I have an order with YesAsia with 3 items on it, one item says "searching for supllier". YesAsia sent me an email asking me what I want to do. They gave me 3 options:

>
> We can:
> 1) Ship items that are already on hand and remove the item(s) that are not available
>
> 2) Wait for 5 more days and if the item(s) are still not available, our system will automatically remove them from your order
>
> 3) Split the shipment. If you opt for the "Split Shipment" option, we will arrange to ship all the available items first, then send the remaining items in a subsequent shipment. As an extra shipment will be involved, an additional handling charge of USD 3.99 will be applied and the total order amount will now be USD 62.96.
>
> However, if the items are still not available after 14 days from the date of the first shipment, our system will automatically remove them from your order. If there eventually is no second shipment, no additional handling charges will be applied.
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Now since that order qualified for free shipping, I emailed them back asking them if they remove the unavailable item, would I now be charged shipping on the remaining 2 items, because the order total would now be below the $49 CDN minimum.

Their reply:

With reference to your email dated Jun 8, 2004, I would like to inform you that if any item is removed from your order because of out-of-stocks making your order total fall below the minimum purchasing limit (US$49.00), you will still be eligible to enjoy the Free shipping offer and no any additional shipping or handling charge will be applied to the captioned order. However, please kindly be reminded that if the removal of item is requested by you making the order total falls below the minimum purchasing limit, additional shipping and handling charge will be added.

Hence, regarding your order 'xxxxxxxx', please kindly indicate whether you would like to remove the unavailable item, wait for 5 more days or split your order into 2 shipment at your earliest convenience so that we can arrange for you accordingly.
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Doesn't the 1st paragraph contain 2 contradictory statements???

- Still eligible for free shipping if an out-of-stock item is removed from your order.

- If you tell us to remove that out-of-stock item from your order, we'll charge you shipping.

......

and I'm still waiting for my order of Ong-Bak, Old Boy, and Goodbye Dragon Inn....

Let's see.....

If you wait 5 days, then YesAsia will automatically remove the item from your order. Since "they" removed it you're still eligible for "free shipping"

If you designate to remove the item "yourself" (no 5-day waiting period) then they charge you for shipping.

Even though it doesn't make sense, since the item is being removed in either case, I say wait the 5 days

Not really, it makes perfect sense:

- the first situation is if the item is out of stock and THEY remove the item, you won't get screwed because the total amount suddenly fell below the free shipping minimum due to their own lack of stock.

- the second situation is if YOU make the request for the removal, then YOU are the one who's dropping the total amount below the free shipping minimum. This probably keeps people from trying to screw around by trying to get free shipping by cancelling some of their order.

Just wait for option #2 and let the 5 days go by and have the system automatically remove the items.

actually, thanks eXcentris for bringing this topic up, as it turns out, I'm in the same boat, looks like the 'Oldboy' DVD is sold out and that's why I got the same email from them - I'm hoping and assuming they can get more copies.

Not sure if this helps your situation, but Koreandvds informed me that more dvds of "Old Boy" are to be published by the studio/distributor this Friday.

In the past, if they were 'searching for supplier', what usually happened was after some point they sent everything else and then sent the other item later, usually only a few days later. Yesasia never sent me an e-mail asking me what I wanted to do, maybe because my orders usually were i+10 items. And I was in no rush anyway even if they would have asked.

Coincidently, I'm waiting for an order with Old Boy in it that was shipped about just before Memorial Day and is about due by now.

Count me in the "OldBoy" club as well. I got the same email and cancelled it - the other 4 dvds in my order are ready to go.

Thanks guys that now makes sense. I'll pick the "wait 5 days" option.

Giles, oddly enough I've got OldBoy on that order, but it's not the item that is not available. The one that is out-of-stock is The Way Home.

The other thing I mentionned to them is that I have 2 orders with the same scenario, i.e. 2 items ready to ship, 1 item out-of-stock.
I asked them why don't they combine the two orders, send me the 4 items in one shipment and cancel the remaining 2 items so that way, I still get free shipping and they only have to ship one order. When they replied back, they didn't comment on that suggestion at all.

But I guess this was like asking for a Bigmac without special sauce and pickles at McDonalds.

would you like me to supersize it for you...

have you seen "The Way Home" - if you haven't, what a wonderful film.

Haven't seen it yet. Looking forward to it as I have only heard good things about it. I know there are a few versions of this film on DVD around, including an R1 release I think. I'll get it one way or another.

Ditto, it's been about 15 days and I'm starting to get worried. Have you recieved your shipment yet? That'll teach me to go for free shipping, every other time I've ordered from yesasia I've gone with the FedEx shipping and it's been here within a week.

Not yet. Actually, my last order, I paid (for the first time) 9.99 for express shipping because it contained a gift item and it didn't come much quicker at all and too late anyway.

My package was waiting for me when I returned from work last night. So it took from 5/28 to 6/9, pretty much the average I've experienced in the past accounting for a holiday weekend.

I got mine this morning... a reasonable time frame to recieve stuff. However, I chose to split the shipment because Oldboy was out of stock and expected within a week, and everything else I ordered was in stock. Despite this, my account info says they shipped Oldboy on 5/28 and the rest of my stuff on 5/31. According to the postage, they shipped the bulk of it on 5/34 and Oldboy on 6/1.

This is the first time in many orders I've been even slightly dissapointed with Yesasia... but it's not a huge deal. I'm happy to have them in my hands, and I'll order from them again. I'll just be sure to be more patient or opt for faster shipping