Yes I am Alive

Well it has been a while. Nearly half a year since the project completion. Life has been busy on my end, busy enough that internet has been unavailable for the majority of the last roughly half year and only a few hours a day when I do have time. I wanted to give another update that there are no new mugs but that does not mean I won't make more if it is requested. For those dedicated enough to want these mugs, I can work on them. It might take time but I can get more. Email me if interested. Again, thanks for all the support and I am proud to have done this project.

To all late comers who are fans of Spice and Wolf and want some custom merchandise, I welcome your requests. Keep on drinking Korbros. It is what I do when I can.

Finale

It has been a few months since the mugs officially shipped, with some issues here and there. I haven't received any new complaints and I've been trying to keep in contact in the Horo threads when they show up. Overall things appear to have gone well with the shipping though once again I must apologize to all those from different countries who faced ridiculous shipping fees. I still regret not being able to bring you the mugs I promised for a much more reasonable price. Thus ends the project and I am going to make sure all non essential information (such as addresses) are removed and all official work is safely within the servers of other enterprises.

If you have any issues in the future with mugs feel free to contact me. That said, I still have some left over mugs. Some misprints that I was given for free and the rest normal ones. If somebody happens to read this and wants more, I have a few more to send out.

On a final note, I will be gone come next year for a few months. Complete internet blackout. Afterwards the times at which I can browse threads or check my email will be at random. I might have days of free time, I might not see the light of the internet for a month (much to my dismay). If I am not within contact for a while, do not worry, I will do what I can to be online. It's been a pleasure and a learning experience making these mugs gentlemen and possibly ladies. Let's raise our glasses to Horo/Holo/Korbo, and drink until even the Wise Wolf would stagger.

Bad News

I've run across a bit of a snag with the price of international shipping. Instead of the previous 60-80USD pricetag it would be 170USD give or take. Either way, international buyers would be paying close to 200USD for one mug. Needless to say that since they cost only 7.50USD to have made, this is a HUGE price increase. I'm not sure what I can do but ask if anybody knows of cheaper ways to ship internationally. I checked both FedEx and UPS and to ship a package that is 10x12x8 at 4lbs, they both come out to that general cost.

I hate to disappoint international buyers like this but it is one of those things that I do not know what to do for. If anybody wants to buy for that price then I will have no issues wrapping them up well and insuring the hell out of them.

Personally I would recommend you email me so I can send you the images I used. There are other glass engraving studios around and it won't cost you 200USD.

I'd like to say I'm sorry about this turn of events to international buyers one last time. You have been waiting a long time for these mugs only to have to hear this. Again, if anybody knows cheaper shipping let me know. If you want the designs then email me as well and if you still want to go through with the order I can do that.

International

Alright I've been a combination of busy and lazy lately so I'm going to get international orders started this week. I'm going to be emailing everybody from my original list with a paypal money request as soon as I figure out the weight and cost to ship. These will be pricier thanks to the horrible shipping rates. I'll be sending the emails out throughout the week so if you do not get an email and were on the original bulk order, let me know around Friday since I'll finish the emails by then.

Additionally, if anybody that got orders has issues, let me know. Don't feel bad to bug me either since I sometimes get emails mixed up and I like to hear about progress. It seems like most people have gotten their orders and are happy with them from the general feedback I have been getting.

International Orders

Picked up the mugs for international orders today. I will soon be sending PayPal requests for money and then shipping as they are paid for. I will be charging for the base price of the mugs plus tax in my state, the cost of shipping, and the cost of insurance on the packages. None of the mugs for international have centered images though, all are next to the handle.

Order Question

So the company contacted me earlier today. They said some of the mugs had been printed with the graphics on the front (facing away from the handle) instead of right next to the left hand side of the handle (as shown in the picture). I saw some of the mugs and it looked perfectly fine to me. If anybody has a problem with this and really wants to have the graphics on the left hand side of the handle then let me know very soon.

As I said though, it looks fine by me when I saw them and I told the company it was fine since they were half way through production. But if it is a problem to you, let me know ASAP.

Shipping

I got in contact with the company and asked them when the mugs would ship, they said they should be done by Friday and the time it takes in the states is 4-5 business days. Took them a bit longer to make them than I thought but you should be seeing them by next Friday at the latest. International orders who have paid, I will be picking up the mugs next week and shipping them myself then.

Orders Paid For

Just got home after paying for the orders. They will be producing the mugs in the next 3-4 days and shipping them out as they are made. If you don't get yours within two weeks let me know.

FINALLY

Alright. Got PayPal to stop being racist and now I'm transferring the dosh to my account. From there I'll pay for the mugs and have them shipped out. Already emailed the company asking how I should pay for them and from there I'll transfer them the money as they see fit, get a receipt and official invoice, and then they will start moving to everybody who has paid already.

I'm sorry for how this is taking an extra 10 days than what I expected but now I just need to wait on the company for an email in the coming few days. Also to all those who paid very early, an extra apology especially since you might be getting a bit impatient. For very good reason. 

The End Begins

As of this point, I am now going start the final step of paying for the mugs. Thanks again to everybody who participated so far. I only had a few people unable to pay by the deadline so I am mostly happy with how things went. As soon as I get the details of payment done with the company I'll pay them and they will take over from there.

I'll make a new update when everything is all finished in that respect as well. Expect the mugs soon and if something goes wrong (broken glass during shipping is the first thing that comes to mind) let me know.

All Finished

Just got all the invoices for U.S. and Canada buyers sent out. On the off chance I missed you, let me know ASAP. I learned a lot from all this so far. For one if you ever do this, always keep updated, always keep a spreadsheet, and always organize.

Things didn't go too badly so far though. Thank you for all who follow the blog as well. It keeps communication simple and this way you can just yell at me if I mess up somewhere along the line. So as a final reminder, the invoices are all sent for U.S. and Canada buyers, I'll personally ship for international buyers and those who need me to hold onto their orders until they have some more cash. It's been a strange roller coaster of excitement, fear of messing up orders, and boredom waiting for others to communicate issues with (specifically the company I'm going though). I'll begin cancelling unfilled invoices by the end of the month which still gives around two weeks to fill the invoice out. Any questions or concerns, email me about.  As one person who has never done this before I lack insight. Your questions could point out a flaw in my shipping plans, somebody I missed, or who the hell knows what else.

Delays

Sorry about how long this is taking. I am having some technical issues with invoices. I'll the whole thing finished by the end of the month and have the shipping start. The issue isn't difficulty, just speed of communication with the company.

Technical Difficulty

The ordering process got a bit messed up with the company. I rewrote the whole list of buyers for them so for the few who haven't recieved an invoice and are within the U.S. or Canada, expect one soon. I'll post when I have the final invoices out. I am still waiting on about 8 anons to send money payments from earlier invoices.

To everybody who has completed the transaction, expect your mugs to ship within the coming weeks. Communication takes time with this company and I am hoping they finish the last of the invoices by tomorrow so I can send them out over the weekend.

Fast Payments

So far 2/3 of the orders have been filled. This was a bit faster than I expected. I did take some additional last minute orders over the weekend and will have those invoices out when the company makes them.  There also was some confusion where I missed orders and I went back to double check all the emails. I don't think there are any issues now BUT EMAIL ME IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD AN INVOICE SENT TO YOU IF YOU ARE WITHIN THE U.S. AND CANADA. I cannot stress that last part enough. Outside those areas I will have to handle shipping myself.

So if you have any doubt, feel free to email me. Double check, triple check to make sure I didn't mess up. I'd rather get an email before it is too late and don't want to accidentally exclude somebody.

Invoices Sent

Just finished sending out all the invoices for U.S. and Canada buyers. Outside U.S. and Canada buyers will have to wait a bit longer. I'm going to wait until the invoices are all paid then have the company send out all the orders.  From there I'll personally handle the international orders.

So pay the invoices ASAP and we can have everything finished up. IF YOU DID NOT GET AN INVOICE AND ARE IN THE U.S. or CANADA, EMAIL ME!
I cannot stress that enough. Check your spam box, check any alternate email you may have given me, and if not there then email me and let me know. I may have missed you or entered an email wrong. I'm already getting payments in which is great to see since I'm excited to have this all finished.

Delays

The semester is mostly over for me now. That means I can focus on getting these invoices out. Expect them to be done within a week if not sooner. Sorry that I haven't gotten it done yet but I really needed to get finals out of the way and now my time is mostly free.

Invoice Request

It has been a long and busy week. I just sent a request to the glass company for details on everybody's orders and will wait for a reply. The invoices are taking longer than expected but I have a solid list hammered out now in the least.

Ordering End

At this time I am going to end the ordering process. I have 78 orders at the moment and am waiting on final emails. This is going to be very expensive for me to do so I plan on sending invoices and gathering some money first. It will give people a last chance too. Now for the long and laborious process of sending everybody an invoice and ordering the mugs. This too will take some time largely because of my horrible lack of foresight. I forgot just how busy the end of the semester can get and as such I'll be working slowly but steadily towards getting these mugs done and shipped out.

Likely within a week the invoices will be sent out and I'll have the mugs commissioned. How long it takes to have them made I have no idea but I will make sure to post about that when I find out. Thanks for all your patience during this process too. I've never handled something like this before or organized such a large transaction before but Murphy's Law has not been hitting me too hard which I am thankful for.

The Final Stretch

So I have emailed everybody who hasn't replied yet during the ordering phase. If you are one of those people and are reading this, check your spam folders and send me an email. At this rate I will close the ordering period within the next two weeks and start taking money orders through paypal/have the mugs made.

This is getting to crunch time. Right now with only about 1/2 the potential orders filled (lack of responses from interested parties) I still have 45 orders in total. If I get a final surge of emails I might be able to drop the price even lower. It has been a few weeks since I spoke to the glass designers but if I remember right, 9.21USD was the price per mug with an order under 40. If that is the case then the price should be even lower but don't hold me to that.

It has been a hell of a project to work on and organize but it has been going well. If you have any major questions feel free to email me and in the meantime keep checking the blog for updates.

International Shipping

Did some more research and I have found that the price for shipping one mug outside of the U.S. will be around 30USD. The weight limit on the cheapest shipping I could use was 4lbs. and each mug plus packaging meets nearly that limit.

Canada will be cheaper though since flight is not required.  I'll be sending out emails to whoever hasn't ordered yet and then tally up the final count. This will be another month or so I'd guess. Mostly because I'm busy and lazy on my free time.