9 reasons Kickstarter projects ship late

The team behind dream mask Remee coined the term "Shipocalypse" to describe the chaos of sending products off to thousands of eager buyers in every corner of the world. Another alternative they considered: "Ship happens."

"Shipping on the surface seems like a relatively simple problem, but when you have to send 4,000 boxes all over the world, it becomes this amazingly complicated task," said David Carr, co-founder of Twine. "We certainly got an education by hard knocks."

Amazon this ain't. The folks behind Mantic Games -- which delivered all of its Kickstarter items on time -- closed their sales and marketing office for several days, sending all of those employees into the warehouse to pack boxes.

"When we say 'we'll ship a product,' that to me just means it's leaving our center," said Bill Geiser, manager of the MetaWatch team. Actual delivery can take weeks -- something buyers don't always understand.

"Our definition differs from someone who's used to buying from Amazon," Geiser said. "They're insulated from the fact that getting a product shipped involves a lot of logistics." -David Goldman

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