Epoch Tiles | Magnetic, Flippable TTRPG Tiles and Terrain

We're Almost There!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 02:12:39 PM

Hey everyone,

The last month or so, we've been working closely with our new manufacturer. The experience this time around his been incredible. This new manufacturer impresses us every day.

In our last update, we mentioned the new manufacturer was on pace to send everything around the middle of October.

Last night, we chatted with them in depth about this final round of inventory that will wrap up the Kickstarter, and got all of our ducks in a row. Here's where we're at now:

• Every tile combination and terrain piece has been made and painted! We want to take a quick moment to touch on how incredible this is. Our old manufacturer promised date after date of completion but never came through, the one we're working with new created molds in record time and got all of our inventory made when we requested. It was a huge undertaking.
• Our manufacturer is also boxing up pieces into their respective kits. This will make things much easier for our fulfillment company, who has had to take the brunt of the sorting and packaging so far. This will ensure a much easier process on our end once we receive the finished product!
• Having said that, we won't receive this final shipment of inventory until some time next week. Our manufacturer said they'll be handing off our order to the shipping company on Monday. But we're still right on, if not ahead, of schedule (with the timeline we gave the new manufacturer). The goal was to get this shipment of inventory in the middle of October and then start assembling/shipping orders out. By sorting everything out before it arrives, it'll save us a significant amount of time on the fulfillment/shipping side of things.
• As a reminder, this last round of inventory will cover all of the remaining unpainted grass/water orders, along with all of the painted orders.
• Easyship surveys will be going out once the last round of inventory is on its way. As soon as this last shipment is on its way to us, we'll be sending out a final round of Easyship surveys to those who haven't paid for shipping yet. So, keep an eye out for another update in the next week.

From there, we don't have an exact estimate on when things will be shipped out, but we're expecting it to take up to 2-3 weeks to get everything out the door. We'll send more updates as we progress through the final orders.

Thank you all!

New Manufacturer is Coming Along!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 09:13:14 PM

Hey everyone,

We wanted to post a quick update to let you all know how things are coming along with our manufacturer.

To say this has been a breath of fresh air is a major understatement. Working with this new company has been nothing but smooth sailing.

The first big announcement is that the molds are done (have been so for a little while now, but wanted to wait on mentioning this while we figure out all the details).

Here's a quick picture of some of the molds, because we think they look cool:

We're hopping on a call with the new manufacturer tomorrow to go over the pieces. If there's anything to mention after that, we'll include it in an update soon.

But, assuming all goes well, our manufacturer said they're on pace to be ready to send our order (which would include all outstanding pieces to fulfill the remainder of our Kickstarter) by the middle of October!

As a reminder, everyone can expect their order to go out the weeks following this final shipment arrival.

Finally, as a quick note, we wanted to mention that we've seen your questions regarding shipping status for this current batch of fulfillment. Many of our backers orders have gone out at this point, and we should have more information for you in the near future.

Thank you all!

Fulfillment Progress and Manufacturer Update
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 03:04:18 PM

Hey everyone,

We've been heads down the last few weeks working with our new manufacturer. We've been through this a couple times now, and have a good team in place, so everything has been progressing well. 

Not a big update today, although there are a few items we'd like to update everyone on

Fulfillment for Non-Painted Orders

• As we started sending orders out we began to get feedback that pieces were missing from kits. As we sent more orders out, this issue starting growing... We got with the fulfillment company to diagnose why the issue was happening and to work through it. We believe we got it buttoned up (a few headaches later). Know that this is why many of you received a notification that your shipping label had been created but the order had not gone out yet. More and more orders are starting to go out, and once we feel more confident that there are no more issues with people missing pieces, we will accelerate how many orders go out. 
• If you've received your order and it doesn't look quite right... Please reach out to us and we'll get you taken care of! We don't have an exact idea on how fast we will get it resolved (as we will need to work with the 3PL to get it sorted though and sent out), but we will make sure that you get everything in your order.
• Thank you to all of our backers who have reached out after receiving their orders and giving us feedback; it's been overwhelmingly positive so far! It's also incredible to see pictures of what you have been creating for your tables!

Update on Our New Manufacturer

Exciting news! Our new manufacturer said they're expecting to send us sample pieces in early September. This means (assuming everything looks good), we're right on track to have all the remaining pieces sent to us in time to fulfill in October like we mentioned in our last update.

Thanks, everyone!

Fulfillment Status and Big Update for Remaining Backers
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 06:23:20 PM

Hey everyone,

We've got a big update today.

To start, let's take a look at where we're at in terms of Kickstarter fulfillment:

• ~100 backers' orders have been delivered
• 126 backers' orders have labels created and are in transit

We've also noticed backers have been filling out Easyship surveys and paying for shipping. We're working through these orders as well.

Speaking of Easyship, we wanted to include a quick reminder for international backers of what to do if you want the cheapest option for shipping, as well as taxes and duties.

• In order to see the cheapest shipping option (Flat Export), you must choose to pay for taxes and duties later, not to pre-pay (this is assuming Flat Export is available)
• You'll still need to pay for taxes and duties later if you choose this option but 1) Some countries don't require this based on the order amount and 2) Some backers have told us that the cost for pre-payment of taxes and duties was higher than expected
• As a reminder, we've worked with Easyship multiple times on the cost side of things and they're as low as we can get them. 

Next Steps for Remaining Backers

We are still working towards fulfilling on the following orders:

• Orders that include the grass/water tile combination (painted and primed)
• Painted orders

We currently have an outstanding purchase order of these pieces with our current manufacturer. They've continued to give us the run around, citing "out of town" and "sickness" as why they're unavailable. Regardless, they know what we need sent our way, but haven't given us any insight into where things are at.

So, we have a big announcement: We've secured a relationship with a new manufacturer.

We still have an outstanding purchase order from the existing manufacturer, but we've set up a relationship with a new manufacturer that we're excited about. We're now working with a local contact here in Utah who grew up in China and visits regularly. He also has years of experience working with Chinese manufacturers and has been a huge help over the last few weeks. He's given us insight on the existing manufacturer, and helped us find and vet the new manufacturer.

Here's the plan now:

• We still have a purchase order for the remaining tiles/pieces from the existing manufacturer. If they get their stuff together and send us our order soon, then great. We'll take that and fulfill on the remaining backer orders.
• At the same time, we're working with the new manufacturer right now to create all of our inventory moving forward.
• Our new manufacturer recently started creating new molds for all of our stuff (this includes preparation, mold creation, testing, etc.)
• We have another purchase order for the remaining grass/water orders, along with all painted orders; we've given them a due date of October for that to be done and on its way to us
• Assuming that happens, we're looking at a fulfillment timeline around October/early November for our remaining backers assuming our old manufacturer doesn't get us anything before then

Essentially, what we've done is ensure that our remaining backers will get their orders by the end of the year. If our old manufacturer figures things out and gets stuff to us earlier, then great! If not, we can still guarantee that orders will be fulfilled (and we're better set up for success moving forward as well).

Thank you, everyone!

Non-Painted Orders Going Out
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jul 05, 2024 at 08:42:39 PM

Hey everyone,

We've met with our fulfillment center multiple times this week, including a long in-person meeting today. They were a bit delayed this week, with it being a holiday and people being out of town/sick. 

But here's where we're at with non-painted orders (this is what our fulfillment center told us today):

• There was some confusion that stalled our fulfillment center for a while (it took a minute to sort this out but that's all sorted completely at this point).
• Not including the grass/water tile combination, there are just under 300 backers whose orders can go out; of those, only ~170 have paid for shipping. This is another reminder to look for an email from Easyship and pay for shipping. Until then, your order won't go out!
• For the ~170 backers who have paid for shipping already, our fulfillment center said they're working through up to 50 orders today
• The remaining ~120 backer orders should go out the door early next week
• The team will continue fulfilling on the remaining backer orders who have yet to pay for shipping, but those won't go out until later (after shipping is paid).
• Also, it looks like we have enough of the grass/water tile combo to fulfill on 18 backers' orders (should be included with the 50 going out today). We'll keep those who ordered that combo posted on next steps in the future.

Our manufacturer point of contact emailed us this week saying they're out of town... This explains why they've gone radio silent, but doesn't make the situation any less frustrating. Having said that, we've got something we've been working on to help with the situation; more on this early next week!

Thank you all, it's exciting that so many of you will have orders on the way soon!