What questions/concerns do you have for a new tarot deck and its creator?

**Arthurdubya**

Hello all! I'm creating my own deck and will be on Kickstarter soon. In the project, I'll want to make a video with topics like "How it's manufactured", "Inspiration for this deck", and "Background of the creator", but what other questions/concerns would you all have when viewing a new deck? What would you want to ask the creator? Is there anything you're worried about? I want to gauge what people might have in their minds when seeing something like this!

If your questions are dependent on seeing the deck, here's a little album of the paintings so far! http://imgur.com/a/KvKkW

Moderators: I posted in this section (in addition to my main thread in Tarot Deck Creation) to try and reach a larger audience, but please let me know if this doesn't feel like a good fit!

Beanfeasa

Honestly I don't have questions, I am either drawn to the deck or I'm not. It's all about the structure/style of the deck and the actual artwork for me.

Oh and shipping, shipping prices can make or break a deck for me, I will not ever pay €60 for shipping only for the akashic decks.
€35 for the Decoratif was too steep, I might have paid it if the deck was never going to go mass market. The most I've begrudingly paid was €25 for pagan Otherworlds.

DDwarks

The shipping is a concern.
Living in the UK, we get stung by taxes and handling fees.
Those are to be paid before we can even hold the deck.
I know Ciro declares the packages as gifts for us UK residents to help minimise our government's daylight robbery.
Perhaps you could do the same?
It cost me about £30 to pick up my Tabula Mundi - on top of the 20 something £ for delivey.
This is actually the reason I didnt go for any if the posters.
I personally already know why I want your deck and how I'm going to use it. The magickal - dark energy - space/ time aspect of it is mind blowing!
I suppose seeing you in action at your desk would be great

**Arthurdubya**

Ahh, these are valid concerns, though I wouldn't be addressing them in the video, and even if I do declare the packages as gifts, it'd probably be unwise for me to publicly state it as I'm betting that's not the most legal of things to do.

With that said, I shipped 10 posters to Belgium for 30USD. The package for that is 18"x12"x2", so quite large in comparison to what a tarot deck would be. And I always declare the value to be something like 15-20USD.

DDWarks: Are you saying that the Tabula Mundi deck, on top of shipping, cost another 30 quid simply to pick up? Is that like a sales tax or something? How much does the Tabula Mundi deck normally sell for? If my guess is anywhere near accurate, that sounds like a 50% tax or something horrifying like that.

**bonebeach**

I honestly mostly just want to know about the card stock and size. I know that there are people who care deeply about what system the artist based their deck on, blah blah blah, but I'm confident in the way I read cards so either I respond to the art or I don't. The artist can have no background whatsoever in tarot and that is totally fine with me. Honestly, there have been times when I was ready to buy a deck but the artist was pretentious and a jerk to people on this forum (see my second point) and so I will never buy anything from them ever, no matter how much I like the art.

I do check to see if the artist is generally polite on social media, if they're on social media at all. That is actually more important to me. If the artist is on social media, I want to know what the agreed upon hashtags for the deck are, because I buy cards like I buy make up: I scroll through my instagram feed to see what the colors are like in a variety of non-professional lighting conditions. Of course, you can't do that with a super new deck, or one that's crowd funded and not out yet, but still.

I do like hearing a little about the artist's inspirations in a more general sense, or why they made a particular choice for a strange/refreshing interpretation of the card.

I'm all for self promotion, I love artistic confidence. But whenever a deck comes out and is like, "THE MOST IMPORTANT INNOVATION IN TAROT SINCE CROWLEY!" I just...uh huh. Nope.

So, basically, good art and being nice to people?

yes.

EDIT TO ADD: I checked your thread on the deck and everything I would want to hear is basically there. I, personally, love knowing when a deck is being made by someone with a design background (not all artists are designers and there is a palatable difference when an artist is both and cards are a product, after all, and they benefit greatly from a designer's touch) and I love love love hearing a creator have the confidence and desire to make a luxury product. BLACK EDGING? I'm so there.

**CharlotteK**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthurdubya

Ahh, these are valid concerns, though I wouldn't be addressing them in the video, and even if I do declare the packages as gifts, it'd probably be unwise for me to publicly state it as I'm betting that's not the most legal of things to do.

With that said, I shipped 10 posters to Belgium for 30USD. The package for that is 18"x12"x2", so quite large in comparison to what a tarot deck would be. And I always declare the value to be something like 15-20USD.

DDWarks: Are you saying that the Tabula Mundi deck, on top of shipping, cost another 30 quid simply to pick up? Is that like a sales tax or something? How much does the Tabula Mundi deck normally sell for? If my guess is anywhere near accurate, that sounds like a 50% tax or something horrifying like that.

The 'customs tax' I paid on top of shipping to Uk for Tabula Mundi deck and book set was about £26. The shipping was also about £26. So yeah, an extra £52 on top of a $70 (£53) set is really bruising. I think the customs was more than usual as it was sent by priority airmail. Rather than pay £15ish to Royal Mail on collection, I got a customs bill in the post that I had to pay online before the item was delivered. I don't think this is necessarily something you can address in a video but worth knowing different shipping methods can affect customs tax amounts for UK folks.

**Babalon Jones**

Tabula Mundi is $50 for the deck, and $70 for the deck and full guidebook book set. Unfortunately there is no better way to ship it internationally than Priority Flat Rate, as the deck, box, and book are all substantial and the paper is heavy. Weight makes first class not a savings or much savings, and there was not tracking for first class, though I've heard that there may be some available now under some circumstances. And there is no longer media mail internationally for books sadly. Customs is a killer as in the UK they charge the tax not only on the cost paid for the product, but on the shipping! And even "gifts" are taxable unless a ridiculously low value is declared. Sometimes, one even has to provide an invoice as proof as to what the customer paid, which happened to me recently, so fudging it isn't really a great idea.

For decks I buy I either like the art and underlying intellectual structure or not, or can afford them or not. I'm not usually concerned much with questions for the creator, though I do try to find out through reviews if the presentation is good, as in not lousy stock or printing, and for Kickstarter decks I prefer that the artwork is completed before pledging funds.

**CharlotteK**

ETA: in reply to Babalon

Absolutely no dig at you on the stupid shipping and customs charges to UK, it is what it is and deck creators clearly have no control over that. I ordered the TM CA set because it's totally awesome and I wanted it badly enough to pay the charges. Has to be a special deck for me to do that.