☆ May Update ☆ IMPORTANT EU AND PRODUCTION UPDATES
Parts of this update are copy/pasted across different campaigns.
The overview currently looks like this; Midnight Ocean ~ In production/shipping phase one Mythical Garden ~ Shipping (temporarily on pause) Curiosity Shop ~ In production Pods and Pots ~ In production Literary Critters ~ Survey coming soon
Ooh boy this is not a fun update, sorry. Make sure you read to the end if you're backing from the EU.
First of all a general update. Its a good news bad news situation.
Good news, some of the pins are here and they look awesome; I'll get more pictures soon I just have no time at the moment.
Bad news, some of the pins are missing and we might have fallen out with the manufacturer about it.
We used two different manufacturers due to some of the special effects we ordered. One came through with basically all of our freebie and restock pins, and they look fab. The others never appeared though. We had some disagreements about it and then finally figured out DHL has been bouncing our packages.
We were sanctioned by DHL and we didn't even know it.
I can't get anywhere trying to talk to DHL, they are sending me round and round on a BS AI customer service loop. The manufacturers aren't quite understanding the issue, and no one else had ever even heard of it. We are not getting packages from them at all right now, and several things have been lost (not just pin stuff).
Right now we're looking at re ordering through our other manufacturer and just insisting they don't use DHL. But that is a lot of pins, and a lot of money, so I'm going to have to stagger it out a bit. I just can't do it all at once for a second time. Adding them to our next big campaign purchase will net us a better bulk discount so I'll see how much we can manage on the upcoming Critter campaign order.
Everything else is here though. And we might get a refund? Or a remake? We're still investigating the options. Hopefully next month I will have better news and a more solid idea of what's going on.
EU Backers
This one's the kicker, and there's just nothing I can do about it.
As of July 1st, a new rule went into a place that introduced a flat handling fee of £3 per item type included in any package heading into the EU. This is standard across all the EU countries as far as we can tell. We are not sure if that includes free items at the moment, we're still trying to figure out the details. So every EU order will now owe an extra charge of £3 per item type included.
On top of that, some EU countries are now requiring us to pay customs/import fees up front (so at point of sale). We no longer have the option of shipping 'recipient pays fees'. We aren't entirely sure which countries yet; we're still investigating. So from now on shipping is going to have to include the appropriate customs fees for EU countries upfront.
We're currently working with Backerkit to figure out to integrate these fees into shipping costs, but please be warned that your shipping totals will increase before we do charge cards. Once its been implemented (it hasn't yet) you should be able to see them on your survey. You can still go and edit your add-on choices right up until you've been charged.
That's it for now. We hope to have the EU charges sorted soon, and something better to show you before too long!
Well I've been sent an update with some of the pins so hopefully it won't be too long now. Unfortunately I don't have much else by way of news, everything else is here waiting to go.
Production continues, but a few things are back, take a look;
The fabric isn't as light as this looks I swear. Its so, so hard to get pictures of these. I love them, no notes. I had to order a second batch already.
They didn't die cut our XL holo sticker backing sheets this time, but the selective holo effect came out great.
Some test keychains we did for their special effects. We're a firm yes on the foiling, no on the pearl and the dangles are cute but chunky.
That's it for now. We're chasing up the manufacturer about the pins at the moment, but I'll keep you informed.
This update is partially copy pasted across multiple projects so sorry if you see it more than once!
The overview is looking like this; Bunnies and Branchs ~ Nearly complete! Midnight Ocean ~ In production Mythical Garden ~ Shipping early stages Curiosity Shop ~ In production Christmas Market ~ Shipping well underway
Nothing new to report. Production is underway. There were a lot of designs and some of the product proofs were quite complicated. We're expecting those to arrive sometime soon, but there's still going to be a while to wait on the pins.
This update is copy pasted across multiple projects so sorry if you see it more than once!
The overview is looking like this; Bunnies and Branchs ~ Nearly complete! Midnight Ocean ~ In production Mythical Garden ~ Shipping early stages Curiosity Shop ~ In production Christmas Market ~ Shipping well underway
We are currently in the middle of moving houses, there probably won't be another update this month but work is continuing in the background. There were a lot of designs and extras for this campaign so production is going to take a little while, but hopefully we'll have some previews soon.
I wanted to get the surveys out before we took a short break for Christmas. Smoke tests are out now and the rest will be released tomorrow :).
If you could complete it at your earliest convenience, it helps me figure out how many of which pins to order. There are 74 options for stickers and keychains this time! I only order in the ones that people want. You'll be able to edit your order right up until addresses lock so you can still change your mind later on.
Everything should have its proper picture so please let me know right away if I made an error (🪶).
There's a section for notes and preferences. If you want to make any small requests about mystery items or anything, you can throw them in here. We try to honour anything that's not too specific.
We've figured out by now with the BnB campaign that our shipping can be very slow. I've added a question now where you can indicate if you're in a rush to receive your order, if you can wait but don't want to, and if you're happy to go last. Any option is fine, it just helps us to sort through, when there are 300 orders and some people have a strong preference, its hard to know where to start. There were quite a few pin options, and our manufacturer will close for a bit for the holidays, so we aren't expecting to ship out before mid 2026.
We always get requests to combine postage for campaigns and I'm really sorry, but we just can't at the moment. We did it for our first BK campaign because it was very small, and it was a bit of a nightmare. Behind the scenes there are two of us packing orders, but we have to do it in a specific way due to my disability, and its so easy to get them muddled up. We're hoping to move soon, and once we have a proper dedicated space to lay things out it will hopefully be something we can reconsider, since there are times when things do line up.
Otherwise I think that's it :). I'll be back with an update once the pins are on order, unless I've messed up somewhere. Happy holidays, everyone ~
Parts of this update are copy/pasted across different campaigns.
The overview currently looks like this; Midnight Ocean ~ In production/shipping phase one Mythical Garden ~ Shipping (temporarily on pause) Curiosity Shop ~ In production Pods and Pots ~ In production Literary Critters ~ Survey coming soon
Ooh boy this is not a fun update, sorry. Make sure you read to the end if you're backing from the EU.
First of all a general update. Its a good news bad news situation.
Good news, some of the pins are here and they look awesome; I'll get more pictures soon I just have no time at the moment.
Bad news, some of the pins are missing and we might have fallen out with the manufacturer about it.
We used two different manufacturers due to some of the special effects we ordered. One came through with basically all of our freebie and restock pins, and they look fab. The others never appeared though. We had some disagreements about it and then finally figured out DHL has been bouncing our packages.
We were sanctioned by DHL and we didn't even know it.
I can't get anywhere trying to talk to DHL, they are sending me round and round on a BS AI customer service loop. The manufacturers aren't quite understanding the issue, and no one else had ever even heard of it. We are not getting packages from them at all right now, and several things have been lost (not just pin stuff).
Right now we're looking at re ordering through our other manufacturer and just insisting they don't use DHL. But that is a lot of pins, and a lot of money, so I'm going to have to stagger it out a bit. I just can't do it all at once for a second time. Adding them to our next big campaign purchase will net us a better bulk discount so I'll see how much we can manage on the upcoming Critter campaign order.
Everything else is here though. And we might get a refund? Or a remake? We're still investigating the options. Hopefully next month I will have better news and a more solid idea of what's going on.
EU Backers
This one's the kicker, and there's just nothing I can do about it.
As of July 1st, a new rule went into a place that introduced a flat handling fee of £3 per item type included in any package heading into the EU. This is standard across all the EU countries as far as we can tell. We are not sure if that includes free items at the moment, we're still trying to figure out the details. So every EU order will now owe an extra charge of £3 per item type included.
On top of that, some EU countries are now requiring us to pay customs/import fees up front (so at point of sale). We no longer have the option of shipping 'recipient pays fees'. We aren't entirely sure which countries yet; we're still investigating. So from now on shipping is going to have to include the appropriate customs fees for EU countries upfront.
We're currently working with Backerkit to figure out to integrate these fees into shipping costs, but please be warned that your shipping totals will increase before we do charge cards. Once its been implemented (it hasn't yet) you should be able to see them on your survey. You can still go and edit your add-on choices right up until you've been charged.
That's it for now. We hope to have the EU charges sorted soon, and something better to show you before too long!
Well I've been sent an update with some of the pins so hopefully it won't be too long now. Unfortunately I don't have much else by way of news, everything else is here waiting to go.
Production continues, but a few things are back, take a look;
The fabric isn't as light as this looks I swear. Its so, so hard to get pictures of these. I love them, no notes. I had to order a second batch already.
They didn't die cut our XL holo sticker backing sheets this time, but the selective holo effect came out great.
Some test keychains we did for their special effects. We're a firm yes on the foiling, no on the pearl and the dangles are cute but chunky.
That's it for now. We're chasing up the manufacturer about the pins at the moment, but I'll keep you informed.
This update is partially copy pasted across multiple projects so sorry if you see it more than once!
The overview is looking like this; Bunnies and Branchs ~ Nearly complete! Midnight Ocean ~ In production Mythical Garden ~ Shipping early stages Curiosity Shop ~ In production Christmas Market ~ Shipping well underway
Nothing new to report. Production is underway. There were a lot of designs and some of the product proofs were quite complicated. We're expecting those to arrive sometime soon, but there's still going to be a while to wait on the pins.
This update is copy pasted across multiple projects so sorry if you see it more than once!
The overview is looking like this; Bunnies and Branchs ~ Nearly complete! Midnight Ocean ~ In production Mythical Garden ~ Shipping early stages Curiosity Shop ~ In production Christmas Market ~ Shipping well underway
We are currently in the middle of moving houses, there probably won't be another update this month but work is continuing in the background. There were a lot of designs and extras for this campaign so production is going to take a little while, but hopefully we'll have some previews soon.
