Project Update: Production Update
Thank you for your patience. I seem to have bad luck when it comes to manufacturers becuase its always just another thing....
Anyways as you know, we've moved to a new manufacturer (the ones doing our keychain plushes), in an effort to save costs (even before tariffs but even more importantly so now).
That was going alright, and I thought things were shaping up to the point where payment for production was submitted and was switching teams to coordinating with production staff. Turns out, person I was coordinating with, is no longer with them, and there were a few things that we've gone back and forth on emails that just never made it to the production staff — like confusion on the dragon turtles green, and the need to produce purple owlbears -_-.
Ideally, I was hoping to have all this product fulfilled and by or before GenCon, but it's likely it'll only begin its freight journey in July/August.
Im currently working the missing/issue items with my new rep, esp since ive already put down payment for production, and manufacturing has begun on our other items (which are all shipping together).
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New Items in Backerkit,
I've added everything that is being produced in this project's backerkit (which was a little bit of a pain, since i changed my pin numbering since, and so i had to check every single item to make sure they were updated and correct and didnt accidentally delete anything).
But now we have the Keychain Plushes, new Dragon Turtle and Phoenix plushes, and all of the pins that were shown off.
(for those who just backed for a non-purple owlbear and/or just pins, after we collect shipping we'll start fulfilling these ASAP, since the product is on-hand and you're not waiting for anything.
Shipping added
When we first invited you to backerkit, we turned off shipping, as at the time we had no idea what costs might have evolved into at the time. It has now since been added.
SURVEY /ADDON LOCK will happen June 30th
And CARDS WILL BE CHARGED JULY 12th!
You can get to your survey/addons using this link
https://owlbear-accessories.backerkit.com/backer/survey
If you have any questions id be happy to answer, and also I apologize for not getting to your comments. I wish backerkit would send me an email right as they happen so I can see them more visibly, but for some reason (as compared to Kickstarter) they are just harder to find/have visibility on and i apologize for now responding to any remarks as soon as possible.
I really did not expect this project to run as long as it currently has, but at least the finish line is in sight (assuming the Trump administration doesn't do anything else stupid).
Thanks for bearing with me,
Andreas
Also, since I have you, we have begun work on the 2026 calendar (illustrated by Koit Paales, who did soo many of our pin artwork), which will be themed on video game nostalgia (each year we feature a new artist and explore a fun theme. We will probably be launching this campaign in August, so production can begin in October and allow early fulfillment in November.
You can follow the campaign here!
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Can you please provide an update. Thanks,
Project Update: Production Update
Sorry for the delay, its been quite the crazy month, especially with the whole tariff situation.
Accessories Status
I've recieved updated quotes from our new manufacturer (which provided costs at 3-4x below our prior manufacturer, for instance old manufacturer estimated ~$10/set, while our new one ~$3/set.), Which makes a ton of difference when we're ordering for inventory and trying to maintain sustainability.
Ive also gone ahead and given the green light to start production.
Purple Owlbear
As they're new, they are also included with the accessory production order. In addition, we are getting additional colors of the other types as well.
Pins
Using the counts from the your surveys, we found we needed to order quite a few more pins. This order includes some new designs that we have.
They are already en-route to the US (and have fortunately avoided tariffs).
Next Steps
I am hoping to get a timeline of the production now that things are approved and starting to move with this new manufacturer. (i expect things will arrive in about August/September 2025)
That leaves the whole tariff situation. As of this point, things are crazy and we're monitoring to see how and where things are going...
As for the pledge manager, what I will be doing in the coming weeks, is adding our newly produced items to the pledge manager, so that you can get everything in one package. (and will update you on that as well).
I dont expect to be charging for shipping and locking down addons until June (I will post more updates as we go).
Thanks for your patience, I didn't expect to be changing manufacturer as part of this project, but as much disruption it as caused, its for the better for our long term sustainability.
All the best,
Andreas
This user contributed to this community!
When can we expect shipments on the item we paid for almost a year ago before the tariff situation ?
This user contributed to this community!
Can we have an update? It's been almost a year that we've been getting little to no information and you went from we finally have everything sorted out and are placing the order to we're shopping around and want to order owlbears that don't seem as good as our usual ones, and now it's been 2 months with nothing. I hope you are well, and just busy. The even more frustrating part is that you're out there preparing three other campaigns and we're seeing people receiving their owlbears from retailers and we don't even have an update on when you're going to start making ours. I personally am disappointed because my owlbear surprise was ruined- the person I ordered this for found them somewhere else and got one already. You don't seem to be following a typical process or giving clear/specific enough updates, which is part of why many of us are frustrated. This is a product you already manufacture, and you made $117k more than your goal of $5k. We didn't expect it to take 9+ months to place the order with the factory, and we thought your timeline estimate was from when the campaign funded through it arriving in local warehouses which is why so many people thought they'd have it for Christmas. We loooove how much attention you've given to the quality of the accessories- those last prototypes were incredible, but I think a bunch of us also expected you would produce & ship this in waves like other kickstarters in similar scenarios. The updates make it seem like just those last stretch goals are what made this take so long. We would have been happy to get our owlbears and then get those accessories later when they were ready. The honesty in your last update is appreciated, and it explains a lot, but it also worries me. I'm sorry to hear about your theft- that is awful and probably a crippling amount of money to lose. A 14% margin is pretty average, and the cost difference you mentioned is significant so it is concerning that it took almost a year for you to decide to reduce your cost. It's concerning that it's worth holding everything up all this time to produce & ship everything together for the cost savings, and now to go even further and start over. If this has been a showstopping problem, I am worried what are you going to do about the tariffs? That is going to be much worse for your margin than if you had just gone ahead with the prices you had. Sometimes you have to just accept different price points and price the next batch higher. You could have just charged us like $3 more on shipping, or offered some fun digital add-on that most of us would have paid a couple dollars for. Honestly you could probably have even just plain told us you need to charge a couple dollars more and most of us would have been fine with that too. The radio silence, especially after telling us you are back to square 1, and whilst prepping other campaigns is what is frustrating. We backed you because we believe in you and your ability to deliver this super fun thing and you're treating us like your lowest priority. If you communicate with us more, maybe we can help, and maybe we will back your next projects too.