Shipping fees and tariffs
With De Minimis gone, there will be a shipping price increase.
Hello, Playdate community. If you live in the US this affects you. Central America, North America (Canada), South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Oceania are not affected with any price increases. The only issue is that deliveries may take a bit longer. Canadian deliveries that used to take 2-4 business days, are more 4-8 business days depending on your location.
As some of you probably heard, De Minimis, a.k.a. Duty Free, which has been around since the 1940s, has been suspended. Starting from August 29th, Uncrank’d is based in Canada. For me to ship to the US, I have to pay fees, including tariffs, upfront before I even see the cost of the shipping. This is for the carrier I use normally and Canada Post. This affects everything currently in the storefronts and what's to come. (The 2026 calendar, advent calendar, Project Coffee Table book, novels, and/or graphic novels.)
What will change?
The price of the item remains the same. The shipping costs will go up due to the tariffs and other fees, which are explained lower down in this post. I will need some time to recalculate the existing zines and items on both storefronts. For example, the existing $10 shipping is now close to $18 for just one magazine. I saw the price change yesterday while preparing an order to ship. With the current fees, Uncrank’d would take a major hit financially.
What about UPS, FedEx, or DHL?
I am sure this will affect them too, and their prices have gone up. DHL has suspended delivery to the US since August 22nd.
Here's a breakdown:
Existing fee/no change:Parcel insurance—I always put insurance on every item shipped.
New information that must be added to ship an item:
A label with the country of origin (COO) or a (Made in ...) sticker and/or label.
The 10-digit HTS code. Click the link to read the definition (Harmonized Tariff Schedule).
Manufacturer information (address & postal code that match the country of origin)
New fees with definitions:
Tariff/Duties Fee: Calculated based on the 10-digit HTS code. Depending on this code, the tariff may be higher or lower.
Merchandise Processing Fee: Calculated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and may change at their discretion.
Shipment Items Fee: Individual item processing fee for the broker to process the individual HTS-coded items in the shipment. This fee is applied PER item. So if you purchase 5 magazines, that fee gets charged to me five times even though it’s the same item with the same HS Code.
So what's next?
While the courts seem to have deemed the tariffs illegal, there will be an appeal, and until then, I really have no choice but to add them in to the current shipping fees. The new prices will go into effect on September 15th. No price change for anything digital. If there's something on either storefront that interests you and you’ve been on the fence about it, grab it now before September 15th at the lower shipping rate. Zines are still special order at the moment. The only in-stock issue is the number 5 misprint.
Fun in the Sun bundles (excluding bundle 2, which is issue 8 only) will be disappearing soon, so they will not have the fees added to them.
Can I cover some of the price increases now?
Yes, but they are optional until the prices go up on September 15th. I mentioned that I don’t know what the price will be until I go through the process, but if you order a magazine between today and the 14th, you can add a minimum of a $3 tip to your order.
Option 1) After Payment, you will see the Add tip section. You can manually add in a dollar amount there.
Option 2) Another option is through buying a coffee through Buy me a Coffee. The link is at the bottom of the post.
Is there a chance the prices will go back down?
Maybe. It all depends on what happens with the courts. The courier service I use sends emails if there is a change with shipping to the US.
I know this isn’t great news, and I hope this doesn’t deter anyone from supporting Uncrank’d during this time. Digital is your next option where as soon as you purchase a zine, a link is sent to your email to download the pdf. No shipping and the fastest delivery.
I already sent an email to the Uncrank’d zine subscribers regarding this very important topic as some are ready to renew and the others later this year.
While I don’t think Canada Post will suspend delivery to the US like how DHL and others have done, I will keep everyone posted if anything changes.
Issue 9 & Beyond
Some changes are coming for 2026 involving issues one through five. I will go into more detail in late November/early December.
Thank you everyone for your continued support of Uncrank’d. You can ask a question below, through the Uncrank’d Discord Server, or on the original post on Bluesky, Mastodon, or twitter. I will post answers to the questions in this week’s QNU.
See you on Wednesday.
-XL
Support Uncrank’d though Buy Me a Coffee.