Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the questions that we received on a regular basis. If your question is not answered here, please use the contact form below to reach out to us and we will respond to you as soon as we can.
MADE-TO-ORDER PROGRESS GUIDE
If you order any of our made-to-order products, you will receive a weekly email showing your orders progress through the production queue as a percentage (%).
This % can only give you a sense of where you are in line at that exact moment in time. It CANNOT be used to predict when your order will actually ship.
The amount that an order's % changes depends entirely on variables regarding the orders ahead of it in line. Some weeks it will move slowly, other weeks it will move quickly.
We go into much greater detail about why that is in the "Estimates?" section of How Our Books Are Made, and encourage you to read that before contacting us.
As a reminder, not only did we received more orders for made-to-order items in November and December than ever before, but our workshop was closed for the holidays at the end of 2020, so orders placed in November and December may take longer than normal to ship.
Please note: the above does not apply to orders in the Cloak and Shroud Production Queue.
Reminder: all of our products are handcrafted, and demand is extremely high for our made-to-order products. If your order contains made-to-order products, it will be several weeks before we will be able to begin working on your order.
Reminder: all of our shipping estimates are the estimated number of days your package will spend in transit after you receive your tracking number. Expediting your order will not affect the amount of time it will spend in the production queue, it only means that once it is complete, your order will take less time to get from our shop to your door.
General Questions
Our books are actually designed to be ambidextrous: all of our pages are either the same on both sides, or they're part of a two-page spread.
While that means that whether you're left-handed or right-handed, there will be one side of the page where your hand won't bump into the discs, and one side that your hand will, since all of our pages can be taken out and put back in so easily, you can always take them out to write on them, and then put them back in when you're done.
If you know you're going to use your book with the discs on the right, be sure to select Right-Bound in the book builder.
We are actively working on Print-On-Demand options. We don't have a release date yet, but as soon as we do, we will spread the news across our social media channels!
Changes and Cancellations
Unfortunately, no.
While we can refund some or all of the amount you've already paid, we are not able to increase the amount that your card is charged once your payment has been processed.
What we are able to do, however, is to cancel your existing order and refund the amount onto a gift card. You can then use that gift card to immediately place a new order.
If you prefer, we can also issue a traditional refund, but refunds can sometimes take a while for your bank or credit card to process, so the gift card method makse the funds immediately available, which helps avoid having to place a second charge on your card while the first is being refunded.
Of course!
Use the form below and select "Cancel Order" as the topic. If you'd prefer your refund to be issued in the form of a Gift Card, please let us know. If you don't specify, we will submit the refund back to your original payment method.
We do our best to process all cancellations within 1 business day, but on rare occasions it can take us a bit longer. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Notice: if your order is for a Kickstarter reward that was transferred to our system through our Pledge Manager, unfortunately we are not able to issue refunds back to your original payment method. Your refund will instead be provided in the form of a gift card.
Absolutely! Please be sure to select "Modify Order" from the topics when you use the contact form below.
When we submit a refund to our payment processor, it is processed (and the money leaves our account) immediately.
For some customers, the refund can show up on their bank statement as quickly as a few minutes. However, it all depends on how quickly your bank or credit card company processes the refund, and for some banks or credit card companies, it can take as long as 8-10 business days before the refund shows on your statement.
Retailer / Wholesale
Yes we do!
Simply fill out our Retail Partner Application to become a verified retailer, which will allow you to place wholesale orders for your store.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at wholesale@ravenrookpublishing.com
Production and Shipping
Yes.
If you have multiple orders in line, we will automatically craft and ship them all to you together.
However, doing that doesn't actually lower your shipping costs. Here's why:
Our shipping fees are 100% at-cost, and are calculated out based on the contents of your cart. The shipping charge for each order covers the four "P" fees: processing, packaging, packing, postage.
Processing fees are the transaction fees that PayPal and credit card companies charge us to process your payment. These are based on the total amount of your transaction.
Packaging fees are our costs for the boxes, tape, paper, stickers, envelopes, etc. that we use to pack your items for shipment. These are based on the items you order.
Packing fees are what we pay our employees for the time it takes them to prepare, package, and quality-check your order. These are also based on the items you order.
Postage fees are what we pay the USPS to deliver your order to you. These are based on the total weight of all the items that you ordered.
After shipping tens of thousands of packages, we discovered that our actual costs to combine and ship multiple orders in a single package were virtually identical to our costs to ship those orders separately. The balance between the P-fees shifts around a bit, but the overall cost difference is rarely more than a couple pennies higher or lower.
The short answer is: as soon as it's finished.
All of our products are hand-crafted to order. While we craft and ship hundreds of books each week, we receive dozens (sometimes even hundreds) of new orders every week. What that means is that there is always a line, but the length of that line can vary greatly from a few days to a few months depending on demand.
We've written up a very detailed How Our Books Are Made article that goes through each of the steps in our production process, what the various order status mean, and even what the typical times are for each stage. It even goes over some of the most common causes of delays.
However, because all of our products are hand-crafted, everything is an estimate. Any timelines that we provide (e.g. 1-3 weeks, 7-10 days, etc.) represent our best guess based on past performance and current conditions.
We're sorry, but we are not able to provide you with any specific dates.
Method 1: Your Account Page
The status of any orders you have placed is available on your Account page. If you checked out as a guest, you can always Create an Account using the same email address that you provided when you originally placed your order.
From the account dashboard, simply click on Orders to see a list of orders associated with your account along with their current status.
Method 2: Order Lookup
If you don't have an account, you can still check on the status of your order. Simply head over to our Order Lookup and enter the order number and the email address you used when you placed the order.
You can change the address on your order at any time before it ships. To update the shipping address for your order:
1. Log in or create an account (https://shop.therookandtheraven.com/account).
2. Click the [Orders] button to view your orders.
3. Click the [View] button next to this order.
4. Below to the Shipping address, you'll find an [Edit] button that you can use to make your changes. Don't forget to [Save]!
And that's all there is to it!
If you don't see this order in your orders list, you probably checked out as a guest. Try the "Search orders" link at the bottom of the orders page to find any orders that match your email address. If you still can't find it, please use the contact form below.
PLEASE NOTE
The shipping address on the account is the default address used for any future orders. Changing the shipping address on the account will not change the shipping address on any existing orders.
The cost of shipping outside the US is terrible and we are always looking for ways to bring the costs down. The rates you see on our website represent the best possible shipping rate we can get for your order.
However, we've highlighted a few tips below that you can use to try to optimize your order to minimize your shipping costs.
Before we get into the details, we want to be 100% transparent:
We want shipping to be as cheap as possible. The shipping rate that you see on our website is calculated live, based on the contents of your order and where it's being shipped to, and it represents our actual costs to package and ship your order to you. We make absolutely zero money on shipping, so it is truly in our best interest to get you the absolute lowest shipping rate that we can.
Shipping outside the US (especially overseas) is expensive and there is literally nothing we can do to make it cheaper. We have negotiated with several shipping services, including FedEx, UPS, and DHL, and the absolute best rate we've been able to secure is with the US Postal Service (USPS).
With that being said, here's a bit about why it's so pricey:
Shipping rates to a given country are based entirely on the weight of the package. To put it as plain as possible: books are heavy. As an example, a single Campaign Diary (packaged for shipping) weighs more than 1lb (about 0.5kg), which means that the minimum cost to ship one of our books is almost the cost of the book itself.
Note: the weights listed on our website for each product are for the product only. The weight of the packaging itself will depend on what else is in your order and how small of a box we can fit it into.
However, shipping rates are also tiered. That means it costs the same amount to ship a package that weighs 1.1lbs as it is to ship a package that weighs 1.99lbs.
Here's a secret tip: two of our standard books (plus a page pack or two) packaged for shipping weigh just under 2 lbs, which means it's the exact same cost to ship two books with an accessory or two as it is to ship one book by itself. Maybe someone else in your gaming group would be interested in going in on an order with you so you can split the shipping costs!
The shipping rate goes up a 2 lbs, and again at 3 lbs.
At 4 lbs (about 1.8kg), however, the package becomes too heavy to ship via standard First Class International service, and must go via the Priority (aka Expedited or Large Package) parcel service. If you're ordering 4 or more books, this can make for a pretty sizeable price jump.
Here's another secret tip: and if your order is really close to the 4lb mark, you may be able to save money on shipping by breaking up your order into two (or more) smaller orders. However, depending on exactly what you order and how well it can be made to fit into those shipping tiers, splitting your order may end up being more expensive. Your best bet if you cross the threshold into Expedited/Large Package territory is to simply try building your smaller orders and check the shipping calculator to see if you can find savings.
