An Update on US Tariffs
Greetings gamers, just a very quick post for you today.
Last week the White House and Department of Homeland Security announced a change to the De Minimis exception for goods entering the US.
The De Minimis exception allowed goods with a value of <$800 from many countries to enter the US without being subject to usual tariffs. Many countries around the world have a policy similar to this which allows lower value goods to be imported without clogging the system.
This exception is coming to an end at the end of August and may have an impact on how tariffs and import duties apply to Icarus Games products going forward.
The (Somewhat) Good News
Currently, the new executive order provides an exception for items which would have qualified for De Minimis which are sent via the international postal service. In our case, that is via the Royal Mail here in the UK, which is how 99% of orders are shipped.
The order gives no timeframe for when this exception will come to an end, however.
That being said, historically, books have been zero-rated, even before all this business with tariffs begin. All our books are sent out under HS code 490199, so providing no changes are made to the rates applied to books things should carry on as normal. But please make sure to check with your local customs office/legislation on what duties you are likely to pay on HS code 490199 items as you will be responsible for any duties as per our shipping policy.
So for now, nothing should change and you should continue to pay no import duties on books you order into the US, but the uncertainty of what tomorrow will look like when it comes to the current administration is a constant cause for concern.
Alternative Options
An option to ensure your orders aren't subject to tariffs is to buy through our DrivethruRPG store and get a print on demand book, which is produced in the US. The DTRPG print on demand books are of a lower quality than the books we ship out directly, lack the richness of color, have no bookmarks, and are all around poorer in quality due to the process and materials DTRPG use, but I keep them available so that folks who can't get our products directly from us here on www.icarus-games.co.uk still have options!
Final Thoughts
It's been a rough few years for the indie TTRPG scene, and this is just going to make things more difficult for businesses and customers, so I encourage you not to take your completely understandable and reasonable frustrations out on the TTRPG companies who might end up impacted by these changes or need to adjust their prices to accommodate. Instead, direct your ire to your policy makers and encourage them to do better.
As always, if I have more information to share with you on this, I will post it here.
Much love
Anto
