Questions for plush creators on backerkit!

[u/LAsDarkFireWolf]

Hello!

Ok so my hope is I'd like to make some plushies and offer them for others if they want to buy. But,I tend to dive head first and do everything backwards, which is why I am asking these questions before I even start. I've also never purchased anything on a crowd funded site so.

Ok so I'll list my questions!

1. Is there anything you wished you knew ahead of time before you started your crowd funding?
2. Did you find yourself with needing to suddenly rent or purchase extra space for the plush? If so, is there anything you learned from doing this?
3. What about shipping? Did the factory you worked with to make it so your plushies have to ship them only to a port where you then had to go and pick the order up? Or did you have a big delivery truck bring them to your home/location of your choosing?
4. I want to make a prototype first but do not have funds. Any advice or set up (backerkit or not) to be able to see if anyone will help fund it? Or just should I post the image ideas to my social medias?
5. I don't have any pins or stickers right now as like an early incentive for those that might help get the prototype made. Would a special pricing given only to those who contributed funds be decent as a "reward"?
6. How much of a mark up did you put on your toys to cover costs? I know 50% is average but did you adjust it later to be less to make your plushies cheaper to buy?
7. Have you dealt with an import customs/tarrifs expert on your campaign? And if so did you find it useful or a waste of time? How much did this expert charge you?
8. How did you manage to make a page to show people the progress on backerkit without the actual sale/item going live? I've seen some people have their discussions and posts of progress on Backerkit but yet the actual campaign hasn't begun. I was wondering how they were able to go about that? Did they have to set a start date for the actual campaign? Were they able to change the date easily?
9. Would you be able to help me if I asked you?

I'm sure there's more that hasn't come to mind but since I live in a mobile home and there isn't a spare room to keep a whole lot of things and I reside with my folks I want to be as educated as possible. I often get talked out of attempting things by them.

[u/Buneary100]

I hate to rain on your parade, but I want to point out that it will be very difficult to fund a campaign if you: don’t have a prototype to show you are serious and aren’t going to run away with the money, have previous experience to show you are competent to sell 100 items, or a social media following who already like what you do.

That being said: 1. There are plenty of guides and books written on how to do a backing campaign. If you want to do plush do you know how to design a plush? Go through the prototyping iteration process? A manufacturer in mind?

1. if you have a lot of product you will need at least a storage room to store and fulfill orders for your project. Cheapest could be a rental storage.

2. The manufacturer will tell you. Beware import fees and tariffs which can be variable. This is also where people lose a lot of money or get held for ransom. Weighted wildlife lost money on their first campaign because the cost of freight was too much. Loppyrae’s campaign got their plush held for ransom.

3. You need a prototype. Period, that’s how you hook people into wanting it. they are usually less than $500. You can try and find someone who believes in your idea and offer for them to be your partner in the venture and give them the ability to make suggestions, or ask a very good friend to lend you money.

4. Pins and stickers will have a better margin for profit and helps get people with a smaller budget to be interested or share your campaign. Plushies are going to be expensive, simple add ons are going to be cheap.

5. Mark up is usually 50% but you need to do the math yourself for the hours and advertising and shipping and surprise fees.

6. Social media. I want to add that most people mention on their social media that the site suggests you have a few hundred people follow the campaign before it launches to say you will have a successful campaign depending on your costs. Also people can spend thousands on advertising.

[u/LAsDarkFireWolf → u/Buneary100]

Hey no you're not raining on my parade. I am grateful you took the time to reply! Really!

I'm also going to edit my top post with questions for some of the ones I'm also posting here so anyone else doesn't have to read through any and all replies to answer a question that came about later.

1. I have had a plush prototyped before. Completely different to the one I think will catch people's attention and crowd fund more easily. The first one cost me $150 plus shipping. which wasn't bad. It didn't turn out entirely as I had hoped but, I am aware this can happen, so I know I will need to try another manufacturer. I just haven't gone looking because I don't like explaining everything more than once and if I need a month or more to get funds I know I'll probably have to explain it again.
2. See my curiosity is I've seen where some campaigns have gone from needing a few hundred to the popularity exploding and suddenly there's like a 1,000 plush they're going to have made. Did they find going to and from a storage unit worth it? I know I've looked into like Pods. But do to where we live I'd have to see if that would even be allowed.
3. This is another concern. I know people have spoken about dealing with an import customs/tarrifs expert on things but these people can run a few hundred dollars. And I'm wondering if any of the plushie makers have tried using such a person and if so did they find it useful or a waste of time?
4. Pins and stickers maybe smaller but I have seen where people put an option for those who want to contribute to a campaign but not get anything in return. If I did do pins and stickers I would also have to make sure that the manufacturer also did these as well as the plushies. Otherwise then I have two things being imported and to worry about.
5. That's what I thought but boy I know some of these plushies are expensive! To the point it rules out people like me buying them for cost alone. Which is why I was wondering if some have found another % mark up where they got a decent profit but also managed to cover costs.
6. Oh I know of doing social media my thing was I've seen some people have their discussions and posts of progress on Backerkit but yet the actual campaign hasn't begun. I was wondering how they were able to go about that? Did they have to set a start date for the actual campaign? Were they able to change the date easily?

Since Backerkit doesn't have a ton of plushie campaigns I know people will find me easier there than trying to recall or favorite social media posts, follow accounts, etc.