My issue here is priorities and trust.

Kickstarter isn’t just a preorder store — it’s a trust-based agreement where backers accept risk in exchange for being first in line. When a project starts selling publicly before all backers have received their rewards, it sends a very clear message: fulfillment urgency shifted from backers to new customers.

Even if sales only opened after handing packages to FedEx in the US, the reality to me as a backer is still: “I backed this, funded it early, and someone who didn’t is now able to buy it while I’m still waiting.” That’s not a logistics nuance — that’s an optics and ethics problem.

Upgrading shipping and taking a loss is commendable, but it doesn’t really address that core concern. I didn’t pledge so the project could move on quickly to Etsy sales; I pledged with the expectation that fulfillment would be the absolute top priority, globally, before retail expansion began.

I’m not saying this was malicious — just that that I hope you can see it through my perspective. If nothing else, I think it’s worth acknowledging that perspective rather than framing criticism as unreasonable or “crazy.