Cards Against Humanity to give tariff refunds to buyers who ‘overpaid’

CHICAGO – The company that sells the popular party game Cards Against Humanity said it will channel any tariff refunds back to its customers, whom it said “already overpaid for everything.” 

“America’s big retailers passed over 90 per cent of their tariff costs onto you, their customers, by marking everything up,” the Chicago-based game maker said in an online post.

“If you bought Cards Against Humanity stuff from them over the last year, you likely paid for those costs.”

The move is among the first signs that at least some consumers have a more direct – albeit minimal – stake in the legal and political fallout from the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs on Feb 20.

That ruling raises the question of whether hundreds of thousands of companies will receive refunds for the approximately US$170 billion (S$214.68 billion) they’ve paid since the levies were put in place in 2025. 

Cards Against Humanity, which posted about the offer on Feb 24, declined to say how much it has paid in tariffs or how much the retailers it works with have paid.

It’s unclear if other businesses are also considering transferring any potential refunds on the tariffs they’ve already paid back to customers. 

At the very least, Cards Against Humanity’s offer is a clever marketing campaign that’s likely to resonate with its left-leaning clients and, more broadly, could galvanise some shoppers to pay more attention to the battle over refunds than they would have previously. 

Cards Against Humanity – whose tagline is “a party game for horrible people” – instructed its customers who purchased its cards from retailers to fill out an online form that will allow the company to return the refunds it stands to receive back to shoppers.

The company declined to share numbers on how many customers have filled out its form in an emailed response to Bloomberg. 

The offer only applies to customers who bought the company’s card sets from retailers.

Cards Against Humanity said shoppers buying on its website or on Amazon.com “didn’t overpay” as the company didn’t raise its own prices. 

To be sure, it’s unclear if the US government will issue refunds to companies that have imported goods under Mr Trump’s tariffs – or when that might happen.

When the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs as illegal on Feb 20, it didn’t offer guidance on the mechanisms or timing for potential refunds.

That’s now up to the US Court of International Trade. 

Cards Against Humanity acknowledged the uncertainty over refunds.

“As soon as the Trump Administration refunds the illegal tariffs they illegally forced us to pay, we’ll give you your money back,” the post said. “Unfortunately, not even God Himself knows how long that will take.” 

And in response to the question on its FAQ of whether the government will pay interest on the refund amounts, the company answered with “lol.” BLOOMBERG