I just out off the phone with Dan from Ship Naked, a one-stop source for game warehousing, processing and fulfillment. I have to say...he was incredibly professional, took over an hour to speak with me and answer all my questions, gave a thorough and informative overview of what his company can offer and why they're uniquely positioned versus other options like Send From China.
What I I didn't know about them going in is they are a fulfillment center, distributor, publisher and retailer all in one. The divisions operate under different names, but they have experience in all of these areas, which is of HUGE help and full of possibilities for one-man operations like myself, and many here on BGDF.
Coming off the call, I have nothing but confidence in them and will plan on partnering with them on my campaign. If you're looking for a company to help with the back-end of your Kickstarter, or just want a reliable distributor, don't hesitate to consider Ship Naked!
If anyone would like some specifics of their services such as shipping rates to US and EU, etc. let me know...happy to share!
There is one lengthy blog post on BGG about an experience publishing through Game Salute:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1203903/why-ill-never-work-game-salute-...
I found some of it to be due to being a first-timer...as one who works in product development, I can say that the only certainty is that things WILL go wrong, and being willing to be flexible (sometimes to the point of bending over backwards to get the job done) is required.
Things like expecting 100% of the publisher's focus to be on their game and no one else's, complaining about having to enter his own BGG game entry, expecting final print quality components from reviewer prototypes (refused to use TGC, or he put it "The Game Crapper" for a multitude of low-cost reviewer copies due to their "poor" quality), complaining about the challenges of working with artists (be grateful the publisher kept you involved), not having the basic English skills to "proof freed" their own game components, all just speaks to inexperience. I get it, this game is your baby and everyone should love it as much as you do...but the real world works differently.
Now this doesn't mean that this poster doesn't have right to be pissed, nor that GS did everything to the best of their ability, or even in some cases correctly...I'm just saying some of what is written here is just the cost of doing business and the sacrifices involved, especially as a small "one game" entity. It's a ton of hard work, plenty will go wrong, you have to wear a multitude of hats even with a publisher working with you, and however long you think it'll take to accomplish something...at least double it.
Seems to me both sides performed well below their capabilities...a sad story all around. He started a flame war, and the pitchforks came out in the comments.