US Tariffs: $80-$200 Surcharge On All Packages Regardless of Price

[overgeeked]

That’s epic of Ryoku’s to do that. It’s a terrible position to be in all around. Makes me want to support them in whatever they do going forward.

“That means if tariffs rise, we won't be able to pay them; we'll be forced to delay. If the content arrives to a US port and we can't pay the tariffs, everything will be destroyed.”

This is insane.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You say “smuggling” , I say “efficient export paperwork”.

Irregular paperwork similar to that got Gibson guitars penalized with a $300k fine + surrender of $250k materials + $50k direct donations to a government agency charged with enforcing certain import regulations.

You really don’t want to mess with import regs if you’re a legit business. It can literally end your company.

 

[Velderan]

That’s epic of Ryoku’s to do that. It’s a terrible position to be in all around. Makes me want to support them in whatever they do going forward.

“That means if tariffs rise, we won't be able to pay them; we'll be forced to delay. If the content arrives to a US port and we can't pay the tariffs, everything will be destroyed.”

This is insane.

I can't imagine planning a crowdfunding campaign right now. Paizo has their Backerkit campaign for the Pathfinder Quest boardgame launching in 3 weeks, how do you remotely plan for what that might cost to deliver to your backers?

 

[Morrus]

I can't imagine planning a crowdfunding campaign right now. Paizo has their Backerkit campaign for the Pathfinder Quest boardgame launching in 3 weeks, how do you remotely plan for what that might cost to deliver to your backers?

If you're just making books, there's no tariff on them. And, of course digital rewards are tariff free. And if you're fulfilling via DTRPG's print-on-demand service you will not attract any tariffs. So there are ways to do it. We have a hardcover book Kickstarter launching in a couple of weeks.

 

[Staffan]

If you're just making books, there's no tariff on them. And, of course digital rewards are tariff free. And if you're fulfilling via DTRPG's print-on-demand service you will not attract any tariffs. So there are ways to do it. We have a hardcover book Kickstarter launching in a couple of weeks.

MCDM mentioned that they're printing Draw Steel both in the US and Italy. They didn't specify why, but I assume it's a tariff thing.

 

[The Soloist]

If you're just making books, there's no tariff on them. And, of course digital rewards are tariff free. And if you're fulfilling via DTRPG's print-on-demand service you will not attract any tariffs. So there are ways to do it. We have a hardcover book Kickstarter launching in a couple of weeks.

From Canada, if I want to order POD from DTRPG, and it's printed in the US, I get a warning there may be additional duty and tarifs upon delivery. Impossible to know how much. Very few RPG books are printed POD directly in Canada.

 

[Morrus]

From Canada, if I want to order POD from DTRPG, and it's printed in the US, I get a warning there may be additional duty and tarifs upon delivery. Impossible to know how much. Very few RPG books are printed POD directly in Canada.

Well only if Canada has tariffs on US products, and even then online Canada has decided to tariff books, which it hasn’t.

(I can’t speak for ‘other duties’ just tariffs).

 

[mamba]

I found this a lot more concerning for the group.

I assumed that was for US print copies rather than the tariffs eating all profits. Can still be a significant chunk, but it is their decision and within their control.

Shipping the books because you trust things stay the same is outside your control and can break you if things turn south, esp. with the reduced profits.

In any case, a pretty bad situation to be in

 

[tetrasodium]

I assumed that was for US print copies rather than the tariffs eating all profits. Can still be a significant chunk, but it is their decision and within their control.

Shipping the books because you trust things stay the same is outside your control and can break you if things turn south, esp. with the reduced profits.

In any case, a pretty bad situation to be in

Ni to belittle what ryokos is doing but it's probably more complicated. Everyone in the chain is impacted. When the manufacturer needs work and money or would like to not be storing product it has been growing more and more common for them to work out a deal where they split the tarriff or eat the tarriff but charge some fraction more to let them show higher revenue to a lender or whatever

 

[Cergorach]

Update on Ryoko's.

Also keep in mind that books are not tariffed at the moment, so if they do the printing in China, and the final assembly in the US. They only pay tariffs for the boxes, screens, cards, dice, and mini/biggie dragon.

Also keep in mind that if they import that, they're not paying the tariffs over the price of what they sell/sold it at, but over what they paid the manufacturer.

Also only 60% of the backers are in the US. That's still over 16k backers, it would pay to do the final assembly in the US...

I found this a lot more concerning for the group.

Hmm... You can interpret that in many ways. $0 profit, but after everyone's salaries has been paid for the last two years? $0 profit, but a buttload of stock to sell? Both? None?

What people/business say when millions are involved might not be what you expect it to be. If they tackle this in a smart cunning way, they could be in a very good position in the (KS) market with a bunch of stock, positive press as they are one of the few KS that are delivering without drama, and the ability to sell PDF, VTT, and possibly physical products after they've delivered to backers.