Parcel fulfillment methods, options, and best practices have evolved quite a bit over the last few years, so today I’m going to update the information from my 2019 post on this topic in the hopes this will be helpful for my fellow creators.
The Basics
In general, this is the 2-step process that many creators use (see also this infographic):
- Freight: A freight company (I work with ARC Global: justin.bergeron@arcglobal.us) ships cartons/pallets/containers of products from a factory to several different fulfillment centers (Australia/NZ, Canada, US, and Europe). Depending on your scale, you can potentially freight ship directly to distributors (who sell games to retailers). Here’s my 2021 update on freight shipping.
- Fulfillment: A fulfillment center sends orders to customers within their respective region.
This method works well if you know exactly how many products to send to each region. That’s great for crowdfunders and more of a guessing-game challenge for companies like Stonemaier Games who don’t accept preorders until the products have arrived at fulfillment centers.
Top Fulfillment Centers
When I’m selecting a fulfillment company, I always ask about and test are quality of packaging, speed, communication, customer service, and autonomous problem solving.
I’ve come to believe that consistently high quality is much more important than price when it comes to fulfillment centers. However, you can see a variety of stats (including price estimates, which are updated by each corresponding company) as well as contact information on this master list of fulfillment companies.
Here are my current top picks by region:
- United States: We now work with Miniature Market fulfillment here in ST. Louis. Fulfillrite and Quartermaster Logistics have great reputations, and whenever I receive a package from them, I’m pleased with the quality of packaging.
- Europe: Spiral Galaxy is great to work with, and they’ve added a full-service VAT option over the last year or so. They’re extremely responsive, they’re fast, they pack games well, and they even have an optional system where they can confirm addresses with customers before printing labels.
- Canada: We’re now working with Asmodee Canada to handle fulfillment.
- Australia/NZ: Aetherworks continues to do a good job at fulfilling our shipments to customers in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
- Other Areas: Unfortunately, there aren’t any fulfillment centers in other regions I can currently recommend, but I’d love to hear from other creators if they’ve had good experiences in 2021-22.
If you plan to sell products through your webstore to customers on an ongoing basis, I would recommend setting up different storefronts for each region. We recently made that change after years of having all inventory lumped together (which meant that we could easily sell a product to someone because it’s in stock in one fulfillment center but not their specific fulfillment center).
Instructions for Fulfillment Centers
I try to be abundantly clear every time we work with a fulfillment center. Feel free to copy and paste the instructions below (or add/subtract from them):
- Ship all packages so they do not require a signature for delivery.
- Send customers their tracking number by e-mail on the same day that their order leaves the facility (not when the label is made and no later than the day after the package departs). Also, it’s crucial that backers see their FULL address on tracking notifications, not a partial address that will cause them to freak out and wonder if we forgot half of their information. If you need to identify the contents of each package for tracking, the label should read “_________.”
- Please send me a spreadsheet of tracking numbers and couriers within 2-3 days of fulfillment completion. I can answer 90% of customer service questions if I have that data.
- If an order is sent in multiple packages, please make sure the customer knows that they’re receiving more than one package. That will prevent a lot of customer confusion and frustration.
- Please pack the products with plenty of cushioning around the edges, corners, and between differently sized components.
- Please use eco-friendly, space-efficient packaging if possible. (It’s generally up to the creator to specify if there is a product that could be shipped in a padded mailer or envelope instead of a reinforced box.)
- Let me know in advance what your estimated daily/weekly target is (particularly for a larger shipout).
Recent Tips and Thoughts
- Transparency: Many crowdfunders have moved to the method of charging for parcel shipping costs after the project. Parcel shipping is fulfillment center labor, packaging, and postage, which is separate from the landed cost for a product (manufacturing plus freight; this is built into the reward price). Basically, the assumption is that when you place a pledge, you’re now paid for the landed costs, and later you will be charged the parcel shipping cost. Unfortunately, it seems that some creators are sneaking freight shipping into the parcel shipping fee. If you’re planning to do this, at the very least, be transparent about it in your shipping chart.
- Responsibility: I think all creators can relate to how bad if feels when a customer reports that a package wasn’t delivered (despite the courier’s “proof” of delivery). It sucks for the customer too. It’s reasonable to ask the customer to check with their neighbors–you’d be surprised by how many times the box is one door over. After that, I would highly recommend that creators confirm that the address is secure, add a required signature to the delivery, and ship the package again. Yes, it’s lost revenue, and it’s arguably more of the courier’s responsibility than yours. But it’s definitely your customer, and this is an opportunity to either keep that customer or lose them forever.
- Product Size: A certain number of cartons fit on a pallet (usually 48), and your manufacturer will often use the same carton size for everything they send. Smaller box sizes offer a significant competitive advantage given the high freight shipping costs in 2022 (they’re 5-7x higher than they were in 2019).
- Pre-packing: To speed up the fulfillment process, slightly decrease the cost per unit, and ensure a consistent quality of packaging, your manufacturer can pre-package products at the factory. This works best if customers are ordering 1 unit of the product and nothing else.
- Damaged boxes: Publishers don’t typically have replacement boxes, so if a customer receives a dented or broken box and requests a replacement, there’s no other way than to send them another full game. This typically leaves a fully functional game with the customer; I recommend sending the customer a prepaid shipping label to send the ding-and-dent game to a reviewer of your choice (check with the reviewer in advance to see if they’re fine with that).
Other Tips I’ve Learned Over the Years
- Bar Codes/SKUs: Some fulfillment centers require bar codes (gs1, then generate codes here); others just need SKUs (stock codes; if you’re in the board game industry, get these from heather.stoltzfus@hmahobby.org). Make sure you have both, and make sure you have a system for ensuring that you don’t use the same bar code on different products (I use a Google Doc with conditional formatting that highlights duplicate cells).
- Made in China: If you manufacture in China, put “Made in China” on the box (or wherever you made the product). Customs will have a problem if you don’t do this.
- Add-Ons: The more add-ons and various configurations you offer, the more trouble you’re going to have when you fulfill rewards. Not only does it increase the potential for human error, but it also increases the cost: Some fulfillment centers charge a fee for each item in the box.
- Fee Precision: When calculating shipping rates on your crowdfunding project, use accurate fees for each country, not one-size-fits-all rates.
- Europe/VAT/Brexit: If you’re shipping within Europe, I’d recommend putting an address on the back of the box (ideally a European address, perhaps your fulfillment center there). You’ll need to pay VAT, and I recommend shipping DDP (delivery duty prepaid) if you ship to the EU from the UK so customers know that the price they see on your webstore (which includes VAT) is the full price they’ll pay for the product (no surprises upon delivery–and if there is a surprise, it’s a mistake by the courier that can be resolved). [Addendum from James in the comments: “Technically, if your game is CE marked (which it needs to be if you are advertising it as a game for under 14s) you need to have an address of an EU-based company that can act as your “authorised representative” and hold your Declaration of Conformity for you.”]
- Latin America and Africa: We’ve tried to ship to customers in these regions in the past, but very few packages would actually arrive at their destinations. I know it’s not ideal, but my recommendation to these customers is that they ship to forwarding addresses in regions where we do ship (i.e., to a friend or to a service like Shipito).
- Communication: I’ve found that keeping backers and customers informed with frequent updates throughout the fulfillment process is really helpful for easing their anxiety, even if you have no news to share.
- Local Pickup: If you have some products in stock at your location, here are some factors to consider when offering local pickup. In general, I would not recommend doing this.
***
Of course, this is far from the only way to ship stuff worldwide. There are a variety of methods you can use. Perhaps by reading my other articles about fulfillment, you can find the method that works best for you.
If you fulfilled a project in 2022, what’s something you learned that can help your fellow creators?
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25 Comments on “The Current State of Worldwide Fulfillment (2022)”
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hi, just found your blog 2 days ago and I read like 35 posts already, thanks!
I am struggling to understand how FC works with VAT payments.
How does the VAT get paid or billed to you when you use fulfillment center in EU? Fulfillrite has article ~”3 ways to handle customs and VAT” saying customs get applied to wholesale value instead of retail value when you use FC.
When you sell a product in EU shouldn’t VAT be always calculated for retail value?
And if game gets moved from manufacturer to fulfilment center in EU to client, is it that I am selling the game to FC and they sell it to client, or is it just added service provider like post office?
How would that be different if I have US based company vs EU based company if in both cases I’d like to use FC services?
Thanks! I think any fulfillment center will know these answers better than me–I’d recommend talking to them. My understanding is as follows:
How does the VAT get paid or billed to you when you use fulfillment center in EU? Fulfillrite has article ~”3 ways to handle customs and VAT” saying customs get applied to wholesale value instead of retail value when you use a fulfillment center.
–It depends on the fulfillment center. Some (like Spiral Galaxy) can pay the VAT on your behalf. Others may require you to require for a VAT account and pay it yourself.
When you sell a product in EU shouldn’t VAT be always calculated for retail value?
–When you have a product in the EU and you sell it, VAT should be calculated based on the amount paid by the customer.
And if game gets moved from manufacturer to fulfilment center in EU to client, is it that I am selling the game to a fulfillment center and they sell it to client, or is it just added service provider like post office?
–It’s just an added service provider. You’re selling the game to backers, not the fulfillment center.
How would that be different if I have US based company vs EU based company if in both cases I’d like to use a fulfillment center’s services?
–It isn’t different. Either way, you must pay VAT.
Hi Jamey,
I’m not sure if you have covered this already since I have a backlog of content to watch/read, but would be interesting to hear your opinions on board game companies asking for additional money for shipping due to the changes in the global shipping economy.
I’m aware you probably wont mention specific examples, but for example there was a very recent high profile that asked for more money very close to the shipping date, and many people felt they held their game at ransom. I gladly paid my due since I’m excited for the game, but the outrage of the community seems immense. And there are also a lot of different approaches by other companies. I read of at least one company which absorbed the cost themselves. I heard of other companies which just go belly up and wont deliver at all. There is one company were two creators took up a personal loan to fulfill the shipment (a huge risk to them I feel). I feel there is also no one size fits all approach since it depends on so many factors.
Just keen to hear your thoughts on this.
Cheers,
Roger
PS: In terms of fulfillment centers, my personal experience with VFI Asia on the receiving end has been only positive so far across five or so deliveries.
Roger: Thanks for your question. For context, I think you’re specifically referring to situations where backers have already paid for parcel shipping (and thus assumed–reasonably so–that they had no other related expenses), yet the creators then said they wouldn’t ship rewards unless backers paid even more.
In that situation, I don’t think there’s any possible reason a creator can justify such an action. Backers paid the shipping amount you asked; their part of the deal is now done. At that point, the only reasonable action in my opinion is for a creator to say, “It’s our responsibility to ship your rewards to you. The shipping cost is higher than we estimated when you paid for shipping, and if you’d like to contribute even a $1 to those costs, it would mean a lot to us. But that is entirely your choice and will have no impact on your pledge.”
Hi Jamey,
Thanks for your answer! What you are saying makes a lot of sense. Naturally, I’m not happy to pay more, but I can see the side of the creator too, to a degree at least. But I like your approach of making it a contribution rather than something people are now calling a ransom.
An interesting point was made on the Dice Tower video that moving some freight costs into “shipping” wasn’t just to “sneak” the cost somewhere else (though they did admit, that keeping the sticker shock down was part of it) but it was also down to fairness.
If you have a single price point for every region, which you sort of have to do on Kickstarter, then “shipping” is the only expected place to cater for regional variation. If freight costs from China-EU / China-US / China – Australia start to vary significantly, then one region effectively subsidises the other. The landed costs are different, but the game price is the same.
(Even more apparent when you have EU companies that legally have to price that single pledge level with VAT included – by varying “shipping” you can cancel those variances back out).
A better way would be to have a “freight cost surcharges” line in the Pledge Manager but then even if that were set up technically, it’d just make people more angry: “What, now I have to pay shipping, taxes and freight cost surcharges!” even if the combined cost was what they were used to paying for shipping anyway. For every person that appreciates the extra transparency, someone else will be angry at the “extra” charges.
That’s fair, there are small variances in freight shipping costs, and I think it’s reasonable to build them into parcel shipping costs (but not the bulk of the primary freight shipping cost).
Jamey as someone who comes from an operations and finance background I love the attention you give to Fulfillment. Of course each industry has its own challenges – thank you for sharing your knowledge, it’s incredibly helpful.
Thanks Nicole! I didn’t picture it this way when I started Stonemaier Games in 2012, but hub-based worldwide fulfillment became a core part of the company from early on. Back then, creators were shipping by hand or from a single fulfillment center to all parts of the world, and I figured there must be a better way. :)
This is really a fantastic update; much appreciated and well done!
With respect to container shipping costs, I would suggest using Freightos.com ( I have no affiliation), as they collate, combine and average container shipping data to work out an average container shipping cost for the world and for specific routes: Eg China to USA east coast. Far more reliable than the anecdotal information around.
To ship to South Africa, I suggest using VFI which then ships to a South African distributor called Solarpop. ( I live in South Africa and work for a logistics company and have no affiliation to either company.)
Regards
Mike Mitchell!
Thanks Mike! How is VFI doing for you? I used to work with them for fulfillment in Asia, but after a few fulfillments with them didn’t go as we’d hoped, we stopped working with them.
Lol they still have your company listed on their website as clients
We haven’t worked with them for years. Very odd. What’s the URL where it shows us as current clients?
Thank you so much for the tips. This is very helpful.
As a new creator in this space I can’t say enough about the information Jamie posts on this blog. It is especially helpful to hear your first-hand accounts about your dealings with other companies in the fulfillment chain.
I’m sure you hear this a lot Jamie but it never hurts to hear it even more, so I’ll add a “thank you” for this and all the other resources you post here!
Thanks Mike! I really do appreciate that, as whenever I’m writing one of these posts, I’m always wondering, “Is this going to help someone else?” I always hope so! :)
Great article!
A pitfall worth mentioning for the EU in addition to your suggestion about the address. Technically, if your game is CE marked (which it needs to be if you are advertising it as a game for under 14s) you need to have an address of an EU-based company that can act as your “authorised representative” and hold your Declaration of Conformity for you. It’s rather painful administratively and seems unnecessarily bureaucratic to me. Many small companies may be fine… but you can get caught out this way now!
Thanks for clarifying, James! I’ll update the post. :)
You are more than welcome! That’s great – here’s hoping it prevents a publisher or two from getting caught out.
Fulfilling yourself by hand is a great alternative for in-country shipping if you have the space to properly store the goods.
It’s incredibly time consuming, but a rewarding experience to see the piles whittle down. You can also save a lot of money doing it yourself. We recently fulfilled 5,000 USA orders in-house (Feb 2022) and saved about $7-12,000 doing it ourselves. For us it was worth it, given the low margins our campaign offered and the increased ‘freight’ we had to pay from original estimates. For higher budget projects, it might be worth selling that job to get your time back.
Regardless, newer or smaller companies with 1000 or less shipments and a tight new-business budget, sometimes the ‘handling it yourself’ method is well worth the savings.
That’s my 2c.
I’m impressed by this, John! For other creators to take note, I think the sacrifice of shipping by hand is that’s time you could spend creating other cool stuff. But if you have the time, you’re absolutely right about the savings involved.
Looks like your fulfillment in the US still has challenges, as I experienced a break in your Instruction #2 this past week with my Viticulture World order. The label was generated on 6/15 and I received my tracking number / shipping notification on 6/16… despite the package not actually departing until 6/22. I’m just excited to finally be in the queue to receive Viticulture World after placing my ordering on 6/1, but clearly this business of fulfillment has issues.
Tony: Indeed, this appears to be an issue with couriers (which, while closely tied to fulfillment centers, are not the same entity). A fulfillment center can have a package ready to go, but unless the courier actually shows up to pick it up, it isn’t going anywhere. :)
That makes sense. FedEx picked it up on 6/22 and immediately indicated it would be delivered the same day, which made no sense for halfway across the country. It took the entire day for their system to finally update with a more accurate (I assume) delivery date. It seems every step has challenges.