Playing cards designed for climbing

I saw these climbing themed cards for the first time at a soft launch party my brother put on and they are super rad (https://www.mtncards.cc/). Check out what he did for the Joker! Also, at the party he gave out this pre order link.  https://www.mtncards.cc/backdoor these are not my cards, they are his.

Cool product, I hope you sell a ton!

Having more than one of something ("cams" or "pitons") should not involve using an apostrophe in your spelling.

the joker should wear a pair of (old) Boreal Jokers. 

I thought you were talking something like Crag crushers.

Please just be transparent rather than trying to trick us into thinking you are not directly affiliated. You saw them at a soft launch party? Yeah, because it's your product (or your brother's/family member's). Just come out and say it rather than being shady.

Or at least if you are relying on trickery, be a little more tricky. Your last name on here is the same as the last name of the "creator" on the backdoor link. The cards are cool. Being deceitful is not.

These are pretty tight. I would be more interested if there were the actual suits. But it's neat they are all custom images to the suits.

Stein Pull, just updated the main post to more clearly reflect exactly what's up. I am not directly affiliated. It is a project my brother is working on. It's his project not mine. Not trying to be tricky.

Sam Ovett wrote: Stein Pull, just updated the main post to more clearly reflect exactly what's up. I am not directly affiliated. It is a project my brother is working on. It's his project not mine. Not trying to be tricky.

That’s exactly what a trickster would say. Your brother stands to make dozens of dollars. This little scam you guys are pulling is going to affect tens of people. 

Not smack talking your ability to sell cards. Even if you were scamming us - it’s playing cards! Not sure why homeboy was giving you a hard time. Sell your cards mo freire. 

These are sweet, I would buy a deck to support the artist. 

The original version could have been clearer.

That being said, looks interesting, I might be in

Love the Piton design.  Would make a sweet t-shirt as well.

The "processing fee" that cannot be refunded should the decks not get produced is not readily stated or I'm just not seeing it. Perhaps I'm missing the fine print somewhere.
Why would I pre-order and risk my money and get stiffed for a processing fee should this venture never happen?
Also, $10 seems a bit stiff for shipping.

That's my processing fee two cents worth of opinion.

are you close to the 365 orders needed?  Thinking of ordering for christmas gift, but want to know if it's gonna be happening.  Thanks

Rock Monkey wrote: The "processing fee" that cannot be refunded should the decks not get produced is not readily stated or I'm just not seeing it. Perhaps I'm missing the fine print somewhere.
Why would I pre-order and risk my money and get stiffed for a processing fee should this venture never happen?
Also, $10 seems a bit stiff for shipping.

That's my processing fee two cents worth of opinion.

Have you shipped anything personally? Most online stores offer free or cheap as dirt shipping because their account with UPS/Fedex moves so many packages that they get to ship for next to nothing.  Then they also buy their boxes and packing material in bulk. 

This loan guy is going to have to get the packing material, pack them up and ship them. For that effort $10 doesn’t seam stiff. 
Don’t quote me but it’s what $7.50 for a small it fits it ships box. Their might be cheaper option to ship if you price around. Add in something to keep the deck from bouncing around in the box and there is likely not much of that stiff price left. 

Barry M wrote:

Have you shipped anything personally? Most online stores offer free or cheap as dirt shipping because their account with UPS/Fedex moves so many packages that they get to ship for next to nothing.  Then they also buy their boxes and packing material in bulk. 

This loan guy is going to have to get the packing material, pack them up and ship them. For that effort $10 doesn’t seam stiff. 
Don’t quote me but it’s what $7.50 for a small it fits it ships box. Their might be cheaper option to ship if you price around. Add in something to keep the deck from bouncing around in the box and there is likely not much of that stiff price left. 

Well here's a kick starter campaign quote below... so I say, $10 seems a bit stiff. And there's still the question of what the mystery processing fee is should this venture not pan out. But hey, that's me. I do like the cards, just not $25 worth of liking for a maybe.

Shipping One Deck of Cards for my Kickstarter Campaign
If your package weighs 13 oz. or less then the First Class Mail Parcel from USPS is the best option. A package weighing 3 oz. or less costs exactly $2.32 to ship anywhere in the U.S. (including its territories and possessions). This price increases incrementally up to $4.12 for a package weighing 13 oz.
Here is a cost breakdown of each ounce increment:

* I’ll address best shipping option for packages above 13 oz. below.
A single deck of cards weighs approximately 3.6 oz. and I will be shipping the deck inside a Kraft #000 4”x7” bubble mailer which weighs 0.28 oz. This puts me at 3.88 oz. (just under 4 oz.) so it will cost me $2.50 to ship this package using First-Class Mail Parcel.

I wanted to verify this price prior to launching our Kickstarter Campaign, so I sent out a few decks of cards using first class parcel using this bubble mailer and they cost exactly $2.50 each to ship to multiple locations. That is not too shabby a shipping price!
The cost for bubble mailers is $66.11 ($61.09 + $5.02 tax) for a pack of 500 from Staples.com, which comes out to $0.132 or 13 cents per envelope. (Also, shipping from Staples is free for all orders over $19.99.)
You can also order them in smaller quantities for a higher cost per envelope comparison. A pack of 25 Kraft #000 4”x7” bubble mailers costs $6.70 which comes out to $0.268 or 27 cents. Because I do not know how many games I will need to ship it is wise to use the most conservative estimate at this point.
My estimated cost to ship one deck of cards: $2.77 ($2.50 + $0.27)
And remember, economy of scale will change this number shipping cost. Every package will cost the same $2.50 base cost from USPS and these cost will add up quick.

$10 for shipping a deck of cards is blatantly padding margin. However, I am aware that he's doing a niche thing for fun, not for any significant profit, so I decided I would pay it into of noping out of the buy.

And if it doesn't come to fruition soon, I'll just get the charge reversed due to lack of fulfillment. 

Rock Monkey wrote:

Well here's a kick starter campaign quote below... so I say, $10 seems a bit stiff. And there's still the question of what the mystery processing fee is should this venture not pan out. But hey, that's me. I do like the cards, just not $25 worth of liking for a maybe.

Shipping One Deck of Cards for my Kickstarter Campaign
If your package weighs 13 oz. or less then the First Class Mail Parcel from USPS is the best option. A package weighing 3 oz. or less costs exactly $2.32 to ship anywhere in the U.S. (including its territories and possessions). This price increases incrementally up to $4.12 for a package weighing 13 oz.
Here is a cost breakdown of each ounce increment:

* I’ll address best shipping option for packages above 13 oz. below.
A single deck of cards weighs approximately 3.6 oz. and I will be shipping the deck inside a Kraft #000 4”x7” bubble mailer which weighs 0.28 oz. This puts me at 3.88 oz. (just under 4 oz.) so it will cost me $2.50 to ship this package using First-Class Mail Parcel.

I wanted to verify this price prior to launching our Kickstarter Campaign, so I sent out a few decks of cards using first class parcel using this bubble mailer and they cost exactly $2.50 each to ship to multiple locations. That is not too shabby a shipping price!
The cost for bubble mailers is $66.11 ($61.09 + $5.02 tax) for a pack of 500 from Staples.com, which comes out to $0.132 or 13 cents per envelope. (Also, shipping from Staples is free for all orders over $19.99.)
You can also order them in smaller quantities for a higher cost per envelope comparison. A pack of 25 Kraft #000 4”x7” bubble mailers costs $6.70 which comes out to $0.268 or 27 cents. Because I do not know how many games I will need to ship it is wise to use the most conservative estimate at this point.
My estimated cost to ship one deck of cards: $2.77 ($2.50 + $0.27)
And remember, economy of scale will change this number shipping cost. Every package will cost the same $2.50 base cost from USPS and these cost will add up quick.

Isn't his time worth something? 

Sam,

Do you know what material the cards will be? Will they be standard card stock? Or plastic? (Plastic playing cards are much better for camping/travel, since they are waterproof...)

Also, what will the design on the backs of the cards look like?

Plastic playing cards are horrible.

Brian Johnson wrote: Plastic playing cards are horrible.

Eh, to each his/her own. I have some textured ones that handle incredibly well, and I like that moisture/humidity have no effect on them.

Hi, I am the creator of the cards and first wanted to say thank you I am stoked to see the conversation on these. I also wanted to answer the questions I had seen come up. Below are the answers.

Number of Decks Ordered:

I currently have 43 decks ordered.

Delivery Time Frame:

Once 365 orders have been reached I am able to place the print order with the United States Playing Card Company (USPC). The printing time frame once I have the files submitted and approved by USPC is approximately 6 weeks. Also, it takes 2 weeks to have proof decks printed and shipped which I intend to have so you all receive high quality cards.

So playing this out if I receive the 365th order on the 25th of December, 2019 and place the order by the 6th of January 2020. They should be in the process of being shipped to me in 8 weeks (6+2). To be conservative lets say it takes 1 week for all the cards to reach me (now at 9 weeks). Assuming I have everything prepared and ready I do a 2-3 day sprint and get them out to everyone to (2 day shipping). So now where at a rough 10 weeks and everyone should be receiving the cards around 2nd week in March (assuming everything goes to plan). Please check my math.

Processing Fee:

I apologize for not being clearer about the processing fees. I am using Squarespace as my website platform and Stripe as my payment gateway. If the cards do not get produced then I will be issuing a full refund via the Squarespace platform which includes: cost of the products, taxes, shipping, and square space transaction fees ( support.squarespace.com/hc/…). The processing fee I am unable to refund is the one included in payment gateway by Stripe this fee is 2.9% + 30cents ( support.stripe.com/question…).

Shipping & Handling Cost:

I am working on bringing the shipping costs down but I wanted to get the cards out to the community rather than be impeded shipping.

The shipping cost breaks down as such:
-USPS 2 Day Flat Rate Priority Mail (includes tracking number)
-Bubble wrap packaging
-Shipping labels
-Printed Thank you card for the order
-Stickers included in the order

Card Material:

-The cards are being printed by the United States Playing Card Company (USPC) producers of Bicycle playing cards.
-The paper stock the cards are being printed on is USPC premium playing card stock. My goal is to produce casino level playing cards that have a long life span and can handle heavy abuse.

Back of Cards:

- The back of cards is the imagery of the two mountains. Check out instagram to see the prototype decks.
- I currently have seven prototype decks created so that I would be able to review the artwork and make necessary adjustments for the actual decks. That being said if anybody would like to see and play with them I am located in Boulder, Co and happy to meet up.

I think I have answered all the questions so far. Let me know if you have more.