KickstarterForum.org

[loveyourlingo]

Hi all
I am nearly ready to launch my Kickstarter campaign but the fine details are killing me! I am trying to work out all the shipping fees. My product is about US$22 and I have calculated a worldwide shipping fee of $6 (I am producing in Australia and UK). This is for untracked postage in the normal mail.

My question is, what is expected in general...is an untracked service acceptable? Or do people presume it will be tracked? If I quote tracked it is much more complex with big differences between locations worldwide. I do not necessarily want to state what shipping method I am using as for some of my 'bundle' pledges I will use tracked so it would be quite complex to say that some pledges are tracked and some are untracked.

Am I being too particular and getting caught up in unnecessary details? I just dont want to find I have quoted a cheap shipping fee and then have to pay for more expensive shipment out of the actual funds for the project.

Please help!
Thank you so much
Una

[BitofaGeek]

Personally I would at least send it "signed for". It sounds pessimistic but there are people who could cause problems by claiming the item hasn't reached them, and the delivery signature is your defence against false claims.

[johnnie smith]

For a 22 dollar item - which (hopefully) has your nice profit included, I would not use signature required. But trackable is something that is indeed needed. There's no need to mention which method you will use, but it might be helpful to post an averaged price for all shipping locations.

[loveyourlingo]

Hi!
Thanks so much for your replies-and sorry I meant to get back to this before now but I have just launched so it has been intense!

After a lot of deliberation I have gone with the untracked service...I wanted to go tracked but it was just too expensive for my product. I could not have a $22 item and charge $15 for shipping...and I didnt want to absorb the shipping cost by charging more for the product as it is an educational poster and it is important that it is affordable. The up side is that my backers will mainly be mum's/families of bilingual children so I am hoping the percentage of orders that go awol will be pretty low...

Thanks so much for your advice
wish me luck with my campaign!
Una

[johnnie smith]

Awesome project. Creative idea...
Hope you fund this smoothly and successfully.

>>>>>> Just remember to come back & share what helped (and what not)!

Way to go!

[loveyourlingo]

Thanks so much Johnnie! In fact we have kind of ground to a halt and I'm freaking out! Problem is that my 'possible backers' all LOVE the idea but they dont really get the kickstarter concept so they are not actually backing! I have tried to circulate the link with an accompanying image to explain but it is all just too much to take in, especially if the backers are not perfect english speakers...I always knew it was going to be a gamble but I thought there'd still be plenty of backers...argh! I'm gonna have to work very hard at this cos I know there are backers there-I just have to get them to understand what they need to do! Thanks so much for your encouragement-means a lot!
Una

[johnnie smith]

There might be some bumps on the road, but if you remember there's always a second chance, you won't panic.

Just noticed a campaign that went sour the first time. https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/levelup/created

They relaunched and - -

"Sabertron’s Kickstarter is the Best Crowdfunding Campaign Ever. Ever."

( http://www.crowdfundingguide.com/sabert ... aign-ever/ )

[kreefax]

Remember that it's pretty much impossible to predict the final outcome of your campaign while it's still running. There's no guarantee either way but... it's not over till it's over!
And also remember that there are many benefits to running a campaign beyond the financial!

Great product! Best of luck!

[lostinwebspace]

Wow. I never even thought of this. I guess I'm gonna look into the price of tracked packages now.

[ExplodingDesk]

There are always a few shady people, but most people are decent. I'd say don't track it (which it seems like you've decided) and then, if anybody doesn't get their package, send them a new one with tracking.