Chaos Cards no longer distributor?

**Makizushi** · 07-24-2014, 12:05 PM

Hi guys,

I recently ordered a booster box of "Call of the Crystals". Since I live in the Netherlands, I expected to receive the cards from the EU distributor Chaos Cards in the UK. Thus i would not incur any import taxes.

Lo and behold, the booster box was sent from the USA and now I've had to pay an unexpected EUR 21 in taxes. That's not something I'm particularly happy about, because I have no paid for taxes twice: once for VAT, once for import from the US.

I also just went to check the Chaos Cards website and Shadow Era is no longer listed on their site. When Googling for "chaos cards" "shadow era" I found this URL for their site, but it's currently also 404 -> http://www.chaoscards.co.uk/shadow-era-i62.
Ditto for their Shadow Era category link -> http://www.chaoscards.co.uk/shadow-e...ter-boxes-c688
Shadow Era isn't even in their list of brands anymore -> http://www.chaoscards.co.uk/sitemap/

So... I'm pretty miffed about having to pay about half of the booster box's value in additional taxes and now I'm also curious about Chaos Cards and about how Shadow Era is actually doing... for reals. Wulven have repeatedly stated that the remaining stock of Dark Prophecies cards are stuck with their EU distributor, which would be Chaos Cards. Dun-dun-duuunnn.

EDIT:
Confirmed, see below: CC is out of the picture.

**Gondorian** · 07-24-2014, 01:59 PM

Yes, I think from what you said and other clues on this forum that Chaos Cards is no longer EU distributor and all their stock is in transit to the US.

My recent order was sent from the US too and incurred hefty charges which I have not yet paid (was considering not picking it up to avoid charges and asking for it to be sent from UK, but it sounds like there is no UK stock anymore).

Being double-charged VAT is ridiculous. It should have been marked as VAT-paid on the package. Clearly it wasn't. You can claim back this second VAT locally via whatever process your country has, but it is surely hassle.

We need an official response from Kyle about this, but I'm willing to wait for it since this will need some investigation and consideration.

**Makizushi** · 07-24-2014, 02:04 PM

Thanks Gondorian, I will indeed try to reclaim the EUR 21,00 I paid locally. The tax form even includes instructions for such reclamations, so hopefully that'll work.

I really curious whether we'll get answers to our questions regarding EU distribution. Not two months ago Chaos Cards was listed as being active partner in local events, like that UK game show. Speaking of which, how DID that turn out? I assume you were there?

**Backer** · 07-24-2014, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by Makizushi

Hi guys,

I recently ordered a booster box of "Call of the Crystals". Since I live in the Netherlands, I expected to receive the cards from the EU distributor Chaos Cards in the UK. Thus i would not incur any import taxes.

Lo and behold, the booster box was sent from the USA and now I've had to pay an unexpected EUR 21 in taxes. That's not something I'm particularly happy about, because I have no paid for taxes twice: once for VAT, once for import from the US.

I also just went to check the Chaos Cards website and Shadow Era is no longer listed on their site. When Googling for "chaos cards" "shadow era" I found this URL for their site, but it's currently also 404 -> http://www.chaoscards.co.uk/shadow-era-i62.
Ditto for their Shadow Era category link -> http://www.chaoscards.co.uk/shadow-e...ter-boxes-c688
Shadow Era isn't even in their list of brands anymore -> http://www.chaoscards.co.uk/sitemap/

So... I'm pretty miffed about having to pay about half of the booster box's value in additional taxes and now I'm also curious about Chaos Cards and about how Shadow Era is actually doing... for reals. Wulven have repeatedly stated that the remaining stock of Dark Prophecies cards are stuck with their EU distributor, which would be Chaos Cards. Dun-dun-duuunnn.

You should get a refund on the tax from Wulven.

I think it was unfair to give everyone the same amount of store credit even though it's really only covering the cost for USA customers.

**Makizushi** · 07-24-2014, 02:16 PM

Well, that's true too Backer.

Also...

I phoned them. Confirmed: Chaos Cards no longer sell "Shadow Era". They were at the games con in May, but after that "it broke down". I guess that's testament to the difficulty of making a break in the TCG/CCG market as a small new-comer: can't have buyers without a distributor, can't have a distributor without buyers.

**Shadow Era** · 07-24-2014, 04:45 PM

Unfortunately there were a handful of orders left in limbo when Chaos was "moving warehouses" for more than a month and refused to ship any of our product. As a distributor they leave much to be desired and it's true that we're getting our inventory shipped to the USA where we can properly control it. We were forced to pay rather high shipping costs to send product from the US to Europe for some orders, but for those customers we'll also refund the VAT collected. For awhile now our online store no longer charges VAT and shipping prices have been raised.

I don't think it says anything about the popularity of the game, more of the lack of interest or capability of Chaos to promote and/or distribute it. Thanks to our Champions program we have many stores worldwide holding weekly tournaments and it's unquestionably more popular right now than it has ever been.

**Makizushi** · 07-24-2014, 04:47 PM

Thank you Kyle, for the quick response.

We were forced to pay rather high shipping costs to send product from the US to Europe for some orders, but for those customers we'll also refund the VAT collected.

I've already sent an email to sales@... I assume this will suffice with regards to the VAT refund.

Thank you again, also for sharing your point of view about popularity of the game.

**oggtheman** · 07-24-2014, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by Makizushi

Thank you again, also for sharing your point of view about popularity of the game.

Sarcastic? If so, Id say it is no MTG or Yu-Gi-Oh, but is doing reasonably well for a small game, as it is fun to play. All the people I have shown it to have liked it, (and many now want to start playing it) which is very good feedback if they like the game a lot after a few matches only. By all, I mean all but one. One of my friends was disgusted by the faxt id "spent money on pixels" in the SE app.

**Shadow Era** · 07-24-2014, 04:59 PM

Did you mention to him that when you buy the physical booster packs you get a code for free pixels?

**Makizushi** · 07-24-2014, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by oggtheman

Sarcastic? If so, Id say it is no MTG or Yu-Gi-Oh, but is doing reasonably well for a small game, as it is fun to play.

I meant no sarcasm at all. There's a reason I'm still here, since 2010. While I do not make it a secret that I have my doubts about Wulven as a whole, I did in fact mean to thank Kyle for sharing his views.

One of my friends was disgusted by the faxt id "spent money on pixels" in the SE app.

Jeez, I guess he must hate any app with in-game purchases.