Cult of Tarot Forum

Call me “Old-fashioned,” but when I purchase a new item, I expect it to be in new condition. Unfortunately, about fifty percent of the new tarot decks and new tarot books that I have received over the past three years of collecting have arrived either dented, scratched, creased, crushed, or defective in some other way.

These poor condition issues are not confined to mass-market shippers like Amazon but have been experienced with items purchased directly from publishers (and self-publishers) as well. In trying to resolve some of these issues, I have, at times, also been confronted with very poor customer service.

The following are just some the many examples I could cite:

• The last three decks I purchased directly from Deviant Moon arrived with either a dent or deep scratches to the box or a crease mark on one of the cards (obviously caused by the manufacturing process).

• Two decks from Schiffer had glue from the manufacturing process smeared on the inside of the printed decorative lid of the magnetic closure box.

• Le Tarot Noir arrived from France with two creased cards, a page of the book that had been folded and creased, a dented box with a warped lid, and cards cut to radically different sizes.

• The Visconti Modrone (Kickstarter edition) by Lo Scarabeo arrived with the Five of Wands missing from the deck, but had duplicates of the Four of Wands.

The next two examples are not related to damage, but they are no less disappointing. The following images are used in accordance with the "fair use doctrine":

• The following photo on the left shows the Hydrogen card that was advertised on the Kickstarter campaign page for the Materia Prima Tarot. This was the card that sold me on supporting the campaign, as it was (in my opinion) the most beautiful card of all the samples shown. The photo on the right is the card that I actually received (the background looks like a chocolate bar that is covered with mold). Many other cards were also changed after I and others had already pledged. These changes were not made as a result of any "Stretch Goal" that was reached but simply because the creators decided to engage in a major redesign of the deck after the Kickstarter campaign was well underway.

• In the following photos, the images on the far left are the ones that were used to promote the Deviant Moon Paradoxical Tarot at both the Deviant Moon website and in their promotional emails. The promotional samples featured below show part of the Nine of Swords and part of the Six of Coins. The images on the far right are the images that I actually received with the finished deck. As it turns out, the promotional images appear to be from the Deviant Moon Paradoxical Art Deck from 2015, which uses a different color scheme than many of the cards in the Paradoxical Tarot. Not only are the colors radically different, but the orientation of the characters on the Six of Coins is different from the advertised sample as well. Even on those cards that are similar in color, the colors used for the Paradoxical Tarot are very dull and washed-out compared to the promotional samples.
  
  Looking back through the promotional emails that I received, as well as the Deviant Moon website, I could not find any disclaimer stating that the promotional images used were from a different deck and did not accurately represent the deck that was being offered for sale. I made my decision to pay the ridiculously high price for this deck based on the promotional images, which turned out to be highly misleading, to say the least.

I have never purchased a pirated deck, but I find myself developing a growing sympathy for those who seek to purchase the least expensive deck they can find without worrying about its source or authenticity.

When deck creators see pirated versions of their decks being sold on eBay for around $10.00 (with free shipping), perhaps they should engage in a little self-reflection to determine whether the frequent poor condition of their decks, or the poor customer service offered by them or their publishers, or the misleading advertising they occasionally engage in might have contributed to the willingness of people to seek out less expensive alternatives.

I only want to speak to the issue of Customer Service that you raised @Thelder

I'm in several deck creator online groups and I hear a lot of stories about customer complaints.
I also have some experience with customers who got decks from me with slight defects.

I get that its disappointing when a deck arrives with dings or other damage. My policy is always ask the customer what they would like me to do and then I do it. I've been really lucky and can say that I've never had anyone be rude or demanding. People seemed to understand that these things happen and were willing to work with me to correct the problem.

The Button Soup deck featured a gold foil frame on the face of every card. It looks beautiful. But on, I think 3 or 4, I got complaints that some of the cards were stuck together because of that gold foil. In one case it was several cards so I replaced the whole deck. In the others the people only requested replacement cards which I was able to get from an open deck. (Luckily, in each case it was different cards).

So, I know these printing/packaging errors can happen and the deck creator has no control over that, except to correct the issue and how skilfully they do that. Its important to remember that most deck creators are running this small business entirely on their own with very slim profit margins especially in light of how much work it really is. And I think a lot of them get in over their heads. You see these Kickstarters for little decks that sell 1,000's of copies all at once and suddenly you've got someone trying to manage all the intricacies and rising costs of international shipping, collecting VAT, dealing with printers with varying degrees of customer service aptitude and its a recipe for disappointment.

I think, from what I've seen that the sheer volume of business some sellers do creates more issues than they are prepared to deal with.

It was easy for me most of the time because my sales volume was manageable for me. The worst though was during high-covid times when shipping was just catastrophic. I got emails every day asking "where is my deck," but I learned quick to respond promptly and completely and politely and people were always understanding. Not everyone has figured out that secret to customer service.

So, yes sellers can be rude but from what I hear, so can customers. I've heard some really awful stories.

I would recommend to anyone experiencing a problem with their deck to approach the seller in a polite, non-adversarial way if you want to get the best result. I realise that won't always work, but best foot forward is always good.

I'd like to tell sellers to take more care with their customers and if that is too difficult they should really re-examine their business. Ask themselves if they are really ready to handle the responsibility of a 5,000 deck run. It's a lot. And so many of these decks we see are doing runs like this, even 10,000 is not uncommon. Of course they are going to have a substantial number of complaints (some valid, some not) It's unfathomable to me how someone runs that as a side biz by themselves but a lot of people are and doing it, and with varying degrees of skill.

In regard to the large publishers, I'm pretty sure they could give a damn. They market themselves a certain way, put forth a certain image but its a joke. They see money in Tarot and that's it. Creators are flattered when their decks get picked up by a major publisher, but they are paid such a pathetic amount for their work and often see it ruined by the publisher, its sad really.

If I sound a little disillusioned by the business of Tarot its because I am. It changed so much over the past few years it's unrecognisable from what it was even 5 years ago. All anyone talks about in the groups is rising costs, shipping delays, rude customers, changing tax regulations, Brexit (yes, its a thing for indy sellers) unreliable printers, rising fees on Etsy, Kickstarter, and paypal, etc. etc.

It used to be discussions about art and tools and symbolism, etc. Now its all frustration and competition.

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Regarding the comment about buying pirate decks, that's not a good response to these issues. I understand the frustration behind that comment, but does anyone need a any tarot deck that badly? Personally I just wouldn't feel good about it, would not be able to enjoy a cheap pirated deck that I bought out of spite. I'd rather just walk away.

Thank you so much for your response and for your insight into the business side of the tarot. @Joan Marie

Just to clarify, I am not advocating that people buy pirated decks, just that I have a growing understanding and sympathy for why some may do so.

I am sad to say that your remedy of "I'd rather just walk away" is likely to be my remedy. I had intended to continue purchasing new decks of interest, but I am so tired of receiving damaged goods and dealing with poor customer service that I think I will have to end all future tarot buying activity completely. I have already stopped email notifications from certain publishers so that I am not even remotely tempted to purchase other decks from them.

I think this is why, many times, I just prefer to buy a used deck.

I too hate it when a new deck arrives damaged. From a manufacturing side, it would seem almost impossible to find a printer that would do a fabulous job on each & every deck, guaranteed. And I know it would take a huge number of hours for the artist to inspect and sort every single deck to weed out the slightly damaged ones. So I understand why they do get out. And the few times I have reached out to creators about the situation, they have been responsive.

In addition to that, there is my own hesitation to even use brand-new decks because I don't want to damage them! Kind of defeating the purpose

So I have now preferentially started buying used decks (hopefully also with an accordingly discounted price). It takes away a lot of the perfectionist anxiety, for me at least.

as deck collector & selfpublished creator I know for fact box main purpose is to protect cards in shipping unfortunately even with all safety measures box will often arrive dinged and in case of any defect you should contact seller with pictures and complaints and way how you wish to solve it or return it? as far as i know most selfpublishers will accept returns or replace missing/damaged cards.

those potential issues should not be reason to buy pirated decks as those are printed on low quality material that will detoriate even faster & not printed from original but pirated images that result in bad coloration blurred and distorted low resolution im sure no one would be happy to look at!

better alternative you may wish to consider are apps that are affordable and pristine condition and resolution with card img you can zoom in and book you can read fo only few$ & some are even free!:)

also you can always trade cards you no longer feel like using (unlike pirates no one want these!

and minimalism is always best option! if you have deck you like no need to be tempted with something you don't feel like supporting!