Hey, all! Matt Sheridan, here! I’m the one in charge of Iron Circus’ shipping, receiving, and fulfillment. First and foremost, I’m sorry for the slow response; we’re still figuring out some things about the new BackerKit crowdfunding platform! But the good news is, we have a few answers for you, so read on!

International shipping fees

Regarding those excruciating international shipping fees: Unfortunately, that’s what international shipping costs for small companies. We use USPS First-Class Mail International prices for shipments up to 64 ounces, and USPS Priority Mail International for everything heavier. Two books weighing four pounds total cost us $45.40 to ship to Canada, or $58.35 to ship to the U.K. (plus, handling charges from our fulfillment company). It sucks, and we hate it. We’ve tried maintaining overseas inventories and shipping from those to local customers, but it turned out that we didn’t have enough international sales to make that work.

We’re still looking into other options for the future, and more importantly we’re going to be better about informing backers about what their shipping fees are likely to be.

But for the time being, rest assured that there’s no rush to pay your shipping fee right away—you’ve already paid for your book, and that’s waiting for you whenever you’re ready. Alternatively, if you’d prefer to cancel your pledge, we will refund your purchase.

Early bird shipping

Folks who backed the crowdfund in the first hour (between 11:00am CT and 12:00pm CT on November 7, 2022) will get free shipping within the U.S. or half-price shipping internationally. We’re still working on how to actually do this. Right now, it’s looking like we’re going to be sending out a lot of refunds for people who already paid their shipping fees, and adding credits to the accounts of folks who haven’t yet done so. Sorry, it’s weird and sloppy, but we will get this sorted out!

Early bird pins

Everyone who backed at one of the physical reward tiers on the first day of the campaign (ending at midnight, Central Time) will receive an enamel cloisonne pin commemorating the 10th anniversary of our Smut Pedder series! This one should already be in your cart as a pledge item.

And I think that covers everything!  Everybody, thanks for your patience. We’ve done loads of crowdfunds, but this one was huge, fast, and a little off-balance. We’re sorting it out, though.