More than a little disappointing on this webstore partial opening.. for quite a bit of the world. Italy, Australia, New Zealand, USA, and Canada will not have access to being able to order on the webstore.
Lets take a look at what the webstore opening will look like.
My commentary in blue.
via Games Workshop.
1. There May Be A Queue
We’re expecting fairly high demand tomorrow, so we’ve put in place a queue system to limit the number of folk that can browse the website at a given time. You might have seen similar things put in place for other online shops over the past few weeks.
Those of you who find yourself on the queue page will be treated to a special video message, courtesy of James Workshop (worth visiting the site just for that, really…).
The queue is set up so access will be on a first come, first served basis and will appear as a holding page that will let you know how long your wait will likely be. It’ll remember your place too, so you can wander off to brew yourself a nice cup of recaff, take a wander around your living room or count your paints… and your place in the queue will remain secure.
Once your turn comes, you’ll have as long as you need to browse the site and get through the checkout. So long as you’re active on the site, you can stay as long as you want. If, however, you wander off from the site for over 30 minutes, you’ll need to rejoin the queue to kick-off a new session. Likewise, if you just sit there for more than 30 minutes doing nothing at all, like a sunbathing Slann Starmaster on a lazy Sunday, you’ll also need to rejoin the queue.
Hmmm. Really an online que? Im guessing they expect a lot of people hitting the webstore that it could be too much for it? Either way, a que, like a line up to get into a grocery store seems a little over the top.
Can we please get a plexi-glass barrier between the screen taking my order and myself? Typing with these gloves on is very difficult.
2. Some Countries Open Immediately. More Will Follow Soon.
We are only opening up in warehouse locations where we’re confident that all the necessary measures are now in place to ensure the safety of our staff. This means that in some countries, orders can be placed from Friday, while others will be coming online over the coming days and weeks.
If you live in one of these listed territories, you’ll be able to place an order from tomorrow:
UK
Finland
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Denmark
France
Spain
Japan
Poland
Sweden
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Rest of World
Rest of Europe
We are not yet taking orders in the following territories, but we’ll be reviewing this regularly, and we hope to be able to open them up for orders again soon!
Italy
Australia
New Zealand
USA
Canada
Is this because of shipping problems, warehouses not opening or something else? Seems odd. Once again stating the obvious that everyone expects things delayed (or should be) once ordered, so some places might take a bit. Im guessing this is due to warehouses in these countries are not going to open up with employees coming back to work to fulfill orders. Some people will be ticked off with this, some wont.
Perhaps just take my order and let me know in the near future when it can be shipped out?
3. A Limit On Some Items
Due to expected high demand for certain things, we will be limiting sales of some items to 3 per order. This is to make sure that everyone can get hold of the essentials they need.
Citadel Colour Paints
Spray Paints
Citadel Super Glue
Citadel Plastic Glue
Prophecy of the Wolf
We’re putting the limit on the new boxed set Prophecy of the Wolf, so we can keep it available as long as possible for those Orks and Space Wolves fans who have been patiently waiting for weeks for the fight of the millennium to resume!
If you live in one of the territories that isn’t opening up again just yet – we’re putting some of these items to one side for you ready for when your webstore is back up and running too.
Even with this in place, you might still see the odd item going out of stock. If the item you’re after isn’t in stock, take advantage of our Email Me reminder service, and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available again.
Some limits are expected. Its dang hard to get some items and im certain pallets and deliveries are stuck in locations all over the world (I know this from personal experience).
4. Shipping Safely (and for Free!)
Fair warning: shipping won’t be quite as fast as usual.
To enable effective social distancing, a limit has been placed on the number of staff in our warehouses at any one time, as well as a host of other extra safety precautions, so it’s likely to take us a few days longer to dispatch your orders. Please bear with us – we’ll get your Warhammer to you as fast as we can!
Also, the ship-to-store option won’t be available for now, as the majority of our Warhammer Stores remain closed for the moment. We know loads of you like to take advantage of this service, but don’t worry – for those of you in territories where you’d normally be able to order to your local Warhammer store, and they aren’t currently open, we are lowering the Free Standard Shipping threshold on orders by 50%.
So in the UK, for example, eligible orders over £20 will ship, free of charge, to your home.
Thanks for bearing with us while we get back up and running.
Cool, thanks..... Fully understandable and expected that things will take longer.
OK, so this is the new thing. We will get through it. In the meantime put together your army lists, paint some minis, try out some new things.
-Gary