Tarot deck printing help?

MagicianMew

Hi everyone! I'm in the process of making a tarot deck (I'll post more about it soon!) and I'm researching the best way to print it for sale.

I do want to publish it independently, but I'd like to avoid print-on-demand if possible, because I'm in the UK and I suspect a lot of potential buyers will be in the US. I can't print there because I'm a US citizen (I'd lose everything from being double-taxed if I did that, though I think it would be safe for me to make an order from a US printer), but if I print-on-demand in the UK, the shipping cost would be astronomical for anyone buying outside the UK. Having such prohibitively high costs would sort of defeat the point of my deck, which is to be accessible, especially for new readers.

I'd like to keep the deck affordable. So does anyone have suggestions for printing companies that are a good mix of quality and affordability, either in the UK, or I've heard of some people printing in China?
 

gregory

That company looks good - never heard of them before - but it's a LOT of money to shell out up front... and then you'd have to handle the packing and delivery. The drop shipping from POD companies is a huge plus, for me.

I am in the UK (at the moment) and I did mine with printer studio. Their prices HAVE gone up recently, but even so - they drop ship to anywhere, and they use delivery hubs, so there are no customs charges. They print in China or Hong Kong - not sure which. And there are ways to set your own prices - PM me if you what to know more. I couldn't be bothered. but... There's also makeplayingcards who seem to be almost the same, but I've never used them.

And in Italy there is http://www.ludocards.com/ - I have a deck printed by them, but I haven't USED them as such.
 

MagicianMew

That company looks good - never heard of them before - but it's a LOT of money to shell out up front... and then you'd have to handle the packing and delivery. The drop shipping from POD companies is a huge plus, for me.

I am in the UK (at the moment) and I did mine with printer studio. Their prices HAVE gone up recently, but even so - they drop ship to anywhere, and they use delivery hubs, so there are no customs charges. They print in China or Hong Kong - not sure which. And there are ways to set your own prices - PM me if you what to know more. I couldn't be bothered. but... There's also makeplayingcards who seem to be almost the same, but I've never used them.

And in Italy there is http://www.ludocards.com/ - I have a deck printed by them, but I haven't USED them as such.

As I said in my OP, I can't do that because if I were making money on American soil, I would basically be bankrupted by double taxation. I'm an American citizen, and I'm pretty sure they'll come after me if they can argue that I'm running an America-based business, which will then require me to pay a total of about 60% of my income in taxes. Given that my profit certainly won't get anywhere near that, that means I will lose money on my deck.

That's why I don't want to do POD in the US. I'd be getting paid in American dollars, through a company on American soil. I'm pretty sure that means I'm screwed.

Unless you know differently, or know of a POD NOT based in America that doesn't have astronomical international shipping fees (like Gamecrafter), I really can't do that because it just isn't financially viable.
 

reall

hm, not sure about all that tax talk, but like gregory said China based POD should be your best option unless you plan going with local printer(that's worth checking out so you can plan your production and shipping rates?:) and maybe you can check out drivethrucards/onebookshelf I think they may have Uk pub and flat shipping rates if you order for your home address?:)

btw tnx for links!^^ I'm bookmarking both of those new POD never hear of it before!^^ lolz
and that italian one seems specially interesting to me!^^ imo Italians make best design!^^ :))
and that *long deck is something i always wanted for my Tarot!XD
@gregory how do you like their quality?x,x is it better than PS?:))
 

MagicianMew

ETA: Ok, so I have found a Printer Studio link that is for the UK. The original results I saw on Google were all in the US.

http://www.printerstudio.co.uk/

Does this mean that, basically, I pay them in UK pounds, they accept payment from anyone who buys it in UK pounds, and they ship from China where they manufacture, at no point being handled in the US unless the customer's there? Because that would change things, definitely.
 

gregory

As I said in my OP, I can't do that because if I were making money on American soil, I would basically be bankrupted by double taxation. I'm an American citizen, and I'm pretty sure they'll come after me if they can argue that I'm running an America-based business, which will then require me to pay a total of about 60% of my income in taxes. Given that my profit certainly won't get anywhere near that, that means I will lose money on my deck.

That's why I don't want to do POD in the US. I'd be getting paid in American dollars, through a company on American soil. I'm pretty sure that means I'm screwed.

Unless you know differently, or know of a POD NOT based in America that doesn't have astronomical international shipping fees (like Gamecrafter), I really can't do that because it just isn't financially viable.
I don't knwo how they would KNOW - I never had anything to do with my sales on Printerstudio. THey just happened. But there is the Italian place I linked.

ETA: Ok, so I have found a Printer Studio link that is for the UK. The original results I saw on Google were all in the US.

http://www.printerstudio.co.uk/

Does this mean that, basically, I pay them in UK pounds, they accept payment from anyone who buys it in UK pounds, and they ship from China where they manufacture, at no point being handled in the US unless the customer's there? Because that would change things, definitely.
Depending on how you handle it - the only way I know is that either you let them do the lot; people pay paypal, and PS mail out the decks and pass your profits on to you - OR you take orders on your own website somewhere, people paypal, you and then you order each deck from PS and have it mailed directly to your buyer.

Interesting about the UK site - I wasn't aware of it - and I can tell you now that as a test (since I signed up to the US one) I can't log in with my .com credentials. So they are indeed separate. This is useful for me to know, too...