Vivid Kingdoms

[Strag]

You are too kind Gandalf, I'll send you a DM

[Swiski66]

I went back to check on the project to see what happened, as I recently did an eBay search and was surprised to see so few decks available and those at quite high prices (considering the size of print run).

In looking at the KS comments, it was unfortunate to see so many complaints about packaging and mis-packed (wrong or missing items) orders. Complaints about decks thrown into a bag with no protection, brick box packaged flat without protection and so was bent and torn etc etc and on top of that loads of complaints about orders not delivered at all and lack of response from the creator. Really a shame as the card designs themselves look great and I would have liked a deck or two for my collection, but not at the prices currently on eBay and I'm reluctant to order direct from the maker given the shipping problems. Hopefully lessons learnt there by the creator.

I did notice one thing that quite possibly might be causing the dissatisfaction from some backers. They decided to not respond to people directly on KS but to instead tell backers to email them via a Gmail account. Personally I would expect them to use the method of the platform as opposed to forcing people to figure it out themselves and in the meantime be quite frustrated. I've seen this on other campaigns and whilst I realise it's more convenient for the creator, it's the customers/backers who I feel they should be catering for, not just what's easier for them. Just my thoughts.

I just checked eBay. There are a ton of Vivid Kingdoms decks listed, and for decent prices. Are you referringly to only the Limited Edition decks?

[Strag]

I just checked eBay. There are a ton of Vivid Kingdoms decks listed, and for decent prices. Are you referringly to only the Limited Edition decks?

I should have clarified, when I go to purchase on ebay I use the UK site (ebay.co.uk) and I also only search for sellers in the UK. The cheapest Vivid Kingdoms deck of any kind that shows up there is for £35 plus £4 shipping, so just over $50.

If I go to ebay.com, there definitely are some cheaper prices, but the shipping to me makes them cost the same as the above (or they don't ship outside the US). When I consider the costs of my decks I consider the "all in" price to include shipping, not just raw deck costs.

Thanks for checking!

[Squiddle_Ink]

In looking at the KS comments, it was unfortunate to see so many complaints about packaging and mis-packed (wrong or missing items) orders. Complaints about decks thrown into a bag with no protection, brick box packaged flat without protection and so was bent and torn etc etc and on top of that loads of complaints about orders not delivered at all and lack of response from the creator. Really a shame as the card designs themselves look great and I would have liked a deck or two for my collection, but not at the prices currently on eBay and I'm reluctant to order direct from the maker given the shipping problems. Hopefully lessons learnt there by the creator.

Lesson learned? Ten Hundred admitted quite publically that he regretted the playing card project and that it got way too big to manage with all the issues. I think he was quite hurt by the reputational damage. Its really awful when your fulfillment doesn't live up to your expectations on a KS project. I felt for Ten Hundred during this. All the content creation, and hard work that went into making this beautiful deck should have had a fairytale ending that inspired him to make more decks... but instead it seemed to become a stressful juggernaut that was to big to manage. I remember his videos where he visits the fulfillment centre and it all seemed so well-oiled, instead it became a gigantic project with loads of streams of merch to handle and insane backer numbers. As the creator it is your reputation on the line even when you do everything right. He demonstrated quite publically and honestly how he became a victim of his own success.

At the end of the day anyone who followed his YouTube channel got so much more from this project then just a deck of cards, many aspiring creators probably used his guidance as a road map and all the hours of insight into his amazing creative journey. Its such a shame to think that these gorgeous decks could be man-handled by anyone. I think ultimately we can see he learned a lesson and the lesson was never to make cards again.

[Squiddle_Ink]

I did notice one thing that quite possibly might be causing the dissatisfaction from some backers. They decided to not respond to people directly on KS but to instead tell backers to email them via a Gmail account. Personally I would expect them to use the method of the platform as opposed to forcing people to figure it out themselves and in the meantime be quite frustrated. I've seen this on other campaigns and whilst I realise it's more convenient for the creator, it's the customers/backers who I feel they should be catering for, not just what's easier for them. Just my thoughts.

Possible explanation:

He hired several new temporary staff just to manage customers coms, so it would have been easier internally for them all to use email forwarders etc. Also you can't upload pictures on KS messages so if backers are complaining about damage they need to be redirected to email to provide proof. I guess asking them to email directly cuts out a step in communication which ultimately sped up the troubleshooting.

[Honeybee]

I suppose the "lesson learned" could have been not to make it so Big - limit the deck run. Quite possibly when it took off, you may not be allowed to alter it to limit the numbers and it would be hard not to be seduced by it. Seeking funding of $10k and you end up with over $2m of backing - it may seem like every KS creators dream but maybe you need to be sure you can handle the dream/set limits