International Shipping/Girl Genius

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Farmer

Once Australia's borders start to reopen (starting 1 November, more fully by early December) and travel resumes, international flights between the US and Australia will resume more regularly and the mail situation will improve and start to return to normal.

Fair point, and I hope you're right. I really do. (I edited my previous comment to add more detail.) The headaches of shipping to nations outside of the U.S. continue to grow and we would very much like to sell to and ship to the entire world.

But: Right now that is problematic and frustrating for very little -- if any -- return.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Willy

I censor myself for the rest of this comment because it´s to political for this forum.

Thank you. And thank you for pointing out the "adult pants" comment. That sort of discourse isn't welcome here and we'll try to keep a closer eye on things. Please report such comments in the future so that we can (hopefully) keep the tone of the discussion friendlier.

[philreed]

Moved the international shipping comments from the Girl Genius thread, since it is a separate discussion that shouldn't clutter the Girl Genius info and chatter.

International shipping is frustrating for very little (if any) return after all expenses and time required to ship packages to other nations.

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by philreed

Fair point, and I hope you're right. I really do. (I edited my previous comment to add more detail.) The headaches of shipping to nations outside of the U.S. continue to grow and we would very much like to sell to and ship to the entire world.

But: Right now that is problematic and frustrating for very little -- if any -- return.

Phil - I 100% would not be trying to ship to here (and many other places) from there at the moment. It's horrible. I'm sure we wildly agreed about that quite recently in another thread :-).

There are other options for customers to use fulfilment services in the US, so those who really want it will still get it by shipping from you to a US location where a company that specialises in such things will forward it on. It's not cheap, but, hey, we're a long way away! I just bought some specialised LED downlights - a whole 4 of them - from the US and paid the same in freight as for the lights. But, it was still cheaper than buying locally because...they aren't sold locally!

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Farmer

There are other options for customers to use fulfilment services in the US, so those who really want it will still get it by shipping from you to a US location where a company that specialises in such things will forward it on.

Agreed. We even mention on the Kickstarter page:

"If you wish, you may choose to use a fulfillment service. This allows you to pledge for the project and then provide us with a U.S. address for the delivery of your rewards. Forwarding from the fulfillment service, as well as any local fees, is your responsibility when using a fulfillment company."

We would very much like to sell to every single nation on the planet. The reality of today's world means that if we tried that, we would be out of business due to lost packages, refused packages, and excessive demands for refunds when the games didn't reach the destination.

As an example: We have had customers in the EU order from Warehouse 23, receive their shipment, and then refuse to pay the VAT charges. The package is either destroyed or returned to us (at our expense) as the customer demands a refund since they never received their package. This means we're out the cost of making the game, we lose all money sunk into the shipping process, and neither side is happy.

Or there is the old reliable "mark it as a gift!" message we get when someone outside of the US places an order. We cannot do this!

Overall, international shipping is enough of a mess on its own. Combining it with the stresses and headaches of a crowdfunding campaign isn't enjoyable and, even when we do, the numbers show that it isn't worth those nightmares.

If we go back to the first Dungeon Fantasy Kickstarter campaign -- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...urps/community -- we find a total of 58 backers in Australia. Shipping to US backers started September 13 (2017) and as late as December 18 (2017) we were still dealing with Australian rewards.

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by philreed

Agreed. We even mention on the Kickstarter page:
If we go back to the first Dungeon Fantasy Kickstarter campaign -- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...urps/community -- we find a total of 58 backers in Australia. Shipping to US backers started September 13 (2017) and as late as December 18 (2017) we were still dealing with Australian rewards.

Yup, I can believe it. Customers have to take some responsibiliity. If you want something that isn't offered, make your own arrangements.

If you had 5,800 backers in Australia, instead of 58, you *might* have found it worthwhile, and you could have leveraged volumes and had the revenue to send a container or two and engage a locale provider to handle distribution. Maybe.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Farmer

If you had 5,800 backers in Australia, instead of 58, you *might* have found it worthwhile, and you could have leveraged volumes and had the revenue to send a container or two and engage a locale provider to handle distribution. Maybe.

If we had 5,800 backers in Australia, we could have shipped an entire container from the factory to a distributor in Australia. Even 580 backers in Australia would have given us a lot more flexibility and room to make the process more profitable.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Willy

I personally think SJG should better look out for another nation to handle international shipping, mutual language and history are great, but it doesn´t help if you don´t get your stuff delivered.

Might I suggest Ireland for that nation? English speaking and within the EU.

Speaking of the EU and shipping. I note that in the FAQ on the Kickstarter there are shipping rates for the UK, EU, and Canada. What countries are included in the EU? Only the 27 EU members? The EU members plus the EEA countries?

[Willy]

Ireland would be a good choice, if I had to make it. Native english speakers, moderate government, well trained workforce, no shortage of said workforce, access to one of the biggest markets on the planet, low taxes and since Brexit used to handle former GB based companies to the process of relocation. Not to mention Covid is under better control than US and GB, not unimportant that days.

Sadly I have to admit shipping from GB to EU is a hazard this days, friends from me stopped buying things there because the have to wait sometimes weeks and get a invitation to customs office because of paper problems.

Since I´m not SJG and not taking part in Kickstarter I would suggest to ask them which countrys count to the EU for shipping purposes.

[Blind Mapmaker]

I'm just glad you made international shipping possible on this one. I think GGG has a very special place in many a heart. We've been waiting a long time for this one (some of us from the time they spotted Agatha on the cover of GURPS IOU).

I know fulfilment services are possible, but dealing with that extra layer of complications often takes the joy out of things - especially when we've all been feeling the strain for a while now. So Kudos to SJGames for this one!