I'm happy to announce that we are mostly done with fulfillment! The last batch of packages went out a week or two ago, and I see that a lot of you have received them already. I'm battling some health issues leaving me very fatigued, so I'm not able to respond to everyone individually, but I'm really happy to read your nice comments and I appreciate you. <3 Thank you so much for being patient with me during this very chaotic 2025!
If you have not yet received a tracking code yet, please check if you belong to the following groups: - 4 backers have not filled out their surveys yet. You will receive a reminder email today. Please fill out your survey ASAP! - 4 backers have failed credit card charges for their shipping/add-ons. You will receive a reminder email today. Please double check! - 4 backers are all set & ready for me to ship their rewards!
Tariff info for US-based customers: It looks like the US will be collecting 15% tariffs on packages sent from the EU. However, the USPS currently has no system in place to collect these tariffs, and it is very unclear when we will know more about the way these tariffs will be collected. While they are setting up a system to collect tariffs, the USPS is allowed to charge an 80 USD flat fee per postal item instead of the tariff. Since there are only a handful of US-bound packages left for me to ship, I will bundle them and express ship them to an US-based business partner, who will ship them to you through the USPS. This way I'll be able to pay for the tariffs in advance on the bulk of these orders, and you won't be surprised with tariff bill.
If you have a question or issue with your order:
Please use my contact form to contact me. Please give me a few days to get back to you. I'm in the process of hiring help for customer service, so in the future my response time will be better!
Hopefully I will see you next Pintopia with Birds of North America! However, if you're in the market for beautiful pins before then, consider supporting my friends <3
I hope you are doing well! I'm back from my trip and packing is back in full swing! Here's a quick update on how things are going.
If you have an open support inquiry/email/not working tracking code
It looks like my out of office email didn't work for support requests coming from Backerkit. My apologies in case I missed your email/support request or if I responded to it really late.
Most inquiries were about not working tracking numbers. I found out yesterday that there was a small batch of around 30 backers who were assigned a tracking number too early. If you have a tracking number but it doesn't work yet, you are likely part of this group. I'm scheduling another package pickup for next week, so your tracking code should start working by then. (But in case your package actually got lost, I'm of course happy to replace it!)
I'm holding off on emailing back/reshipping items until all remaining packages are packed and shipped, just so that I can keep a clear overview of tasks. If you didn't receive a response by Sunday and you still have questions, please feel free to email me again!
Shipping status
450 out of 563 orders are packed and either shipped or ready for pickup by my courier. It looks like we can finish the remaining packages this week.
HOWEVER, due to the office/warehouse move I seem to have misplaced some sticker and keychain stock I set aside for the campaign.. Because of this I won't be able to immediately fulfill a handful of rewards. If your order is affected, you'll receive an email by the end of this week, where you can let me know if you'd rather swap the item for a different one or wait for a restock.
In the near future
I'll be posting another update when most packages have been picked up, likely next week! I'm also going to take a step back from the chaos of running the shop and packing way too many orders - I'm hiring a helper for fulfillment and customer service, and I'll be taking some time to streamline our processes so that the customer experience will be way better for you guys.
In the far future
For Pintopia 2026 I want to be back with another birdy campaign. During my trip my hands were just itching to sketch the North American backyard birds I saw visiting the feeder on my in-laws' deck. This campaign is still a good half-year away but I set up a simple teaser page in case you want to follow along already.
Today a backer mentioned it's been a while since the last update, and they were right, it's been about a month. Oops! Here's a quick update from my side:
Over halfway there!
We shipped over half of the rewards and I just sent out their tracking codes. Shipping was delayed because of my office move in May-early June, but Appeltjesgroen and I kept up the pace and packed a lot of the Backerkit rewards, as well as a huge chunk of my webshop preorders. My courier picked the packaged international shipments up this morning. If you got a tracking code in the mail, your package should be on the way now. PostNL was supposed to pick up Dutch shipments yesterday, but they somehow couldn't find my office and never showed up.. so I'm dragging those rewards to the postal office myself on Monday.
How to track your package
BackerKit unfortunately doesn't always recognize my carrier's tracking numbers. Please use https://parcelsapp.com/ to track your package. Once your package arrives in the destination country it will also be traceable through your local postal service!
We managed to fill up most of a small van!
This week's shipping list! I'll spare you the horrifying bill
For anyone who is still waiting on a tracking code: your rewards are packed, ready to be put in a box & they are ready for their shipping label. I'm leaving for a three-week trip this Tuesday, and even though I tried really hard to get everything done before I leave I unfortunately wasn't able to wrap everything up :( So, these will ship when I get back in mid July. I don't expect this to take long since most of the packing is done already. I'm really sorry about having to delay them again, but I hope you understand I really did my best!
It's been brought to my attention that it's been a little while since I last posted an update, so here's the most recent status on things.
Items
All campaign items have been received, including the socks and hair claws. The hair claws are still boxed up in my basement, but I'll start checking them soon!
Packaging rewards
The past two weeks I've had some amazing helpers who helped me a LOT with packaging your rewards! We prioritized packing orders containing only pins and stickers, as socks and hair claws weren't ready yet when we started packing. We have about 70 orders boxed up and ready to be shipped. I think those will go out over the weekend. Another ~200 rewards are carded and just need a final check, a box, and their shipping label.
General life/business update (slower shipping)
While this packing frenzy was going on, I received notice from my landlord that my temporary contract for the office is ending on the 31st of May. Boo! I'm lucky to have found a new space already. However, my new contract starts on June 2nd, while my moving company picked up all my furniture and office supplies today already. This means that, aside from the orders that have already been packed, shipping is on hold for a week and a half, as I can't access my shipping supplies. Once I have a shipping setup again, I will prioritize getting your rewards out ASAP - I'm planning to have everything out before the end of June.
DoKomi pickup
We'll be vending at DoKomi on June 6-7-8, and I'd like to offer a pickup option for those of you who are attending the convention! Please let me know before June 2nd if you'd like to make use of this, so that I have some time to pack your rewards. Please use my contact form and I'll get back to you ASAP!
I think that's all for today, thank you for your patience and have a lovely day!
I just received the pins, everything arrived safely! I'm planning on starting fulfillment next week. Since there's over 500 of you, it may take a week or two to prepare and package everything. I'm really excited to finally get these birdies out to you.
Osprey
Starling
Woodcock
Cormorant
Coot & Moorhen
Notice: This week I'm counting and grading your pins. I wanted to give a heads up that I'm vending at a convention this weekend, and I will be taking some overstock of Birds of Rotterdam with me to sell. I really don't like doing this, as it is my priority to get your pins out to you as soon as possible. However, due to the scale of the campaign, I won't be able to do so this time, and taking some overstock with me does directly help me pay for my rent and upcoming office move. There will be no risk of overselling - all the pins intended for the campaign plus an error margin will be counted out and left at my office. If you're really bothered by this decision, let me know and I will do my best to have your rewards out before I go to the con. Thank you for understanding <3
Canada Goose
Feral Pigeon
Sandpiper
If you are at AnimeCon Rijswijk this weekend, I can bring your rewards with me. Please let me know by Thursday if you'd like to pick them up at the convention!
One of the color concerns I had on the factory photos was the Eurasian Jay. Here's what he looks like in daylight:
Eurasian Jay
The face did turn out a little more yellow than intended, but I'm not extremely bothered by it. I won't opt for a remake at this time. If you selected the Eurasian jay but you don't like the final pin, please contact me for a solution.
If your order contains socks and/or a hair claw, we are still waiting on those to arrive, so your order will have to wait a little bit longer to ship.
If you backed our partner project Frogtastic Frogs, and you want combined shipping, make sure your Frogtastic Frogs survey is set to "Local Pickup". I will email you this week to double check if I have everything on file correctly. Since Frogtastic Frogs are still in production, combined shipping orders will be on hold until these are done. There are still 6 of you with a completely failed pledge. If you still want to receive your rewards at campaign price, please resolve your payment and fill in your survey by the end of the week.
There are 24 errored cards for shipping costs and add-ons. Please resolve this by the end of the week, otherwise I can't ship your rewards! If you need add-ons removed from your pledge to make it work, let me know.
