Mechanical Courts by Alex Liss (KS)

[alexanderliss]

  Home sweet home.. My first card forum.. Hello all I am back. I have a kick starter running on the above deck now called _Mechanical Courts_ I dont want to spam the forum I am sure you guys already have it on your radar. So please tell me what you think. I have no doubt I am going to reach my goal because it a small project. I am doing so well that I have plenty of time to add rewards you might want. So Thanks for any comment or view!!

[alexanderliss]

I agree with justin, the artwork you posted is amazing, if that was on the playing cards then wow

Also for the coin issue, I use coinsforanything, did you try getting a quote from them?

 Also wanted to say your new deck is awsome!!!

[Don Boyer]

Welcome back, Alex!

I moved your new posts to the Playing Card Plethora - you're no longer in Design and Development because you've got a live Kickstarter project running.

Also, it would be a good idea for the future, when promoting any project, to let people know where to go to get a piece of the action - in this case, the URL of your KS project.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609584552/mechanical-courts-playing-cards-limited-run



On what information did you base your 30-day delivery window?  You do realize that MPC manufactures their cards in one of two cities: either Dongguan or Tianjin, both located in China.  They are a division of the QP Group, a large Chinese manufacturing conglomerate.  The cards might end up on your doorstep by 30 days, if you're lucky, but they won't be in backers' hands.  In fact, six to eight weeks would be a more realistic expectation for you to receive the cards, assuming no labor difficulties like what happened in California last year, then another two to four weeks for your backers to get them, depending on how many orders you receive and how organized you are in filling the orders and shipping them out.

[alexanderliss]

That is a good question. I based the shipping time on the amount of decks I will be ordering. I am only shooting for 150 decks. I get decks made from them and I usually get them in two weeks. This I will be paying about 50-80 dollars more to have it moved up. I will be taking it from what ever profit I make not much when decks with tuck is over 6 dollars with out shipping. I got about 70 decks sold now. So I guess we will see. If I really break out of my little model I will pay the extra money to have MPC fulfillment service do the busy work, Extra dollar but worth it seeing How with bigger crazy numbers are not always that good of a thing for the backer.

I also have every thing ready to go. They have all the art but I learned this time to make and keep all masters so if I tweak something like the ten and nine of diamonds it can be done in minutes. It is still really earily and I have not been "FUNDED" so I am open to every one at the moment.

   I am happy and humbled because I know allot of decks that where amazing did not make it the past couple weeks.

https://www.kicktraq.com/hotlist/games/playing%20cards/

[Don Boyer]

Please, there's no need for "serial posting."  Instead of three posts in a row within minutes of each other, next time just edit the last post you made and add what you want to add.

I know there are a lot of projects out there these days - it's rare there's fewer than two dozen if not much more.  Overall on Kickstarter, about 40% of their projects succeed, the bulk of which have goals of less than $20,000.  (I attended a seminar at Kickstarter's headquarters last week, and there's three more I'm going to by the end of the month - going to be a busy one for me.)

But you still don't seem to understand the point I'm making.  Even if the cards shipped to you immediately the very second your project ended, they might not even make it to you in under 30 days - not unless you had them shipped by a high-speed service like those offered by Federal Express, DHL or UPS.  And that's certainly not going to happen, because it will take about two weeks just for you to receive your funds from Kickstarter, after they take out their percentage - 5% for themselves and between 3% and 5% for Stripe, their payment-processing company.  So by about day 14 of your 30-day promise, you'll be able to pay for your decks to be printed - it's unlikely the printer will begin work before they're paid, so that would leave you a mere 16 days for them to receive your payment, clear their calendar of projects to get to yours, print it, ship it to you, then for you to repackage it and ship it to your backers.  There is no way you're going to meet such a deadline.

Even if they are doing the fulfillment for you, where, exactly, is their fulfillment center?  If it's in China, next to the printing factory, fantastic - they can ship straight from China to your backers and the deliveries might only be a couple of weeks later than you planned.  But if the fulfillment center is anywhere else, especially if it's in the US, now you're back to having to wait for the cards to get from the factory to the center and your backers won't see their decks for at least a month PAST your 30-day deadline, if not more.

I'm not saying "Don't do it."  I am saying "Don't promise what you simply can NOT deliver, not without bankrupting the project using overnight shipping or air freight."

[alexanderliss]

Your right I forgot about the crises allot of people had last year. I updated the kickstarter  for a six week 8 week time frame. I want to be transparent as possible. Hate to hit the wall of shame some where....lol

[Don Boyer]

Your right I forgot about the crises allot of people had last year. I updated the kickstarter  for a six week 8 week time frame. I want to be transparent as possible. Hate to hit the wall of shame some where....lol

Crisis?  It was simply a labor stoppage.  Teamsters Union members refused to move cargo from the ships to their trucks on the docks in California, causing a backlog of shipments and deliveries sitting on cargo vessels off the coast, waiting to be docked and unloaded.  It did last long enough, however, to cause significant delays on products coming to the US from China unless they crossed through Panama to the East Coast to unload.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/07/news/economy/california-truck-driver-strike/

Honestly, even the six to eight weeks you've updated your delivery to is optimistic.  It assumes that the printer will be handling your job immediately upon payment and that you'll have no delays in receiving your shipment.  I've never seen a playing card project deliver in a mere two months from the project close date.

[alexanderliss]

I am talking to them now. I was able to pay to have prioritized printing before That's why I received other decks in a couple weeks. I do not see this being a thousand deck plus deck order. This is going to be a small package. Small goal one run. Something I can easily manage. With keeping my backers informed I will for see no problems. I my be new to cards but not managing projects with 100,000.00 dollars. Age 27 I was able to pay for my own brain surgery because of insurance problems. I have had customer wait almost 6 months for farrier Italy to send keys for a  limited Edition Stradale challenge. Things happen if there is a delay hey remove the problem keep it pushing. I am an optimist a very positive person I radiate this and in a room my presence is felt. With any venture I look at all the data I have. Not much out there. You half to kick the door in be felt get answers. Battle spades was a kick. There is no such thing as bad publicity. I was in got tips and reproduced. Came back got answers now I am back again with a almost funded project before it hit the board. I am a winner because I do not give up I am not starving to the point that I cant simply spend the say max 1500 dollars for an order Instead of waiting 16 days. That's business I get the money back. I am prepared to solve a problem is what I am saying. I ramble sorry very passionate person. Stop looking at it as how much money will be seen. I let that go mostly you see I Alexander Liss am really close to having my art on over a 100 decks. People Like them...... my art and thats awesome!!!! It feeds a fire in me to come even harder next time. This small kickstarter helps me get my feet wet on the financial side of kickstarter. Wish I had the opportunity to go to work shops like you  but I am sure you will share what you learn and I will be waiting..lol. So if this works smoothly I will be able to take that data and my next project will be even better. I have not paid for one piece of advertising no backer kit. I just have long hrs talking, posting, showing... My friends and family have barely kicked in so we will see. I cant wait to share what happens step by step so other people can see a 5000 dollar kickstarter for cards is not always the best choice and there is a workable option.

 "to cause significant delays on products coming to the US from China unless" For any business owner that is a crises.   

[Don Boyer]

It's excellent that you're able to maintain a very positive attitude toward your project and business in general.  Negative thoughts have a tendency to become self-fulfilling prophesies.  Best of luck on your project.