Successful Kickstarter Fulfillment: Easyship Guide

Key points:

• Kickstarter fulfillment involves managing and shipping rewards to backers after a successful campaign.
• Choosing the right fulfillment partner can streamline logistics and reduce costs, especially for international shipping.
• Careful planning, including inventory management, packaging, labeling, and cost-effective shipping strategies, is crucial for successful Kickstarter fulfillment.
• Easyship is your one-stop solution for warehousing, shipping, and tracking with full visibility on taxes, duties, couriers, and fees. To get started, visit our dedicated sign up page.

Running a successful Kickstarter campaign is an exhilarating experience, but the real challenge often starts after the funds have been raised: the fulfillment process. This guide is tailored specifically for Kickstarter creators who are navigating the complex terrain of shipping their first product, aiming to do so efficiently, transparently, and within a tight budget.

What Is Kickstarter Fulfillment?

Kickstarter fulfillment involves managing and shipping rewards to backers after a campaign has successfully met its funding goals. The order fulfillment stage is crucial as it directly impacts your reputation and the satisfaction of your backers. 

Efficiently managing this process helps establish a solid foundation for your business, demonstrating that you can deliver on promises and meet customer expectations.

Choosing the Right Fulfillment Center Partner

Selecting an effective fulfillment partner can greatly influence your Kickstarter campaign's success. Effective fulfillment companies can help streamline the complex logistics of packing and shipping, particularly if you’re dealing with international backers.

For campaigns where backers could be outside the U.S., international shipping expertise for Kickstarter orders is critical.

Choosing a crowdfunding fulfillment and shipping partner like Easyship can provide you with access to better shipping rates, comprehensive logistics support, and the tools needed to handle customs and international shipments effortlessly.

Donut Media: A Case Study in Successful Fulfillment

Donut Media's highly successful Kickstarter project for a collectible model car encountered manufacturing delays and a complex fulfillment process, due to the costs involved with importing goods from China to the US.

Challenges:

• Donut Media's Kickstarter campaign for a model car, Project Stocky, raised over $430,000 but faced delays in manufacturing and a changing timeline
• This made planning and managing shipping and fulfillment difficult
• Additionally, the team worried about customs clearance for importing the model cars from China to the US

Solution:

• Easyship provided a custom flexible shipping plan to accommodate the changing timeline
• They used their network of US warehouses for efficient storage and fulfillment
• Easyship's expertise ensured smooth customs clearance
• Easyship saved the client 100% of import duties to the United States through an innovative last-mile label-at-origin solution, utilizing de minimis value

Results:

• Easyship successfully delivered all model cars on time and within budget.
• Over 7,500 backers pledged over $430,000 for the project, which only shipped within the US.
• Easyship's services included receiving inventory in their Shenzhen warehouse, picking and packing for secure transport, end-to-end tracking, bulk shipping to the US, customs clearance, last-mile delivery, and all necessary documentation.

How to Ship Rewards Efficiently

When you’re ready to ship rewards to your backers, consider the following steps to ensure a smooth process:

• Inventory Management: Ensure your inventory arrives safely and is accounted for before shipping. This includes quality checks and secure storage.
• Packing: Use durable, cost-effective packaging that ensures the safe arrival of rewards while keeping your costs down. This is where a fulfillment partner can advise on the best materials for the job.
• Labeling and Documentation: Accurate labeling and proper documentation are vital, especially for international shipments. This may include customs forms and other necessary paperwork.

Planning for Successful Kickstarter Campaign Fulfillment

To avoid common pitfalls in Kickstarter fulfillment, plan meticulously. This involves understanding and negotiating shipping rates, choosing the right shipping options, and anticipating potential challenges that might arise with international orders.

Easyship’s Crowdfunding Shipping Cost Estimate tool can help you forecast and manage shipping costs more effectively. By reducing shipping expenses, you also protect your project’s profitability.

Reducing Shipping Rates with Strategic Decisions

Shipping costs can be a significant burden, particularly when unexpected fees arise. To manage and reduce these costs:

• Consolidate Shipments: Whenever possible, consolidate your shipments to reduce the number of trips required
• Negotiate Rates: Use a fulfillment partner’s bargaining power to secure better shipping rates
• Optimize Package Sizes: Smaller, lighter packages often cost less to ship. Evaluate your packaging strategy to find cost savings

Conclusion

Kickstarter fulfillment can be a complex and daunting phase in your journey as a creator. However, with the right strategies and partners, it can also be a smooth and successful experience that sets your project apart in the eyes of your backers.

By partnering with a fulfillment company like Easyship, you can leverage their expertise and infrastructure to meet the growing expectations of your customers, reduce your operational workload, and ensure that your first venture into product shipping is successful and scalable.

Shipping Your Kickstarter Rewards Just Got Easier!

Kickstarter has rolled out a suite of features designed to streamline your campaign experience, from launch to fulfillment. Partnering with Easyship, the leading shipping platform, Kickstarter is taking the pain out of reward fulfillment. Check out our most popular features for Kickstarter campaigns:

• Discounted shipping rates and a suite of tools to manage the entire process – budgeting, comparing rates, automating paperwork, creating labels, and tracking shipments – all from a single dashboard
• Free consultation with Easyship specialists and waived membership fees. Qualifying campaigns can even score free shipping credits! Get in touch with us.
• Improved backer communication with a new filter in Backer Reports and a refreshed design for easier navigation
• Enhanced fulfillment tracking with three new reports – Item Level, Reward, and Add-on summaries – for better planning and preparation

Easyship is committed to making your project a success, and these new features are a big step forward. Don't miss out – leverage these tools and focus on what you do best: bringing your creative vision to life!

What is Kickstarter fulfillment?

Kickstarter fulfillment is the process of getting the Kickstarter rewards promised in a successful campaign to the backers.

What shipping company does Kickstarter use?

Kickstarter itself doesn't use a specific shipping company, creators partner with fulfillment vendors.

What is crowdfunding fulfillment?

Crowdfunding fulfillment is the general term for the logistics of getting rewards to backers after a crowdfunding campaign.

What is the success rate of Kickstarter delivery?

There's no official success rate, but Kickstarter provides resources to help creators fulfill their projects.

Who is the shipping company for Kickstarter?

Kickstarter doesn't have a designated shipping company, creators choose their fulfillment partner.

Who pays for shipping on Kickstarter?

Shipping costs can be built into the reward tiers backers choose or charged separately.

How does Kickstarter fulfillment work?

Creators partner with a fulfillment vendor who stores, packs, and ships rewards to backers based on backer surveys.

What happens if a Kickstarter project doesn't deliver?

If a project doesn't deliver, backers can request a refund through Kickstarter.