New Shipping Rates for Europe, Asia, and Rest of World Coming Next Week; Pledge Manager Close Date Extended
over 6 years ago – Sat, Jul 29, 2017 at 12:52:22 AM

Hello backers,

What a week it’s been! Since we announced the close date for the pledge manager last week, many of you have come to us with legitimate concerns about the price of shipping and VAT, particularly those of you in Europe.

Please rest assured: we have heard your concerns and have been quietly acting to resolve them. First and foremost, we are ending our relationship with our current European fulfillment partner, Sendwich. The freight headed to Sendwich will be redirected to Happyshops, which will be fulfilling Europe, the UK, Asia, and the rest of the world.

Happyshops, as many of you know, has been fulfilling Kickstarters for a long time and is extremely skilled at delivering customer packages efficiently and affordably. As it happens, their rates are also incredible. This brings us to the real headline for this update…

New Shipping Rates are Coming for the EU and ROW

We are currently double-checking our math and getting things ready for the shift. If all the numbers hold, we expect this change will reduce prices for everyone in Europe (including the UK), Asia, and the rest of the world by about 40% (on average).

Exact savings will vary, of course, and will depend on your location and what you order. All-In backers and those of you with multiple add-ons should be particularly happy, however. The savings in those cases are looking incredible!

After several intense days of investigation and a wonderful discussion with Happyshops’ fulfillment rep, we’re very confident they can satisfy all our backers in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere.

Here’s what will happen next:

• We expect to receive final confirmation of our shipping rates by the end of the weekend. 
• With those in hand, we will update shipping prices for all affected backers in BackerKit. This should be complete by Monday or Tuesday.
• Once the new rates are in the system, we will post another full update to let you all know, so you can review the rates and finalize your pledges.

We want to avoid any further chaos in this process, and we appreciate your patience while we make sure everything is correct before releasing this new information.

Pledge Manager Will Now Close on 07-AUG

We know a change like this requires some extra time to get things sorted at your end. We also want to have pledges finalized early enough that we can get things moving as soon as the cargo makes landfall in the United States and Europe.

With all this in mind, we will be keeping the pledge manager open until Monday, August 7th (five days longer than originally planned).

Assuming we receive confirmation of our new rates as expected, this should give everyone a full week or more to confirm their pledges.

Don’t Forget to Complete Your Surveys!

One last thing while we have you…

If you are one of the 120 backers who has not yet completed your survey and chosen the items you want, please do so at your earliest convenience!

We cannot stress how important this is. Without a finalized response through the pledge manager, we cannot deliver your items.

Please also confirm your payment details!

Likewise, if your credit card is expired, or for some reason can’t accept the charge shown in your pledge manager, we cannot deliver your items.

We will of course be happy to work with anyone whose survey is incomplete, or whose credit card doesn’t charge correctly, but this will take time.

If everything isn’t in order when the pledge manager closes, your order will not be sent out in the first wave of shipments.

Once again, thank you all for your patience and understanding as we course-correct for this final part of the journey. Just as you made this project possible a year ago, you’ve helped us realize it this week. We appreciate all the input, suggestions, and support we’ve received, and we know the project is vastly improved today because of it.

Thank you, and have a great weekend!

--
Alex, Pat, and Ed
Crafty Games

Shipping Update, with Great News for AUS/NZ Backers!
almost 7 years ago – Wed, Jul 26, 2017 at 12:39:12 AM

Hello everyone,  

We have great news for our backers in Australia and New Zealand! We have just worked out a deal with AetherWorks out of Sydney, Australia to fulfill all our orders in the Antipodes! AetherWorks has an excellent track record of fulfilling Kickstarters down under, and we’re thrilled to be working with them.  

What does this mean to you? In most cases, your shipping cost has been cut by over 50%, and GST is now included! Here are some examples of how things have changed:

Shipping cost for “The Game” tier (Australia):  

• Before AetherWorks: $55 USD, not including GST  
• With AetherWorks: $25 USD, including GST  
• TOTAL SAVINGS: 55%  

Shipping cost for the “All-In” tier (New Zealand):

• Before AetherWorks: $108 USD, not including GST
• With AetherWorks: $47 USD, including GST
• TOTAL SAVINGS: 56%

Shipping cost for the Siege of Luthadel expansion (Australia or New Zealand):

• Before AetherWorks: $37 USD, not including GST
• With AetherWorks: $21 USD, including GST 
• TOTAL SAVINGS: 43% 

We’re extremely happy that we could find a solution that brought shipping costs down to around the same level as those in North America and Europe. Thank you for your patience while we worked out the details! 

I’m from another country. Will you be able to arrange something like this in my region?

Unfortunately, no. Australia and New Zealand are a special case because a) the number of backers in the region generates substantial savings despite our freight expense, and b) we had planned to ship these orders from our U.S. warehouse, rather than another fulfillment hub, making this shift relatively simple for everyone. 

 We’ve looked at other options for the rest of the world and changing course now is either impossible (European orders are already on their way to Germany), or it doesn’t generate a significant savings for you. 

A Note on What “Shipping Costs” Include 

As a reminder, particularly to our European backers, the single-line shipping cost you see in BackerKit is not just postage – it also includes VAT, duties, customs, and order processing. In many cases, it's VAT that composes a majority of your “shipping” costs. BackerKit’s technical limitations do not allow us to itemize this cost, which means you can’t see each segment of the cost on its own. 

We understand that many of you are accustomed to seeing a single, VAT-inclusive price when you pledge for something on Kickstarter, and we’ve attempted to provide that here. We would love for this number to be lower, or that we could just ignore VAT and other fees as many other campaigns do, but our European fulfillment partner *requires* us to charge for them. 

We simply cannot avoid these costs for this campaign, and we also cannot afford to soak these costs for all our European backers. There’s just no way around it, and for that we are very sorry. 

As we’ve said before, if you cannot afford the current charges shown in BackerKit, we recommend removing the Siege of Luthadel expansion. That’s necessarily a separate shipment, and it represents the biggest additional shipping expense for anyone by far.

Thank You 

This has been a long and illuminating experience for us, and we want to thank everyone who’s supported and stuck by us as we navigated the dizzying and ever-changing world of international manufacturing, shipping, and fulfillment. 

Mistborn: House War is our first project of this size and scale, and it’s proven a tremendously complicated logistical undertaking. We’ve learned a LOT over the last year, both from the process and from you, and we’re wiser for it. We have all of you to thank for that process, and for helping us realize this amazing game. 

Once again, thank you all for your patience and understanding. We appreciate it so much! 

All the best, 

Alex, Pat, & Ed Crafty Games

Shipping rates are set. You have two weeks to finalize your pledges.
almost 7 years ago – Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 12:25:52 AM

Greetings backers,

At long last, we've finalized shipping rates! When you next log into your pledge manager, you should see shipping has been added for all items you've requested. 

How Do I Log Into My Pledge Manager?

If you still have the email you were sent by BackerKit, you can click on the survey link to get back to your pledge manager. 

If you don't have the email you were sent, click the following image to visit the survey recovery page. Be sure to use the same email you originally used to answer your survey (it's probably the same one you use on Kickstarter).

 

Once you have access, simply confirm the items you want, plus your shipping address and your payment details. Please make sure you fully complete your survey and receive confirmation from BackerKit that your survey is entirely answered. We're very close to fulfillment now and mistakes at this stage will probably delay delivery of your rewards.

Important: Double-check your payment method! If your credit card has expired since your survey was first completed and it is not updated now, payment will fail when the pledge manager closes. This will also delay delivery of your rewards. 

How Long Before the Pledge Manager Closes?

The pledge manager will close in two weeks, on August 2nd. At that time everyone will be charged for shipping along with any choices made since the conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign. You will see the total owed when you complete your survey.

When Will I Receive My Pledge Rewards?

It depends on where you live. We currently expect the games to leave China later this week. If all goes well, the boats carrying the cargo will make landfall in the U.S. in the first week of August, and in Europe a couple weeks later. Customs is a wildcard, but will hopefully take no more than a week in each case. Fulfillment will begin within 2 weeks of receiving the product in each location. 

We want to stress that this process is almost entirely out of our control. International shipping is not an exact science, and border crossings are slower and more unreliable than ever before. The best we can do is keep you up to date, even when we have little to report, and give you a heads up as we approach the date packages will go in the mail.

Will I Be Charged VAT, Duties, or Other Fees?

In most cases, no. We've done everything in our power to prevent destination charges. There are some exceptions, which we cover below.

Why is Shipping for Siege of Luthadel So High?

The expansion won't be ready until next year, so it's automatically a second shipment. Unfortunately, we can't combine shipping of Siege of Luthadel and other items, so this extra charge is unavoidable.

Can I Get More Information About Fulfillment?

Of course! Please find your shipping destination below for more details. 

United States: Your package will ship directly from the Crafty Games warehouse in Washington State. It will be sent via USPS Flat Rate. If you are an All-In backer or pledged for any Mistborn Adventure Game books, those will be shipped in a second package sent via Media Mail. 

Canada: Your package will be shipped via Canada Post by Starlit Citadel out of Vancouver, B.C. Starlit Citadel will receive their goods shortly after we have them in the Crafty Games warehouse, so Canadian rewards should ship within a week or so after U.S. parcels go out. 

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, and the U.K.: Your package will ship via German Economy Post. Your fees are all-inclusive of VAT, duties, customs, and other surcharges. You should not need to pay further fees at the post office. 

Iceland and Switzerland: Your package will ship via German Economy Post. Due to carrier restrictions, we cannot collect VAT, duties, or customs fees to your country. You will be responsible for any and all applicable fees prior to collecting your shipment.

Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Romania, and Sweden: Your package will ship via UPS Project. Your fees are all-inclusive of VAT, duties, customs, and other surcharges. You should not need to pay further fees at the post office. 

Important: UPS only attempts one delivery in these countries, so please double-check your mailing address and/or make arrangements to be available for the delivery. Otherwise you may need to pay for shipping a second time!

Finland: Your package will ship via UPS Standard Service. Due to carrier restrictions, we cannot collect VAT, duties, or customs fees to your country. You will be responsible for any and all applicable fees prior to collecting your shipment.

Rest of World: If your country isn't listed above, your package will ship directly from the Crafty Games warehouse via USPS First Class International. This was not our original plan but as we priced out remaining countries with our international fulfillment partner we realized that switching to USPS saves each of you between $30 and $50 USD! Please note that USPS does not allow us to collect GST, duties, or customs fees to your country, so you will be responsible for any and all applicable fees prior to collecting your shipment. 

I Still Have a Question!

No problem. Please email us at [email protected] with any questions we haven't already answered.

Thanks again for your support!

--
Alex, Ed, & Pat
Crafty Games

Manufacturing is complete! Check out the Prestige Edition in all its glory!
almost 7 years ago – Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 11:38:38 PM

Greetings backers!

Apologies for the longish period between updates this time. There's good reason for it, and we'll explain deeper into the update. For now, though, here are the headlines!

• Manufacturing is complete! Liya put the finishing touches on the game Saturday, and now the games are being prepped for transport around the globe. With luck, they will be loaded onto a boat by the end of the week.
• We have unboxing and assembly videos for the Prestige Edition! Check 'em out!

Unboxing Mistborn: House War - Prestige Edition

Assembling Mistborn: House War - Prestige Edition

• Shipping rates are very close now! We had expected to announce an exact date that you could expect them in this update, but we still need a little more data from our international freight partner - data we didn't realize was missing from their package until we were pretty deep into running the numbers. The headline here is that you should expect us to add shipping rates and announce the close date for the pledge manager either this Friday or sometime next week.

Now, on to the less exciting behind-the-scenes stuff. For the last few weeks we've been coordinating with Liya, our fulfillment partners, and the folks actually carting the product around the world to prepare as smooth a process as possible once the games finally rolled off the assembly line.

This is actually far more complex than it sounds, as we have backers all over the world and different fulfillment partners for the United States, Canada, and everywhere else. Including add-ons and last-minute backers, the fulfillment process becomes very involved, very quickly.

Our original plan was to have one company handle as much of the process as possible. Our chosen fulfillment partner outside North America is a subsidiary of a very large worldwide shipping network, and at first it looked like having the parent company handle the Point A to Point B transport was the best call. Vertical integration is generally a good thing, and having one partner handle transport *and* fulfillment outside North America seemed best.

Unfortunately, for a variety of boring logistical reasons this didn't turn out to be the case. The parent company isn't used to working with little fish like us, and it eventually became apparent that we needed a group that was more agile to handle our freight to the States.

Fortunately, we already have a rock-solid relationship with American Freight Logistics (AFL), and we simply pivoted to them for everything headed to North America. AFL is now working with Liya to arrange sea transport for most of the cargo.

That was one part of the equation settled. We also had to coordinate final (read: current) shipping & handling costs, which are needed to finalize your shipping rates. We priced everything before launch, of course, but shipping rates change with dizzying frequency and we knew we would have to run through the process again as close to actual fulfillment as possible.

This happened alongside freight prep, and we thought we had all the data we needed until after the original draft of this update was written. It turns out there are several outlying European countries and a number of non-European countries for which we still need our partner's shipping rates. 

It looks like these were simply overlooked as our partner collected the insane amount of data we requested for this process. We've now requested the missing data, and we're hoping to have it in the next day or two. Our international freight partner is based in Germany, and communication with them isn't always reliably fast, so it's hard to pin down exactly how long this process will take. We apologize for that. 

Once we have the data, we'll pull together the remaining shipping rates as soon as we possibly can. If they turn our request around very quickly, we may have the rates up by Friday. If not, then it will have to be Tuesday or later next week. Again, our apologies. We'll pull the rates together as soon as we possibly can.

Why can't we simply release the rates we have and catch the rest later? Sadly, BackerKit only lets us run through this process once. It's the same reason we have to charge shipping for Siege of Luthadel at the same time, even though shipping rates will undoubtedly change in the next year. So it goes...

Once we add all the rates to BackerKit, we'll post another update with common rates by territory, along with a visual walkthrough of how to finalize your pledge and get everything in order at your end. 

We expect to give you 2 weeks to finalize your pledges and confirm your rewards, payment information, and addresses. 

Some reminders...  

• If the credit card you previously entered has expired or otherwise needs to be updated, you should be able to do that once we add shipping rates to the pledge manager. BackerKit's system only allows payment information to be updated when there's a balance, which will be true for everyone once the shipping rates are posted.  
• There's still time to get on the list for a FREE Malatium die! All you have to do is pledge for either version of Mistborn: House War (if you haven't already) and sign up for our newsletter. 

 

• On a related note, BackerKit recently launched its own newsletter service. Signing up to this newsletter will NOT earn you the free Malatium die. We also won't be using the BackerKit service very much, if at all, so if you want the latest news about our releases, including upcoming Mistborn products, and also to get on the list for the free Malatium die, please be sure to click the image above to sign up for our newsletter instead.
• Remember: Mistborn: House War's Retail Edition is discounted $5 from the regular MSRP through the pledge manager. After the pledge manager closes, the base game will be sold at its normal MSRP of $55.

That should do it for this update. The next one should be about shipping rates! It's really great to be getting this close to the finish line, and this close to having the game out there in the wild where you can all enjoy it.

Stay Crafty!

--Alex, Ed, and Pat

Manufacturing Commences This Week
almost 7 years ago – Tue, May 30, 2017 at 12:08:56 AM

Greetings, backers!

The last month has just flown by. There's a TON of new information to pass along, so let's dive right in!

PLEASE COMPLETE YOUR SURVEYS!

We're going to say this a lot in the next couple months, as we close on shipping your rewards. It's so important that we're saying it TWICE in this update. You can find all the vital details deeper in this update (look for the next all-caps header), but since 97% of you have already completed your surveys and finalized your orders we'll start with the information that matters most to the majority of you...

Production Update

We're nearly done with pre-production now and full manufacturing begins this week. You may have seen a picture of the physical proofs on Brandon's social feeds a couple weeks ago. Here's the Facebook post...

 

This is normally the last step before full manufacture. The factory produces these digital prints of the source files so you can double-check every visual element before the assembly line fires up.

We are happy to report that all involved parties - Crafty Games, Dragonsteel, and JABberwocky - signed off on these physical proofs, and that only four very small changes had to be made. One was graphical - the Kandra Spy was printing a little too dark - and the other three were easy text tweaks.

The miniatures have also been finalized. We corrected a small imperfection with the Inquisitor pawn's robe and added a matte finish that will make painting the figures much easier, should you choose to do so.

The only part of the project that isn't fully approved now is the plastic insert tray. The tray can be tweaked well into full manufacture, so this won't hold up the project at all.

We just received pictures of the tray over the weekend... 

When the box is opened, the wrapped card decks will already be in their cavities, as will the minis. The House sheets will rest in the upper left and the punchboards will sit over the left side. The board, rulebook, and quickstart sheet will rest on top of everything.

The tray is designed with plenty of room for fully sleeved card decks, plus bagged tokens and the extra minis included with the Prestige Edition.

We aren't entirely happy with the low dividing walls between the three card deck cavities in the upper right. Those will probably rise a bit in the final tray. If any of you see anything else we can improve, please feel free to comment. We'd love to hear what you think.

One unexpected issue we discovered in pre-production concerns the linen finish on the cards. As it turns out, the process Liya uses to add linen finish weakens the cards a bit. This was the cause of the problem we reported in our last update.

We tested many combinations of card stock, card cores, and finishes, and found that linen finish always resulted in more bendy cards than we wanted, so we ultimately decided to eliminate the linen finish from the cards and House sheets. We did NOT eliminate the linen finish from any of the other components. The game box, board, and tokens all still have linen finish because their stock is thick enough not to be impacted by the process.

Production Schedule

Assuming everything goes according to plan, games will come off the assembly line the week of 03-Jul to 07-Jul. From there our freight partners take over, delivering the games to warehouses all over the world for delivery to you.

This process takes weeks as games travel by boat or rail to North America, Europe, and other parts of Asia. The good news is that we have extremely experienced freight and fulfillment partners with bonded warehouses all over the world. We should be able to direct product to hubs in many locations and ship from there, reducing both shipping cost and shipping time in the process.

There are several wild cards here we can't predict. We don't have a full container of product, so we're potentially at the mercy of the Chinese port authority as they schedule space on boats. Customs and border crossings are extraordinarily unpredictable as well. Changes in leadership all over the world have resulted in fluctuating and uncertain procedures for getting commercial product from one country to another, and there's really no way to know whether this will cause any delays.

Our hope is still that we'll sail through customs everywhere so we can start shipping your rewards in late July and early August. As always, we will keep you informed throughout the process.  

Shipping Costs & Pledge Manager Closing

Now that we have a firm window for the games coming off the assembly line, we can reliably price fulfillment and get you accurate shipping costs. We're discussing this with our fulfillment partners now and expect to have news in the next couple weeks. As soon as we have firm numbers, we'll post those in a separate update.

The pledge manager will close shortly after that - probably toward the end of June. At this time everyone who's completed their survey will be charged for shipping and we'll be off to the races. This brings us to our usual reminder, which you'll hear a lot in the next month...  

PLEASE COMPLETE YOUR SURVEYS!

We are back to 97% complete, which is great. It means many of you completed your surveys since the last time we posted. We really do need the rest of you to do so as soon as possible. Without a completed BackerKit survey we cannot calculate your shipping costs or ship your rewards!

• If you haven't completed your survey, please check your email and/or spam folders for email from BackerKit. The first was sent back in September and if you haven't finalized your order you should have received regular requests for you to do so since then. These emails contain links to your survey, which let you allocate the funds you pledged during the Kickstarter campaign, and also secure add any additional items you want. If you are missing these emails or want to double-check your survey answers, you can do so HERE using your Kickstarter email.
• If you missed the Kickstarter campaign and still want to pledge, you can do so HERE. Nearly all the Kickstarter options are still available, and you can still pledge for the game at $5.00 less than the retail MSRP.
• If you own a retail store and want to pledge for the game with a wholesale discount, please contact [email protected] so we can get you sorted.
• If your address has changed since you completed your survey, please log into BackerKit HERE using your Kickstarter email and update your mailing address. You should also do this if you expect to move between now and August, as soon as you have your new address ready.

Remember that you can order a lot more than just the base Mistborn: House War game. You can reserve a copy of the first expansion, Siege of Luthadel, or a set of custom PennyGems you can use in place of the game tokens. You can order extra copies of the miniatures, card sleeves, promo cards, and foils that were unlocked in the Kickstarter campaign, or upgrade to a Prestige Edition that contains everything we unlocked plus an extra set of minis.

For any and all of these things, we need you to complete your BackerKit survey. It's vital for a smooth fulfillment period. Thank you to everyone who's already done so, and to all of you who will do so soon. We greatly appreciate it! 

Books Update

So many of you went all in (thank you!) that we had to reprint The Mistborn Adventure Game and Terris: Wrought of Copper. Both those reprints are done and ready to be shipped.

Alloy of Law: Masks of the Past has not had quite as smooth a production run. Writing and editing have been done for a while now but we ran into significant trouble with the layout. We've brought in our most senior graphic designer to solve the book's current issues, and that process is now running smoothly. We expect a complete or near-complete book for review by 05-Jun.

Manufacture for books is much, much faster than for board and card games and we have a long-standing relationship with our printer, which is located in the U.S. They're ready to go as soon as we deliver the final files, and we expect to have the printed copies of Masks in our warehouse well before the board game arrives.

Siege of Luthadel Schedule

We mentioned in the Comments section that the schedule for the first Mistborn: House War expansion has been extended into 2018. This has nothing to do with the main game's production delay, but rather came out of discussions with designer Kevin Wilson. He wants more time to develop the strongest product possible and we agree with him. As a happy by-product of this, we should be able to fold in post-release feedback on the base game from thousands of gamers all over the world, which can only help strengthen the expansion.

Call for Helpers: Translators & Replacement Part Assistants

Finally, we could use some assistance with a couple related projects. If you can help with either of these, please email us at [email protected].

• We're starting to explore options for translated versions of Mistborn: House War. We're not certain exactly what shape this effort will take. It's still early days and we're just looking at possibilities. We have some translators already lined up but extra eyes always help. If you're fully fluent in English and at least one other language, let us know and we'll add you to the list of folks we may call upon in this effort.
• We're also considering the best way to send replacement parts to folks who receive games that are missing a piece or two. This is rare but it does happen and we want to be prepared for it. If you live anywhere away from the Pacific coast of the United States and can store replacement parts to ship to customers in your region, please drop us a line. We cover associated costs, of course. This is about having ready collections of parts in as many places as we can. 

That's it for Now!

Whew! Another very long update, but that's to be expected at this stage of the process. From here on in, updates will likely focus more on reminders to COMPLETE YOUR SURVEYS, plus fulfillment plans, shipping costs, and other final preparations. You probably won't see as many super long updates, either. Probably. 

Until next time, cheers from the Crafty Games home office!  

Alex, Ed, & Pat