Hello there. Im fairly new here.

As a former web developer and programmer i can really say that Penguinmagic is a great site. Everything is fresh and works fine.

But there is still some issues that i think could be better.

First, its not a major thing, but still a small problem that could affect the sales. I had MAJOR trouble buying my magic directly on this site with my regular VISA card. The program that validates cards seems to progressive and it did reject both my cards. There was no way that the purchase get through. I checked with my bank and the denial answer in the logs at my local bank stated "No coverage". Im not a bank guy so i dont know what this means. It didnt work anyway. I had to pay by paypal instead, which by the way is a great alternative. Paypal had however NO problem at all to charge my card. Thats strange, would have been more happier to be able to buy direct on the penguinmagic site. But as i said before, its a small problem, and its perhaps just me, living around the globe in Sweden who has this problem.

Second, i find the weekend specials a bit confusing. Is there a special this weekend? What $ is it starting at? Which trick is it? And so on. If such a thing should exist it should be clearly stated somewhere on the site. Not just on the first page the last sunday. I also think the weekend special should be in scale to the amout that you order for. If there is a special starting at $20 and i order for $100. I could split my order into five pieces and get 5 of those specials, but hey, i dont want a trick five times. Another thing is the lack of freedom with the weekend specials. I cant choose. I might end up with i trick that i never in my life will use, or a trick that i already have in my posession. A suggestion to solve this could be some form of Penguin Points. Points that you earn by shopping. A decent value should be that you get 1PP per 10$ you spend, where 1PP equals $1. Which economically is the same as the 10% discount, but with the luxurious advantage that you could choose freely what you spend your Penguin Points on, how many of them and when.

I can only speak for myself, but that little extra, like the weekend special is a good thing to really satisfy the customer, its psychological and really adds that touch to you purchase that makes it feel like you made a good deal. I can take my recent order as an example. I spent $135 including the shipping to Sweden. I got the $12.95 Hurricane Nail as a freebie. A trick that i for sure never will use, as im not into metal bending stuff at all. I would be 100 times more happier if i could get a (even cheaper) book. Like The Royal Road to Card Magic. Or choose a instant download instead.

That would really satisfy me as a spending customer.

Penguin Magic is as far i can see the one of the BEST sites to buy magic from, with the BEST prices, the BEST customersupport, the MOST well tought design and functionality. Why shouldnt such a site have the BEST option for freebies/discounts/specials?

That just some toughts i have, and i would be happy for some kind of creative response.

Regards & Thanks!

/Johan from Sweden

I agree.
You should sign up for the Penguin Magic Newsletter (you might automatically be added when you make your first purchase). They tell you about the specials, and new arrivals.

As for having different specials depending on how much you spend, Penguin did that for the Winter Bonuses.

Penguin is the one of the few Magic online stores I know that have decent weekend bonuses- Always something nice and with an achievable spending minimum (i.e., they don't expect you to blow 200 dollars to get a pen thru dollar). Penguin points is a good idea, but I think keeping it how it is would be better, since getting a 13 dollar trick like hurricane nail (which I've been thinking of getting for some time) for spending 30 dollars is better than getting 3 penguin dollars at 30 dollars. If they did that, it'd be like giving customers 20% off (10% + penguin points). With their current weekend specials, they can choose to give away items that are obviously not worth 13 or watever dollars, but would normally cost people 13 dolalrs to buy at a magic shop (I'm pretty sure penguin doesn't pay anywhere near 15 dollars for a stealth pen).

I like the idea of Penguin Points. Perhaps a wider selection of Weekend Specials would be good too. Like 'Spend $30 and choose either the Hurricane Nail or Magic Rattlebox! Spend $60 or more and get both!'

I like your thinking Guppy and welcome to Penguintown!

Yeah, that is good suggestions too. Just something that gives me the option to choose. If i already had the hurricane nail i would be so sorry if i got another one. Points, specials, freebies, discounts it dosent matter, one thing dosent have to conclude another. I know it could be hard to satisfy all customers, but just add that little extra freedom and this is the site i always will return to and refeer people to.



/J