How Long Before I Get My Stuff, Huh, Huh ?
Officially,
4 - 6 weeks because we don't own the post office. Also, some of the
items we sell have limited availability, and need to be ordered. We
do the best we can. In actuality, we generally ship once or twice
a week and we've been very fortunate. Most packages arrive within
7-10 days. Also, we've had very, very few missing in mailings. PLUS we insure everything.
But What If It Never Arrives?
It's pretty rare for orders to go missing, but it does happen...far fewer than 1% a year. Check out our page for lost and late orders HERE
How DO You Choose Such Great Products?
It's
a lot of fun but, believe us, it's not as easy as you might think.
First, we avoid the kind of products as common as dirt. We don't handle
much stuff from the big companies because, in many cases, we consider
them too generic and remedial. So we screen an enormous amount of
material to end up with relatively fun items. If we pick swords, for
instance, we go "in the back" and personally look at every
sword. Something that it would be hard for most people to do on their
own.
Why Can't I Find ShihFu Grandmaster ShiHan Mortimer's Book on the Fly Whisk Set on Your Site?
Probably
because it is either A.) available just about everywhere, like
parsley at a drive-in or B.) We've reviewed the material and
don't think it is exceptional or C.) the business, being what
it is, offers no margin for profit on the item.
What is a PLUM Exclusive?
Something
that we either produce or are solely the distributor for in some area.
We are, for instance, the exclusive distributor in the U.S. - as of
this writing - for LionBooks, one of Taiwan's best martial arts publishers.
In the case of our Plum Populars - we publish them and are the only distributors.
What Can I Do to Help?
A
lot. We are a "commercial" site in that we sell goods. But,
really, PLUM was established to open a series of dialogs and information
sites for people seriously interested in traditional martial arts.
And here's what we've found in the last few years: the news is good and bad. Surprisingly few people who've put all this time into
practice have anything to say. This is either because they haven't
considered how important martial practice really has been to their
lives, or they don't know what to say. On the positive side, though,
the level of understanding of martial issues has risen considerably.
So we've got the human resources out there, just not the gumption. Yet. You can write an article, tell us about your study or
your school, interview your teacher, communicate.
Who Writes Your Articles?
We
write some of them. Shihfu Ted Mancuso, our main contributor, has
written for most of the martial arts magazines in America and has
had articles reprinted in Spain and China. In addition we have a number
of interesting occasional pieces by other contributors. We are open
and willing to consider any intelligent and concerned article. Express
yourself.
How Do I Order?
Hit
the order button on every nav bar, or click here to get to the order page. You can also call us at (831)
427 4001 and leave your order or a call back number.
What Payment Methods Do You Accept?
We accept major credit cards, paypal, money orders, Western Union, and many more options. Click here to see our extensive page on this.
Can You Help Me with My Martial Training?
Up
to a point. After that we will have to decline. We are anxious to
help but there is a time when one's teacher should be consulted or
you should find a qualified teacher to answer certain questions. Our
LOCATOR should help in that since we are always adding qualified instructors.
What to do if I have trouble playing DVDs or VCDs?
Some of the DVDs (and VCDs) listed may not play on every DVD player, although those with region-free players have reported no problems. But you should have no difficulty playing it on your computer using VLC, a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols. It works on Macs, Windows, Linux and other systems. http://www.videolan.org
For more info and detailed instructions for using VLC once you have it, click HERE.
*A note: A few customers have reported getting a message when downloading this program, saying that it "might harm the computer." This is a STANDARD message when downloading ANY program from online. If you are getting this program from the videolan.org site, there should be absolutely no problem.