Tariff Headaches

I could write just a short update to my previous post, but instead I’ve decided to share a longer story. We’ve been getting a lot of questions from the U.S. about orders, and I’d like to explain our current situation, the changes happening, and our future plans.

First of all, it seems that no one was really prepared for such rapid changes. I received the news about the upcoming end of de minimis while I was on vacation — so you can imagine what my “rest” looked like. Instead of relaxing, I was figuring out how our company could survive. A big part of our sales goes to the U.S., and since we’re growing fast, we’ve been investing heavily in new projects. The possibility of losing our biggest market is not a small matter. I still remember what happened with the U.K. after Brexit: practically all customers disappeared for a few months, and it took us a long time to rebuild our position.

So the news was a big shock, but within a few days we had a plan ready. I announced it to our employees, and we began preparing.

Firstly we announced our birthday earlier this year, and you exceeded all our expectations. We shipped more and bigger packages than ever before. It was a challenging time for our whole team, and in the final days we decided to postpone shipments to other countries and focus on U.S. orders first, so we wouldn’t miss the August 29 deadline when the tariffs were set to begin. Thank you all so much for your support!

Secondly, regarding shipping after August 29: all indications were that U.S. customers would have to pay about $80 per package in tariffs. To avoid this, we decided to use something called ‘package injection.’ This means we send one large bulk shipment (containing many smaller individual orders) to our U.S. partner. He pays the tariffs and then injects the smaller packages into the USPS system. For us, this means lower income because we cover the cost of double shipping and this service, but it ensures our customers receive their orders at the door without paying any extra fees. We even established a fulfillment company and signed a deal to test this solution.

Everything seemed ready — except for one missing piece: the official CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) guidance for international mail hadn’t been published. Without it, USPS wasn’t supposed to collect tariffs, and many believed CBP was delayed and that implementation would come 1–2 months later, giving everyone time to prepare.

Then, on August 16, I read on the Etsy forum that Royal Mail was preparing to collect tariffs. I started digging and discovered that just one day earlier, CBP had quietly published the new rules. The big change: for USPS shipments, tariffs must now be paid before the package enters the U.S. — otherwise, the package won’t be delivered at all.

This changed a lot, but for us the adjustment was relatively small: we need to send bigger bulk shipments, containing orders worth over $800. These will be handled as before, with our U.S. partner paying tariffs upon arrival.

Yesterday, I confirmed all details with our partner. Everything should work!

Meanwhile in other countries

Throughout the week we’ve been hearing about postal operators in different countries suspending shipments to the U.S. One after another — Australia, Denmark, Sweden, and more — announced they were stopping deliveries, citing lack of preparation time. Finally, even Polish Post decided yesterday to suspend all deliveries to the U.S., regardless of package value — and they did this just hours after my talk with our U.S. partner.

Some postal operators (like Spain) still allow shipments above $800, but it seems easier for many to just stop everything for now.

Current situation

At the moment, I don’t have good news for our U.S. customers. We can send parcels via UPS, but this is much more expensive. On top of that, UPS not only charges the 15% tariff but also adds its own customs clearance fee.

This option could work if we combine smaller packages into a bulk shipment and send it to our U.S. fulfillment partner. It might work well for wooden tokens, but unfortunately not for plastic trays — because of their dimensional weight. The trays are physically large compared to their actual weight, so carriers charge us as if they were much heavier.

What’s next

Every day brings new developments, and we’re monitoring the situation closely. Next week we’ll investigate whether we can send larger-value packages (as per our latest plan). As soon as it’s possible, we’ll reopen the U.S. shipping option.

In the meantime:

• If you’d like to order wooden tokens only, write to us and we’ll unblock shipping for you. We’ll use UPS together with our U.S. fulfillment partner to process your order.
• For trays, please be patient — we’ll keep you updated.

Thank you again for your understanding and support during this turbulent time. Once everything is finally set up and running smoothly, I think I’ll truly deserve a real vacation 😉

Latest Update! We’ve resumed shipping to the US! (September 6)

Tariffs:
We have added a 15% tariff surcharge at checkout. This means your package will be delivered directly to your door without any additional payments from your side. That’s good news for both you and us.

Shipping:
We were able to resume shipping thanks to a Dutch shipping company.
Tracking will work a bit differently now: for each order we will create a UPS or USPS label, but first the packages need to be delivered to the courier’s warehouse in Poland. We will send them in a bulk shipment to Wrocław, and from there they will begin their journey to you. Because of this, tracking may not update for the first few days after shipping.

This solution hasn’t been fully tested yet, so the first packages will serve as a trial to show us the real tracking behavior and shipping times. At the moment, the expected delivery times are the same as before — but since this is the only company in continental Europe offering rates similar to standard post, there may be occasional delays.

Other courier solutions remain much more expensive, so we’ve disabled them for now. For example, UPS currently charges around $25 per package just for tariff paperwork — though we’ve heard they may soon introduce a cheaper system. No other EU postal operator has resumed shipping to the US yet, so we’re very glad to finally have a working solution for you.

We’ll also continue to keep you updated on our blog with any changes or improvements to shipping procedures.

Thank you so much for your continued support — it means the world to us!