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.

 

[Heilemann]

Worth also knowing that just because there's eg. a 15% tariff on something, that doesn't mean you'll pay just 15% more. My wife recently paid 70% more on clothes from Sweden, in part because UPS has a brokerage fee, but in part because <we tried to figure out why and simply failed; the system is completely hecked and no one could tell us, but if we refused the package it might get destroyed and we don't get the money back for the clothes anyway, haha no one can say!>, so ... you know... yay.

 

[CleverNickName]

Worth also knowing that just because there's eg. a 15% tariff on something, that doesn't mean you'll pay just 15% more. My wife recently paid 70% more on clothes from Sweden, in part because UPS has a brokerage fee, but in part because <we tried to figure out why and simply failed; the system is completely hecked and no one could tell us, but if we refused the package it might get destroyed and we don't get the money back for the clothes anyway, haha no one can say!>, so ... you know... yay.

Like I said elsewhere: If a product now costs $80 to manufacture in China and ship to the United States, it will soon cost $79.99 to be manufactured here in the United States.

 

[Heilemann]

Like I said elsewhere: If a product costs $80 to manufacture in China and ship to the United States, it will soon cost $79.99 to be manufactured here in the United States.

Possibly for some things, unlikely for many others, and impossible for certain things because they're made by certain people using certain materials and it just isn't replicable.

 

[Agamon]

Like I said elsewhere: If a product now costs $80 to manufacture in China and ship to the United States, it will soon cost $79.99 to be manufactured here in the United States.

Interesting. Any data to back that up? It sounds a bit like an administration talking point.

 

[CleverNickName]

Interesting. Any data to back that up? It sounds a bit like an administration talking point.

It's not a"talking point," it's an allegory (and an exaggerated one, at that.) I'm saying that prices are going to go up almost everywhere, on almost everything. We are already seeing it happen.

 

[Velderan]

It's not a"talking point," it's an allegory (and an exaggerated one, at that.) I'm saying that prices are going to go up almost everywhere, on almost everything. We are already seeing it happen.

And once companies figure out consumers will still spend the higher prices, they aren't going back down if the tariffs are removed.

 

[Umbran]

Like I said elsewhere: If a product now costs $80 to manufacture in China and ship to the United States, it will soon cost $79.99 to be manufactured here in the United States.

And only for some very generous definitions of the word, "soon." The new manufacturing capacity would have to be developed first.

Then we hit the meta-issue of the limits on the capacity to build capacity. Like, if I want to print more books in the US, I need to stand up a printing facility. I'll need to acuire or build a building to house the operation. And all the equipment within that facility - the printing presses and binding machinery and all - has to be built as well.

 

[Agamon]

It's not a"talking point," it's an allegory (and an exaggerated one, at that.) I'm saying that prices are going to go up almost everywhere, on almost everything. We are already seeing it happen.

Ah, sorry, my bad. I read it as, "No worries, everything is going to be made in the USA really soon." That, and flying pigs lol

 

[haakon1]

And all the equipment within that facility - the printing presses and binding machinery and all - has to be built as well.

And if that equipment is made in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Korea, or China, it’ll cost extra for tariffs and may be delayed by shipping issues (like postal embargoes).

Or if it is made in the US, it may cost more due to tariffs on parts and metals. And possibly labor shortage due to ICE raids on manufacturers (like Hyundai last week).

 

[Weiley31]

They do mention something bout a warehouse. Regardless, they should stand by their guarantee and cover it. Especially since the order was BEFORE any of the major dates they listed. They take a few days to respond back so I guess we'll see.

As I said before, I'm probably not really gonna back any Kickstarter or go for anything fancy on em or with imports now that this is the currently reality of things.

And now for the update:

Apparently, since the item is being shipped by UPS Express, that is what would incur the Tariff once it reaches over here in the US. They still want to ship it via Economy

I told them the same thing before and once again attached the images of their guarantee reassurance to customers about covering ANY unforseen TARIFFS/Fees for orders made BEFORE August 28th. (Which does have their name plastered at the top). As well as the email response before this whole thing saying I was good to go and didn't have to do anything else.

If I'm going through this much trouble with this, I can't even imaging how everybody is with a small business is dealing with it. I read an article earlier today on how Etsy is going through hell right now.