FAQ

How long will it take to ship?
Most orders will ship the next business day if all items in your order are in stock. Some orders may take longer, especially large orders or if a large number of orders are received in a short time. Items that have optional assembly will take longer to ship than items that do not require assembly. This only applies to items that have optional assembly.

If an item requires assembly, how long will it take to ship?
Typically, items that require assembly ship in 2-3 days but can take up to 1 week. Larger items, such as modded consoles, can take up to a month, depending on the mods selected.

If an order includes an item that is not in stock, when will my order ship?
Usually, these orders will not ship until all items are in stock. Some items, like the OSCR and consoles, usually ship in their own separate packaging regardless of what else is ordered with them. In that case, some items may ship before the out-of-stock item is back in stock.

Do you offer shipping outside the USA?
See the Shipping Information page for details on international shipping.

Do you provide a warranty?
Unless a product listing says otherwise, we provide a warranty that is most aptly described as "best effort." This means we will always try to help you with issues to the best of our ability within what we deem reasonable. Even if you damage something, we will still try to help. Of course, we may have to charge for parts or labor, depending on the circumstances.

Where are your products made?
Products branded as StarshadeRETRO are assembled by us in the USA. The PCBs are made in China. Components vary, some are made in China, and some are made in the USA.

Do you offer cross-shipping for exchanges of defective products?
We do not offer cross-shipping at this time. Any defective item you return will likely be fixed and sent right back to you.

A product I ordered that was listed as new shows some signs of wear; why is that?
You may notice signs of wear on new items, such as light scratches on an adapter's edge connector ("pins"). This is because everything we make is hand tested, usually twice. Once when assembled and again just before shipping. This is to ensure the product you get works the first time, and that you don't have to deal with sending something back for exchange/repair.

Some of the components on an assembled PCB I ordered aren't perfectly aligned; why is that?
Unlike most products that you are probably used to, which are assembled by machines, our products are hand-assembled. A human put the components on the board and soldered them in place. That means that components aren't going to be perfectly aligned. Rest assured, this has no bearing on the functionality of the product.

Do you use leaded solder?
Most of our products use leaded solder. Lead is not harmful unless you ingest it. When handling bare PCBs, you should avoid touching your face and wash your hands afterward. This only applies to bare PCBs, such as the adapters for the OSCR. There is no known health hazard when handling products that have housing around them, such as a modded console.

But I heard lead is really bad!
Lead was phased out of consumer electronics (by law in the EU) due to its impact on the environment when disposed of. Modding uses very little solder, so the amount of lead added to a product is minimal. For full products, like the OSCR, the amount of people in this niche hobby makes the impact of using leaded solder insignificant to the environment. Most repair shops also use leaded solder and simply don't inform you.

Will you ever offer lead-free products?
There are plans to offer lead-free products in the future, but this is not a priority. Lead-free solder is harder to work with, so we need to make products at a larger scale to justify them being machine-assembled.

Are all of your designs open source?
Most, but not all, of our designs are open source. In addition, we hold the source back for some designs until a certain number of finished products have been sold. This is to ensure we recoup the development cost of those items before releasing the source.

Do you support the creators of the open-source designs you use, such as the OSCR?
For the OSCR, the creator (Sanni) has declined any donations/monetary contributions. We are active contributors to the OSCR project and work with the other contributors to make that project as good as it can be. The OSCR is the only hardware design we use that has not been extensively modified. For other products we use in services, such as Picoboot in the modded GameCubes, we do contribute to those projects' creators, but it is not based on how many units we sell.

Why do you do this? What is this store for? Is this your full-time job?
I decided to create StarshadeRETRO in order to offer things I thought were good. This is not my full-time job, and I'm not here to try to get rich. I want to improve our mutual hobby by creating new things/improving existing things and making them accessible to those that cannot DIY things. Most, if not all, of the money earned from this store, goes right back into this hobby. I hope to use the income from this store to do more and create more than I otherwise could. Some of the projects I want to take on will cost thousands in tools, parts, and prototyping. Buying things from this store accelerates the development of those projects.

Why are your prices higher/lower than XYZ company?
If something is sold on our website for more than some other well-known store, then it's likely our version of whatever it is has something the other does not. For instance, our SD2SP2 adapters use high-quality components, while most of the ones sold on Amazon/eBay use cheap components. The first SD2SP2 adapter that I purchased had a plastic slot even though the product image showed a metal one, and part of it broke off on the first use. Nothing is sold on this site that I would not personally use myself. In fact, at the time of this writing, everything being sold on this website are all things I personally use.

Additionally, some products might be sold more than on another website because we purchased them from the other website you are looking at. In that case, those products are intended to be ordered with other products/services and are simply offered here for convenience to allow you to place a single order. They also might be provided for installation. For instance, the stand-alone internal BlueRetro adapter for GameCube is listed higher on our site than on the creator's site. However, if you look at the custom-modded GameCube, you'll see the price to add it is the same as buying the stand-alone adapter from us. That's because this product isn't that difficult to install when you are already inside the GameCube anyway, so we basically offer it at cost.

If something is more expensive somewhere else, it's probably a service. Our services are cheaper than others can usually match because I do this for fun, and I enjoy it. That, combined with the fact this is not my sole income or even income I depend on, lets me list services quite a bit cheaper than others in this industry. There is a trade-off here, though, in that those other companies will probably get you your things quicker than if you order from us. A modded console can take a week or two to ship, while those other more expensive places usually ship them within a few days.

Does that mean the prices of your services are likely to go up or long queue times are likely to form if you increase in popularity?
Yes, there's really no way to avoid that.

You use "we" and "I' throughout this FAQ, are you a group or a single person?
Currently, StarshadeRETRO is just myself. Some day it may be more, I at least hope to get to the point where it becomes reasonable to have a fulfillment center handle non-custom orders so that international shipping can easily be offered.