Hi guys! Thank you so much for supporting this project ^-^ the campaign has successfully ended.
Pledge Payment Processing Backerkit has already processed your pledges! There were 24 failed charges in total. If your pledge was among them, please fix it as soon as possible 💛 you can also fix it later during the survey phase.
Surveys In the survey you can tell me which pins you want, which add-ons you want (if you pre-selected them in your pledge), your address and if you want to add any extra add-ons or extra pins :) I'll soon start sending out the survey smoke test. Some of you will receive the survey a little earlier (in the next few days) to test it and check for any bugs or errors. Once this testing phase is complete, you will all receive your surveys to fill out. ^-^
Shipping Shipping costs will be charged once the pins are on their way to me. This means that I can account for any fluctuations in shipping prices and that you won't need to pay everything up front during the first survey phase. I didn't pledge for the campaign, is there a way for me to still grab the pins? Yes, there is! I have already set up a pre-order shop – you can access it here! The pre-order shop will stay open until the survey deadline. Pins and other add-ons purchased from the pre-order store will be sent out with all the other backers rewards, around July.
Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments!
1. THANK YOU! I wanted to wait a bit to express my gratitude while the majority of the announcements came out after the event stopped. The flood of emails can be a bit overwhelming even for me, but I love that each campaign that I supported as well had a positive outcome and I can't wait to see their pins! Thank you so much everyone for an amazing campaign! I really, really did not expect to unlock every style, but I can't wait to see each design in pin form.
2. COLLECTING MONEY - MISSING FUNDS Most backers are pretty familiar with the fund collecting process, but just in case please keep an eye on your emails. If your initial funds could not be collected, Backerkit will automatically reach out this week for about 7 days after the campaigns end.
It may be an issue with your payment type, or it may be an issue with your bank. If you backed a lot of campaigns, especially during an event where they all stop at the same time, that sometimes triggers their fraud response protocols. You'll have to call and verify that we're not being shady lol. As of right now, 56 backers will need to amend their payments or we'll lose $2,891 that was meant to go towards the pins, stickers, and supplies we'll need to order.
3. SOMEONE GOT A BANNING WARNING 👀 Please remember that Backerkit does not replace any funds lost that were promised during the LIVE campaign. If you are pledging for a certain amount, and you have no intention of actually backing, you're hurting the campaigns.
Just an FYI, there was a person who apparently did this numerous times, and not just during this Pintopia... I will not mention their name, but there were enough creators effected by them to the point that they were manually taken off of THIS campaign as a backer, and any other campaigns they "backed" within the first couple weeks. On Feb. 2nd, we lost a pledge for $256, and I had no clue that all of this was happening behind the scenes until an email from Trust & Safety came through.
They have been warned of the next steps that would follow if they're ever caught doing this again, and each of the creators has been given the choice of whether or not we'd like to permanently ban them from any future campaigns we might run. This means that it's finally gotten to a serious level. I didn't think there was anything to do about this, but apparently, it's gotten to a level where creators are comparing experiences and bringing it up to Backerkit. So please, if you're going through something, it's OK, we'd much rather you back out while the campaign is LIVE. It's an honest and super responsible response. We understand that what we make here is not a necessity to everyone's daily lives, so if you need to do what you need to do, please make sure that pledges aren't affecting you financially before making a promise to commit to them. It's when you stick around and help create a shortfall or deficit that you have no intention of fixing that causes the issues. We just wanna make cool things here with as little drama as possible. 😭
I hope this update finds you well and that your inboxes have recovered from Pintopia! XD
I want to thank all of your for your support of this project. It means the world to me to be able to create art, my art, and have it so well received. <3 This update will outline next steps and a possible - but very loose - timeline for production and fulfillment. I'm also highlighting my next project that will be launching soon!
Project End
Stretch Goals: Funding ended over 13k! This means that the beaver pin will have pearlescent enamel added to his fur. These stretch goal upgrades will be the default in pins for retail, but backers will have the option to include these upgrades or not.
Failed pledges: Almost 1k of funds were unsuccessfully charged. If this includes your payment, please fix that as soon as you're able. If you cannot fix it now, please know there will be another opportunity to fix your payment in the pledge manager. (I'm not too worried about it. Banks hate events like Pintopia with all those charges coming out. Just fix things when you can. <3) Pledge Manager: If you're a returning backer, you know I like to take two weeks off after a crowdfunder. These campaigns are a lot of work! (It also takes a little time for things to port from the campaign to the pledge manager.) So we're going to vibe for two weeks while I recover from this sprint, and you should anticipate seeing your pledge manager in March.
Timeline
As I said, you should see your pledge manager go live in March. There's no rush with this since Chinese factories are closed for the Lunar New year anyway. Haha.
Once the pledge manager is live, it will be open for 30 days or until 80% completion - whichever is sooner. Once I have a solid accounting of how many pins I need, I'll place the order with my manu. Designs are complete and ready to go - the images on the campaign page are mock ups from my manu, so I just need funds in hand in order to pull the trigger on orders.
Production and shipping to me is usually another 30 days.
If you're following a long, I should have pins in-hand this May. Then we'll take some time to grade and pack and ship all the pins. I'm budgeting two months to have this done. It normally doesn't take that long, but this timeline puts us into Pride season, and we do a lot of in-person events for Pride. I ask for your patience as we take a little longer just to be kind to ourselves.
Current estimated fulfillment date ~July 2026
What's Next
As a fulltime artist, my work is never done, and there is always another project on the horizon. XD
Next month I'm launching Not a Phase | Lunar Pride Pins These pins are sold in sets and are completely customizable. They're available in solid colors, or the design can hold up to two pride flags distributed throughout the phases of the moon. I'm going to have an extremely limited supply available after the campaign, so if you're looking for some subtle pride options (or just really nifty moon pins), make sure you follow the prelaunch page below.
What comes next is a (hopefully very) short wait. I'm going to finish up the last couple of designs, and then the surveys will go out. We're moving next week so there'll be a small delay until the beginning of March.
At the survey stage there will be an add-on store. The add-on store will have some of our old campaign pins, and other products with the octopus designs like stationery items, notebooks etc. You won't be charged at this point, your order won't lock in until shipping starts so you can add/change your order around until then.
All the artwork will be finalised before surveys go out, so keep an eye out for updates with previews in them :).
Thank you all so much for such a great campaign! I honestly wasn’t sure if ya’ll would like this campaign given it was a newer product line for pins. I’m really glad my quacken got so much love!
Next Steps:
Backerkit will start working on processing all payments. In the next few days, you will be receiving an email whether your payment has processed or errored.
If you have errored payments, please get these corrected asap so the next steps can move along smoothly.
Surveys:
Surveys will be sent out in approximately 2 weeks. During that time, you will be able to confirm your pledge, add on any items you may have missed during the campaigns, and set up payment for shipping.
Onto the fun part…
I decided to have an unlockable plush variant for the Quacken!
During the survey, you will have the option to add him to your orders. Just like during the campaign, if we don’t fund, then you won’t be charged for him!
Pre-Order Store:
For those of you who missed out during the campaign, the pre-order store is now OPEN. You will be able to purchase items from the store and receive them at the same time as backers. The only items I haven’t added in yet were the tote bag and sticker book. I am waiting for them to import on the back end so I can get them added since they were added/edited mid-campaign. They should be up within a couple days though.
**PLEASE NOTE: If you have backed this project, please wait until you receive your survey to add on items. If you utilize the preorder store, you will be charged for shipping twice. The same items will be available during the survey.**
Again, thank you all for such a great campaign! I hope you all have a great weekend!
-Kassie
PS: The rubber quackens came in yesterday. I have no idea what I’m going to do with 2,000 of these things. Enjoy the photoshoot. 😂
Just popping in to let everyone know that we'll be winding down soon. So make any adjustments you need to. 💜 This way, I'll know what's remaining unlocked at the end. But don't worry...we'll have a second chance to unlock anything that wasn't available during the survey.
Also apologies for being away so long... my cat started having issues that progressively got worse a few days after the launch, and after multiple vet visits, x-rays, an enema, medications, and administering fluids intravenously every 2-3 days, I had to make the decision to let her go last Thursday, so I've been pretty out of it. I had her since she was 6 weeks old, and we were together for 19 years...so I've lost most of the excitement for anything going on around me for a bit, but I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, so that we can stay on track with the schedule. 😌
