Shipping to US (from UK or anywhere else) after 29 August...?

[Mammoth miniatures]

Great, another deep dive into the hell that is trying to set up a royal mail business account only for them to get bored and stop responding.
 It's also very unclear how this will work for individuals as the definition of "personal correspondence" is very broad and not at all defined. If personal parcels (I'm talking actual gifts, not "gifts") are impacted then I can't see a system in which is isn't a huge hassle.

The advice given from royal mail, like the EU advice a few months ago, once again makes the assumption that every business is a big affair with its own IT department and access to its own retail back end. saying "you should implement this on your webstore" is great, but useless for the vast majority of small business webstores that run on pre built platforms and have a super limited toolset when it comes to back end payment processing. Arguably royal mail have made more effort this time to actually put some information out into the world, unlike the EU thing which boiled down to a shrug and a "dunno mate".

I can only hope that in a few weeks something shiny causes everyone involved to get distracted and drop the whole thing.

[Rick]

Despite my joking around, I am personally aware of at least a couple of companies that have used the 'gift' system as personal correspondence between a member of staff and a customer to deliver small orders and have done for several years on international orders. I'm not advocating it as a way to do business but it is being done.

[pixelgeek]

I'm not advocating it as a way to do business but it is being done.

There is a game company in the US that does this as well and my fear is that they will get caught at some point. And I don't think they are large enough to survive the repercussions.

[Rick]

There is a game company in the US that does this as well and my fear is that they will get caught at some point. And I don't think they are large enough to survive the repercussions.

Well, I don't really know about that - on the one hand it is breaking the rules and depriving the country of a small amount of income, on the other hand is it really worth going after a company for relatively tiny sums?
Some years ago I bought some large orders from a US company who, like many US companies at the time, couldn't be bothered to deal with UK VAT and import duties - I had to pay for them once they got to HMRC/UK Post Office as well as a hefty charge on top. I'm wondering if companies in other countries might start doing the same with US customers rather than sort it out beforehand.

[pixelgeek]

Well, I don't really know about that - on the one hand it is breaking the rules and depriving the country of a small amount of income, on the other hand is it really worth going after a company for relatively tiny sums?

I don't know that I would take that risk. And most enforcement of this sort of thing appears to be for small companies. A friend in Vancouver went through a GST (Canadian national sales tax) audit and then went through years of invoices to find a small handful of issues.

Some years ago I bought some large orders from a US company who, like many US companies at the time, couldn't be bothered to deal with UK VAT and import duties - I had to pay for them once they got to HMRC/UK Post Office as well as a hefty charge on top. I'm wondering if companies in other countries might start doing the same with US customers rather than sort it out beforehand.

Maybe someone with more experience could respond. I would have thought that there had to be some reciprocal agreement to do that collection.

[Andrew Rae]

Some years ago I bought some large orders from a US company who, like many US companies at the time, couldn't be bothered to deal with UK VAT and import duties - I had to pay for them once they got to HMRC/UK Post Office as well as a hefty charge on top. I'm wondering if companies in other countries might start doing the same with US customers rather than sort it out beforehand.

It won't be possible to send postal packages to the US without having first paid the tariff. Just won't be an option from any country.

Royal Mail has sorted something for Online Business Account holders, but haven't said anything about how they'll allow lower volume sellers like me to send things.

As such, I'll be temporarily suspending sales to the US from the 18th of August. I'm stopping early because it's unclear what will happen to packages already in the postal network as of the 29th.

[zemjw]

As well as increasing prices to cover the tariffs, I suspect sellers will add an admin charge as well, as by the sounds of it, it's going to be a lot more work than a simple customs' slip

If I were that side of the pond I'd be looking to buy a resin printer (sooner, rather than later) and switch to STL files for the next while

[Rick]

Absolutely. The only other option is to partner with a figure company in the US and share moulds or masters, as Wargames Atlantic do, but this would only be an option for the bigger businesses.
No good options left I think, just the least worst ones.

[Ray Rivers]

I watched a video about Japanese car imports. It appears that Japanese exporters not only eat the tariffs, but have also lowered the price of their cars in the US to remain competitive.

I also read that GW is going through a round of cost cutting and reducing staff. If I were to guess, I would say they are preparing to eat the tariffs IOT at least maintain their price point in the US.

Of course, these are large companies and having varying options for handling the situation. Smaller miniature companies in the UK may just stop shipping to the US. If that happens, American miniature companies will have the opportunity to expand their ranges as they will no longer have to compete with British ones. This is the whole point of the tariffs... to expand US manufacturing.

It's a sad situation, nevertheless.

Perhaps someone with the knowledge and time should create a Commercial thread of US hobby resources like I did for the EU following BREXIT.

[Rick]

I don't think American companies have ever really been 'in competition' with British companies, at least as far as the historical ranges go, and I also don't think that many, or any, American companies will expand their ranges because of this.
GW may certainly be in a position to 'eat the tarriffs' but I'm willing to bet we'll see yet another round of price increases first; but this option is certainly not available for the vast majority of figure companies, who are smaller and rely on smaller turnover to stay in business.
This will see an expansion of stl's and 3d printing companies and, probably, a saturation of 3d printed figures into the scales and ranges previously occupied by plastic and metal figures.
The wheel has turned before and will turn again, what comes around goes around, which is likely no comfort whatsoever to anybody right at this moment!

[Ray Rivers]

This will see an expansion of stl's and 3d printing companies and, probably, a saturation of 3d printed figures into the scales and ranges previously occupied by plastic and metal figures.

I think that is a very likely result.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Will resin printers have the production capacity as an end product?  Or will it just be a means to get a new master digitally across the ocean to be used to make a new mold for some other more time effective means of production?  Economy of scale issues are still quite vague to me with the new tech. I ask because i am very seriously considering buying up some spin casting equipment, but i don’t really want the potentially toxic and smelly resin printer in my studio unless absolutely necessary.  Anyone have an idea on how well resin printed masters hold up in the vulcanization process of mold making?

[Rick]

Actually there are several companies that already digitally design their figures then print off a resin master for traditional metal spin casting - the masters in 15mm to 28/32mm scales seem to hold up very well.
As to the economy of scale we are already seeing, alongside the 'cottage industry' 3d printers, companies using several printers at a time, a 'stable' of figure designers and a large selection of ranges to choose from. This is likely to become more common - a lot of the ex-shapeways designers are finding new homes for their designs and attracting newer designers to join them.
Companies using 5 or 6+ 3d printers at around £3-500 each will likely replace the companies with 1 or 2 spin-casting machines (at over £1,000 each plus the cost of moulds) over time.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

I certainly don’t have the space for five 3D printers, my jewelry casting equipment does have some use with pewter casting so i may rely on mastering by a single printer at most.  I will have to be careful about pewter contaminating my precious metals. I wonder if the molds are RTV when using resin masters?

[Rick]

The moulds are made in the same way whether with resin or metal masters. Some figure manufacturers have been using resin masters for years but with hand sculpted figures - they cast a resin figure from their master and use that as a master to make the moulds from.
Hand sculpting masters will still be with us for some time. I'm quite fond of the technique - I'll create a simple master and cast it myself with rtv rubber moulds and 2 part resin; backpacks, canvas covers for vehicles, whatever I have the need for with my own miniatures.