Storyball - The Screen-Free Smart Console that keeps kids active

STORYBALL (June 2020 update)
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jun 22, 2020 at 11:49:25 PM

Dear Storyball backers,

First and most important, we hope you are all safe and healthy. It has been a challenging time for everyone, especially for startup companies, like ours, that rely on raising funds in order to keep on developing and producing.

In our case thankfully we were able to produce Storyball before the world got paralysed and hope that Storyball helped you to keep your kids active and happy during the lockdown. That said COVID-19 has impacted our fundraising significantly and as a result, we have had to put a hold on all new product and content development.

This obviously also includes additional character skins. We know you are waiting for additional skins and books for quite some time, again we apologise. Unfortunately we cannot give you an estimate on a delivery date until we have the resources to produce them. Each skin requires months of development, programming and writing and carries significant cost.

That said we already have a great product, with two cool skins and lots of skin free additional content. So even though we can’t produce additional skins right now, we can still supply Storyball to more children around the world. This is why we are now focusing on getting to market and I’m pleased to say we have signed a distribution contract in North America that will have Storyball in US retail stores for Christmas 2020. Once we start to achieve sales momentum we will be able to raise further funds and develop additional skins and content.

We understand that those of you that expected additional skins will be disappointed.  In backing Storyball you have helped us to bring a truly innovative product to life and we hope you can see that we’ve added a lot of additional content to the platform free of charge to compensate for the missing skins.

I’m afraid we cannot offer any refunds for any missing skins or books  but we will provide you, our most valued backers, more products and content free of charge as soon as we are able.

Thank you again for your ongoing support, we could not have done this without you.

Chen and the Storyball team

February Update
about 4 years ago – Sun, Feb 09, 2020 at 06:02:56 AM

Dear Storyball backers,

At this stage, the great majority of our backers got their Storyballs.

You have been playing and enjoying Storyball and sending us great, great, exciting feedback on your experience and what you love best. This is extremely important to us and we urge you to keep sharing your thoughts.

The ones who still did not get their Storyball - these are either exceptional cases (where the shipping service did not fulfill their delivery promise) or Israeli based backers.

For the exceptional cases - this is being taken care of, case by case. If you did not get your Storyball and did not contact us by now please do so - please send an e-mail to [email protected] and we will take care.

For our Israeli backers. We are working full power to finalize the Hebrew content for your kids. All Storyballs are already in Israel waiting for a final instruction to be sent. We expect to send you your pledges this week. Each one will get a personal message with the tracking information.

More and more fun activities

With every passing week we are adding more and more content to the app - in many different categories: new levels on both the Ayo and the Sesame quests, and new games for family and for playing with friends (look them up on the STORIES&GAMES button).

We want you to know, as our first customers, that we are currently working on several platforms that will allow us to incorporate your suggestions and ideas and make them part and parcel of our content.

Join Storyball journey

We recently shared that we are looking for partners who may want to invest in Storyball;  it was great to get so much interest. To any one of you who may have missed this link, please write us here.

And as always, don't forget to post and share pics on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Thank you for your support and sharing with us this amazing journey,

Chen and the Storyball team

Vat and taxes
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 05, 2019 at 01:11:35 AM

Dear backers,

We were sorry to hear that some of you have had to pay substantial amounts of tax for the delivery of Storyball. We understand your frustration on this.

Please note that we were not aware of these costs when we launched the campaign and certainly did not imagine such high amounts to be imposed by the authorities.

We have spoken to a number of other Kickstarter projects and in all cases the duty tax is being paid by the backer. However, we see our customer satisfaction as our top priority and therefor offer to refund you in full - for the duty tax you have had to pay.

To receive a refund for the duty tax, please email a photo of the tax receipt to [email protected] along with your full name and postal address and we will refund that amount to the card that you made your pledge with.

Being a startup, this refund is a challenge for us and we hope this shows how much we value you, our customers.

As our backers, we thought we would share with you that at this stage of our journey, cash is our biggest challenge, so if you are in a festive mood and choose not to claim the refund for your duty, we will of course be extremely grateful. 

Anyways, we will make sure that we absorb any further taxes on the follow up shipments of the missing items from your pledge.

We strive to continually improve Storyball, its content and games so that, along with your help, we can get children away from screens and get them active!

We hope you and your kids enjoy Storyball.

Best regards 

Chen and the Storyball team

First Storyballs reached backers!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 07:03:55 PM

Dear backers,

The first Storyballs reached their destination during the last couple of days. We are so, very much excited to think that years of effort are now being realized and coming to life in the hands of children all over the world. We do not forget for a second, that this could not have happened without your support, patience and tremendous help. Thank you!

Storyball should reach all of you soon. This is according to the different shipping services chosen specifically to your destination. Tracking numbers will be sent gradually to all of you. 

Some of you will get a message to your phone from the courier companies. In case you are not sure whether this is a spam message or whether it is Storyball's delivery, please write to us to: [email protected] and we will verify the specific shipping service used. Please note that some backers got a message from the company named "Inspiring world" which indeed is a service used to deliver Storyball to some countries. 

We are well aware that it's been a long wait and some of you are frustrated by the taxes and fees you are asked to pay. We are sorry for this situation and we understand that this could be upsetting.  Unfortunately, as a young start-up company we just cannot take that cost. Since we very much appreciate you as our very first customers and supporting team we will absorb the next character skins shipment taxes and fees once they are sent to you. 

The next steps

While taking your first steps with Storyball you might have questions and inquiries - we have prepared ourselves to help you throughout this process, so for any question please use the following e-mail address and we will be happy to assist in any possible way: [email protected]

There may still be some bugs and problems with the app and software (game stuck, app crashes etc), we are constantly working to fix and solve all issues so in case you come across any bug or problem we will appreciate you sending a note to: [email protected] . A video or photo of the problem will be even more helpful.

What's more

Starting the week after Christmas, we will start uploading and adding new content every week through the Storyball app: Smart stories, family games, music, level quests and more. As promised, the new content is free for our Kickstarter backers as a gratitude and appreciation for the support and patience. You will get an e-mail and in-app notification informing you to have a look for the specific new game, level or story. Follow your e-mail and our Facebook and Instagram accounts to see what's coming.  

We would love to have your feedback on Storyball and would love to see your kids playing with it. Sharing pictures and videos and tagging #Storyball on your instagram or @Storyball on facebook would enable us to be part of your experience and would make us very happy.  

Special note For Beta users

You will need to delete and re-install your app in order for you to play using the most updated version. In the future, versions will not require this process - this is only relevant to the app Beta version. Your user name and password are kept - so no need to register again. Go directly to the sign-in process.

Happy holiday season to you and your family and thanks again for being part of this project!

SHIPPING STORYBALL
over 4 years ago – Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 12:12:41 AM

Dear Storyball backers,

Happy to share with you that last Saturday, all Storyballs have been sent out from our manufacturer site in China to the warehouse and fulfillment center in Hong Kong! 

This is a big step towards delivering Storyballs to you by Christmas :) 

Now, each order will be packed and sent to you directly from Hong Kong and your shipment information will be sent to each one of you through the Backerkit platform. We are using different services to ship Storyballs to you, depending on your country and region.

We deal with shipping Storyball to each and everyone of you wherever you are. We tried to do everything for you to get Storyballs in the best possible way. Where it was possible we chose Courier services over Postal service so as to deliver  Storyball safely and quickly. Regarding tax liabilities, as this varies between different countries and we cannot deal with cost implications, fees such as VAT taxes, import fees and custom fees should be handled by you when relevant and necessary. This will probably only be relevant to a minority of backers.

We wish to remind you that we have two character skins ready right now - Sesame the Splendid Unicorn and Secret Agent Ayo and therefore we have selected the best fit replacements for your kids. Once the other skins are ready, you will get them as per your selection.

Thank you again for your patience and support. It has been a long journey and you have taken a great part in it. This is only the beginning…

Chen and the Storyball team

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