Tariffs and Wargaming

[Mr. White]

This is not to start a political thread, so I hope this doesn't get locked right away (but understand if it does).

What I'm hoping to start here is how the new reality of world economics may or may not effect your hobby. Are you buying from local companies now? Quickly stockpiling what you need from overseas? Carrying on as usual? How do you think these little mens companies of ours are gonna weather this?

[Digits]

To be fair, I stopped ordering from the States years ago as the cost of delivery and taxes has been prohibited for a while now. 

I have to say we are very lucky here in the UK with a bloody good spread of quality manufacturers so I have not felt too much of a pinch.

I do fear though things will be even harder now…and I particularly feel for the companies involved finding it harder to sell into markets as well as the poor hobbyist struggling to get his fix…

[Pattus Magnus]

I buy most of my mail ordered stuff from the UK already. When the VAT is deducted from the prices, postage is not much more than ordering from retailers inside Canada (where I am located). As long as Canada doesn’t put tariffs on UK products, that purchasing pattern will not change.

That said, I also order within Canada when there are products I am interested in (I mostly like smaller press games and miniatures, so availability through Canadian sellers is hit and miss - GW and similar large producers dominate). One example is buying MDF buildings from Northern Lights Terrain, based in Winnipeg  https://northernlightsterrain.com/   They have a bunch of stuff that fits my current projects, so they got my order (vs Sarissa or some other UK companies).

The tariff situation will impact some of my purchasing going forward. I would like to order some products by companies like Splintered Light Miniatures and Wylie Games but the retaliatory Canadian import tariffs will probably put me off. I used to buy more from US companies, but postal costs reduced that. That issue predates the tariff situation, though. I will not make any purchases to try an beat the imposition of the tariffs, the orders probably will not arrive before then and will get charged anyway when crossing the border.

[Wirelizard]

As another Canadian, it can sometimes be cheaper to order direct from UK outfits than from Canadian distributors/retailers, and it's almost always cheaper to order from the UK than from the US - even pre-current "entertainment" the US Postal Service rates to Canada were almost always more expensive than Royal Mail rates from UK to Canada.

UK-Canada mail is also, in my experience, faster than any shipping method out of the States to Canada. The fact that the USPS might well be DOGE'd into the ground fairly soon ain't going to help that.

With the current tariffs and political climate, I'm even more likely to go UK or EU for stuff not made in Canada, and move away from Yank suppliers at all. for example, I'll probably start switching to Vallejo paints because I can get them locally and they're EU-produced so no tariff nonsense, vs the Reaper paints I've been mostly using until now but have to order from Texas...

[HerbertTarkel]

Also Canadian.

US Post rate killed ordering from the US even before the Elbows Up🇨🇦 campaign recently put a second kill marker on US stores.

UK has always been reliable and affordable - if not just ordering from Canadian shops or buying local.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

I wonder how it will affect my travel luggage when i cross the border…i was already stopped for a luggage search before by the security for carrying a lot of metal that they wondered about what it might be.  I buy a lot of pewter when i travel.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

I live in Japan, so I'm already used to high shipping costs for things being mailed to me.

That said, I also ship my miniatures from Japan so American tariffs aren't really an issue for me at the moment.

[commissarmoody]

Guess it's a wait and see thing for us USA based gamers. I order lots of stuff from UK sallers and companies such as Perry, first Corp, and steelfist.
I haven't tried to order anything since the tariffs have kicked in, so don't know how much it will affect cost from a mom and pop shop vs a manufacturer. Or if there will be a difference at all.
I know the guys at Paizo games have said that they will have to increase prices because there is currently no US base for the amount of cardboard they will need for their board games, boxes, cards etc.
I would imagine wargames Atlantic being US based will have problems as well. I know most of there stuff in the past was made in China and they were talking about moving there production to the States. I don't know if they were able to complete the transfer yet.

[Inkpaduta]

Iam US. I keep saying I am only going to buy from American companies because of the shipping,
but then I still buy from the UK. I find there are still a few companies whose shipping is fair.
However, with these new tariffs I am sure how shipping and cost with be impacted so I guess I
will wait a see.

[Forays]

As far as I understand, imports into the US below $800 fall under the de minimis threshold and should be unaffected by tariffs. (Goods from China excepted.)

https://dclcorp.com/blog/supply-chain/liberation-day/

I would guess other countries apply similar mechanisms.

[HerbertTarkel]

As far as I understand, imports into the US below $800 fall under the de minimis threshold and should be unaffected by tariffs. (Goods from China excepted.)

https://dclcorp.com/blog/supply-chain/liberation-day/

I would guess other countries apply similar mechanisms.

I had read that de minimis has actually been cut, completely, by the US. Maybe it got rescinded - it’s freaking hard to keep up.

Canada has similar rules, but … not now. Everything is getting tariffed from the US to Canada.

I made the horrible mistake of ordering motorcycle parts I could only get from the US, and despite the CBSA website stating “whole motorcycles”, my parts were hit with 25% tariff. That was awesome.

Miniatures … I wouldn’t order anything now. Or anything else, now. At least from the US.

[Pattus Magnus]

Does anyone know whether tariffs apply to pdfs or 3D print files?

[commissarmoody]

Has the De Minimis value from the UK to the US also been scrapped? That would suck because very few US manufacturers make things that I like or want to play. 
Blkout being the one exception at the moment, and they are made completely in the States.

[HerbertTarkel]

Does anyone know whether tariffs apply to pdfs or 3D print files?

I don’t know how border services could enforce that, it’s probably going to fly under the radar while they focus on larger easier targets, like … cars.

[commissarmoody]

I made the horrible mistake of ordering motorcycle parts I could only get from the US, and despite the CBSA website stating “whole motorcycles”, my parts were hit with 25% tariff. That was awesome.

That sucks! Sorry to hear that.