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

[chuckdee]

Maybe. It is interesting to see the sales of books and pdf's worldwide.

And all other digital products. I hope not, but realize that's a vain hope. They've tried to tax digital products in certain municipalities, but I think most of those fell by the wayside. I hope this does too.

 

[Weiley31]

Guess the Age of PDFs and One Piece will be upon us soon.

Seriously, this makes wanting to back kickstarters annoying and less a good idea.

 

[Weiley31]

we have a get-together

That already happened at the start of 2021.

 

[Cergorach]

Ugh. Soon we'll be down to asking, "Okay, who do I know going overseas in the near future who could pick up my gaming stuff?"

Hey. This is how we did it pre-Internet. I would ask colleagues of my father to bring back specific Warhammer stuff from the UK which we couldn't get here or only at insane prices. I still remember going to the UK on a school trip (from the Netherlands) in the mid 90s, doing some serious game shopping and getting back with two large sports bags with gaming goodness.

 

[delericho]

Ugh. Soon we'll be down to asking, "Okay, who do I know going overseas in the near future who could pick up my gaming stuff?"

I think that may be wishful thinking. This is likely to devastate the market, so that gaming stuff may well not exist to be picked up.

 

[Cergorach]

I think that may be wishful thinking. This is likely to devastate the market, so that gaming stuff may well not exist to be picked up.

Devastate does not mean destroy. Also keep in mind that these tariff shenanigans are US only, the rest of the world is still perfectly willing to trade with each other. And while the US might be a large part of the English pnp RPG industry, it's certainly not all of it. Free League for example is Swedisch, they might eventually miss physical book sales to the US if/when those will eventually also be tariffed. But there are still large swaths of the world that speak English, UK, Ireland, large parts of Canada, quite a few countries are too small for localization, so they also use the English books as well, and even some folks from Germany and France prefer the English version to their native language version.

Pnp RPG publishers still have access to world wide pdf and VTT sales (even STLs). And things like dice, maps, tiles, and miniatures are language neutral (most of the time), so they can be sold everywhere but the US. Just Europe alone already has twice the population of the US, the reason why it's not a pnp/RPG paradise for publishers is due to us having 24 recognized languages (250+ languages spoken).

Will it hurt? Yes! Will it destroy all game products? Hello no!

 

[Weiley31]

Will it hurt? Yes! Will it destroy all game products? Hello no!

Yeah but BOY, is it gonna hit the small businesses HARD.

 

[schneeland]

Yeah but BOY, is it gonna hit the small businesses HARD.

Yeah, given how big the US market is, this is going to ruin some people's calculations completely. I would assume especially board game publishers will be hit hard, but I guess really everyone who's doing something that is even a bit beyond just books (e.g. cards, dice, etc.) is at risk. So no matter where you live, I think this is, overall, a loss for gaming.

 

[mamba]

Most companies in this industry have their North American warehouse or fulfilment partner in the US, not Canada. We (as an example) have one in the UK, one in the US, and one in Australia.

oh, yes, but then you get the 15% or whatever tariff, not the flat $80 for a single book / packet. I was thinking about the latter given the topic.

Wonder if companies are reconsidering that approach and move the distribution for the Americas to Canada and leave the US to service the US only, and how easy that would be to actually do

 

[NN]

Surely an enterprising Canadian or three will find a way to import products directly rather than via the US.

Its not rocket science.