Explaining Shipping and Taxes

From the very beginning of the campaign, we were aware of the high volatility of shipping costs due to the COVID-19 and couldn't predict whether will the prices go up or down, therefore we did not include the shipping cost in the Kickstarter pledge amount.

However, at the moment the situation remains unstable, many shipping lanes have been suspended, others that are operational are experiencing delays and an increase in prices. You can read more about this global situation on the blog of our shipping partner.

Since the first day of the campaign, we were stating that the shipping will cost from $10 to $35. It was written at the bottom of the campaign page, in the FAQ, and also in the second update.

What is the real shipping cost?

All shipping is handled by our shipping partner EasyShip. It is a well-known company that builds international shipping solutions, handles the tax matters and local last-mile deliveries all over the world.

We don't profit from shipping and all the shipping funds are transferred directly to the shipping broker. Here is the full pricing EasyShip has provided us with. Please note Paid by Flipper part, this is the amount we compensate when the shipping cost exceeds a promised $35.

This chart shows the total shipping cost and how it is calculated. Shipping and taxes here are calculated for the most common $119 order, consisting of a single Flipper (without addons).

• Total (after the country name) — the amount we transfer to EasyShip for every package.
• Paid by Backer — the amount you pay in the pledge manager.
• Taxes — taxes and duties EasyShip will pay to the destination country on behalf of the backers.
• Paid by Flipper — the amount we pay by ourselves to make the shipping cost stay at the promised $35 limit.

Taxes

You can see that for some countries, shipping costs several times cheaper than in others, because of zero taxes. Sad but true. Almost all of the countries have a VAT (also called a GST) — a value-added tax that applied nearly to all the purchases within the country. Backers from countries that have an import threshold lower than Flipper's price must pay the VAT and we cannot influence their customs policy in any way.

However, for some countries with a sufficient number of orders (EU, UK, Australia, and Canada) we are able to collect the VAT in advance, this way we make the shipping prices lower and the overall process smoother as backers won't need to do anything upon receiving an order.

What service will be used to ship?

Most of the orders will be shipped using our custom direct injection solutions, meaning that products are transported to the destination region in bulk, but cleared as individual orders, and afterward passed to the local couriers for the last-mile delivery. This way we can make the prices much more reasonable.  

The remaining number of orders will be shipped from our Hong Kong warehouse directly to the customer by shipping services without intermediates. Here's a list of most of them:

Country	Service
Andorra, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Egypt, Faroe Islands, Guam, Holy See, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Martinique, Monaco, New Caledonia, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, San Marino, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates
Belarus, Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Thailand, Viet Nam
Hong Kong
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Georgia, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macao, North Macedonia, Mauritius, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States	Direct Injection

Door to Door Delivery

All 100% of parcels will be delivered by courier to the door. Parcels will have an international tracking number. All packages will be declared according to the laws indicating the full cost of the goods, which is necessary for insurance. In case of damage or loss of the package, the recipient will be fully compensated for the cost, or the goods will be sent again.

We are strictly against illegal manipulations with declaring parcels as a "gift" and underestimating the value of the goods in the declaration, since there is a legal punishment for this and, if checked, it may put the recipient at risk for evading taxes.