Hi everyone! Just a small update- i have tentatively and slowly resumed shipping to the US, and the final 20 pledges will be shipped this week and next week.
I also just wanted to clarify a few things for people who arent aware of the situation surrounding the tariffs!
A couple people have either commented or messaged me saying royal mail restarted shipping on the 29th of august, so why didnt i just keep shipping then?
- Firstly, this does not accurately reflect reality- Royal mail, the shipping service i use, restarted *some* shipping services on the 29th. My most used shipping format is still not available as of today. - Royal mail also said that they would have a calculator tool for senders to calculate the tax due to pay during the creation of the shipping labels, since this is info they have to have- that is also still not available with business accounts and has to be done manually. - My account manager with royal mail advised me to wait a couple weeks because they are seeing on their end a lot of parcels being returned or destroyed during the transition period, so thats what i did. - As a reminder, i am paying for the tariffs myself for this project, since i dont want to charge you more than the previously agreed upon shipping costs. - Despite attempting to make the calculations myself to accurately pay for the tariffs, i have still been hit with a few hundred pounds worth of surcharges for parcels sent the week before the tariffs were supposed to be in effect and for the few parcels i have sent in the past week as a test (seemingly with the correct tariff). This has been a really big financial hit, and i'm trying to navigate it. - i cant use other shipping services because it would be more expensive for customers, as most dont have systems in place to deal with the new tariffs and would be likely to overcharge both sender and receiver. I just cant afford to pay the inflated shipping prices and gamble with you getting hit with customs charges on your end. - The surveys were turned off so backers cant change their addresses while shipping is ongoing. It's just the only way to stop that from happening. Backers who didnt fill out their surveys were sent 15+ reminders over the past few months to fill out their surveys, both via email and through these updates.
As you can imagine, this has been a really stressful time and i'm trying my best to navigate the changes while doing whats best for both you and my business, the anxiety has been through the roof. This has been my only collection in 6 years to not be fulfilled ahead of schedule, and my brain hates that as much as you do =P I really appreciate everyone's patience so far, you're the best!
While Backerkit doesn't have a messaging system, and i dont see most comments here, please message me on instagram @geek_and_artsy_bookish if you absolutely need it.
On more positive news, i will be having a second roped up collection! I've started sketching them and it feels like it will be turning into a fairy themed set...sometimes some designs just push you in certain directions and these are feeling ethereal, colorful and winged =D It will be a very different feeling collection, but i'm hoping you love it!
Hoping this is the last update, Saphira, Geek and Artsy
I have a bit of mixed news, so lets start with the positive- most pledges have been shipped! The only pledges left to ship are the ones including a Shibari Frame, which is about 20 pledges.
Now, for US customers-- as you may know, Trump recently signed an executive order removing the de minimis import limit for all countries. This means customers will now be responsible for tariffs when the items reach the US, effective from the 29th. Unfortunately, and because there are no systems in place to handle this ( the US is demanding that customs tariffs be pre paid by the seller based on arbitrary criteria, which is just not how customs work), most countries in Europe (including the UK) have abruptly suspended shipping to the US altogether. Royal Mail in particular quietly slipped into their guidelines (they havent even warned account holders) that they will suspend shipping from tuesday- and since this was a bank holiday weekend, that means i wont be able to ship any last packages today.
What does this mean? To most of you, this means your packages will arrive as normal if you havent received them yet. I worked very hard making sure i shipped as many orders as possible before the deadline and i apologize if the packaging isnt as nice as it usually is- it was a crunch and we had to do it as fast as possible. For the 20 US backers who pledged for shibari frames, your pledges will be shipped as soon as i can make sure they will arrive safely. This will likely be sometime next month, but i cant tell you exactly when. Royal mail expects to be able to resume shipping next week, but they havent even been open about what the extra costs will be for sellers so i am not overly optimistic about their predictions.
Why havent i marked packages as shipped as i go? Im not in the US, and backerkit doesnt have a working integration with the shipping services i use- this means i would have had to do it manually, and that takes a lot of time. Since i was working as fast as i could, i prioritized shipping orders.
I have also received a couple messages from backers whose pledges had incorrect items- the same applies to you! I'm so sorry i havent been able to reply to everyone, but as a mostly one-person micro business who enlisted her partner and the cats for frantic packaging, i just can't do everything at once <3
Good morning everyone! All orders of just pins and keychains have been sent, and i am finishing work on the rope web display add-ons and bunny bracelets- due to a change in my supplier, these may have to be slightly different from the ones pictured, but im doing my best to keep them as similar as possible! These should be done this week, and shipping will be finished next week!
Also a reminder that if you didnt fill out your survey or your payment never came through, you have until the end of the week to do this (you should have received several emails in the p[ast few months with links to do this), or your original pledge will be considered a donation.
Have a great week, Saphira
Edit to add: shipping notifications aren’t sent automatically! As I’m not in the US, BackerKit doesn’t have the ability to integrate with my shipping service. This means I can’t send automatic shipping notifications individually, and I can’t do it manually for 200+ pledges, I’d never get any work done. As soon as all pledges are sent, I will bulk mark everything as completed.
Good morning everyone! Pins have arrived, and i have been hard at work grading and sorting them! This is your final warning to fill out those surveys with your address! If i dont receive your address i cant ship your pledges, and your pledge will be forfeit if you dont complete the survey by the end of the week. Please leave a comment if you can't find your survey, and i will send you a link directly!
That said, here are some photos of the finished pins! I'm so glad i worked with my manufacturer to make the ropes UV printed rather than screenprinted, they look so detailed and even have a bit of volume! The colour also came out vibrant and perfect, and i love them!
