The Yak Shack Forum

just thought id i'd ask here. i have 3 redemption cards from Lost, Kates auto costume, kates auto & Sawyers auto. i've never had redemption cards before ??? and was wondering the best way to send them in.  All together, separate with or without insurance. Any advice would be greatly received

Hello,
the best way is to send them in is together,and send them with insurance of £500.00. it only will cost around £5.00 to send them this way.

The other thing I'd like to know, is once the autos are ready to send back from the card company, how do they send them - Airmail, Surface Mail, with or without insurance ... and how do they package them against loss or damage?
I'm like Andy in that I've never had to redeem autos before and want to avoid any difficulties which may arise - like them being returned with their full value declared on the return package! ::) :-\

The full value to the company is probably nil.  And since you are actually not sending cash for them the customs form will probably say something like that.  ???  ???

Ahhh right. ;)
But you can see what could happen, especially with how mean the Customs ppl are here in the UK and how little in value we're able to bring into the country before getting hammered for Duty! ::)
I've no objection to sending them insured to the US, it's how they're returned I'm more concerned about John. ::)

If they are returned like the HP Artbox cards I would describe it as minimalistic  :rofl:

I sent my redemption's to them in top loaders, padded envelope, recorded.  I got the auto back in a top loader but in a normal white envelope with just normal postage, uninsured.  Don't get me wrong, the auto's were perfectly OK but that was more by luck than judgement.  The plastic of the top loader had almost sliced through the envelope and one of them was sort of half hanging out.  But I did get them back very quickly and they are lovely  ;D

Hopefully Inkworks return their auto/pieceworks a little better protected.

But hang on - we've paid tax on the cases when they came in - if they yielded good cards then we've already paid the tax on them...

Hello.
inkworks send them back to the uk airmail.so if they get lost you have to email inkworks for replacements.if they go missing before they get to inkworks and there insured then you cab claim the book price back from royalmail.

Inkworks returns the voided redemption card with the auto/pieceworks card in your penny sleeve & top-loader in a bubble mailer (unlike Artbox).  The card isn't insured or tracked in any way though.

Roz, Roz, young and naive Roz.  You are in the UK, the land of tax you for every measly penny you can scrape together.  Where there's a will, there's a Gordon Brown  ;)

Excellent news about how Inkworks return cards.  Two thumbs up for them  ;D

If I remember correctly the Spike Auto-pieceworks were sent out using a courier service with a declared value of $1, so no problem with UK customs. I had three redemption cards (all sent separately) and had no trouble with any of them.
I don't know if the Lost Auto-pieceworks are the same rarity but I would imagine Inkworks would be aware of their value and treat them accordingly

I spent in Spike redemption cards...I cant remember what was on the customs forms, but they did cut out the bit of paper that I wrote my address on, and stuck that to the front of the envelope, so I received mail addressed by me...strange...

One thing about redemption cards (at least for Inkworks).  You do NOT have to fill out the back of the card (that way you can leave it unmarked).  Write the information on a post-it note and stick it on the card or better yet put the card in a slip sleeve and stick an address label on the sleeve.

Card stays pristine (except for the punch hole that shows it's voided) and they get the information they need :)

For inkworks I usually just type out my return address on a bit of paper...with a small note saying 'I would like to redeem the enclosed cards' and they cut the address out and stick it to the front of a padded bubble bag. I received mine fine all the way here to australia. Very well protected unlike Artbox.  ::)

I sent my 3 Potter Azkaban Update cards in about 2-3 weeks ago from the UK.  Used a padded envelope to ship them, no insurance and I got them back today.  Artbox sent them back in plastic card loaders with a regular envelope, no insurance.  Didn't enclose the redemption cards themselves though.

No Artbox never send the redemption back, even if you ask them to with a corner cut off or something  >:()  Just out of curiosity did you get letters back with how many cards have been redeemed?

Yes I did and I posted the info in the Azkaban Update Forum - but here are they are, just for you  ;)

Ernie Prang - 243
Ernie Prang - 246
Uncle Vernon - 176

I had a similar question to this thread about the closing date for Azkaban Update redemptions.  I couldn't quite work out if it was May 11th or November 5th!  Anyway, I emailed Artbox, they said "send them in asap".  I sent them about 10 days after the closing date but they still redeemed them for me.  KBMum said the numbers looked low for those cards.  If the redemption date is closed and the numbers redeemed are low, what will they do with all the unclaimed cards?  Bin them?  I'm guessing they decide in advance how many cards they want each actor to sign.  So if Jimmy Gardner signed 500 cards and only 246 have been redeemed, well I guess I'd be pretty mad at signing all those cards if half are going to be thrown away!

Does it mean that these autos are going to be more rare than expected?

The deadline was Nov. 5, 2005 -- in the US, we write our dates month/day/year.  After a while, Artbox might throw away the extra autos.  You do post an interesting question about the redemption autos being more rare than expected.  The prices for the Ernie and Stan autos have been fairly low, but maybe they shouldn't be.

Thank you  ;D

The numbers redeemed don't surprise me that much.  Quite a few people like the redemption and the auto for their collection so if you halve the number signed it works out about right.  My guess is the spare autos will go into the grab bags Artbox do. 

Or here's another suggestion for Artbox.  Send some to the Yak Shack for competition prizes.  We would be very grateful and they would go to a good home  ;D

_{For those of you who think this is an odd thing to put, I have a theory that Artbox regularly read the Shack on the sly  ;)}

I appreciate everyone's thoughts and contributions on this one, but I'm still none the wiser as to the best method to use to give me the greatest chance of receiving my redeemed autos in tip-top condition and without having to pay Duty on them all over again.
I'm genuinely delighted that Inkworks looks after their customers so well, but that in turn leaves me very worried about how Artbox will package my autos and what shipping method they'll use to return them to me. :-\

Has anyone heard yet if the GOF redemptions are ready yet?

Today (the 12th) was the last posting date for the USA (guaranteed Xmas delivery), so it's pointless me sending anything anywhere at the moment ... but I'd still like to know ...

I just sent Artbox an e-mail.  I'll let you know what they say. :)

I don't think there is a specific way to do the redemptions.  Having said that, I'm a little worried for my GOF Ron redemption - if I didn't get that back I'd be mortified!  The problem for us UK residents is that you can't send anything to the US with insurance anymore.  The Post Office don't do it (I think, I may be wrong on that but that's what happened last time I tried it).  We can do international recorded and international registered but I don't think they have insurance attached.

Artbox didn't fill out a customs form and attach it to the 3 I just got back so I didn't pay any duty on them.  They just treat it as letter post and if they don't declare the contents or value you should be OK in that respect. Trouble is, if you insure the outgoing mail in case it gets lost on it's way to Artbox, will they end up paying duty if it's come from outside the US?  Catch 22 isn't it?

I dunno, I've never had that many redemptions to deal with in the past.  The Azkaban update ones are probably only the third time I've ever had to do it.

Just write "SAG" (Saint Anthony's Guide) in the corner and stick the stamp over it - that's what my Mum does!

This will be the first time I've redeemed cards too and I want to get it right because of all the pitfalls I could run into if I don't. :-\
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who is concerned over sending these redemptions to the US - I think there's Airsure and International Signed-For which we could use and I don't think the US recipients have to pay Duty on them when they arrive.
Unfortunately I don't know enough about sending stuff abroad which isn't helping me much, hence all the questions.
I've never owned a valuable redemption like the GOF Ron one before and it's giving me the collywobbles trying to do what's best! ::)

Airsure - you can get extra compensation up to £500 costing £1.50 and it's the same for the International Signed-For - according to what the Royal Mail leaflet tells me, I think it's a case of going down and asking to make certain.

Thanks for asking on my behalf Anna, though I doubt it's wise to send anything as valuable as these cards through the post at the moment. ;) ;D

I am re-sending a parcel to the US that did an Aussie on me (boomeranged right back at me!!) tomorrow, I have to send it insured, Airsure I think, so I'll certainly find out if the service is still available ;)

Otherwise it's time to start saving for a plane ticket ;)

Well you'll probably get earache at the Post Office as the last posting date for the US was yesterday! :P
I've used Airsure before but not recently, so any info you can find out about insured international postage etc would be greatly appreciated please! :-* ;D

It's not a Christmas present - although it's always nice if things arrive in time for Christmas ;)

I've sent my Krum redemption via registered mail today... cost $AU10 and is insured up to $100.

I hope that all goes OK as I will be sending a Sawyer redemption card soon as well :)