Bunnies & Branchs

Sorry guys, in the middle of the tariffs and keeping updated on the USA stuff I didn't notice, Canada Post is currently on strike. They're not accepting items right now. I literally cannot send things to you for the time being. 

It looks like things might be changing soonish, but Royal Mail isn't accepting items to Canada for under 170 Canadian dollars shipping fee (that is not a typo). 

Orders are being packed up ready to go, and I'll send them off as soon as prices go back to normal. 

Hello hello ~

Well we're back! Now we have everything we need and fulfilment is about to begin! We'll need about a week to get all of the pre prep done and for the addresses to lock down, so in roughly two weeks time packages should start to arrive, especially within the UK. Having said that, I've had some pretty serious health complications recently, so this is going to be a bit slow going - its just two of us hand packing and checking all of the packages, and there's a limit on how many my postie will take in a day. So I would think we won't be finished until late into October.

As for the US - Royal Mail have indeed set up a system to send out mail to the US. For this project, we already charged everyone their postage costs since it was mixed in with a chunk of money we needed for manufacturing add-ons. We can't go back and ask for more now - so we'll be paying the tariff fees. I'm going to leave the US packages until last for pick up, just in case something changes; but there's nothing on the horizon on that front until March and I don't want to put off fulfilling the project that long.

I could really use 2-3 volunteers from the USA to get their packages right away so we can test out the system. If you feel like helping me out, post below this update! What I'll need is for you to keep me updated about what tracking information you recieve, when your package arrives and if you have any trouble. It'll be a good test for me for the costs on my end, and also if the system has any delays and making sure Royal Mail is doing their job 😂.

Also! I believe US postage now requires a recipient phone number. So I might have to contact everyone for that. I won't be sure until we've tried it out, but if its true then there's nothing I can do to get around it. Any mistakes in the paperwork are what could trigger that $80 flat fee. So we're going by the book.

Last but not least; the one sad thing about Backerkit is we don't really get a lot of reviews/feedback once products go out. I'd really love to know what you guys think of the pins, and also the packaging and how the project went as a whole. To that end; after your package arrives, if you leave a comment, make a post or send an email with a little bit of feedback, put a note at the bottom including any other project of ours that you've backed. I'll go to that project and attach a little freebie for you in your next package. Be as critical as you like, it really helps us look at where we're taking things next. If you haven't backed another project yet... back the £5 tier during Pintober, get a bunch of seasonal freebies and your review gift 😂.

I think that's everything. Leave any questions here and I'll either edit them in or do another mini update. I'm going to initiate locking down addresses right now, you'll get a notice.  If you want to change anything at this stage do just give us a support email and do what I can :).

Hey hey ~

I've had a few requests for an update about US shipping and the new tariffs and what not, so I just wanted to put out a quick update. 

Unfortunately, for the most part all I can say is 'wait and see', and I know that's not very reassuring.

In short I have no intentions of stopping shipping to the USA, but the shipping costs are going to go up, its inevitable.

The new system requires that sellers pay duties and taxes upfront on US shipments, putting the burden on us to charge you (the customer) at the point of sale, rather than you paying customs directly after your item arrives. If we don't pre pay and have all of the paperwork correct, then you are charged a flat rate fee of $80 when your item arrives. (If this happens to you with one of our packages contact me immediately.) Our UK postal service (Royal Mail) put out an announcement that they will be setting up a service that allows us to do all the prepayments and paperwork online, and they'll handle the rest. This service goes live next week. I won't know exactly how it works, or exactly what the fees are, until it goes live.

The duties/taxes are different depending on the country of origin of your items. All of our items are manufactured in China, therefore that's their country of origin.

For the Midnight Ocean and Mythical Garden campaigns, prepare for your shipping to increase in cost before cards are charged. We don't know how much by yet; and with everything changing there's nothing to say it won't be different again before these projects are ready to ship. We strive to keep our shipping costs as low as possible, and I will continue to do everything I can on that front. I know that the Midnight Ocean has a lot of heavier items, and we might be able to refund just those items to people who need to get back under a weight bracket for cheaper shipping. Bear with us; we'll handle it closer to the time.

For Bunnies and Branchs we are facing a different dilemma. Cards were already charged, because we needed the proceeds from the add-on store to manufacture the store items. If the shipping increase is relatively small, then we will just pay it ourselves; if we don't make a profit on these items then its a loss, but its manageable. And there are fewer backers overall to fulfil, with smaller orders in general. For now, we are just going to wait and see what the real world costs look like.

We may also delay US fulfillment another month or two. Simply put, the new system is going into place just a month before we want to start fulfillment, and there's every chance of serious disruption to the postal services. I don't want you guys losing packages and what not in the chaos. We will keep an eye on how it all goes into effect and if its not necessary then we won't do it. This would be for US backers only.

Although, we still aren't back at home yet, and I'm currently unable to travel, which is a whole different problem. 

Keep an eye out. I'll hopefully have solid news by mid September about how we're going to proceed. Right now I'm still preparing to ship out in October, and everything should be ready... As long as we can get home on time. 

Alright, the final pins are in;

I tweaked the design based on a couple of issues we were having, and now the shading is screen printed. It looks much better in my opinion. The previous ones, the colours weren't right either (they came out muddy, and a little gross). Now they're spot on. 

I had them shipped to our temporary address so I can check them for issues, but they look good.

Now we just have to wait til we can get back home. Packages should start to arrive early October, if everything goes well, so cross fingers for us! I'll give a heads up when I'm about to lock addresses. I got some freebies to send out to make up for the delay. 

As always, if you want to make any changes to your choices just leave a comment under this update and I can manually alter things on the back end for you :).

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer (or appropriate season!) ~

I'm sorry, its not good news :( .

The pins still aren't here, so we're going to have to delay shipping now until September/October. Even if they arrived tomorrow, there's no way we could get all 200 packages out in the time we have left. 

I've seen the pins. They do exist. I can only think that its busy due to con season and the factory aren't communicating properly with our rep about how long things are taking right now. 

Its not 100% sure when we'll be home again, but it should be in August. What we'll do is make sure the orders are as prepped as possible, so its hopefully quick to start getting them out once we do get back. 

I can only apologise, but it really was out of our hands.