 15 titles for 15 days back in May and all three sold out on TT’s site. It’s either a glitch or people cancelled their orders just now for some reason; the latter seems incredibly unlikely even with preorders taken into account.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by rognvaldr

I just order Inferno $15 and Miss Annie Rooney $9.95 (do they own that company now?).
Any idea when the next sale will be? Although I need a minute cause I went crazy on the B&N sale.

(1) No, TT does not own ClassicFlix now. They are offering CF titles for sale at their site, just as they do with Flicker Alley titles.

(2) If the pattern from last year holds, there should be a sale on Sony titles coming pretty soon.

[skads_187]

For Canada customs, think I'll be ok with the 1 order of Rapid Fire with Screen Archives?

also, does anyone know how long they have the rights to Rapid Fire? before anyone else can release it? and are the rights only held for North American releases? thanks

[RedHarvest]

Can't wait to lock in preorders for Gloria and Rapid Fire tomorrow.