Books are Printed
over 1 year ago
– Sun, Oct 02, 2022 at 03:36:42 AM
The books are finished, and are on their way to the warehouse. Shipping them out to backers won't start immediately, because first we have to process the addresses, and the books going to Europe have to be sent from this warehouse to the one in the UK. However, it's all moving forward, and we can't wait to get the books into your hands as soon as possible!
Matt
Weekend Update 9-24
over 1 year ago
– Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 06:09:46 AM
There are a couple of minor updates. First, which we've already mentioned (but it was in the middle of all the shipping-related updates), the books are currently at the bindery, but won't be finished for another week or so. Second, we have discovered that many of the people who pre-ordered after the Kickstarter weren't sent the email by BackerKit with their shipping costs. Therefore, BackerKit is going to email the notification to those backers on Monday, and we will delay charging any cards until Wednesday.
For those who have not seen one of these notification emails: they are unclear because they itemize all the costs except for the actual, underlying shipping amount, which still says "Shipping will be added and charged later." We can't change this format; it's their legal disclosure. However, this IS the notification of the shipping charges. Nothing will be added later (although it will be charged later, on Wednesday). The amount it says your card will be charged is a correct number. The add-on (either $4.50 or $6, depending on which country you're in) is supposed to be there, and is not the entire shipping amount. In the USA, if you ordered one book, the underlying shipping "missing" from the email is $6.17.
Hopefully this helps clarify the emails when they start showing up for the people who haven't gotten them yet.
Matt
Various Corrections to Shipping and VAT
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Sep 22, 2022 at 05:39:05 PM
Apologies for the frequent updates at this phase; there will probably be a couple more before the end of the week as we clean up various mistakes and omissions in the shipping data. Everything that follows in this update is about shipping and VAT.
One thing to be aware of is that in the email BackerKit sent, the shipping add-on, VAT, and VAT shipping are all itemized, but the actual shipping cost isn't shown as an item. The "your card will be charged" amount is correct, and the un-itemized difference is the actual shipping charge.
We have fixed the over-charge to USA shipping, which was $3.50 too high in all weight categories. We have also accounted for lower VAT rates for books in the following countries: Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Hungary, Germany, and Finland. In the UK, we are still looking into whether we will be charged VAT on the shipping (our reps are at Essen, which is the reason for the delay). We are also still checking on the validity of the actual shipping rates to Norway and Switzerland.
The changes to rates and VAT are probably already reflected in your BackerKit accounts in real-time, but we have an email out to our BackerKit rep to confirm that there's not something requiring a BackerKit rep to approve it or authorize it.
Matt
USA Media Mail was overcharged, which I believe we can fix tomorrow
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Sep 19, 2022 at 11:58:42 PM
Thank you to those of you who pointed out that the media mail rate didn't match up with the book's weight. It turns out it wasn't that the warehouse quoted based on the wrong weight categories, but that I effectively double-charged the fulfillment charge. When I got the quote from the warehouse, it included a $3.50 warehouse charge in what I thought was the media mail rate exclusive of the warehouse charge (that charge is now $4.50 because we elected to get additional packing materials). Result: the shipping charge you're seeing on BackerKit is $3.50 too high. So the bottom line is that I will talk to BackerKit tomorrow, and I think it is no difficulty to simply go in and change the shipping charges to what they should be. Cards aren't charged until next Monday, so the change should be reflected when the cards are charged. Presumably, anyway -- I will find out for certain when I talk to BackerKit.
Matt
PS: no news yet on checking the Norway and Switzerland shipping rates.
Quick Update on Shipping Prices and Printing
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Sep 19, 2022 at 10:32:34 PM
The BackerKit emails have gone out to everyone, and we have isolated a couple of questions.
First: we are checking the media mail rates quoted by the warehouse. If the rates we were given are incorrect (it appears that the rates may have been too high by one rate category across the board) I think we can change the rate automatically before the cards are actually charged. But I need to make sure this is actually the case.
Second: we are checking the rates for Norway (and also Switzerland), where the rates we were given seem strange (getting cheaper as the package gets heavier).
It may be that the rates we got (these are two different warehouses) are correct, but I've been asked questions I can't answer, so I am checking.
Third: The printing is not finished yet (today was the estimated completion date) - the books are still expected to take another 2 weeks. They are in the bindery right now.
I will keep people updated when I hear back from the 2 warehouses. The question about Norway and Switzerland may take a couple of days, since our regular rep is at Essen.
Matt
