As you all know, a bunch of changes are happening in our world currently involving the COVID-19 virus. We have continued to keep you all updated regarding the delays and changes that have occured over the past year and a half and we will continue to do so. While many of these changes are due to COVID-19, some are also due to government/customs changes and international shipping laws. We want to go ahead and contact you all and prepare for any situation that may arise in the future. As of now, these changes are mostly affecting the shipping timeline of each box, but Fae Crate will ensure they are shipped out no matter what.
-Here's the gist of things as we know them-
Flights from outside of the United States are becoming more frequent, but shipments are still being affected as the cost of flights have rose exponentionally. While not all of our shipments can be airshipped many are being shipped via sea. As we are not the only company experiencing these changes sea ports are seeing an increase in shipments coming in and out of the US ports. The ports can only receive and clear a certain amount of ships, containers, etc per day. The majority of our delays have incurred at the port as items must first be cleared, unloaded, and then go through actual US Customs to be cleared again before items can be scheduled for pick up. You can click here for more information that further explains the congestion ports are experiencing.
Please note, while many country's, states, companies, schools, etc have been opening back up there is still an on-going pandemic. A good deal of our team are mothers who have children returning back to school. As many of you know children returning back to school does put those families at risk for testing positive. Unfortunately, some of our team's families have already tested positive for COVID-19, since school began. Everyone is recovering well and taking the necessary precautions to ensure they are staying safe.
Currently our fulfillment center is facing the same issues. They are short staffed due to COVID-19 related problems and packing is taking longer than it normally would with a full staff. We have more information below on which boxes these changes will be affecting. Many of the changes that are coming into play are happening very quickly and we are just having to roll with the punches. We are 100% wanting this entire process to be as clear and transparent as possible with you all.
What most of this means is we are playing a lot of shipping by ear. What we can promise you is that every Fae Crate WILL ship no matter what. This is not a question of funds or purchasing the items- it is just a question of when these products will be received. We have never failed on shipping a box and we do not plan to start here or ever. We will be updating you all regularly on which crates we believe will be impacted. We won’t be sending out emails constantly unless something major happens. However, we will post to social media with updates as we have them. And this blog post will be updated each time something new comes up.
We know this is a huge info dump and no one likes to read about delays, us more than anyone. We want these packages our team has worked on to reach your hands very badly. We will continue to be transparent as we have always been to make sure you always know what is happening with your packages. Please be patient with our Customer Service Team as we are receiving a higher influx of emails than normal. Replacements of damaged items may also take more time as we have been sending back to back packages out and our fulfillment center is not a huge one.
Current Updates
Monthly Box Update!
**8/22/21** Due to the delays at ports and customs, one of the items that get held up the most is our physical boxes. Due to this and the combination of our box vendor having larger delays, which is being caused by the new wave of the virus, we have ordered plain boxes to be used for some of our monthly crates as not to hold any monthly boxes back more than they already are. These will be seen in a mixture of July and August crates (since these will be packed pretty close together) and possibly September depending on when we receive our new box order.
The EXCITING news is since this delay was already occurring, we decided to take this time to update our Fae Crate boxes! After 3 years, Fae Crates are getting an update! So our new shipment will be a Fae Crate box design you have never seen before. You can still expect our signature purple, but we are so excited for you all to see the new design! These box changes only apply to the monthly crates. Our special editions going out in the next weeks all still have their gorgeous and exclusive box designs!
We wanted to ensure that if our Center received all the items for the monthly crate, they were not being held due to the delayed box shipment. Similar to book orders, custom boxes take a while to get to us, so we wanted to make sure you all could get your crates as soon as possible!
Thank you again for how amazing you all have been, as we've been packing box after box back to back the last month to get all delayed crates out to you! We still see the back-to-back boxes happening for at least the next month with how many crates are being prepped to leave our Center, so be excited for even more to show up at your door!
Current Past Items SALE ORDERS!
**10/25/21** Our Center will not begin shipping until after the sale closes on October 31st . Orders will be shipped out in waves over a 3-month period (until the last day of January) due to the high volume of orders, the upcoming holidays, and the multiple packages scheduled to be shipped out during this time as well. While orders are usually shipped in order they are not guaranteed to be shipped out in order nor are they guaranteed to be received by Christmas. Print-on-demand items are shipped from a printing facility separate from our Center. Print-on-demand items include shirts, mugs, and totes and these orders may ship early and separately.
Nichan Smile
**11/5/21** The Center informed us the last wave of orders was sent out today! We would like to let you know that during the packing procedure, our fulfillment team, unfortunately, found that a portion of special editions were damaged. The damages were to the book itself and not just the slipcase, but our Center was unaware of these issues until the last box. Because of this, we do not have any replacement copies available at our Center.
We are currently in the process of having replacements for all the damaged copies shipped from our manufacturer to our fulfillment center. We hope to receive these as quickly as possible with minimal delays! Unfortunately, there will be an 8 week minimum turnaround time as these need to be printed and shipped from our manufacturer to our fulfillment center. We hope to receive these as quickly as possible with minimal delays!
If you need a replacement please email our Customer Service Team at help@faecrate.com with your order number and pictures of your damages. As we are having our vendor print more editions of these special editions we will be opening sales for anyone who may have missed their chance to buy these beautiful editions!
August Fae Crate
**11/17/21** August crates are being packed and will be shipped out early-to-mid next week. Reminder, once tracking emails are sent out they usually take 24-48 hours to update.
**11/24/21** All August crates have been shipped out! Reminder, tracking usually updates within 24-48 business hours once scanned in by the postal service.
September Fae Crate
**9/20/21** While these boxes are tentatively scheduled to ship out the week of the 20th - 28th, some of the items have unfortunately not yet arrived at customs. The delays have been increasing as ports are over whelmed and customs are taking longer to approve items, but as always we will continue to post updates for this box as we know more! Thank you for all your continued patience during these times.
**10/5/21** The books and items that we were waiting on have finally arrived at customs and cleared!! We expect all items to be received by our Center by the time the August Crates are ready to be shipped. These will be scheduled to ship out after the August boxes!
**10/25/21** The last item arrived at our Center today! These are scheduled to be packed and shipped out after all August boxes.
**11/5/21** These are still scheduled to begin packing after all the August Crates are shipped out. We will be sending out the address check for these soon. If you'd like to go ahead and update your shipping address for your August Crate, please reach out to our Customer Service Team at help@faecrate.com with your order number and the address you'd like the kit to be shipped to.
**11/11/21** After August boxes are shipped out our Center will begin packing up September boxes. We will be sending out an address check for the September boxes on Monday, so be on the lookout!
**11/11/21** After August boxes are shipped out our Center will begin packing up September boxes. We will be sending out an address check for the September boxes on Monday, so be on the lookout!
**11/24/21** As all August boxes have been shipped out, our Center will begin packing September boxes after the holidays. Once all September boxes are ready to be shipped out tracking emails will be sent via email.
Married To Magic
**9/6/21** While we were expecting these to ship out during the month of September, we are not certain they will arrive in time due to the current shipping delays occurring across the board. We will be sure to post more information once we can confirm whether these special editions will be shipping out in time or will be delayed. Thank you for all your patience as we greatly appreciate it!
**9/23/21** Unfortunately, we are still waiting on the special editions to be received at port. At this time, we do not have an estimated shipping date until they are received and clear customs. As soon as we have more information we will be posting another update!
**10/25/21** We are still waiting for these special editions to be received at port. We are constantly keeping an eye on these items and will post an update as soon as we have more information.
**11/5/21** At this time these still have not been received at port. We sincerely apologize for these long delays! Unfortunately, the US shipping ports are still very overwhelmed, but as always as soon as we see any change we will post an update!
**11/11/21** Great news! We have received an update and these special editions are in the process of clearing customs! Reminder, this will still need to clear and then shipped to our Center. We estimate these to be shipped out after September boxes. We will send out an address check email for these once our Center confirms they have been received. If you'd like to go ahead and update your shipping address, please reach out to our Customer Service Team at help@faecrate.com with your order number and the address you'd like the kit to be shipped to.
**11/24/21** We are still expecting these to be shipped out after the all September boxes are shipped out!
Bronzed Beasts
**10/5/21** While we were expecting these to ship out during the month of October, we are still waiting for a few items to arrive at port. Reminder, once these arrive at port they will then need to be unloaded, cleared, and then picked up by UPS. Ports are still experiencing delays, but we are keeping a close eye on these items and will be sure to post updates as we receive them!
**11/5/21** Unfortunately, we are still waiting on a few items for this kit. The delays at ports are still very overwhelming, but we are keeping an eye on these items and as soon as we receive any information we will be sure to post an update!
October Fae Crate
**10/12/21** While monthly boxes usually ship out during the 20th -28th of each month, the October boxes will, unfortunately, be delayed. Our Center is currently working on getting caught up with packing and shipping out the boxes and special editions that we have received! At this time either the October or the Bronzed Beasts Kits will be shipped out after the September boxes, this just depends on which box receives all its items at that time. As always we will continue to post updates as we receive them!
**11/5/21** Unfortunately, we are also still waiting on a few items for the October box as well. As soon as we have more information on these items we will be sure to post an update!
Psalm of Storms & Silence
**11/11/21** While we were expecting these to ship out during the month of November, there are still some outstanding items we are waiting on to arrive at port. Our Center has boxes scheduled to be packed back-to-back, and once we've received all the items we will be posting an update on when we expect these kits to be shipped out. Unfortunately, the US shipping ports are still very overwhelmed and experiencing delays, but as always as soon as we see any change we will post an update!
November Fae Crate
**11/22/21** While monthly boxes usually ship out during the 20th -28th of each month, the November boxes will, unfortunately, be delayed. The US shipping ports are still experiencing major delays. We have been seeing some movement, unfortunately, items are still taking much longer than usual to arrive and be cleared by customs. Our Center is currently focusing on packing up boxes that we have received all the items for and we are hoping the November boxes can be shipped out after either October or A Psalm of Storms and Silence Kits.
International Boxes
**Added 4/22/20**
There are multiple countries that are currently not accepting shipments or that we are unable to transport shipments to. If you're an international box is unable to accepted, USPS is marking them as Return to Sender. If we receive any boxes back , USPS has guaranteed that they will accept the package back for shipping once shipping lanes have reopened.
You can read more about what countries are currently listed and USPS's policies here.
Is everything on track for the Empire of Gold to be shipped on time? If so, what is the estimated date? Thank you!
It says that March crates shipped on 4/22 but I still don’t have it…
Any news on the April Fae Crate?
Thank you for the updates broken down by individual boxes, this answered my questions perfectly.
What’s the sitch if you haven’t received a box from January…?