IFAS 2015 Calendar NOW ON SALE!

This is brilliant, well done to all involved in bringing this to fruition!

Just one point to clarify am I right in thinking that for this purpose Northern Ireland is part of the Rest of the World, not Ireland?

Paul

Ah, that's excellent news indeed, I'll make sure that's clear to our members!

Cheers,

Paul.

Cheers Seanie for getting the Paypal cart online.

If it's no problem, could you amend your post which mentions where people can view a sample. The link isn't complete so is not showing correctly. Many thanks!

The actual link is dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25805353/Doc...5CalendarPreview.pdf

You just need to tag https:// at the start of the below Dropbox location Seanie to get the correct link.
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25805353/Documents/IFAS2015CalendarPreview.pdf

John

Great stuff!

Edit: ok found that!

Hi Seanie

I went to order one, the link brought me to a page asking for name and address and then onto to Paypal, they ask for an email address to send money, what email address should be used?

Thanks

Paul

The Paypal page I get has no transactions from the link-just a standard login. Doesn't look like the link updates the page yet.
Can't wait to see the calendars . The sample looks fantastic. I'm ordering a few as Xmas presents.

This might make sense in the Midlands but I am assuming it is still wrong - if I buy 4 or more I would usually expect a discounted unit price?

KevinSmith wrote: This might make sense in the Midlands but I am assuming it is still wrong - if I buy 4 or more I would usually expect a discounted unit price?

Correct Kevin, its actually cheaper to get four times 1 calendar than 4 at the time. Surely shipping would remain same and some discount should apply, even from 2 Calendars?

Cheers guys for pointing out the price differences. We can certainly look at the postage costs again and check if they are correct.

I'm not sure about discounts if you buy 2 or more calendars. That is something the IFAS Committee will have to mull over (I'm not on the Committee). However, the IFAS organisation is the sole beneficiary of the profits from the sale of the calendar and I'd be reluctant reduce the unit price for 4 or less copies.

The charities I know of or those who family or friends are involved with don't seem to offer discounts on a few items ordered because people know all the profits will go directly to those organisations. I've bought bulk copies of a Cystic Fibrosis charity's recipe book before but did not get a discount. The same with Christmas cards, etc.

Anyway, as mentioned, we can see what the IFAS Committee says but thanks everyone for all the suggestions and input so far ... this will help plan future editions of the calendar. An awful lot of hours has been put into doing up the monthly notes but it has been very rewarding in seeing the positive feedback and kudos to date.

... now all we need are some clear skies for the celestial highlights of 2015!!!

John

Discount I suggested is purely based on postage, I could be wrong!

Thanks John.

I can possibly understand that no discount would be given on multiple orders (even though postage should be less) but to increase the price if you order more than one doesn't make sense at all - never matter how you look at it. To be frank I was going to order 8 copies but if I am now forced to order individually 8 times over to get the cheaper rate I probably wont bother and I will go ahead an order 1 copy only.

Kevin

Sorry guys, I picked up the comments wrong ... I had thought it was in relation to the cost per calendar but can now see what you mean about the postage being more if you order 4 together than buying one calendar four times (postage €1.65 * 4).

I'll have a look at the thread on the Committee forum and will report back on what the pricing was based on a trip to the local post office.

Talk to y'all in a minute,

John

Okay, it looks like the postage is correct and is based on what An Post charge by weight. Unfortunately this means that if you buy 4 calendars together it will push the postage cost into one of their higher brackets because of the weight.

I worked out the following (for postage to the island of Ireland) ...

Separately buying four calendars will cost you €30.60 (4 * €7.65)

Separately buying two calendars twice will cost you €28.90 (2 * €14.45)

Separately buying three calendars and then one calendar will cost you €30.25

So it looks like buying in blocks of two will save the most money. I guess we can look at bigger bulk orders if anyone wanted more than 4 and a mail to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. address with an enquiry will be the best route to discuss postage costs.

The postage can be crippling though and when I was selling books a few years ago on UK Astronomy Buy and Sell a few potential buyers in the UK withdrew their interest when the cheapest postage was €7.50 for even some of the smaller books. We are paying a lot here for deliveries.

John

It maybe a dumb question - or inadequate attention to previous posts - but does the calendar have appropriate text to promote IFAS?

If I were to buy a few copies as gifts would the receipients realise that this is a product of our local (c.f. international) astronomical community and tempt them to access our web pages?

Mark C.

hi Mark,

Hope all is well and many thanks for the comment about the calendar.

There is a welcome section on the inside front cover where those who contributed photos are acknowledged and how the images were selected from a poll on the IFAS forum. In a couple of places on this page we also mention IFAS itself and give the IFAS web site address. The page also lists the main celestial highlights of 2015.

The facing page has a brief introduction to some of the terms used in the calendar along with a list of useful web sites -- i.e., the ones I tend to use very frequently myself and condensed from a list I gave ESERO to put on their page at www.esero.ie/useful-links/

Back cover has thumbnails of the 12 images used in the calendar.

I'm already thinking of 2016 and would like to add an extra fours pages to give a bit more details on some events, include some tables for quickly seeing certain data, and to expand the glossary/terms.

John

Paid for two shortly after the news came out, nothing received yet, just late or not sent out yet?

No Calendars?? Sent two emails to the email address as requested for a bulk orders and nobody bothers to answer - suppose I won’t be getting them for Christmas as I had hoped. Real shame.

Astrophotography competition is outstanding since October???