Not a very wargamey update, I’m afraid, but important news nonetheless.
On January 1st 2015, the EU is introducing a change in VAT rules that will affect the sale of all digital goods and services, including PDFs, ebooks, music downloads, online courses and so on. The changes will also include draconian data collection and administration burdens that are simply insupportable for a one-man-band micro-business such as mine. I have consulted with others and have been wracking my brain to find a practical work-around, but as things stand, the new rules mean I simply can no longer sell digital products from this site after December 31st.
Consequently, I shall be selling all my digital offerings from either Wargame Vault, or larger works from well-known outlets like Amazon or the iTunes store. I shall post links here in due course before the end of the year.
Naturally, this means a significant cut in income, as portal sites like WV quite naturally take a cut of the cover price, but I have decided to keep the price of the old magazines unchanged. Any new products I produce will be priced in relation to the new situation.
Thank you for all the support you have shown me by buying products from this blog for so many years, and I hope you understand that this change has been forced upon me – and tens of thousands of other micro-businesses – by powers completely beyond our control.
If you would like to read more about the VAT changes, then look here. And if you would like to kick up a fuss about this ludicrous situation along with the rest of us, there’s an online petition here.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you
Take care
Andy
Hi Henry, late to the game here sorry. I’ve just found out about this whilst listening to your recent View from the Verana episode. I’d only just heard about you from the Wargaming Recon podcast and was planning on checking out your magazine now in the New Year as I’m just starting out in historical wargaming.
So, irrelevant backstory aside, should I now buy the magazine from WV, or should I wait a while for you to get it back here (is that likely?) so as you can get the full cut?
Either way, the new law sounds insane, I’ll be signing the petitiom next.
Hi Jamie and thanks for the support.
I have just found an alternative solution with Payhip that avoids the VATMOSS trap. I hope to have everything up and running again by the end of next week once I’ve sent the next issue of Miniature Wargames to press.
And welcome to historical wargaming!
Signed. What a great way to kill off cottage industries putting money into the UK coffers.
Indeed, Pat, utterly stupid.
I’ve signed.
Jimmy from Wisconsin.
Thank you Jimmy.
Henry,
Although the profit per sold item might be lower, perhaps Wargame Vault might provide additional exposure?
I frequent and buy from WV and its sister sites regularly – and often discover things there I would otherwise not know they existed.
I’ve been selling most of the back issues from WV for years, Phil, as it does indeed provide an additional route to market. So unfortunately, this VAT mess means the loss of one shop window, not the gain of another. But As a result, I shall be investing more time and effort into making the most of WV.
Well I’m a colonial but I signed too; and, filled out my set of old Battlegames! This would certainly cramp the hobby as there is so much good stuff generated by individuals and small groups. I wouldn’t mind paying the extra cost (well, so maybe a little) but saddling the producers with all the extra bureaucracy is just too much!
Thank you, Jim. Crazy, isn’t it? And there are so many industries affected bybthis: I’m a member of an organisation for self-published authors and thousands of them are in shock about this.
I’ve signed Henry.
Thank you Ben.
That’s a pain … still prompted me to increase my collection of Battlegames pdfs!
Thanks, Colin. It’s not a marketing ploy, sadly, it’ve very much a real decision I’ve had to take. 🙁
Until you mentioned it, I didn’t think it was! Now I suspect I’ve fallen prey to the Hyde-marketing-machine 😉
Seriously, it does seem to be a crazy decision … and I’ll probably get a few more issues later in the month
Signed the petition. It’s not as if the b’stards don’t squeeze enough out of us.
Thanks, Mick.