EU & Asia Fulfillment Update
about 4 years ago
– Sat, Apr 18, 2020 at 03:18:17 AM
Hey shell-heads,
We’ve got updates on both Asia and EU fulfillment.
Asia: Our fulfillment partner completed shipment on April 10th, except for 2 packages bound for Israel. Those packages are still being held due to air freight restrictions due to COVID-19.
EU: The EU update is a bit longer today, and so we’ve broken it into two parts: what’s happened until this point, and what we’re doing now.
What's been going on: As detailed on March 5th, the container had been received by customs and we were expecting things to progress as they normally would, with 2 to 3 days turnaround time. Unfortunately, the container was flagged for inspection and we had to wait for that process to complete. Eventually we were contacted by our fulfillment hub and told that there was an issue with the product. We spent about two weeks going back and forth with our fulfillment partner in a very unnerving game of telephone: we contacted them, they contacted customs, we heard back from customs through them.
Basically, although the games were labeled as 14+, the customs agent that reviewed the product was mandating that we label all the boxes with a multilingual “ATTENTION: Small Pieces” warning. This is unusual as previous products have passed through without issue as long as they have been labeled with a single language 14+ indicator. That age indicator allows us to sell products with small pieces, and components that contain chemicals (plastics), without needing additional warning labels, since the product is intended for use by older audiences. Furthermore, we also had warning labels that read: not a children’s toy, not for kids 0-3, and choking hazard.
Here is our warning label as is:
And here is the label they want added:
Their contention was that we weren’t using the ATTENTION line, and they wanted it multilingual.
Unfortunately, we learned that this is totally up to the specific customs agent that reviews the product. Even our fulfillment partners were shocked that customs was making this mandate as it is highly unusual. For the next two weeks we worked at first with the fulfillment hub, and then directly with the customs agents to have labels created to be added to the boxes.This took time and money for us to get these stickers created. When we sent the digital proofs over to the customs agents, they rejected this as a solution as they would not allow anyone to come and relabel the boxes. This was very frustrating as it was an option they continued to tell us was possible until we had done all the work to put that plan into action. After this, customs began threatening that they would destroy the container unless we could provide a solution. However, without being able to alter the boxes while they were in customs’ possession, there wasn’t a clear path forward. Everyday we would receive an email with a new deadline for destruction, and we would email back asking for an extension or release, and have our freight company work with customs to find a solution.
This lasted about two more weeks. This is why we haven’t been able to provide an update, as what customs was telling us was changing daily, and we didn’t want to have our backers panic that the product was going to be destroyed. Finally, late last week, we were able to get customs to agree to ship the product either back to China or to America. PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING SECTION, we know this is extremely disheartening, but please allow us to detail what we’re doing to remedy this as quickly as possible.
What we’re doing now: As it stands, the product will be returned to China and all the boxes will be relabeled there. While the boat is on the water, our factory would print the new Attention labels, and when the product arrives, there would be about a week turn around of the factory relabeling the games, then the boat would go back on the water. Based on our conversations with customs, having this product relabeled with printed labels is the best option to ensure it’s able to be cleared the next time through. Right now, we’re estimating that this turn around time will be about 2 to 3 months, which isn’t what we want, but we must avoid having customs flag this product again.
Finally, a note about our commitment to EU backers:
We understand that our EU backers are going to be extremely disappointed with this update, and we know that this news feels sudden. As mentioned above, we didn’t want to provide updates about this product when we, ourselves, were getting different information almost everyday. Again, some days we would be told that if we could do one thing then customs would clear it within a few days. Then we would be told that wasn’t possible. Then we would be told the product was going to be destroyed, then we were told it wasn’t. We were concerned that vague, or constantly changing information would just add frustration to the already frustrating wait.
With that said, it is our goal, and has been our goal for the last month, to make sure every EU backer gets their game. Our logistics team, our fulfillment partners, and our freight company have put in numerous hours everyday to get this situation handled, while also dealing with lag time due to quarantining. We’re also trying to do so in the quickest way possible, as we know the wait has already been way too long.
We hope you’ll bear with us as we work to get this resolved. Fulfilling this project for our EU backers has become solely about meeting our obligations, the expectations of our backers, and maintaining the trust we have with our backers. Customs holding this product for a month, shipping the product either back to China, or to America, and relabeling and shipping replacements to EU are all costs that are above and beyond our original expectations to deliver this product. As such, we truly hope that it’s clear that getting your game to you is no longer about the money, but making sure we’re fulfilling our promise to you.
Thank you again for your support and your patience as we work to rectify this. We’ll be updating again when we have a path forward for EU backers.
Shipping Update 03/05/20
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Mar 06, 2020 at 02:11:39 AM
Hey shellheads,
Shipping update time, let’s get right into it!
Asia: We’re still waiting on full movement from our partners there. They are expected to begin shipping the final amount of pledges on March 9th. They have been able to ship a few packages out at a time, but it’s been few and far between.
EU: The container has hit port and is awaiting clearance from customs. We hope to have an update tomorrow on when to expect it to clear. Once it clears it takes about 2 to 3 days to get to our hub. We’ll update with a schedule when we have clearance from customs and our partners have received the pledges. All pledges are pre-packed, so turnaround time should be quick.
ROTW: Depending on your region, you will fall somewhere between Asia and the EU's time frame. At this point these two hubs will probably finish delivering all of their pledges around the same time. We’re estimating the middle to end of the month.
USA + South America: Shipping has completed. If you didn’t receive you pledge please email [email protected]
Canada: Snake and Lattes completed shipping as of the end of last week. Please email [email protected] if you haven’t received your pledge yet.
As many of you know Batman: The Animated Series Adventures is live on Kickstarter right now. We’ve heard a lot of backers say they want to have TMNT in their hands before they back BTAS and we appreciate that. IF you haven’t see our statement on it, we’re planning to allow for TMNT backers that received their pledges late to be able to late pledge for BTAS if they desire to. You can read more here.
If you have any questions about your pledge, or need customer service please email [email protected].
Thank you for your patience as we wrap this project up. We’re excited for everyone to receive their pledge.
Shipping Update 02-13-20
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Feb 14, 2020 at 02:09:35 AM
Hey shellheads,
We're dropping in today to give you an update on the current status of shipping in all regions.
USA + South America - Our fulfillment partner has confirmed that they have completed all their orders for the USA and South America. If you have not received a shipping notification, or your pledge yet please send an email to [email protected].
Canada - Snakes and Lattes received the games at their Buffalo warehouse, and they are expected to transfer them to Canada tomorrow. We have an estimated shipment commencement date of February 20th. We will update you once we have confirmation from them that the games have arrived at the Canadian warehouse.
EU + UK +RotW - The boat is on the water. The dates we have from our shipping service are an estimated arrival into port on Feb. 27th. Then an estimated arrival at our fulfillment hub on March 6th. We will continue to update as we hear back with confirmation that the boat has landed, and that the games have made it to the fulfillment hub.
Asia - We have to apologize for our last update. After a rather extended silence from our fulfillment partner we finally got confirmation that they have not completed fulfillment. Before Chinese New Year we were given an estimate that they would complete before CNY. They felt very confident in this. Since CNY we have had a very hard time getting in touch with our fulfillment partner. In our last update we made the mistake of assuming they had met their deadline and reported it before getting a firm confirmation. We're very sorry about this. At this time we're unsure of when to expect completion of Asia fulfillment. Our partners have informed us that they are not able to return to their office due to quarantine because of the Coronavirus. This is also why they have been hard for us to get in touch with. At this time they have 1 staff member in the warehouse, but no shipping companies are able to operate. They have an expected quarantine lift date of 2/17/20. However they are currently trying to find any alternative to get the boxes shipped before then. Again, we're extremely sorry about the misinformation last time.
AUS + NZ - We received confirmation from our fulfillment partners in Australia that fulfillment has begun. Backers should begin getting shipping confirmation emails and tracking numbers over the next few days. We will come back with another update as we get completion percentages from them.
Shipping Update 2/3/2020
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Feb 04, 2020 at 12:46:18 AM
Hey shellheads,
Dropping in to give a status update on shipping.
Asia: We believe our Asia hub has completed fulfillment. We’re awaiting final confirmation that this is the case. We’ll post an update when we have that confirmation.
USA+South America: Fulfillment is nearing completion. We expect all of the USA and South America fulfillment to be completed this week. We will update again when we have confirmation that is the case.
Canada: Shipment to Canada left later than expected. Snakes and Lattes’ American warehouse should receive the container in the next 2-3 days. We will have an update once the container clears customs into Canada.
EU: We were notified late last week that the shipping container headed to the EU had been pushed from its booked vessel to a new one, with an updated arrival date into port of 2/25. We now expect fulfillment to begin probably around the middle of March.
At this time we are waiting for confirmation that the vessel has left port and that the container is on the water. This is the first time that we've had 2 back-to-back delays when shipping a container and are investigating why this happened. We'll be posting an update once we have hard confirmation that the container is on its way.
AUS+NZ: We have received confirmation that this container has hit port and entered customs. We will post another update once fulfillment begins.
ROTW: Pledges for RotW are affected by the EU delay. We’ll be updating once we have more information and when fulfillment begins.
We’ll be back soon with more updates. Thank you for your continued support as we move through fulfillment.
P.S. A QUICK NOTE ABOUT REPLACEMENT PARTS: We have seen a few comments here and in the Facebook group about people needing replacement parts. Please send all parts request to [email protected]. We're currently working with our shipping partners in the USA and abroad to either complete fulfillment or provide them with finalized shipping lists for backers. As such, please allow 2-3 business days for us to respond to your email as we are receiving a high volume of emails about replacement parts and fulfillment. We will begin shipping out replacement parts after North American fulfillment has completed.
