Regional fulfillment

Regional fulfillment means splitting your production run into several shipments, each sent to a warehouse inside a major market, so that backers receive domestic parcels instead of international ones. The standard hub map for a tabletop campaign covers the United States (which often serves Canada as well, though a separate Canadian hub avoids cross-border fees), the United Kingdom (separate from the EU since Brexit), the European Union (hubs commonly in Germany or the Netherlands), Australia (often covering New Zealand), and sometimes a dedicated Asia hub.

The benefits are substantial. Domestic postage is far cheaper than international parcel rates, delivery is faster and more trackable, and because you import in bulk and pay duties and VAT at the border yourself, backers get no surprise customs charges. This is what "customs friendly" means in campaign copy, and backers in the EU, UK, and Australia now expect it from any serious campaign.

The mechanics: your freight forwarder splits the container quantities at origin, or ships one container to a primary hub that transships to others. Each regional import needs its own customs clearance, its own duty and tax payment, and in the EU and UK, VAT registration or an arrangement where your fulfillment partner or an intermediary acts as importer. Many tabletop fulfillment companies bundle this, quoting you a landed, delivered service per region so you do not need your own tax registrations in five countries.

Regional fulfillment does add fixed overhead per hub: minimum shipment sizes, separate receiving fees, and the hassle of forecasting how many backers each region will have. A useful rule of thumb is that a region needs at least a few hundred backers to justify its own hub. Below that, some creators serve the region internationally from the nearest hub and price shipping accordingly, while being upfront that customs fees may apply.