Charging Procedure
Our process flow runs in the following way:
We work to apply best practices to the flow of paperwork procedures used by our business.:
You fill out the contact form, which contains details of your name, email and phone number. You also provide details of the service you require. We need your phone number to follow up your enquiry. We need your email to send you a quotation.
We examine the request, and may contact you for any further information. A decision on materials to be used is made. Modeling needs are discussed.
We analyse your requirements and create a quotation for the assessed work. The quote is sent to you by email. Where we see items of complexity in the design, we may give an estimate rather than a fixed price quote..
You examine the quote, accept or reject it by way of the link provided in the quote email.
We generate an invoice which is sent to you by email.
** You make payment for the invoice by way of bank transfer, for which details are given on the quote and invoice. We send you a receipt by email.
We commence the work and advise upon completion.
You drop by and pick up the finished product(s) or I send them to you by New Zealand Post Courier, or NZ Courier service (whichever is the least cost for that transaction).
** You notice here that payment is made before manufacturing starts. This is because we are not set up to provide credit, and as a small business not wishing to incur costs that may stem from payment disputation that would distract us from the task of providing a service to you.
Online payments.
Online payment services all charge a fee. From our perspective as a small business, such fees should be paid by the immediate customer. Were this not done, then we would have to absorb the fees into business expenses, and ultimately every customer would be paying a share. We like to keep our costs as low as possible to maintain competitivness.
Since banks currently do not charge a fee for direct transfers, and this is what most customers are happy to use, I see no reason why they should shoulder the added burden of paying a share of transaction fees relating to other customers.
The various online payment systems discourage the practice of adding a transaction charge to a payment to the customer at the time of payment. Xero accounting system also is unable to do this.
There is sometimes an extended delay in transferring payments to a business when using online payment facilities, whereas bank transfers within New Zealand occur mostly within 24 hours.
For these reasons I see no reason to turn on the online payment facility provided by Xero. If for some reason you really do need to use such a facility, I am able to turn on “PayPal” for specific transactions, and I can manually calculate the transaction fee and add it to your invoice. The fee is of the order 3.5%. Please advise us if you wish to avail yourself of the Paypal online payment facility. To pay using Paypal, you do not need to be a member to make a payment, and a wide range of cards supported by the Visa, Mastercard and American Express systems are supported. That is not the case with some of the other online payment systems.
GST
This business is not presently registered for New Zealand GST, as our turnover is below the threshold where registration is mandatory. We are a small business after all.
In the event the situation changes in the future and we become registered, we will then charge GST on all of our goods and services going forward.
The GST situation is under frequent review and thus might change in the future.
Shipping
We presently use New Zealand Post courier for all products shipped to customers that are unable to come and pick up their goods. This is reviewed from time to time, and upon request, we can use NZ Couriers instead. They have a different charging structure and generally faster delivery times.
For overseas shipping the same policy applies, but we can also add Fedex as an option. An additional processing charge will be made for the costs of producing required customs declaration paperwork required for some destinations.
If you have a preference for shipping please let us know at the time of quote acceptance.
Modeling and Dimensional Accuracy
We take care to ensure all printed models final size reflects the electronic model or drawing supplied.
Its a fact that polymer materials used in FDM 3D printing expand when the item is being printed at 200-400 degrees C, and contract when it cools, but the amounts of expansion and contraction differ. We take care of that by making small adjustments to make the final size correct.
