Hi there everyone- This is Scott King from Crooked Kings. I've never posted on here, but I do watch and occasionally post on UC, so I figured it was time to say "hi-ya" to everyone on here, plus I wanted to set everyone straight on the "Boyer Shipping Conspiracy", as I've jokingly nicknamed it.
First and foremost, I appreciate EVERYONE'S opinions- whether they're pro or con, as long as they're accurate and constructive- So please keep that in mind.
First I'll address the kickstarter "requirement" on shipping.
Kickstarter does not require shipping to be added into the price of the item. They do suggest it, but it's not a requirement at all. If it were, then KS staff would never have approved the project to go live. There's actually quite a few projects that do the shipping separately, and it's not that uncommon, especially on larger items that have a higher shipping fee. The Coolest Cooler comes to mind- they made over 13 million in raised funds, with a shipping fee of $15 dollars for 1 cooler.
Next, I'll address the reasoning behind it.
We wanted to be VERY transparent with the price of the item versus the price for shipping. These bad boys carry a decently hefty shipping price at just over 3' long, and we wanted backers to know exactly were their money was going. Had we included all the pricing together, there would be no way to distinguish the unit cost versus the shipping cost. We wanted the backers to make a truly educated decision on what level and how many to get. If a backer was on the fence with trying to decide between 1 versus 2 frames, we wanted them to see the cost saving not only on the unit price, but the shipping price as well. In this scenario, if you went with 2 Orbiters instead of 1, it would save you $1 on the units, but the shipping saves you $5, for a total of $6. This savings increases as you up the volume of displays you get. Additionally, it should be known that there is not a lot of margin on this project for us at all, but truthfully, we aren't expecting to make a lot on this project. This is more or less a labor of love.
We are actually card collectors ourselves, and really wanted to see something hit the community that would be a REALLY cool item for collectors to not only protect their investments with, but allow others to share in their passion without molesting their precious decks. That's why we created the Orbiter. In reality, I think you'd be hard pressed to argue the price point on these. All of the Orbiters are plastic injected ABS (same stuff legos are made of), and they required engineering, tooling, diemolds, plastic injection, finishing, and freight. All of these things require a hefty investment to come to fruition, and anyone familiar with the process can tell you it aint' cheap to produce.
We really focused on keeping the pricing down for the backers, which is why the funded goal is on the higher end. We're really excited and hope it makes it... We've got a lot of sweet decks that need protecting and homes too!
Lastly, and most importantly, we separated the price out so that it would protect the backers if they purchase more in the future. By separating out the unit price, backers know roughly what they should be paying for the Orbiter. We've already had a handful of vendors contact us about carrying the Orbitor, and if in 4 months someone wants to purchase some, they need to be educated on the price so that they're not getting ripped off. Of course there's going to be some additional fees and markup, but we wanted people to be aware for future purchasing.
Well, that's about it. Hopefully, that clears the "Boyer Shipping Conspiracy" up. I'm always open to answering questions, so please don't hesitate to ask. I only ask that you keep it classy San Diego.