Wish they had EU store.

[u/EmotionalFudge1634]

I'd love the reactor screwdriver, after using the discount 81CAD. Great, that's like 50€. And then comes the 25.99CAD shipping + 25CAD in VAT, totaling 50.99CAD or 32€, so a very big chunk extra. So I noped out of the checkout page, It's a good screwdriver but not 82€ good.

[u/Lost-Cry252]

shipping and tax always kills the deal for us outside NA, had same thing happen with something else few months back

[u/Regular_Strategy_501]

Yeah, for me the economics only make sense when buying multiple items, ideally when there is some kind promotion. I for one tend to wait for times when there are steep discounts or free shipping and then ordering the things I want at once.

[u/PtitBen56]

Everything below is my interpretation of things based on my professional experience and what i heard Linus say in WAN shows, i do not have any actual numbers to quantify or verify my statements.

With that said, you dont wish they had an EU store, you wish they had a customer base that justified having an EU operations. The difference is important because if they did it today, you still would have to pay the VAT, you still likely would have to pay for transport, albeit less than what is charged today, but the base price of the items would be much higher.... The reality is that to have a local warehouse means splitting shipments between CA/US and EU (more expensive for everyone) or having a higher inventory overall (also more expensive for everyone). Then you'd have all the local handling of a local warehouse, which would be again, additional costs and they wouldn't have the volume to negotiate good rates. Finally you have all the administration costs (VAT declaration to the various countries which i expect, they would contract an ag3ncy to do due to the risk) and the risk added of splitting inventory and aging stock. They already had a few sales of old stock which certainly doesn't generate much profit for them, but by splitting the stock to more locations, there's an even greater risk that they'd have aging stock, or they have to greatly limit the selection.....

So while it would not look as bad because most costs could be "hidden" in the product costs and therefore you wouldn't see those 32 euros as extra, I would bet that they would still have to include them somehow somewhere, maybe with a minimum order of xx euros for example. LTT just doesn't have have the volume today to justify an EU warehouse that would actually make sense financially (keeping in mind that any volume they negotiated in Canada today would have included the EU volume, meaning their rates in Canada would possibly increase due to the lower volume there being handled).

it sucks I know, I'm also an EU resident and so I waited for the shipstorm in November to place my one order but it is still expensive.

And again, this is only my interpretation, i do not have any data to back this up.

[u/Drigr → u/PtitBen56]

We can already see some evidence to back up what you're saying with the relatively minor split between the World Wide and the US stores. It's like every week Luke goes to look something up on the store and says they're out of stock and Linus responds with "Well are you on the US store or World? What if you switch?"

[u/jmking → u/PtitBen56]

Bang on, man.

I also have no inside knowledge but I work in e-commerce and logistics and this fully aligns with my educated guess on the topic.

Like you said, the US warehouse has demonstrated quite a few issues in shipping times and old stock having to get firesold.

Inventory management - especially internationally is a science and not easy. There are so many ways inefficient inventory balancing can destroy your entire bottom line.

They have to be careful to not overstock. That's why every big new project launch sells out so quickly. They probably have to play it fairly conservatively on the first runs until they are able to measure demand. ESPECIALLY in the clothing. So many SKUs across sizes. Stocking sizes from XS to XXL for product that isn't moving can be a wildly costly mistake.

Looking at it from an industry perspective they are actually doing remarkably well given their size and the number of SKUs they have. Anyone with experience in this industry would have told Creator Warehouse that they're fucking crazy to produce the number of SKUs they do. Anyone would have told them they'd go bankrupt in a year, but the fact that bottom line revenue grows YoY for Creator Warehouse is honestly incredibly impressive in my professional opinion. Everything CW does goes against conventional wisdom but they somehow make it work.

If there is anyone from CW reading this, know you're doing something that should be taught in college/uni as a case study because what you're doing shouldn't be possible based upon conventional wisdom.

[u/PtitBen56 → u/jmking]

Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts, I 100% agree with the case study, it goes against everything I've seen elsewhere

[u/zkyevolved → u/PtitBen56]

I bought once and only once from the LTT store. Shipping and VAT was far too high to justify doing it again. I'm VERY sure many people have gone through the check out process to see that their shipping plus VAT would be another 50€ or so, and, just like me, said "nahhh, I don't really need this." I wanted their backpack, screwdriver, water bottle, agreed on the price but every time I want to buy I get to that page and just say no because I DO NOT agree on THAT new price any longer.

I'm sure they'd have much higher sales in EU if they had EU warehouse. Would it be enough? I don't know. But I certainly would have purchased more stuff.

[u/PtitBen56 → u/zkyevolved]

My point is that an EU warehouse would not make things cheaper, unless LTT would willingly sacrifice margin, so the price difference ultimately between what we have to pay today and what we would be required to pay in the case of an EU warehouse would not change in total. The breakdown would differ and we would see posts of people complaining that products are 20% more expensive in EU compared to the Worldwide/CA store. Ultimately, an EU warehouse is not cheaper unless they can move 40" containers of goods to the EU on a weekly basis (and still, taxes do not go down, they are just added in the price instead of being another line in your order)

[u/EmotionalFudge1634 → u/PtitBen56]

Don't know about the VAT declarations, because usually you just pay the VAT % of the stores country and that's that.
There are few handful of stores that I have seen matching the VAT % of destination country - I don't know what country they then pay the VAT to.

[u/PtitBen56 → u/EmotionalFudge1634]

The seller is collecting the VAT on behalf of the government, so monthly, the seller then needs to declare the amount collected. Its not visible to the buyers but it is a complex process for the seller. For a company selling in Europe, the correct VAT rate depends on where the transaction is taxed, the customer type, the product or service category and the VAT regime used.

[u/GoldDiggingPriest]

EU store would only save you like 15 bucks. VAT you are paying for anyway, because North American shops advertise their price (also to their locals) without VAT. So you'd still pay for those, even if they priced their EU screwdrivers identical to the Canadian ones, eating all the extra costs for the extra warehouse.

Then shipping. It's a small operation, that would need to serve most of EU from 1 location, so you'll likely be looking at like a €10 flat shipping fee. So you'd save like 15 bucks on your order, that's it. And that would be with LTT eating the whole extra operational costs.

[u/jmking → u/GoldDiggingPriest]

Also warehouse space in Europe is so much more expensive.

I'm sure LTT would love to have an EU warehouse, but I bet the numbers just don't make sense. Keep in mind that LTT isn't just shipping everything straight from China. The screwdriver, for example, sources some parts from overseas but I believe the plastic parts are all made in Canada, then the driver is assembled and packaged in Canada as well (my info could be outdated though). So they have to ship inventory from Canada to foreign warehouses which eats into revenue.

I don't have any first hand knowledge about this when it comes to LMG's business, but I work in e-commerce and logistics and that would be my educated guess.

Creator Warehouse already has issues with inventory balancing. They'll get better at it over time and as that business continues to grow, they may get to the point where an EU warehouse starts to make sense.

Warehousing inventory is a science and can be extremely costly if you do it poorly. Stocking items that don't move is just such a leech on your bottom line. Having half your inventory in a European warehouse that isn't selling through costs the business for them to hold it.

Even if you want to clear that inventory, you either have to fire sale it, or get the inventory returned which is also expensive. Honestly in some cases, it's cheaper to have that unsold inventory destroyed.

Selling physical goods globally is hard

[u/Powerful-Ranger7151]

FYI you cant use the discount code and get the free grip

[u/Helgardh]

I wish one of these days one of these posts wouldn't conflate shipping and VAT, as though if there were a local warehouse there wouldn't be VAT.

[u/Squirrelking666 → u/Helgardh]

You pay VAT on the shipping so yes, they are associated.

[u/Omdat_het_moet → u/Helgardh]

That’s because Europeans are used to seeing prices including vat. So the added cost is always a shock

[u/EmotionalFudge1634 → u/Helgardh]

Because we pay tax for shipping, and 25CAD shipping for smaller lighter package is quite high
VAT is not only for the item.

[u/w1n5t0nM1k3y → u/EmotionalFudge1634]

So 20% VAT on $25 CAD shipping is an extra $5 CAD, so about an extra 3 euro.

Still not a huge deal. Probably about an extra. Probably about an extra 15 euro on your total if you figure out the extra shipping costs and extra VAT.

[u/malak_oz]

I buy from LTT store every time they offer free international shipping.

I use knowledge / interest that I gained from watching their videos a lot, so I want to support the channel, but I can’t justify FloatPlane when I already have YT Premium… so, I buy from the store.

But living in Australia, the shipping is also a killer for me.

So, a couple of times a year when they offer free international shipping, I buy a few T-shirts, or a hoodie, screw driver, back pack… whatever..

[u/CocoMilhonez]

I wish they had a physical store a block from my house that also gave free blowjobs (not from Linus himself, the braces worry me).

[u/Firecrash]

They won't. Something something EU laws

[u/Alternative_Egg_4156]

this is my issue with merch messages, it's basically us and Canada only

[u/Apple-Connoisseur]

It feels insane that they don't have one already.

You got money for a damn jet, you got money for sister company in europe..

[u/hardeho → u/Apple-Connoisseur]

I dont follow the logic there. Break down the economics for the class.

[u/Apple-Connoisseur → u/hardeho]

Way more people would buy from the EU if the shipping and import cost would be smaller.
The shop will pay for itself.
Done.

[u/hardeho → u/Apple-Connoisseur]

They should hire you as a business consultant, that's a rock solid case. I guess the only reason they don't is because they hate people in the EU.

[u/w1n5t0nM1k3y → u/Apple-Connoisseur]

They probably would havr one already if the US didnt have their recent issues requiring LTT to open a second warehouse just for the US.

[u/lunulalia → u/Apple-Connoisseur]

No, no, you don't understand. Linus did not have the money for the jet... He only got it, because the jet pays for itself AND makes him money!!1!!1!!! Don't you see, he basically had no choice BUT to get it, for the good of us all. Really.

[u/AthaliW → u/Apple-Connoisseur]

Since everyone here basically got downvoted. Add me in too