As for the IRS “scandal”, is it really shocking that someone working at the IRS thought that groups with the attitude of “f*ck the government” applying for tax exempt status required more scrutiny? Feels a bit like saying it’s ignoring second amendment rights when someone gets pulled from a flight because they’re carrying a gun in their carry-on luggage instead of checking it as they’re supposed to. Free speech means you are free to have your speech, not free to avoid the consequences of that speech.

Anyway, good luck with the KS campaign. As always, let me know if you need anything. I look forward to telling others about it.

“Dad, why is everything made in China?” (as he looked at his Louisville baseball glove, Lego set, clothes.. etc etc..)

Because its the only way we can afford to buy stuff!

That joke aside, I personally would pay the $10 for the guaranteed quality. Being Canadian I know I am going to get soaked on the S&H already =)

Couldn’t you just pick up packaging suitable to the size of the order, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach? Then each tier has an “add $X for orders to Canada or $Y for orders Internationally” clause, with the X and Y tailored to the number of decks you’re shipping.

One or two decks can easily fit in a soft padded envelope (sold at post offices up here for something like $1.25), and then shipping – I would assume – could be kept in the range of $5-7. I don’t know how much the US Postal system gouges though….. maybe they really are insane…. but clearly people won’t like paying 2-4x more in postage than the cost of the item they’re buying.

I think you should make your decision entirely based on whether the Chinese printer can produce at a level of quality that would make you happy. It’d be the worst to run the Kickstarter, raise the money, print & ship, and be left thinking that the decks were on kinda shitty cardstock, or that the colour never came out quite how you wanted it, or some such.

Picking a goal lower than the actual cost seems like a bit of mental trickery to gin up backers via that psychology… but it’s risky.

I’m contacting the Chinese printer I have my eye on to see if I can get some sample decks, even old misprints or something. I’ll ask my local card-loving buddies to take a spin with them and go from there. The Chinese printer might just be for the People’s deck and/or the plastic deck. Bicycle decks are expensiveish, but the Kem plastic decks are even more so. No way am I getting a print run of those put together for this project. I’d have to do a sharp focus on poker players and cater to their tastes and play needs. This project isn’t focused in that direction.