Gifting beta testers.

Here's the thing. I want to send some beta testers a gift as a thank you. Such as a T-shirt or mug (like Unity does) which says something like "Beta Tester for X". But I don't necessarily want the people to have to give me their real name and address.

So what I would like to do is send them a token or something for which they can get the mug, say. Do you know of any services which you could brand a mug or T-shirt and then send it to someone as a token which they can enter their own name and address? I looked on Zazzle and couldn't find such a thing.

(Before anyone cuts in with, well you should pay testers with proper money! Well no, you don't have to pay volunteers and vice versa they don't have to give any feedback if they so choose. They could just take the beta version and run!)

 

Google's first result for "physical mail proxy" appears to be what you want.

http://www.shiptoproxy.com

Choosing the terms to search for involved thinking of the most popular equivalent service. A VPN (virtual private network) is a service that adds a layer of obscurity to your online presence. One common term for it is a "proxy server". Just using "proxy mail" wasn't very helpful so I added the "physical" keyword.

Yes, if you're still reading by this point, this is one giant "Just Google It" post but at least it shows how you can do that.

 

The website is still using http protocol, even on a login page.

I would be reluctant to give out my address to unsafe websites.

 

True. A search for "virtual po box" produced better results.

I absolutely wouldn't provide them with any payment details, but an address is trivial to discover thanks to the info we provide to every location we visit without using a proxy service. I feel like anyone truly concerned about this will already have a proxy mailing service and anyone who isn't concerned won't care if you know their address.

 

testers are usually happy with a free version once out

though interested if you find such a service

 

I guess, but for a $5 game it just feels a bit cheep. Mind you they were saying "Thank you for letting me beta test". So I'm not sure who's winning!

 

lol... yeh for a game you're only going to sell for a 5$ I think a free copy is more than enough, upto you and depends how much they helped really.

 

But you are way better at it than the rest of us.

 

When people give money on Kickstarter they need to give an address to get their perks mailed to them.

I would trust you with my address before any third party mailer.

I think you can also use UPS stores as a destination for stuff.
In the US at least.

 

Yeah but these are people from Steam, where traditionally you are anonymous.

 

Just because the platform normally makes you anonymous doesn't mean they care if they're anonymous. If someone is concerned about that you can always just recommend they go through a mailing proxy. It's not your job to maintain their anonymity. Focus on the aspect that is your job. Creating games.