Bilby Bloom
CREATOR
25 days ago
Project Update: A long awaited Update!
Hello everyone!
I want to firstly apologize for my recent silence, but i wanted to let you all know where I am with shipment. A prior Kickstarter that was delayed pushed slightly into the overlapping time with Scruff Puppies arriving, so my priority was getting those all sorted first- which did not go particularly well. To put it lightly, the state of international shipping right now has been an absolute mess and it was left me completely lost, overwhelmed and accepting that International shipment is something I can no longer handle after these campaigns are fulfilled.
I have been slowly shipping out the US/International orders bit by bit each week, and currently I've sent out over 50% of them! So I hope some of you have received your puppies already and are happy with them! To the others, i am still slowly working through them, but I severely under estimated my abilities to do this while looking after my son full time.
I didn't want to post another update until i had everything all sent out 100%, but i realized that the silence was probably worse than just being open and honest and keeping you all in the loop. I'm really sorry for that. Honestly, my life has just changed so much, and looking back on my past self who could easily fulfill a 300+ backer crowdfunding campaign in less than a week -- I can't believe how long it takes me now just to get a few hours to sit and pack up 10 orders at a time. This isn't an excuse, just an explanation. Being a mum and doing this full time is way harger than i ever thought it would be.
Shipping Charges
I charged a flat £10 fee for all orders on this campaign, and that used to work before. I charge the same shipping cost for everyone, any larger orders were worth it and id pay a little extra out of pocket to cover it. Sadly, those days are gone. I just went to process some 10 keyring bundles, and Royal Mail attempted to charge me £22 in processing fees for these... EACH!
Now after doing a load of digging, it seems like Royal Mail charge me a large fee over a certain threshold to process the customs information. So, for anyone who has made larger orders the only way I can send these is to send them duties unpaid. DON'T WORRY! This means that £22 fee will be scrapped, and you will only need to pay the standard 10% customs fee when the item arrives. For those of you who ordered 10 keyrings, that means you just need to pay £5 to get your parcel!
For smaller orders, I charged enough to cover the fees, shipping at about £5.00 and then the customs fee at £4.30, so if you only ordered 1-3 keyrings don't worry! For anyone who has ordered a larger amount, sadly the customs will have to be handled on the other side once it arrives to you. I understand this can be frustrating, but I hope you all understand that i simply cannot afford to pay that on the larger parcels when i only charged £10 shipping.
Going forward, I honestly don't think I'm going to do doing any crowdfunding campaigns for a long time. The current state of international shipping and tariffs has destroyed my desire to continue with the postal service. I am not quitting what i love, i love creating art- but sadly, i think for the foreseeable future i will be focusing my efforts on the UK, and handling american orders in very small batches when they come in on my website.
Please do not hesitate to ask questions, and please also be aware that all current orders were sent out international standard, which means no tracking was included! If you would like proof of postage i can supply that <3
Thankm you everyone for your understanding. I'm just one person working out of my bedroom, and now with a toddler running around.. it looks like my business just needs to take a back seat for a year or two. Hopefully by then the US postal system has worked itself out, but until then Ta Ta for now!
I want to firstly apologize for my recent silence, but i wanted to let you all know where I am with shipment. A prior Kickstarter that was delayed pushed slightly into the overlapping time with Scruff Puppies arriving, so my priority was getting those all sorted first- which did not go particularly well. To put it lightly, the state of international shipping right now has been an absolute mess and it was left me completely lost, overwhelmed and accepting that International shipment is something I can no longer handle after these campaigns are fulfilled.
I have been slowly shipping out the US/International orders bit by bit each week, and currently I've sent out over 50% of them! So I hope some of you have received your puppies already and are happy with them! To the others, i am still slowly working through them, but I severely under estimated my abilities to do this while looking after my son full time.
I didn't want to post another update until i had everything all sent out 100%, but i realized that the silence was probably worse than just being open and honest and keeping you all in the loop. I'm really sorry for that. Honestly, my life has just changed so much, and looking back on my past self who could easily fulfill a 300+ backer crowdfunding campaign in less than a week -- I can't believe how long it takes me now just to get a few hours to sit and pack up 10 orders at a time. This isn't an excuse, just an explanation. Being a mum and doing this full time is way harger than i ever thought it would be.
Shipping Charges
I charged a flat £10 fee for all orders on this campaign, and that used to work before. I charge the same shipping cost for everyone, any larger orders were worth it and id pay a little extra out of pocket to cover it. Sadly, those days are gone. I just went to process some 10 keyring bundles, and Royal Mail attempted to charge me £22 in processing fees for these... EACH!
Now after doing a load of digging, it seems like Royal Mail charge me a large fee over a certain threshold to process the customs information. So, for anyone who has made larger orders the only way I can send these is to send them duties unpaid. DON'T WORRY! This means that £22 fee will be scrapped, and you will only need to pay the standard 10% customs fee when the item arrives. For those of you who ordered 10 keyrings, that means you just need to pay £5 to get your parcel!
For smaller orders, I charged enough to cover the fees, shipping at about £5.00 and then the customs fee at £4.30, so if you only ordered 1-3 keyrings don't worry! For anyone who has ordered a larger amount, sadly the customs will have to be handled on the other side once it arrives to you. I understand this can be frustrating, but I hope you all understand that i simply cannot afford to pay that on the larger parcels when i only charged £10 shipping.
Going forward, I honestly don't think I'm going to do doing any crowdfunding campaigns for a long time. The current state of international shipping and tariffs has destroyed my desire to continue with the postal service. I am not quitting what i love, i love creating art- but sadly, i think for the foreseeable future i will be focusing my efforts on the UK, and handling american orders in very small batches when they come in on my website.
Please do not hesitate to ask questions, and please also be aware that all current orders were sent out international standard, which means no tracking was included! If you would like proof of postage i can supply that <3
Thankm you everyone for your understanding. I'm just one person working out of my bedroom, and now with a toddler running around.. it looks like my business just needs to take a back seat for a year or two. Hopefully by then the US postal system has worked itself out, but until then Ta Ta for now!
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