TGC The Game Crafter and Shipping costs

The Game Crafter said:

The reason Zombie Apocalypse Tarot is so expensive to ship is that the game designer chose to use the Large Game Box rather than a small tuck box. We can't ship large game boxes any cheaper. If you contact the designer of Zombie Apocalypse Tarot and tell them to upgrade to a Medium Game Box or then it would be cheaper to ship. We're also working on additional packaging options for Jumbo Decks which would make them easier to ship.

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The large game box is tacked on to all decks as a default, and it is really circuitous to figure out how to remove it. It would be sensible if there were no game box included by default and the creator of the game were allowed to pick any size box that the game fit in.

This way, even tho there is no tiny tuck box for the tiny cards, they could be shipped in a slightly oversized tuck box instead of a game box. As it is, tiny cards can only be shipped in a game box. With the game box as the only option for shipping cards for which there is no appropriate sized tuck box, shipping remains quite a bit more than it needs to be.

Actually there is also a bag option. I have a few from there in a velveteen bag.

gregory; was that YOUR choice, or how it came by the creator's choice? Just wondering cuz I'm going to be using them to distribute my deck when it's done, I think.

I'm not Gregory, but as a user of TGC, I can answer too. And so it's the creator's choice. There is two bag format, too, a small and a large one. The small one (H 0.05 | W 3.55 | D 4.75) is large enough for a player deck, but I don't think it's enough for a tarot deck. The large one (H 0.05 | W 5.85 | D 8.75) though is fine.

Mallah said:

gregory; was that YOUR choice, or how it came by the creator's choice? Just wondering cuz I'm going to be using them to distribute my deck when it's done, I think.

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Yup - creator's choice. Iowan's - though that came in a big box because she made a huge card spreadsheet - wish she hadn't... it was creased anyway ! I THINK the Black Fantasy did; and another too. I can't look just now owing to the bottom of one of my drawers having fallen out, so a lot of my decks are carefully stacked on the floor in some kind of order and I can't open any of the other drawers

ETA but you are right - the small one isn't REALLY big enough for a tarot deck. Mallah - remember this !

Well, I'm designing towards the "jumbo" size cards anyhow, so it'd have to be the big one.

gregory said:

Yup - creator's choice. Iowan's - though that came in a big box because she made a huge card spreadsheet - wish she hadn't... it was creased anyway ! I THINK the Black Fantasy did; and another too. I can't look just now owing to the bottom of one of my drawers having fallen out, so a lot of my decks are carefully stacked on the floor in some kind of order and I can't open any of the other drawers

ETA but you are right - the small one isn't REALLY big enough for a tarot deck. Mallah - remember this !

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But from my understanding of TGC policy, she actually had to have a game box, regardless of whether or not she had a sheet. The bag was only an option because she had the box.

Barefoot Fool said:

But from my understanding of TGC policy, she actually had to have a game box, regardless of whether or not she had a sheet. The bag was only an option because she had the box.

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I don't remember about the policies, I'll check that out right away. But at least I know you can remove the large box, as long as you find how to do it -- TGC tutorials are a bit sloppy on that point, so better be sure to check all the components before ordering it and/or putting it online if you are a creator.

Though I had things sent without boxes or pouches before, they used clear ziploc-style plastic bags (and the same enormous shipping box full of paper, but I wasn't paying shipping on that one fortunately).


ETA:

Their terms of service are here: https://community.thegamecrafter.com/terms
I may have missed it, but I saw nothing about any box obligation whatsoever. :S Furthermore, if I understand well, you can buy game parts (dices, chips, etc.) separately, so I guess selling a deck in a pouch instead of a box is entirely possible.

Now, prices-wise... large bags are said to be sold at $2.39, while fully-printed tarot tuck boxes are $2.79. There is a difference, but not a large one, and a box will protect cards more efficiently. Now if you decide to print your deck on poker cards instead, if your deck is small enough to fit in a small pouch, here is where you will win.

In any case, that's my opinion. ^^

tarotlyn had the bag option at one point - without the big box. So - as I recall - did the Chalice deck.

Hi there

I was reading this thread with interest to have my Tarot deck printed by Game Crafter when its all completed, can someone tell me whats the largest card size they will print for people and will they deliver to the UK.

Thanks