Is there an update on delivery?
Hello!
In regards to updates revolving around deliveries, we are still experiencing hangs up with Patreon and forms replies from people who were offline. We don’t want to start shipping until all of those are settled so it’s all done at once.
We apologise for any inconveniences this may have caused.
Thank you!
Mod Precious
Good morning,
Mod Dommi here to elaborate a bit on what exactly’s going on.
Firstly, as previously stated, for me to be able to manage fulfillment for Prism, I needed to close the leftovers of @yoispyzine. Spy zine closed on 9/18, and I still have some details to settle such as payouts and final profit shares for those participants. I chose to delay our shipping because the more I have to juggle at once, the more likely I will make mistakes somewhere. I’d rather do it right and slow than do it fast and wrong. I’m sure you all agree.
Secondly, the issue with Patreon is this: about 20 or so of the buyers on that platform did not cancel their pledges as prompted to in June. In order to gather everyone’s information to begin fulfillment, I had to reactivate the account to download the CSV files with your addresses etc. This caused those 20 people to get charged a second time on 9/1, which means having to issue all of them refunds.
Now, when you issue a refund through PayPal, PayPal returns their cut from their fees to the buyer alongside your net revenue, so the buyer gets their full money back pain free. (This is the probably one thing PayPal does right.)
Patreon does not do this, and reactivating us put us at the new higher fee structure instead of the old to boot. This means we’re short money on refunds, and because nothing is ever simple, Patreon doesn’t allow you to issue partial refunds through their platform. So I’ve been focusing on getting the remaining few people their funds back through outside means, because to me that is an emergency.
In addition, a significant number of our buyers were offline due to travel or other circumstances when we opened our form, and we are receiving several emails per week still about needing to fill it out. Until I’m confident we have most buyers updated information, I’m not comfortable beginning fulfillment as postage is extremely expensive and zines can’t afford a ton of Return to Sender packages and second sets of postage.
I’m going to speak very plainly here for a minute: anytime a zine gives you directions, please make sure you read them and follow them to the letter, because when you don’t, things like the above happen which causes significant delays. If we tell you to fill something out, don’t skip parts causing us to chase you down for the necessary information. If we ask you to cancel a pledge etc, make sure you have so having to figure out mass refunds doesn’t cause setbacks on other pieces of the project. If there’s a FAQ, read it and check the answered asks tag before you send in that question.
Zines are small teams of people doing these projects as labors of love in our spare time, and we do not have the luxury of having a dedicated crisis management team, retention office, or customer care call center like Amazon or any other large box store does.
I also do not point this out as a guilt trip, but on top of both of my parents and my dog having cancer, I have to work multiple jobs to keep up with my bills while dealing with some not-minor health issues of my own. I’m one person, none of the other mods are local to me to offer physical help with the packing, and all four of them have been hit by serious real life issues that require most of their attention as well.
There is only so quickly a team of one or two can move compared to a full team of five, and the other mods needed to prioritize offline situations for reasons that they can disclose if they so choose. They were gracious enough to allow me similar reprieves with my mother’s diagnosis, the least I can do is return the favor in their time of need. But it does mean that things move slower than they should.
I apologize that updating the blog and other social media has fallen to the wayside, I really do, but we’re all doing our best in extreme circumstances. You will get your zines as soon as humanly possible, but the above complications have put a bit of a hold on things.
So, regarding the form: if you do not email us or fill it out by October 2nd, that is it. We will ship/fulfill to what we have already, and if it gets sent back to us, that’s a lack of due diligence on your end. This has gone on almost a month longer than I said the form would be open for, we cannot keep it open in perpetuity. Please understand, we want to get your bundles to you and correctly the first time, but we can’t wait indefinitely.
Regarding Patreon refunds: I am still trying to figure out how to pay out the remaining ones that cannot be due to being only a partial balance in our Patreon and buyers not having access to PayPal or other pay out means. The zine’s PayPal is still frozen as well, so that’s an additional conundrum. When I have this sorted, then I will proceed with the disbursement of the final refunds.
After this, I will begin shipping the zines. I do not have a set timeframe yet, but when there is one, I will notify everyone. I also have a local friend helping me pack, so actual fulfillment should go quickly when it begins.
Thank you again for your patience and support.
Mod Dommi
