What's the plan now?

My manufacturer is currently preparing her for shipment and it's expected for her to arrive near the end of June. Once Cotton has arrived, I'll be doing quality control and all eligible pledges will have their goodies shipped out ASAP. I'll be posting another update once this is in the works!

Regarding Moocha Latte and Sailor Moo, I'm currently working with my manufacturer to get them mass produced, CE tested, and shipped out to me as well. At the moment I'm waiting for their finalized samples to arrive which will come with Cotton's shipment so I can take a photos and share them with you guys.

Things have been taking a bit longer due to a couple of Chinese holidays since the start of this year in which they usually take (roughly) around a week off, but I'm itching to tackle this the fastest I can!

USA shipping update

Even more exciting news to share: our postal carrier, CTT, has finally been working on reopening shipments towards the USA! 🎉

However, it's still in the beginning stages and not officially open yet, but I signed up for the service and it's still a waiting game at the moment. It's yet unclear as to when it'll become active, and according to my contract manager, they're still waiting on approval from the US customs clearance offices or some other figure of authority, but I'm happy that things are finally rolling. 

For added information: if packages get sent without duties and fees being paid prior, it's going to get sent back to the sender which was one of the major hurdles lots of European countries were facing (and, even to this day, I see packages getting returned for no good reason to France, Germany, Netherlands, etc.). This only applies to packages that aren't flat mail (which is why stickers, prints, and other flat items can be sent without issues, but not enamel pins or bulkier items like plushies). It's not even possible to send items marked as gifts, so even if a package is non-transactional (like wanting to send something to a friend in the US), it's not possible to send stuff unless you want to pay a ridiculous amount of money.

By the time I can ship to the USA, I'll likely do a few test shipments first before committing to bulk fulfillment to be on the safe side since it'll be a bit of a learning curve until I'm comfortable with how the system works so that there are no surprises on neither mine nor your end.

Does this mean I'll get charged extra now that duties need to be paid?

Due to the long wait with this project, I'll eat the costs of the fees so that you don't get charged for this. This will likely mean fulfillment will go along slower than I would've liked due to this extra financial management, but I think at this stage it's only fair, so please don't worry. I'll be as transparent as needed once we get to this stage.