We are excited to announce that today we are releasing a new beta feature that aims to help crowdfunding creators manage and mitigate the financial impact the recent global tariff increases will have on their campaigns, businesses, and backers.
The new Tariff Manager enables BackerKit creators – those who use BackerKit Crowdfunding or BackerKit Pledge Manager – to apply a tariff fee as a separate line item into their backer’s carts upon checkout as well as clearly communicate the reason for the fee with their backers.
The tariff fee applied to each item or SKU is determined by the tariff profile creators set up. Through tariff profiles, creators can specify the tariff percentage to be applied to the appropriate SKUs based on the tariff rate for that country or geographic region. Creators can charge different tariff fees for different SKUs within the same campaign by setting up multiple tariff profiles. See our FAQs below to learn how.
For transparency and accountability, we will ask that all creators include a tariff description which backers can view on the tariff fee line item upon checkout. Our FAQs below lists more recommendations for creators when considering and enabling this feature.
Request Beta Access Today
All BackerKit creators are welcome to request access to the Tariff Manager Beta by emailing our team at [email protected]. Please include a link to the relevant project to which an additional tariff fee will be applied. Not yet a BackerKit creator? Sign up now.
For more information about the BackerKit Tariff Manager and general guidance and considerations on applying tariff fees, please view our FAQs below.
Helping our creators manage and navigate the sweeping and fast-changing tariff increases became our top priority at BackerKit when we announced two weeks ago our commitment to offer new tools creators can use immediately.
We are so proud to have been able to deliver on that promise which would not be possible without you, our community, and the contribution of over 500 creators who responded to our Tariff Survey. Aside from learning that this feature would offer the biggest and most immediate impact for creators, we also learned a few insights. View the findings of our Tariff Survey.
BackerKit Tariff Manager FAQs
Creator FAQs
Is the BackerKit Tariff Manager available for all creators?
All BackerKit creators – BackerKit Crowdfunding or BackerKit Pledge Manager customers – are welcome to request access to our Tariff Manager. Pending approval from our team, creators can be granted access as early as next week. As with all our new features–but especially for this feature which has a financial impact to both creators and backers—we are closely reviewing as well as learning from the creators who will be implementing this first so that we can quickly improve and iterate on the offering as needed and as quickly as possible. If you have yet to create a BackerKit creator account, you can sign up now.
Can I charge different tariff fees across different items within one campaign?
Yes. You can do this by setting up multiple tariff profiles. Here is a common example that helps illustrate how a creator would do this:
I am a creator who manufactures my game in China, and then I manufacture the swag that I included in my campaign in Mexico. I fulfill all of my products out of the U.S., meaning I have to ship both the swag and the game to the U.S. first before shipping them to my customers. This is how I would set up my tariff profiles:
- My first tariff profile would only apply to my game SKUs. I will set my game SKU custom values to the cost of goods sold, which is $10. Then I will set up a region including all countries and set that percentage to 158%. This will add $15.80 for every game SKU to each backer with any game SKUs in their order, and display it in their cart as a “Tariff” fee.
- My second tariff profile would apply to all my swag SKUs. I will set up all of my swag SKU customs values to the cost of goods sold. Then I will set up a region including all countries, and set that percentage to 25%. This will add 25% of the cost of goods sold for each included swag SKU.
How do I best communicate this tariff fee with my backers?
When asking your backers for more money than they anticipated, it’s important to overcommunicate. Your backers are excited to support you, want you to keep creating, and understand that creators are currently under extenuating circumstances. By keeping them in the loop, you can minimize any confusion or frustration about new charges.
Aside from ensuring your tariff fee description is ample and accurate, we recommend the following to ensure the best customer experience for their backers:
- Charge additional tariff fees as close as possible to when you are importing your product to minimize the need for future adjustments and subsequent communications.
- Add a new section in your Project FAQ that explains the new tariff fee.
- Send an update to your backers informing them of the added tariff fee. This can be a reiteration of the new FAQ section.
What should I include in my tariff fee description?
Ensure your tariff description includes the essential information your backers would benefit knowing. Here is a template you can use:
- This fee reflects the estimated additional tariff cost to produce and import this item following the recent tariff increases declared by the U.S. government for goods manufactured in [COUNTRY/REGION]. Please visit our FAQ page for more details.
What happens if the tariff changes after I’ve charged my backers? What if I charge too high or too little?
We highly recommend creators charge additional tariff fees as close as possible to when they are importing their product to help ensure that you are charging backers the most up-to-date rate. However, if tariffs change after you’ve charged backers a tariff fee and you’ve determined a tariff fee adjustment is necessary, you will be able to make that adjustment as a refund or added charge and are required to explain that adjustment to your backers.
Outside of enabling the feature for creators, can BackerKit offer any additional guidance or support around charging a tariff fee?
Our team will be doing our best to support all creators who plan to request access to this new feature, including offering guidance on how and when to add the charge based on their campaign and fulfillment stage (e.g. Pre-Survey, Post-Charging, Pre-Fulfillment, etc.) and best practices on how to communicate tariff charges to backers. As the changes in tariff rates have been a fast-evolving, we will not be able to make any recommendations on the precise tariff fees or percentage creators apply to an item or tariff profile, but at this moment we will be reviewing every campaign tariff fee profile and tariff fee description to ensure the tariff charges are fair and within reason.
Backer FAQs
How will BackerKit ensure these charges are fair and legitimate?
We are currently requiring creators to request access to this feature and will be evaluating how creators will be implementing the charge. Rest assured that all tariff fees that have been enabled by our team have gone through a review process similar to how we apply a review process across all campaigns launched on BackerKit. This review will also be incorporated into our standard campaign review process which all campaigns undergo on BackerKit
Will I be able to opt out of these tariff charges?
No, backers will not be able to opt out of paying the tariff fees. As with all commercial goods that will be impacted by these tariff increases – whether produced by small businesses or crowdfunding creators – tariff hikes will increase their cost of production. Like many business owners, the creators you’ve backed are now in the position where they must collect extra funds in order to fulfill their project and continue creating. We are asking creators to only charge a tariff fee when and where it is entirely necessary, and we are reviewing all creators’ proposed tariff fee charges to ensure fairness. If you believe a tariff fee requires a second review from our team, please email us at [email protected].
Insights from the BackerKit Tariff Survey
We reached out to a wide range of creators to understand how recent import tariffs are affecting their projects. *Note that the data is heavily skewed toward those anticipating the most impact from tariffs, as they were more likely to respond to the survey, and does not represent the general crowdfunding creator population.
Among those who responded to the survey, here’s what we learned:
🎯Project Category: What category is your project?*
- Tabletop Game and Role Playing Game creators represented the largest group, making up 57% of respondents.
- 29.2% Tabletop Games
- 16% Tabletop Games and RPGs
- 11.5% RPGs
- The next largest segments were Enamel Pin creators at over 20% of respondents, Plushies and Toys at over 11%, and Writing & Publishing (Non-RPG) at over 7%. Other categories represented include Comics, Design & Tech, Fashion, Video Games, and more.
- *Some creators selected more than one category.
⏳Project Stage: What stage is your current project in?*
- Respondents reported their projects were at different stages across their crowdfunding campaign lifecycle, with a little over a third (35.9%) stating at least one current project was in a Pre-Launch stage and about a quarter (25.9%) stating they had already charged backers post-survey, but had yet to fulfill one of their current projects.
- Here is the breakdown of responses.*Some creators selected more than one project stage.
- 35.9 Pre-Launch phase
- 9.5% Currently funding
- 22.2% Post funding, pre-pledge manager
- 16.8% Pledge manager surveys sent, not charged
- 25.9% Pledge manager surveys charged, not fulfilling
- 24.7% Currently Fulfilling
- 4.8% Other
📦 Estimated Impact: What amount of the products you are offering are impacted by the recently imposed tariffs?
- 78% say that the majority of their products (50% or more) will be impacted by the recently imposed tariffs.
- 63.6% said all or almost all of their products (75–100%) will be impacted
- 13.8% said most of their products (50–75%) will be affected
- 6.1% estimate only some products (25% – 50%) will be impacted; 3% believe just few products (under 25%) will be
- 10.1% aren’t sure yet, and 2.5% expect no impact