from the FAQ:
SKY is capable of running entirely off solar power using the solar panel accessory. The solar is expected to provide 5 years of battery life with an internal lithium iron phosphate battery and up to 30 days of power on a full charge even in full overcast conditions.
Got my solar panel as part of the first shipment. It’s been sitting on my desk ever since. Finally got around to installing it this morning. Can you tell what time that was? 
Install was super easy. Thanks Weatherflow!
5 Likes
Now that I’ve installed the solar panel, I’ve turned off power save. I’m sure the battery will be fine but it will be interesting to watch. I definitely like the shorter update interval.
3 Likes
A reminder to everyone.
This is the last day to order and get the discount.
1 Like
So, I decided not to buy the solar unit.
plus point: once a year it would save the hassle of replacing the batteries
plus point: it allows higher sampling rate of the wind for free. I now have the lower sampling rate to save batteries. I don’t really need high sampling rate, though it looks really cool.
plus/minus point: in general rechargeable batteries are much better for the environment, but that is true for batteries with hundreds of recharging cycles, replacing many normal batteries. This one will replace in its lifetime of 5 years around 40 batteries. So I don’t know if it is plus or minus:
plus/minus: Financially it might not be a good investment, as I could buy batteries for 8 eight years for the price of the panel. The battery in the solar unit is supposed to last 5 years (but I wouldn’t be surprised if it lasted longer).
minus point: it kind of ruins the intriguing design of the unit. For me a big minus. I loved (still do) the design so much that it was worth putting it on an acrylic mast. That adds even more the mysterious looks.
accuracy is still an issue, even though some say it is not an issue, i think it is hard to believe that a big drop on the solar panel isn’t registered as a small drop of rain.
of course for many user, the first plus point out weights all possible negative points so it is really good that the solar panel is available.
2 Likes
Received mine yesterday, thanks for following up on the idea of solar!
Although I understand that the distribution channel is different from the crowdfunding project, I was still puzzled about the amount charged. With the 40% discount (highly appreciated!) the product value was $41.40 and shipping to Germany amounted for $15.30, totalling $56.70. On the package, however, WF declared a product value of the full $69.00 which caused me import tax of €11.74 (mind the currency) plus a handling fee from DHL of another €6.00, totalling added charges of €17.74. If one would calculate naively, that’s like half of the real product value added for import.
@WFmarketing: The part you are indeed in control of (i.e. declaration) is not accurate, is this common practice to avoid follow-ups with different authorities?
@dsfg: If it still matters to you or any other German (/EU) resident, this gives you an insight of the amount to expect.
Edit: Actually had a look at the product now. Disappointed to see that is not even new. The package and box were opened by customs so at first I considered that to be the reason for the ‘dirt’. Now that I checked it, the panel also features scratches and a broken edge relatable to poor use. Further, the quality of the device generally appears subpar compared to the crowdfunded campaign. Proud backer of the weather station but the solar panel is a significant let-down so far.
Thanks for the detail of your import experience. Sorry about all those extra fees and the apparent damage to your solar power accessory! Here’s some additional info:
We’re learning as we go so there’s not much “common practice” here yet 
However, after doing a little research it appears that some countries consider the non-discounted value to be the “product value” for the purposes of import duties and others are okay with the discounted value… We don’t know what Germany’s rule is on that - do you?
Regardless, our e-commerce software (shopify.com) automatically sets the product value on the customs forms and they use the non-discounted amount (presumably erring on the side of caution). We can apparently override this on an individual basis but we have not done that because we don’t know the rules for each country. As you can tell, we’ve got a lot to learn before we turn on full-scale global distribution!
This report is quite surprising and concerning. What we shipped you was most definitely a new product. We inspect and test each individual device before packaging and shipping - our QC process would have caught any damage like significant scratches or a “broken edge”. It’s certainly possible your device was damaged in shipping (or handling by customs agents). Please provide some photos of the damage if you can.
1 Like
Yes, and I already told WFstaff.
Germany has an automatic import tax handling system at least for DHL and UPS handling the package. There the taxes and fees are calculated based on the declared value on the envelope. Sometimes they add automatically the cost of shopping as they have reliable info on.
I ordered mine in early May and it’s running since a couple of weeks already. The idea of a bus-order to Europe is not active at the moment… and to be discussed in the future.
Normally you should be able to get a corrected tax calculation by contacting your local “Zoll” office. But I never did this by my self.
It is always a pleasure to communicate with you, so thank you for your response!
Since my previous experience is no legal advice to officially go by, I checked the German customs website, then the UK website for an English version and then spoke to a customs’ officer to actually sort out some conflicting information. It turns out, that the legislative linked below is what’s applicable for the EU’s custom union. Therefore it is quite a significant detail to not know since all customers in this region (and likely more int. countries, too) are charged on false amounts. In this case it may not mean very much financially, but the story may be different for anybody ordering multiple panels, for instance.
Article 70
Method of customs valuation based on the transaction value
- The primary basis for the customs value of goods shall be the transaction value, that is the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export to the customs territory of the Union, adjusted, where necessary.
- The price actually paid or payable shall be the total payment made or to be made by the buyer to the seller or by the buyer to a third party for the benefit of the seller for the imported goods and include all payments made or to be made as a condition of sale of the imported goods.
(…) (Source: Union Customs Code)
Regarding the damaged device, I switch to email since it’s not further relevant to the public and inlcude a link to my post as reference.
@dsfg: That’s right, one can (somehow) file a complaint and try to get the money back but besides the trouble, I’ll also first wait to clarify the reason for my damaged device. The icing on the cake was the fact that DHL still does not give out change when they ask you to pay cash at the door. So of course I payed a tip to round off the frustration. Hehe
1 Like
Thanks @flowin! This is great information we’ll pass along to our shipping folks.
Grateful for the quick handling of the damage claim - replacement unit is in process!
To ask your customer and making him lecture you about a whole continent’s import rules only to serve a one-liner as a response leaves a sour taste, though. It’d be great to hear how this is taken care of in corporation with shopify. Unless you also need somebody to do that for you, then I guess I’d be looking forward to the the job offer. 
1 Like
It’s not necessary to post, delete and post again. If you actually need to change to post, simply edit it.
Thought my connection didn’t work, so I tried again. Didn’t change anything that’d require an edit as you can see. My bad, won’t happen again!
Does the SOLAR40OFF discount code still work? It doesn’t appear to be working for me tonight unless I’m doing something wrong?
Thanks.
It expired May 31st.
Crap! I was just catching up on this and went to buy one but 40% off was a lot more enticing. Wish I hadn’t missed out on it!
Apologies @flowin. I didn’t mean to ask for a lecture I just thought you might know from first-hand experience. I certainly didn’t mean for you to do any extensive research, but I do appreciate it. I did pass your info along to our shipping manager, though he was already aware of Article 70. Sorry also for the “one-liner” response… I didn’t have any additional info at the time but I did want to let you know we were looking into it.
To that end, the latest response from shopify is unfortunately frustrating, but we will continue pushing. Here’s a transcript of a recent one-hour-long conversation with their support team:
19:03 Liam C: Hey there! My name is Liam, a guru at Shopify. Let me know your question, and I will be with you in just a moment!
19:03 Liam C: Hey there! How are you today?
19:03 WeatherFlow: International shipping. Declared value docs. The declared value should be the actual amount paid for the item(s). When a customers buys one of our products using a discount code, the default declared value used by the Shopify shipping system does not reflect the AMOUNT PAID, instead it quotes the full retail price. How do we change this??
19:04 Liam C: Hmmm, I’ll double check with our shipping team but I’m quite certain (from my own store) that international shipping declared values are based off the original value/price of the product, rather than the price paid.
19:05 Liam C: Hang tight I’ll check that for you, and I’ll check if there is away to override
19:25 WeatherFlow: Agent has disconnected
19:25 Gabriella C: Hey! It looks like Liam was disconnected. Just a moment while I read over the chat
19:25 WeatherFlow: thanks
19:27 Gabriella C: Let me follow up with the Shipping team where Liam was
19:27 WeatherFlow: ok
19:35 Gabriella C: Just got a response from my shipping team - it is showing the full order value including shipping and taxes as that is what’s required for customs, as you quoted in your reference above
19:36 WeatherFlow: That is incorrect. International customs standard is the TRANSACTION VALUE (the price actually paid) , not the full retail price.
19:37 WeatherFlow: How can we ensure that the transactional value is stated on the customs declaration form?
19:39 Gabriella C: The transactional value is the price of the transaction - in this case, the transaction/funds captured for this order was for $69, though in this case that is not equal to the subtotal. Customs requires you declare the full amount of the order or transaction, not the product. There doesn’t appear to be a way to override this.
19:41 WeatherFlow: With all due respect…this is wrong. If you look at that order (order link): Retail = $69. Discount applied: 40%. Shipping: $15.30. Amount paid: $56.70.
19:42 Gabriella C: Yes, and the product discount doesn’t change the value of the product
19:43 Gabriella C: If you feel this is wrong I would recommend speaking to a legal professional, however when we set up the order values for the platform we contacted legal agencies to ensure we were following all applicable regulations and procedures.
19:43 WeatherFlow: But that is not the transaction value. Should be explicitly = price actually paid.
19:45 WeatherFlow: Our international customers are pissed off. They think we are scamming them. It would be fantastic if Shopify could clearly provide the legal basis for this decision so that we could convey to our customers. Please have someone contact me directly.
19:54 Gabriella C: Just a moment
20:01 Gabriella C: Thanks for your patience!
20:05 Gabriella C: Thanks for waiting - I will send your message along to the shipping team and have them reach out to you.
20:05 WeatherFlow: Thank you Gabriella.
As far as I know, we’re still waiting for that direct contact. Meanwhile, it does look like we’ve figured out a work-around. Not an efficient work-around, but a work-around nevertheless.
Finally, I know this doesn’t help those of you who’ve already paid extra customs duties, but I do want to thank you for your input and help resolving this issue for future orders.
5 Likes
I don’t know the US laws but here in France, and I guess most Europe, can use pro froma invoices. We have to use these for ex if we send back good (return as is for ex) and there is no charge (after a warranty). On there the value is declared on which customs can work. Maybe you could issue something like this where all the values are mentioned with clearly mentioning the discount etc so at the bottom right is the ‘paid’ value.
And the original invoice (that basically is that one since it reflects reality) can be send via mail only.
Might be an extra step (not sure shopify has an api you can use to inject data in an excel macro thing???) It’s an extra step for sure …
2 Likes
pro forma is a solution but must be provided in original shipment , here presenting digital,email invoices are no longer valid as they can be edited quite easily .
two sides one needs a true value for insurance .i.e lost in transit,damaged in transit this protects you as well as the supplier , if you value something at 50% less than its true value or what the purchaser paid in the event something happens then only the value provided is the amount of the claim minus the small print,local administration charges, some shipping companies have a threshold so if you mark up a 100$ item for 20$ thats it minus the charges regardless of the purchaser having paid more and proof of original transactions. its a messy area that in the last two years the scrutiny on imports and overseas shipments as intensified you dont have too look far to find out why . so be-careful and also marking items as a gift is no longer a loop hole it always has to have a value and under-valueing can work against you if a dispute arises…
when ever i goto customs office now they crosscheck the value if the product looks to be under valued by using internet means they find the product online obviously a simple find via google and crosscheck the value .
be-careful saving a few bucks may not be an answer best todo things legitimately .brian
Faith restored! Thank you for taking on the challenge and, from what it looks like, doing overtime. I felt that “With all due respect…” for sure. 
Please keep us in the loop once you think it’s appropriate to share progress/result or let us know if you need any further feedback. But I assume such official business is best dealt with professionally. Can’t fully wrap my head around what eric and Weather34 are trying to say, for example. My quote was based on the EU’s official customs regulation that I linked in my post. Legitimacy per se. If WF’s shipping department already knew that legislation, then I’m curious as to why they kept going. Maybe we all learn something from it.
2 Likes