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Old 05-25-2022, 11:23 AM   #1
JAA
 
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Default Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

Steve Jackson Games have just announced the following. As many of you will know, Steve Jackson will be running a KickStarter for the new Groo and WizWar.

Quote:
Crowdfunding and International Shipping

We are eliminating international print reward levels from all crowdfunding campaigns until the state of the world changes. (Projects that offered international print rewards that have closed will be fulfilled. This new policy applies to projects going forward.)

Between the expenses and time involved in international fulfillment, and the stresses of dealing with different customs and legal requirements demanded by others, it simply isn't a good use of our limited staff time and resources to keep struggling with shipping Kickstarter rewards to other nations.

We wish that this wasn't true. The reality, though, is that international crowdfunding fulfillment costs a lot more than shipping within our own country (and we do not receive enough funding to offset those costs) and the results are rarely good for the project backers (and never good for our staff). Going forward, we will only offer digital rewards to backers outside of the United States.
This will affect the upcoming Groo and WizWar.

I tried to get my local game shops in the UK to get the new Car Wars, but they would not do so. KickStarter was the only option for me. So Groo and Wizwar are 2 games I really want, and are 2 games I am unlikely going to get.

Sad times.

(I can foresee heroic Americans running copies of Groo and WizWar across the Atlantic in speed boats to sell to their game-starved friends in the Third-World-Europe and Third-World-UK.)

Last edited by JAA; 05-25-2022 at 11:29 AM.
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Old 05-25-2022, 02:20 PM   #2
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

I should add, I do not blame you for this decision. Sometimes it feels bureaucracy in the UK is the only growth industry.

As well as being a big Steve Jackson Games fan, I am also a big Columbia Games fan. They did a special offer when it was Grant's birthday, so I ordered something from the States to the UK. It got held up in customs UK and then they overcharged me on the VAT/duty and even charged a premium on the 'handling' fee. I asked a question about it and it took UK customs about a month for them to reply. It would have wasted too much time to get the overpayment back. Think of all the other people who were overcharged by UK Customs at that time. The only positive I can get from it is hopefully my question back then has stopped others from getting overcharged by UK Customs in the future.

Last edited by JAA; 05-25-2022 at 04:00 PM.
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Old 05-25-2022, 02:53 PM   #3
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

The reverse is true to an extent as well. I buy railroad history books published in limited quantities in the U.K. Postage costs and times are outrageous, but if I want the book, I have to knuckle under and pay for what I want.
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Old 05-25-2022, 06:23 PM   #4
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

How difficult is it to bring new copies of a game to a friend in GK / Europe?



If you carried half a dozen copies, would you get hit with duties?



Three copies?
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Old 05-25-2022, 07:09 PM   #5
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

Quote:
Originally Posted by JAA View Post
I should add, I do not blame you for this decision. Sometimes it feels bureaucracy in the UK is the only growth industry.

As well as being a big Steve Jackson Games fan, I am also a big Columbia Games fan. They did a special offer when it was Grant's birthday, so I ordered something from the States to the UK. It got held up in customs UK and then they overcharged me on the VAT/duty and even charged a premium on the 'handling' fee. I asked a question about it and it took UK customs about a month for them to reply. It would have wasted too much time to get the overpayment back. Think of all the other people who were overcharged by UK Customs at that time. The only positive I can get from it is hopefully my question back then has stopped others from getting overcharged by UK Customs in the future.
UPS hit me with hundreds of dollars in VAT. On BOOKS. Then charged me daily storage fees at airport rates until I ponied up the “taxes” due. Books are zero-rated in the UK. It was a pure shakedown.
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Old 05-26-2022, 05:31 AM   #6
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

If you want printed material from the US, nominate a US-based reshipping service (there are many of them). That way, in these cases, SJG ships to a US address and then the backer/buyer pays for it to be reshipped to them somewhere else in the world.
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Old 05-26-2022, 07:37 AM   #7
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

Yeah, it's sad but I completely understand them. In fact, I thought this was already the policy. Shipping anything except PDFs is just too expensive. I don't know if you get a voucher for a POD service or something? I think local production from globally supplied blueprints will become more important.
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Old 05-27-2022, 01:45 PM   #8
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

Quote:
Originally Posted by DouglasCole View Post
UPS hit me with hundreds of dollars in VAT. On BOOKS. Then charged me daily storage fees at airport rates until I ponied up the “taxes” due. Books are zero-rated in the UK. It was a pure shakedown.
Are you quite sure they were declared as books by the shipper? One company which I won't name but with which we've both done business shipped me several items, via UPS, declared as "games" (VAT-rated) rather than "books" (zero-VAT even if they're RPG material) – having ignored my specific instruction to the contrary – and then tried to claim the extra charge wasn't their problem.
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Old 05-28-2022, 07:46 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by RogerBW View Post
Are you quite sure they were declared as books by the shipper? One company which I won't name but with which we've both done business shipped me several items, via UPS, declared as "games" (VAT-rated) rather than "books" (zero-VAT even if they're RPG material) – having ignored my specific instruction to the contrary – and then tried to claim the extra charge wasn't their problem.
Very sure. I use harmonization code 4901.99 for the books, and both me (who shipped them) and my fulfillment partner (Kixto) were emailing them the relevant info and even the parts of the law showing they were exempt.

Kixto was so incensed about it they wound up crediting me the money and applying for a refund from HM government. I still paid the exorbitant storage fee in the end.
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Old 05-29-2022, 11:55 PM   #10
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Default Re: Depressing News for International KickStarter Fans

As fellow Aussie Farmer mentioned, freight forwarding services are the solution for the individual consumer. You get your product mailed to a location in the USA and they ship things onward to you, wherever you are in the world.
I'm not saying it's not an annoyance, but as a fan who simply wants a particular product - you can get it. And the shipping costs may not be as bad as you think.
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