New Update...
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Nov 13, 2021 at 10:12:40 PM
Well... the global supply chain crisis continues and I have some new information.
The total shipping costs I'm working with are just under $5,000, which is a lot more money than anticipated when this kickstarter was originally launched. We only netted about $11,000 for everything. Not only did shipping prices increase, but manufacturing estimate also rose in price. Such is the joy of manufacturing overseas during a plaguedemic.
We have a few options:
Option #1: I can air freight a box of your pledge rewards to the fulfillment warehouse in Indiana, in the USA, for $5 a box. It used to cost just under $2/box to do this. This price increase does not include the shipping once the pledge rewards are in the states. Essentially, getting a box of pledge rewards from China to your door in the USA, by Decemebr 25th, is currently about $13-ish. However, I can not afford to pay for this. The kickstarter only netted about $10,000-$11,000 in total for this project after Kickstarter and Backerkit took their share of the funding.
Secondly, although air freight is fast, the items can still be held up in customs. This has happened before with a previous kickstarter, and customs can cause additional delays by a few weeks or even a month or more. There is still no guarantee your pledge rewards will arrive by December 25, but we can try. I can only imagine what the current customs delay times are.
Transparency. Air Forwarding costs for part of the shipment: 432 pledge rewards air forwarded to the US fulfillment warehouse will cost $2820. Additional costs to get pledge rewards to your door in the USA adds about $6-$9 for a box. The warehouse is in the midwest.
Option #2: I can send out older sets of The Gingerbead Gang and maybe a few others pledge rewards if I have them in stock. I have a scant few of the older sets arriving from Amazon Canada, as I have pulled all merchandise from that particular selling platform. I do not intend to sell via the Amazon platform again. These older sets are not FTC compliant because the box doesn't have my address on them :/. The new sets (still in China) are FTC compliant and being FTC complaint is a big part of the reason for this Kickstarter and production run. FTC compliance with the address is for retail purposes, and for retail backers.
Option #3: Wait until Christmas 2022 to receive your pledge rewards. International shipping prices seem to be a commodity pricing structure right now, as the prices dropped from last month. This is why I think the shipping estimate took a while. I think air forwarding was just too expensive for the reps to even send out a feasible estimate. Shipping by slow boat from China is cheaper and thusly takes longer.
Keeping prices in perspective:
For the last kickstarter, pledge rewards were $.80 cents/unit to ship by boat to the US, and the pledge rewards cost about $2.00/unit via air forwarding. I am including these prices here so you can see the drastic hikes.
I hope this alleviates any questions.
Backerkit surveys have been sent out, Please check your email and let me know which option you'd like via backerkit.
Joe
Backerkit Surveys
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Nov 05, 2021 at 07:17:13 AM
Hello everyone,
The pledge manager had been finished with much assistance from the Bakckerkit team. They did a great job! If I set up something wrong, or if anything is amiss, please let me know.
Please check your emails to fill out the survey.
Here are some pictures sent by the manufacturer of the minis :)
-Joe
well...
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Nov 03, 2021 at 12:34:59 AM
I’ve been waiting and waiting for any sort of email response form the manufacturing rep and there is nothing to report. Just silence. I do not think the minis are going to arrive this year. The manufacturing is finished in China, yet I think the global supply chain debacle is preventing their arrival.
I’m getting the Backerkit pledge manager reviewed and approved, setting up parts of the pledge manager were tricky this go ‘round.
Lastly, I’ll be offering up digital holiday minis going forward with this venture, as manufacturing is currently a nightmare. By offering digital monthly sculpts for home 3D printing we will be able to design and offer more cool holiday miniatures, and other tabletop gaming offerings, besides just the Yuletide!
Joe
Backerkit Surveys Are Coming!
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 07:11:58 PM
Hello Everyone,
BackerKit surveys are coming! After I had already let go and accepted our project not being completed this year, I recently received an email regarding the War in Christmas Village reprint project, and manufacturing is finally complete! What should have taken a little over a month has taken abut six months to complete, due to Covid-19 manufacturing delays.
I still have no idea how expensive and over budget the current inflated shipping costs are going to be in order to get everything to the USA. Regardless, as that gets sorted out, I have gone ahead with setting up the Backerkit pledge manager.
Thank you for your patience, I am trying to get the minis to you by Christmas!
Soon, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.
You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!
After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts.
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://[project name].backerkit.com.
If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://[project name].backerkit.com/faq.
Thank you,
Joe Wright
Update Delays
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, Jul 09, 2021 at 04:47:58 PM
Hello guys, gals, and non-binary pals,
I've gotten requests for an update and I don't have any good news. There are serious global manufacturing delays right now, this not only includes the manufacturing of microchips for vehicles and gaming consoles, but also manufactured goods like tabletop gaming accessories aka mold injected tabletop gaming miniatures.
The Kickstarter project should be finished by now. I have seen one sample, via pic, and it was late, and it was incorrect.
Not only has the original estimated expenses for this Kickstarter project increased, but international shipping costs from China have also drastically risen. The price of raw goods has increased, and the factories are running on reduced hours due to COVId-19 safety protocols. Covid-19 is a global issue and it's adversely effecting manufacturing worldwide. And lastly, a shipping port in ShenZhen is currently a clusterf*ck right now with ships stuck in a traffic jam. ShenZHen is a city in China, which has recently been built up to a metropolis of over 12+ million people the last 20 years, because of manufacturing goods for the global economy.
TL;DR : So, to summarize, the price of raw goods has drastically risen due to shortages, factories in China are operating on reduced schedules due to Covid-19 safety protocols, international shipping from China is a clusterf*ck right now,
