$16.48 for shipping one deck to California?

Ouch!

The indices are hard to distinguish, which would make them less usable. And there seems to be too much blank space to me. Otherwise I like where you're going with these.

V3 has been out since at least May of 2013, possibly earlier. Like Paul said, it may just be the third print run with no real differences in the deck from v2.

The only one that I'm probably not going to get is the Seelie cards.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dernjg/seelie-playing-cards-with-a-touch-of-fairy-magic

I checked out his other projects at the time that one was running. He had previously delivered one card project, and was almost done with some others. Unfortunately, it looks like he hasn't made any progress on any of his projects since July.

Whenever someone at UC complained about this forum, it was because of the Vortex deck. I've seen posts here from people asking about their decks, and then the posts are either locked and moved to the archive, or deleted entirely. That's the reason I've been more active on UC than here. If you're going to do this, then Alex needs to be held to the same level of accountability as everyone else. It would be hypocrisy otherwise.

Changing the hearts and diamonds to outlines with white centers would make them usable, while staying black and white.

Colorblind people don't see in black and white btw.

Quote from: sprouts1115 on November 27, 2013, 12:15:05 AM

Rob Wright - Nice work but this could be so much better.  I do find myself coming here more often since badpete69 got fired from the UC list.  coming here there is to much scrolling down and clicking.  I should be able to see and get into a Kickstarter in one click.  How hard would it be to put the [Kickstarter] [Kickstarter]  thingamajigs on the forum?   

If I'm reading you right- read the top of the list- the pic is the link to the KS page.

He's talking about the widget previews, they use iframes, which aren't enabled here.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1244376122/pagan-custom-playing-cards/widget

I got mine the other day, there's no embossing on the tuck box.

Wal-Mart would probably be your best bet. The only decks meeting your criteria that you might find are rider backs, maybe some plumas, nautic backs or zombie decks. You might also find some Hoyle cards, or a store with old inventory of something like leaf backs. There's also Walgreens and Target, but that's pretty much it for what most stores would carry. If you're looking for the least expensive way to get a bunch of cards, Sam's Club has a 12-pack of rider backs for $15, but you'll need to find someone with a membership.

I think he's referring to this post:
http://aethercards.com/discourse/playing-card-plethora/post-your-full-collection/msg81901/#msg81901
It looks like the photos got deleted after they were posted.

I got some black and whites in June, and they all have the (04-13) seal on them.

I like the concept of this post, and I agree that more people should figure out shipping before they start a Kickstarter project. However I disagree with the way you're calculating time and money on this. You've also over-inflated your numbers by using gross revenue instead of net profit.

Federal 52 Raised = $149,156.00 during it's 40 day campaign period
Backerkit Period = $15,728.00 during a two week post ordering period

Total Capital Raised in a 54 day period = $164,884

I worked an estimated 200+hours during that time period doing: Design, Answering Backers, Kissing Babies and Shaking Hands, making sure my wife didn't kill me.

$164,884 / 200hrs = $824.00 per hour

(obviously this number is different with EVERY project but the equation is the same)

Hour spent fulfilling packages = 140+ (2970 orders)

During the fulfillment time I was making $0 and could have been preparing for my next project.

Money lost while fulfilling = $115,360

That above number makes it a NO Brainer for me to pay a fulfillment house, even if they charge me double, it is absolutely worth my time.


How to estimate shipping cost

Shipping for your project will roughly come out to %16 - %18 of your total pledge raised.

I raised $164,884 for the Federal 52 Part I project and spent $27,000 on postage and fulfillment.

These are all estimates, I don't know the exact numbers you actually paid

Kickstarter Revenue = $149,156.00
Kickstarter Fees (5%) = -$7,457.80
Amazon Fees (3%) = -$4,474.68

Backerkit Setup Fee ($299 + 1% of Kickstarter Revenue) = -$1790.56
Backerkit Revenue = $15,728.00
Backerkit Transaction Fees (3%) = -$471.84

USPCC Setup Fees ($710+ per deck design) = -$1,420.00
USPCC Printing Costs (~$3 per deck x 14,899) = -$44,697.00
USPCC Uncut Sheets ($10? x 450) =-$4,500.00
USPCC Shipping (No idea, and I may have overestimated the sheets, so I'll skip this one)

Postage and Fulfillment =-$27,000

Net Profit ~$73,072.12 (minus the production costs of non-card rewards)
Hours Worked = 340
Hourly Wage = $214.92 (↑)

You were paid to Design, Produce, and Ship the decks. The fact that the production and shipping occurred after you received payment doesn't mean it's time you weren't paid for. That's the attitude of every project that has failed to deliver.

In calculating the cost of using a fulfillment house, you need to look at how much they will take from your Net Profit, the difference that they get on shipping rates/supplies and if it's worth paying someone else to handle it. Let's say the fulfillment house charges you $8,000 for 3000 orders (you will still have to pay them for postage and supplies). Your hourly wage will go up, but your net profit goes down. At those numbers ($8,000 / 140 hours) you are now paying the fulfillment house $57.14/hr. If you can produce a design every other month, the fulfillment house is a great idea. But for most designers that are doing one deck a year at $12,000, they might be better off shipping it themselves.

I don't really see how these are useful. It's always the outside of my boxes that get worn out, and a deck clip seems like a better choice. $5 for these, and I can only use them on one deck because of the adhesive? Might as well just get a new deck.