The Crowd Supply Guide: Fulfillment & Logistics

Go make a great product. Leave the packing peanuts to us.

Shipping ship shipping shipping ships

Once your campaign has met its funding goal, you will need to send Crowd Supply the final manufactured products in bulk so we can ship them to your backers worldwide. For reasons of export control compliance, which is quite complicated and can result in extremely high governmental fines if not handled correctly, all Crowd Supply orders must be shipped through Crowd Supply’s shipping and logistics system. Please note that our fulfillment services are only available for projects that launched on Crowd Supply; we do not provide fulfillment-only services for projects or products that did not launch on Crowd Supply.

Fulfillment Fees

Crowd Supply charges you a flat fee for each item shipped. That fee is based on the item’s dimensions, weight, value, and any special packaging needs. It is also based on how much of the shipping cost to the backer is included in the list price versus how much the backer will have to cover at checkout. The item fee covers the cost of all Crowd Supply fulfillment services.

Crowd Supply Fulfillment Services

Crowd Supply’s extensive logistics system will:

Note that, unlike other crowdfunding platforms, Crowd Supply collects all shipping information up front. This reduces delays and miscommunication that often occur when collecting such information through post-campaign surveys.

International Shipping

Crowd Supply ships to backers worldwide, except for those in a list of restricted countries. Each shipment is insured for its full value and supplied with the proper commercial invoices and customs forms. For all packages, we automatically choose the most efficient shipping courier and method, which often depends on the destination country.

International shipping requires familiarity with dense regulatory tomes that classify products for taxation and export control purposes. The potential complexity is daunting, but don’t panic! Crowd Supply has a Customs and Export Compliance team that’s here to help.

VAT and Customs

Crowd Supply prepays VAT and pre-clears customs for most packages shipped to all EU countries, the UK, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. This means the package is delivered directly to the backer’s door without the need for them to deal with a customs house. Crowd Supply, via our parent company Mouser Electronics, is properly registered in each country for which we collect VAT and we remit collected VAT accordingly. Backers who prefer to use their VAT ID and not pay VAT at the time of purchase can do so by contacting us to associate their VAT ID with their Crowd Supply account. Orders that contain items which have lithium content (often due to a lithium battery) cannot be shipped to some countries with VAT prepaid or with customs pre-cleared.

For countries ineligible for VAT prepayment and customs pre-clearance, the appropriate commercial invoices and customs information is provided with the package, but the backer is responsible for paying any duties and, if necessary, working with their local customs house.

The exact duties levied on a particular package depend on several factors, including the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes of its contents. Crowd Supply will help classify your products with the correct HTS code.

Export Compliance

In order to comply with the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR), each of your products must be classified within the Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) system. Whereas the HTS code for a product determines what kind of customs fees the recipient may be liable to pay, the ECCN for a product determines to whom and where the product can be shipped. Violating these regulations, even for a single shipment, can result in very severe fines and could even constitute a criminal offense. Basically, it’s really important to get export compliance right.

EAR99 vs ECCN

Many, many products end up with a classification known as EAR99, which means they don’t have a specific ECCN, but are still subject to EAR. In practice, this usually means you can ship the product to anyone, anywhere, as long as they aren’t on any of the various special lists maintained by different arms of the US government, such as the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Denied Persons List (BIS DPL), and as long as the recipient isn’t known to be putting the product to a prohibited use. (Integrating a fast electrical switch into a nuclear weapon, for example. Don’t do that.) Crowd Supply’s export compliance team will help classify each of your products.

End User Certificates

In rare cases involving certain products being shipped to certain people or destinations, Crowd Supply must first obtain an end-user certificate (EUC), which is a document signed by the product recipient certifying certain details, such as whether the product will be put to civilian or military use. Crowd Supply’s fulfillment system handles all aspects of collecting and reporting an EUC whenever the need arises.

Restricted Countries

Crowd Supply does not ship to the following countries:

Order Policies

To learn more about order policies for things like returns and refunds, visit the Order Policies & Procedures page.

The Fine Print

Question not answered here? Contact us to see how we can help.

The Crowd Supply Guide: Table of Contents

For Everyone

For Backers

For Creators

Getting Started

Before Your Campaign Launches

During Your Campaign

After Your Campaign Concludes

Subscribe to the Crowd Supply newsletter, highlighting the latest creators and projects