Epoch Tiles | Magnetic, Flippable TTRPG Tiles and Terrain

Easyship Surveys and Next Steps for Primed Backers
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 07:52:08 PM

Hey everyone! Here's where things are at right now:

Easyship surveys

You may have noticed Easyship surveys didn't go out last week. Full transparency, we sent an email to Easyship requesting those get sent out. They insisted on having a meeting with us before doing so, and couldn't meet until today. We chatted with them and have a game plan to get those out. To be honest, we're not sure why the meeting was necessary but it is what it is. The problem now is that they don't send out surveys on Friday. So, Easyship surveys will go out on Monday to backers who haven't paid for shipping yet. As soon as they go out, we'll send another update out.

Hiccup with some tiles

On another note. Unfortunately, as our fulfillment center started packing up orders, they noticed there were significantly less of the water/grass tile combinations. When the batch initially arrived at our 3PL, they reviewed what was sent and all seemed good. But after looking into it further while packing up boxes, it's clear our manufacturer shorted us on the water/grass tiles. We've since looked into the remainder of what was sent; from what we can tell right now, we should have enough to fulfill on all of the primed backers' orders aside from that tile combination.

So, if you had the water/grass tile combination in your order, it will be delayed while we work with our manufacturer to get more of those pieces. We'll keep you all in the loop as we work through this on our end.

In the meantime, our 3PL is finishing boxing up orders. There was some last minute confusion on their end with how certain add-ons needed to be included in kits. This has since been worked out and everyone's on the same page now. So, if you didn't have specifically the water/grass tile combination, your orders will start going out as early as this weekend, potentially early next week.

Also, so this doesn't go unmentioned, we're still working with our manufacturer on timeline for painted kits. We're sorry to say the message is still the same; as soon as we get something solid to share, an update will go out ASAP.

Thanks everyone. We're hoping for a day when we can send out an update with no hiccups. Until that happens, we'll keep working through things on our end and really appreciate all the patience and support you've been showing us. We're just glad things are finally moving, road bumps and all!

Unpainted Kits Shipping Soon
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Jun 12, 2024 at 10:30:28 PM

Hey everyone,

This is a quick update to let you know that our third party logistics company will start sending out kits this weekend! They said that all of the unpainted orders will be boxed up before the weekend is over.

For the backers who have already paid for shipping, there’s nothing for you to worry about and you can expect an email confirmation when your order is on its way.

For the backers who haven’t yet paid for shipping, we’ve been talking with Easyship over the last week, and you should expect an email from them in the coming days to pay for shipping. Once that’s done, your orders will be on the way shortly after.

We’re so excited for our unpainted backers who will be getting their kits soon! Please keep us posted and let us know what you think!

For our painted backers, we’ve had multiple conversations over the last week with our manufacturer. News is unfortunately still the same; no solid timeline as of now. 

As we’ve said before, we’re doing everything we can possibly do to ensure painted backers get theirs as soon as possible and, as soon as we have info to share, we’ll post an update. 

Thanks everyone!

Status on Kits and Some Pictures!
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Jun 05, 2024 at 08:15:01 PM

Hey everyone,

It's been an active couple of weeks on our end! Here's where things are at right now:

Non-painted kit fulfillment

• Our 3PL company should be done assembling kits this week and they will start sending orders out on Monday of next week (June 10, 2024)
• The 3PL is doing a better job than we were at assembling kits! It's been eye-opening to see them do their thing!
• Easyship surveys will go out by early next week; keep an eye out for that!
• Also, an important note, we noticed we were shorted on our "2 Sides to Every Story" shirt. We ordered more of those, but it could take a couple weeks to arrive to us. So, if you chose that shirt, your order will be slightly behind the other non-painted orders.

Painted kits

• We are still working with our manufacturer to get a timeline...
• Last we heard, they said they were 20-30 days out from these being ready :(
• We're doing everything we can to get info on painted stuff and to get them sent our way; we've set up multiple calls with them over the last couple of weeks and they haven't joined :( - as soon as we have info in this, we'll send an update right away!

Pictures from the most recent arrival from our manufacturer:

Also, we took a few pictures when the last shipment arrived. Enjoy!

International Backer Update Part 2
about 3 years ago – Sat, Feb 25, 2023 at 04:41:51 PM

Hey everyone,

Another update for our international backers. We’ve been closely working with Easyship the last two days to take care of our international backers. What we’ve discovered is that the elevated prices were based on the option of pre-paying for taxes and duties, as well as the classification of the product. Choosing to pre-pay for taxes and duties will lead to higher costs because:

1. Only certain couriers offer the option to pre-pay for taxes and duties. This removes the cheapest shipping option (known as Flat Export) and, in turn, raises costs significantly; in some cases, the shipping cost was more than double.
2. Easyship’s estimate of taxes and duties was higher than reality, based on a handful of spot checks, as well as experiences from Discord and Kickstarter members. From what we were told, it’s difficult to give an accurate number because opting into pre-paying will lead to varying costs so they give a, somewhat, average. It’s clear this isn’t perfect and, based on what we‘ve seen, it’s higher than what it would be when opting to pay for said fees upon arrival.

After all of our conversations over the past day or two, it’s obvious that there should be no option to pre-pay for taxes and duties. Instead, that should happen on your end when it arrives. In future surveys, this option will be removed.

Thanks to international Discord members, we discovered that we can optimize the HS code used to classify our product. We originally classified this with HS code 9503 (generic Toys categorization). Instead, moving forward, we’ll be using HS code 950490 (which is a better/more specific classification used for board game products). Based on multiple spot checks, we found that this alone would lower taxes and duties by as much as $30 (although this varies by country).

There are now two types of international backers; those who opted to pre-pay for taxes and duties and those who opted to pay upon arrival.

Those Who Already Pre-Paid for Taxes and Duties

Here’s what will happen for international backers who pre-paid for taxes and duties:

• We’ll be issuing refunds. Doing so will require a fee that we’ll pay on our end, but because enough of you have expressed concerns at the cost, this just made sense. We were told the refund takes about 5-7 days to process.
• Once that goes through, you’ll be given another Easyship survey to fill out. As mentioned above, the option to pre-pay for taxes and duties will be removed. This will allow you to choose the cheapest shipping option possible.
• While this is happening, we’ll also update the HS code so you’re paying the more accurate cost of taxes and duties upon arrival.
• Because you already paid, you’ll stay in the same fulfillment order.

Those Who Chose to Post-Pay for Taxes and Duties

And here’s what will be happening for international backers who opted to post-pay for taxes and duties:

• We will manually go in and change the HS code for each of your products so it’s correct and you will have lower taxes and duties to pay when it arrives.
• You will not be receiving another Easyship email/survey unless we identify in manual spot checks that we can help you save on shipping costs. In this case we will let you know through Kickstarter, refund and send another survey later. Keep in mind, this process will take up to a week to go through all these orders.
  

How to Save on Shipping

As mentioned above, removing the option to pre-pay will enable a cheaper shipping option (Easyship calls it Flat Export). However, there is a caveat here. Flat Export is only available if the following conditions are met:

• Total weight is under 20 pounds
• Amount inside box is under $400
• Dimensions are under 36 inches total (e.g., a 12x12x12 box would not qualify)

Assuming the above conditions are met, you would qualify for the cheaper Flat Export option. That, combined with choosing to pay for taxes and duties upon arrival, will go a long way in helping you save on these costs.

Keep in mind, international backers in the higher tiers (potentially Adventure level, likely Dragon and Epic) could be exempt from Flat Export based on the amount inside the box and the overall value. If you don’t see ‘Flat Export’ as an option, it’s because your order does not meet the requirements above.

Other Items

Easyship surveys are now closed. For those asking about their surveys not working, this is why. We’ve received over 25% of the surveys at this point, many of which were international, so the Easyship survey collection has been turned off for now. We will open these surveys again in the future when we receive more tiles and terrain (and be sure to keep everyone posted accordingly). Also, like we mentioned before, we want to take care of international backers who didn’t fill out the survey based on the costs they were seeing. So, when we open up the Easyship survey again for the next batch, we’ll place a higher priority on international orders.

Also, we’ve received a lot of address change requests. Know that we will get them updated but, because of the number of requests received, this will take some time.

Conclusion

Again, we apologize for the sticker shock of taxes and duties. We’ve worked overtime to ensure these can be minimized as much as possible. We appreciate your understanding so far. As always, reach out if you have any questions!

International Backers
about 3 years ago – Thu, Feb 23, 2023 at 11:59:21 AM

Hello everyone,

This is a very quick update to just those backers who live outside of the US. To start, we appreciate everyone's patience and understanding so far when it's come to international shipping, customs, duties, etc.

As we've said before, this is our first Kickstarter and there are headache-inducing lessons almost every step of the way; understanding and working with international VAT is no exception.

We wanted to send this quick update out to let all of our international backers know:

• We hear you! The fees we've been shown are ridiculous and we are working closely with our Easyship contact to minimize these as much as humanly possible.
• We're turning off shipping collection emails for now while we work this out. For those who haven't already done so, don't fill out the Easyship survey and pay in advance while we figure this out. For those who have already done so, we're looking into refunding whatever was paid for on your end!
• In the meantime, we'll be updating the data on our end, changing classification, among other efforts.
• Once we're done working with our Easyship contact, as well as making adjustments as mentioned above, we'll re-upload information for our international backers and will have another round of Easyship emails sent out.
• Finally, because many of you have not filled the survey out yet due to these prices, we understand you may feel at a disadvantage when it comes to shipping priority and getting in the queue (as a reminder, we mentioned fulfillment priority would be based on a combination of Pledge level and order in which you filled out the Easyship survey). We believe it wouldn't be fair for our US backers to have a fulfillment advantage based on unfair costs for international backers, so we'll make adjustments accordingly so our international backers are taken care of. 

Again, we apologize for the headache here. Our whole team has been up in arms as we're sure you all have as well. Know that we are working diligently to get this addressed.