Reply To: Dear UK miniature makers

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Saw this today in the Baccus Newsletter (from Uncle Pete)……

“We are part of the IOSS scheme which means that you can order from us, paying the VAT up front, which should allow your order to arrive in a timely manner with no extra charges. Yes, there have been teething issues with the system as various postal services get to grips with the new system, but, on the whole it is working well. We have also changed the way we send items to the EU, and that is also proving very effective in getting orders to customers. There is one big issue with the IOSS service. There is a restriction of 150 Euros on any one order – about £135. As a result we have had to cap EU orders at that amount.”

HOWEVER you need to remember that for a Trader to sign up for the IOSS scheme it’s going to add time needed to file quarterly VAT returns (or more likely pay an accountant to do it), which all adds to the overheads in running the company.

A lot of the smaller wargaming companies are one man operations operating out of a small workshop and margins are tight (and for businesses like Fenris who do resin minis, I imagine they are being hideously squeezed for sale by the advent of 3D printing where gamers are doing things like printing figures bases as routine (which used to be a main product line for Fenris)). So they may just not be able to operate the IOSS scheme because margins are that tight.

So at the end of the day it’s going to mean increases in prices (sometimes to pay the accountant, sometimes legal fees to set this all up) to the customer, OR they end up paying VAT/Sales Tax twice in rare cases. It’s not good, and it takes a politician to royally mess things up this badly. But we need to remember for the traders all this is a nightmare, costs money, and customer dissatisfaction at paying more for their minis through no fault of their own (customers or the traders).

Perhaps we need to vote wargamers in as our MPs next time around 😀