Tariffs: 'De Minimis' Exemption Ended, Affects Individual Game Orders Entering US

Things have been relatively quiet on the tariff front recently, but the US has just announced a big change--it is ending the 'de minimis' exemption on low-cost shipments entering the country.

Up until now, a shipment worth $800 or less has been exempt from the global tariff situation due to the longstanding 'de minimis' exception. Most countries have a de minimis exemption, meaning that individuals can easily purchase items from abroad. This meant that before this change, an individual order of a product entering the US would not be affected by tariffs--the costs would be incurred only on larger shipments, such as those from game publishers importing stock into the country. Before today you could order a $60 game (or, indeed, a $700 game) from anywhere in the world, and it would incur no tariffs.

From August 29th, the de minimis exemption will end for all packages. This means that any tariffs which previously applied only to shipments of $800 or over will now apply even to that $7 t-shirt you bought from overseas.

The move is designed to hurt large online retailers, often in China, which ship cheap goods globally.

So, how will it affect the tabletop gaming industry?

• If you are in the US, and buying a game from outside your country, that game will now be subjected to the tariffs no matter how much it costs.
• If the publisher you are buying from has a US warehouse or distributor, the situation won't change--they will have paid the tariff when their large shipments (worth far more than $800) arrived at port.
• If you are buying books, as yet there are still no tariffs. The tariffs will kick in on boxed sets, boardgames, and other packages which contain non-book items.

This means that for most mid-to-large publishers, there's no change. They don't tend to fulfil individual orders from overseas; they have stock in the US (and other locations). For many non-US small indie or individual creators, though, who ship individual orders less than $800 to US customers, this will come as a blow--up until now those creator were exempt from the tariffs.

 

[Weiley31]

I feel like this will make backing Kickstarters a lot more annoying.

 

[EternalDungeonMaster]

I wonder what affect this will have on Etsy orders. I live in the U.S. and sometimes order board game upgrades (enhanced pieces, for example) on Etsy and most of them come from overseas. They are shipped by individual sellers.

 

[Velderan]

I feel like this will make backing Kickstarters a lot more annoying.

Do many Kickstarters fulfill individual pledges from outside of the US? I think I might have had one, the Pixel light up dice may have shipped from China but I can't remember at this point. Otherwise it's always been the enter bulk shipment gets to a US warehouse before being distributed to backers, so the tariff would have already been dealt with as Morrus explained above.

I guess if any new tariffs are implemented in other countries to target things entering their country from the US in retaliation, that would cause problems for backers that their pledge is being fulfilled from the US. I know a lot of pledges for Canadians end up being shipped from the US, at least for things I've backed.

 

[Belen]

This will be very bad for sellers like eBay or Bricklink. You often find great deals that can ship to US. This will hurt small sellers immensely.

 

[timbannock]

Anyone thinking/arguing US small businesses and sellers aren't already feeling the pain, I can tell you as an avid eBayer that shipping costs have basically doubled (maybe tripled) in the past couple years. I couldn't be farther from the tariff issues and I'm still feeling the pinch, big-time. I can't imagine how badly this will affect all of the non-US publishers and indie game designers.

 

[CleverNickName]

I have a profound dislike for this decision, the people making it, and the reasons they give.

That's the most polite response I can give, and it took a great deal of backspacing and retyping to muster it.

 

[EternalDungeonMaster]

I have a profound dislike for this decision, the people making it, and the reasons they give.

That's the most polite response I can give, and it took a great deal of backspacing and retyping to muster it.

We live in interesting times, that's for sure.

 

[MGibster]

I have a few friends who purchase role playing supplies like dice, dice towers, bags, etc., etc. from places like Temu or Shein. But how many Americans order games from directly overseas?

 

[Pedantic]

This is a crude approach in an already terrible context that will only make things worse, but I could see an argument for wanting to limit de minimis more broadly. I don't think the business model that Temu built entirely off the back of it is particularly good for the world or worth encouraging, and I wouldn't mind some regulation targeting it, just not this madness.