Global Fulfillment
Note: All prices are in USD
Chaosium is blessed that we have fans and customers across the globe and I'm sure on every continent (event if the ones in Antarctica may be frozen and sleeping). But it is a huge challenge for a small company that wants to send heavy books across the world without having to charge an arm and a leg to do it. More than any other expense, shipping is the bane of small game companies that have no economy of scale and don't budget for it well.
Our Warehouses
The main warehouse. We stock all out products here, including any old product we aren't actively selling. They handle US orders and international shipments as well. We prefer to ship things from the more local warehouse whenever possible to give you a better rate.
The UK warehouse. Shipping via the Royal Mail.
The European warehouse. They handle all our European distribution and fulfillment for the Continent. Chaosium has crossed the English Channel.
Our south-of-the Equator warehouse. Based in Sydney, Australia, it ships to Australia and New Zealand.
Shipping for the Great White North, more commonly known as Canada. Now available. You can order from the USA or the UK but may have customs fees.
How it Works
Each product in the system is tagged with the warehouses it is available. This tells our shipping engine where to pull the product from. Some warehouses only serve specific countries, and they are detailed below. Sometimes you have the ability to select the warehouse you want to ship from. At this moment we do not split shipments across warehouses so you will need to make two orders for those situations.
We have updated the product description for every product to show where you can order it from.
When you go to Check out, you enter you delivery address. After you do, the system will display what the shipping will cost and the types of shipping we use. You can also estimate your shipping costs from your cart as well.
There are three different potential options and you can see them in the shipping area.
US Warehouse (Standard) - Shipping within the United States
Coming from our main warehouse in the USA, we benefit from probably the cheapest mail service in the world for books thanks to the efforts of Ben Frankin to have "media mail" as a discount mailing option.
Local Warehouse - Shipping from a warehouse not in the USA to a regional country
Here we have stock in a regional warehouse (in this case in the UK) and will be shipping it from there the Netherlands (aka Nederland).
US - International - Shipping from the USA to a global location
Sadly, the most expensive way to get a book. Either it is something only available in the USA warehouse, like an older product or vault item we will not reprint, or you live in a country where the regional warehouse will charge us even more than from the US.
Frequently Asked Questions about Shipping
Q: I can't get a copy of my favorite old book unless I get it from the USA or UK? How can I get it?
A: We are looking at enabling Print-on-Demand for all our older, and out-of-print books, but this is a long term project. When we do, we'll have links on our website to where you can get them printed.
Q: How can I get the cheapest shipping?
It is cheaper to ship two books than one in almost every case except large International shipments from the USA.
Q: Can't I just get the books in my FLGS?
A: Ideally, you can. All our current books are in distribution. Some things, though, like the Guide to Glorantha and special versions will only be available directly from us. You get the PDF included if the store is part of the Bit & Mortar program.
Q: It should be cheaper to my country from a local warehouse than from the USA. Can you send it from there?
A: Let us know where you live and we'll have the local warehouse review the shipment costs. We haven't finalized anything.
Q: Can you set up a warehouse in my country?
A: Probably not, but you can ask. We would love to have a better way to ship to Japan and Brasil specifically, but it may be that you get your books through local gaming stores.
Q: I know I can pay less for shipping?
A: Remember that the shipping include picking and packing each item, and covering the customs forms that the warehouse staff may need to fill out.