US tariffs and trade woes for gaming

[limburger 21920xp 0]

I kind of hope that we as consumers simply take a good long look at our expenses and focus more on hobby instead of instant-gratification.

ie : create your own terrain instead of buying ‘ready made’ bits where possible.

There’s still some aspects where we can’t afford to buy used or build things from scratch, but I’d say it never hurts to do some thinking as it will help our own enjoyment of the hobby long term.

I’d say the biggest issue with the planned tarriffs as of now is the uncertainty of when these things will be applied.
That’s the killer, especially for small companies that don’t have a buffer to take a hit like that when they can’t afford to wait for the tarriffs to go down.

Some of it sounds more like an attempt at bluff poker that is designed to manipulate the stock market instead of an actual threat that will be executed. The orange cheetoh casually talking about how a few of the rich folk visiting him had made a few hundred million dollars worth of profit in the past few weeks is an indication of that play.

Even before the clown took over I wasn’t a fan of USA based kickstarters as the customs duty, VAT and handling fees are always an unexpected surprise when things get shipped. Brexit has been the only thing that had an actual impact on the hobby from my perspective. The bigger companies have been able to find ways to reduce the impact and the smaller ones were never really set up to do international shipping anyway due to the low volume they produce.

Mantic’s news was interesting. It looks like the USA market is the only one getting hit by the problems as IP products are done in China, but everything else is done in the UK.

I wonder if we’re going to see similar actions to the EU based hubs that the bigger UK companies have created to reduce impact of Brexit.

Heck, I’d say it would be good for our hobby in general if those small/medium companies would find ways to co-operate when it comes to shipping products. An Amazon-like concept without the greed would be amazing. I bet that even the big boys would beneift, but I doubt their shareholders would want to entertain such a concept as they’d rather dominate than share market space.

I wonder if something similar would help solve the rather unfair pricing for Australian region. And that’s before considering the rest of the world (Russia ? Asia ? Africa ? South America ? … they’re all rather unknown within this hobby … )

[grantinvanman 2502xp 2]

This is a good explanation of the impact of the macro side of things – US liquidity and the threat (real) that the the greenback will be replaced by a return to the gold standard, or, another currency.

I have experience in finance markets, and as I watched the 10yr US yield spike last week, the writing was on the wall.

THIS is what will cause the US to retreat, if they choose to remain the market maker; I genuinely believe it may be too late, and/or hubris will not allow the one who started this to back down. Well worth the following read:

The Fed Just Blinked. China Is About to Nuke the Bond Market. Buckle the F* Up.
byu/TheMysteryCheese inWallStreetbetsELITE

 

 

And it turns out the tariffs might not even be collected … https://newrepublic.com/post/193930/ports-not-collecting-trump-tariffs-glitch

 

 

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by  grantinvanman.

[limburger 21920xp 2]

yeah, I read about that ‘glitch’.

I think it happened, because the orange cheetoh thinks he can rule by posting things on twitter instead of using the designated channels for such things. (not sure about the USA, but over here there are dedicated locations where the government has to post changes in law for them to be considered ‘official’). And the (illegal) firing a lot of federal employees isn’t going to help things either.

However … the problem remains and the damage is done.

Everyone with one active braincell will be looking for more stable alternatives.

(it’s funny how in Cyberpunk novels the currency is ‘Euro-dollar’ or ‘Nu-Yen’ or anything other than classic dollar … I wonder if that’s yet another thing that fictional settings got right before the real world caught up … )

[wolfie65Participant 1250xp 0]

Regarding tariffs, the funny thing is that no media outlet would consider this a big deal if they had been imposed by a government considered ‘leftist’…..

Anyway, regarding shipping, import fees and such, I noticed a problem a few years ago. I used to send holiday gifts to a friend in Austria until about 2 years ago, I was suddenly told at the post office that they would have to pay import duties, to the tune of 3 times the actual value of the goods (!) and that this had something to do with ‘Brexit’.

What the country formerly known as Great Britain  leaving the hegemony formerly known as Europe has to do with a package sent from the US to Austria is beyond me.

[a27cromwell 3207xp 2]

I think it will be a problem for people/companies  , shipping /receiving  direct  to/from the US . According to my local hobby shop ( Alberta , Canada ) most American hobby stuff being made in China is sent direct to warehouses in Canada , therefore avoiding the US tariffs .  Same with most European  brands . I’m sure we will take a small price increase at the hobby shops , just in case , I’m sure local Governments will study things and make a few idiotic pronouncements , such as having shops keep track of what % of an item is made where , with future taxes in mind .

I am more concerned about shipping cost and import duties of things I order online . Shipping from the States  usually cost as much as the product being purchased with the occasional item being double , no idea why . And there’s the Canadian Governments inconsistent import duties , example –  $200 worth of books from Germany , duty $17 , a month later , the same value of books from the same company , $ 55 . WTF ?  . Mind you , I just ordered 3 Bolt Action plastic Pzr III kits from a store in California , $107 Canadian , shipping included ( I could only buy 2 for that price at the local hobby shops ) , and when they arrived , they were shipped from the UK .    Strange

Anyway , I have enough kits/figures to paint/build to last me to Christmas , so I really should stop shopping online….oh , Victrix late war Germans

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by  a27cromwell.

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

The value isn’t the problem – it’s the location of the printer, most likely @a27cromwell

I won’t be ordering from the US until this is over, as the tariffs are too unpredictable. Canadian shopping or UK/EU.

We live close to each other (ish), so experience most of the same things with hobby I think.

[a27cromwell 3207xp 1]

” most likely ” .. That’s the problem , everything is so confusing .  At least our hobby is cheaper than taking up Golf , for now .

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

@a27cromwell there is a whole website that you can look at – good luck, I worked government and I have a difficult time interpreting it! So much so that I got hit with a tariff that I thought I wouldn’t, on motorcycle parts. Thought it was just whole bikes. Nope. $300 bill…

I’ll see your golf and raise you “old motorcycle” 🤣 for the last month I feel like I  have been haemorrhaging money. Finally stopped…

[limburger 21920xp 3]

It’s kind of why the EU was able to target ‘red states’ with the counter-tariff they were planning on discussing last week.

Of course Trump and his media translated it to ‘EU backed down’ when in reality they merely delayed the discussion a bit.
And unlike Trump they understand how the legal systems and processes that enable tariffs work …

[horati0nosebl0wer 19689xp 1]

So far things are all in all holding pattern regarding tariffs other than the PRC so it seems like purchasing here in the US is pretty much going to be done from anybody but them.

The manufacturers are being hit with the cost initially as far as I see and now we see the scramble to find alternatives. Its bound to hit the US market in a few months or quicker as stock diminishes. Meh, I’m happy to buy figures other than plastic crack right now and give my money to other economies.  Let’s give a cheer for glorious metal!

[elessar2590 18217xp 0]

@tankkommander I’m not wrong because trade weighted tariffs are garbage statistics. One of the big parts of tariffs is to keep goods out in the first place. Trade Weighted Tariffs only count the paid cost not the lost cost of tariffs. If you put a 10,000,000% tariff on all goods except rubber ducks then your trade weighted tariff rate is 0% because nobody sells anything to you besides rubber ducks. The high EU tariffs are to keep Australian goods from the market not to profit from them.

 

[limburger 21920xp 1]

so the tarriffs on electronic parts were on … and then off … and apparently they’re back on again.

The uncertainty of when and how long the tariffs will be active is doing far more damage to the market than the tariffs themselves could do on their own (and in the mean time there’s a few folk in clown capital USA profiting from being the first to know when the clown in charge posts his moronic rants … ).

[horati0nosebl0wer 19689xp 1]

@elessar2590 I believe the Placid Plastic Duck Simulator will fulfill all needs of rubber ducks. Digital substitution of the material has succeeded in ways we did not consider.

In this vein, I think, there might just be changes in where people do business. I’d say that Arkon is in a good spot for business from what I gathered from Squidmar’s latest video doing a tour of their facility. With a flat 10% their goods should be stable for the American market.

Going to another company, I know Kingdom Death did a lot of their business in China. They’ve done their initial miniature runs with resin and then follow ons in plastic so I think this might be a push on them to go back to being bespoke and more limited.

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

China tariffs now at 245%. Tomorrow, ♾️+1%.

When did Krasnov realize numbers went above 100? Who is responsible for telling him? It was probably Nutlick!

 

Also, if you’re part of the administration, like Propaganda Barbie, you can afford Chinese tariffs, apparently.

[limburger 21920xp 1]

Didn’t some Chinese suppliers post the actual cost of those “expensive” clothing brands somewhere ?
Margins on those were insane  …

I’m guessing the dress she had is one of those and proof that big ticket clothing is a bigger scam than (all of us males) imagined it to be 😉

(I’d also argue that she’s got to have the morals and ethics of a braindead shrimp … there’s no way a sane person could remain the spokes person for the idiot in charge with all that’s been happening. She’d make Goebbels blush with the kind of lies she’s been telling …)

Meanwhile Awaken Realms posted this in their kickstarters :

US Tariffs Impact

You have probably heard a lot about new US tariffs on many countries, including China. We wanted to get you up to speed with everything. But honestly, this is our 5th time writing this update, as the situation is changing literally every day. It is an extremely unusual situation.

For example, tariffs on China changed in between the last weeks: 0% – > 10% – > 20% – > 54% – > 104% – > 125% – > 145%
Currently, we have NO idea what the US administration will do and what the situation will look like in a week, let alone in a few months. Hence, our approach is the following:

We wait for the situation to stabilize, we also see some form of agreement between the US / China as the most probable option (however, hard to tell how long it will take)
We are looking for all the alternative scenarios and looking for the ones that will minimize the extra cost for US backers (including production in different countries or partial production)
We are waiting for details about tariffs (currently, there are just big headlines without all the official agency details)
We are looking very carefully at all the developments on this topic

So, for now, we cannot say what the exact impact will be on US backers. The most probable impact might be delayed delivery compared to the rest of the world (until the situation stabilizes).

For all backers not based in the US – there will be no impact! (as of now).
What we mean here by saying “as of now” is that in case the “Trade war” escalates to other countries and new tariffs occur, we will have to seek solutions for other potentially affected destinations.

Also, one important thing we want to highlight for US backers is that this project is part of the Stable Pledge program, and we definitely intend to honor it. So if there is any price change due to tariffs (above 10%) before the delivery, we will also offer a 100% refund option.

As always, in situations like that, we hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We want to assure you all that we are taking this as seriously as we can, and our whole team is really focused on finding the best pragmatic solutions to deliver the games to you.

source :
https://gamefound.com/en/projects/awaken-realms/nemesis-retaliation/updates/36

tl;dr;

The tarriff situation is so unstable that it’s next to impossible to predict what the situation will be once they start shipping.
Delays for US backers are therefor (almost?) inevitable.
Backers outside of the USA are not impacted at the moment.

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