"What's your ordering plans due to tariffs, etc.?" Topic

So there's been a lot of recent emails, and social media and TMP announcements on the charges and changes due to US/UK Tariff issues.
Most of this starts around 29 August from what it seems.

So my question is, are you planning on doing any special ordering from the UK (If you are US), or US (if you are UK), before all of this starts up?

I'm currently trying to use the tariffs as an excuse to not buy stuff from the UK, or anywhere else, really. I did some ordering from the UK over the last few months in anticipation of this day.

A strategy that would have worked a lot better if I didn't keep thinking up more things I "need" from the UK.

Mark

I'm continuing to buy the things I usually buy as they are not available in the US and I do not intend to resin print. I may buy 10-15% less or 10-15% less frequent in response to the National sales tax but whether Baccus, Ark Royal or Tumbling Dice, I still like and use their stuff.

My pre-tariff orders are in already. We'll have to see if Baccus and Deep Cut beat the deadline and if not, what chaos results.

Ordering from US companies only.

I see the Perry twins are the latest to cease shipping to the US

I can still get Perry from my distributor. I will have to keep an eye out for any restrictions.
My distributor has dropped Ares, Osprey and a few orders. Seems that some companies are bought through Canada.

Can't afford to place an order before the deadline.
And after the deadline, I'm going to think long and hard. I "have enough" 🙄 of what I'm building to last me a long time painting. Do I want to buy "frills" at a more expensive price than earlier? I was already thinking twice. 🤷

Only buy from USA asI have been doing.

For gaming figures and scale models I have a big enough stash of unpainted and unbuilt stuff that I can take a wait and see approach.

For British militaria, I did try to put an order in the other day with a dealer in the UK. He declined, with sincere apologies, due to the uncertainties with the situation. The 2019 UPU debacle killed off a chunk of his sales to the US so this was an unwelcome hit.

First, I placed a quick order to Aventine at the beginning of August to beat the tariff deadline.

Second, it depends if its only 10% or if they slap on some processing fee in addition to the tariff. I'll eventually get over an extra 10%, but a $25 USD-$35 dollar fee will all but kill direct orders to the UK.

Short answer is that I have more figures than I am likely to live to paint, and a 10% surcharge for a few units isn't going to break me. Long answer:

Next two anticipated orders are 2mm Desert War Italians and a mass of 6mm WWII towed AT and prime movers, both from Irregular. I might jump the gun on the 2mm order--this week instead of first week in September. Last time I checked, the 6mm WWII molds were being redone, so the plan is to check once a month and order the towed AT as soon as both the molds are restored and the there's a system in place for the tariffs. If it drags on into next summer, I might place the order with GHQ.

I do still need some 28mm SF furniture and civilian figures from Etsy, but that would probably be a US purchase regardless.

Hmm. Also looking for some AOR/Napoleonic cavalry dismounts, and the Perrys (Perries?) were an option. If this drags on and an American supplier can't fix me up, I'll see what's for sale at the SYWA Convention in April.

I've cut back dramtically on game buying and now it will be even less. I probably have all I'll need and maybe able to paint.

I just made rather large purchases from Sally 4th (RUB Trays), and Minairons. Sally 4ths was large because he told me they would not be shipping to the US so I went ahead with a larger order. Minairons because they are going out of business, but they are in the EU, so not too sure what impact that will have. All that said, shipping was just stupid regardless…..

What is this "ordering" process of which you speak? I just buy things at flea markets and sometimes game stores.

I made my "last purchase" in June. My previous "last purchase" was in May. I planned on making my next "last purchase" early next year, but we will see what is going on at that time. For many items, last purchase is accurate but for Perry's items, I will never know until I don't do it. I got the email from Perry's today.

I just made an order with Brigade Models and they shipped it within 24 hours. Going forward I'll probably buy from vendors at various conventions that I attend as they usually have every thing I want.

In a pinch 10% doesn't bother me compared to shipping costs. Although if they don't ship to the US then that could be a problem. If this goes on too long then maybe I can convince the wife to go to London for Colours in the next year or so.

Sort of using this whole moment in time to evaluate my decades in the hobby anyway, and wondering how I'll move forward with it.

The first part of this is to push the pause button, and that means no new minis from overseas, and probably domestically too.

If you have the time to read the latest Warning Order #69, go to the last page and the last paragraph – for many of us, our gaming and collecting is described there (it's important to us now, because it's been our wargaming attainments built up over many years, but as we "retire", lots of this stuff will become obsolete……as no one will know what to do with it).

Warning Order #69

PDF link

It might influence a purchase decision, or it might not. But I'm not going to advance plan around it.

If I was making decisions around this hobby from a financial point of view, I wouldn't have half my collection and would have found another hobby long ago.

When the whole tariff issue reared its ugly head, months ago, I looked over the list of things I'd like to buy from overseas, and realized it was far too large for me to hope to purchase it all in a relatively short period, like a year.

I have put more emphasis on my overseas purchases, hoping to gather in as much as possible before the tariffs are applied. My last effort in that direction was an order placed Monday, which I hope will come before the tariff. Of course, this all comes at the expense of US companies I might otherwise bought from.

I suppose I will live with the 10% tariff for projects currently underway, but I may want to think a bit more about starting new projects that require a lot of things from the UK or Australia. Even with ongoing projects, I may want to reconsider some of the "extras," like the Made in Poland tanks for my Greek army.

Grelber

I waited too long to make any purchases so now its a wait and see. I can not buy anything for quite a while but soon enough there will be something that I need and I will accept the new price and make an order.

Well, with the suspension of shipping to the US by.many UK companies which I fully understand. I will likely hold off on buy much of anything.

Unrelated to shipping costs and tariffs, I am taking the time to evaluate my collection, what I think is important, and what I am willing to sell.

I recently placed a small order with Perry Miniatures in advance of the tariffs. Now it's wait and see how this shakes out. A 10% surcharge is manageable, if there's a process in place and no additional fees or brokerage charges. But it seems there's no clear process, either on the UK or US ends, for what were formerly de minimas orders.

I have stuff to paint so I am going to wait to see what happens. Should know a lot more a month from now. Also, I will be looking more at US companies.

I do not intend to let this change what I want to buy. I am still working and have a indulgent wife so the increase is something I can absorb. And given that the exchange rate is still relatively favorable for Americans (I remember buying from the UK when the exchange rate was just over $2 USD to £1.00 GBP so the current $1.35 USD to £1.00 GBP +10% is still significantly less than back in the early 1990s), I can justify continuing to buy.

There are still things I need to flesh out ongoing projects or, more often, just want, so I will get them now so when I retire, probably in a couple of years, I will have things and time to paint.

I suspect there will be a few months until the postal services and bureaucracies sort out the details, but then I will order as I have done in the past.

My first order to the UK was in 1972 -- I have to send an airmail letter with two international reply coupons to get a paper listing, wait several weeks for that to come, pour over the catalog for several more, and then get the parents to get an international money order for me, send the order and payment to the UK, and then wait for delivery for what seemed like an eternity.

If that did not deter me, I doubt this will have much of an impact…

When I order something I will see what the total cost is and decide if it's worth it.

I placed orders with both Gripping Beast and Irregular Miniatures earlier this month. I asked them to please expedite shipping so that my orders would arrive in the US before August 29th.

Both companies offer great customer service and mailed my orders very quickly. I hope to receive them this week.

The Leidang +1. I rarely buy from the UK, but if there is something that I really like, want, or need, then I will buy it. Like many others mentioned previously, this may actually force me to work on the mountain of metal/plastic/resin figures that I already have. So, this is really a good thing. All in the perspective, I guess.

I've already sorted out what all I wanted to lay in for projects heading out through next spring's conventions and a bit beyond and placed my UK orders in time to get them here. Last one is in the post now and should clear customs in New York well before the 29th. Also ordered in various imports that Badger Games had in stock before they have to raise their prices.

Marked safe from buying stuff for awhile now. By the time I might want anything else from overseas, the chaos should at least have calmed down somewhat.

My whisky cellar is also well stocked now.
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I think the biggest issue for companies is the administrative process is unknown. Once that is worked out I would expect some will resume service.

Will the secondary market pick up in the US if this goes on for a while? Looking hard at my stash I know I have UK products that unfortunately will probably never get done and if I knew more people were looking at those sales vs new product there'd be more desire to get rid of them.

The last European order I made was from Poland. If I ever finish that order I will order form them again. BTW Super-Hobby (Poland) is great and their shipping cost was lower than if I ordered from the US.

Just went ahead and bought a preposterous amount of 2mm WW2 Italians from Irregular. I think everything else will keep six months or a year until the various government figure out how to collect taxes.

I was hoping that Trump would leverage De Minimis rules so that all small orders could transit borders without tariffs, VAT etc. Maybe that is still going to happen in the future.

Hannants have announced no shipping to USA after 29/8. They have a real problem as they stock UK products, Ukraine products, Chinese products, Indian products, Japanese products and French, German, Italian, etc etc etc

Each item potentially has a different tariff so getting the shipping right is a potential nightmare. Especially as some countries don't have the final tarrifs for plastic kits defined yet….

Well, if you live in the U.S. you aren't buying anything from Perry even if you wanted to. ALL FUTURE SHIPMENTS FROM PERRY TO THE U.S. ARE SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Just found out by email about a half hour ago from Perry Miniatures themselves.

This is due to the geniuses in the White House ending the $800 USD threshold limit for imports which originally was set to be in place until 2027.

Now thanks to the executive order, it will end on August 29th, 2025.

Hope you didn't need any Perry stuff!

If I read Perry's email correctly, sounds like you don't have until the 29th. Seems from the way they worded it they've already suspended shipments to the U.S. I could be wrong about that.

This from the US Homeland Security website:

"Under the de minimis treatment, imported goods that are valued at or under $800 USD were exempt from tariff duties. Countries exploited this system to flood the American market with cheap goods that undercut American manufacturers and cost American jobs. This exemption also allowed drug cartels and other criminal organizations to smuggle drugs and other contraband into our country.

Over the past decade the volume of de minimis shipments to the United States exploded, growing from 134 million shipments in 2015 to over 1.36 billion shipments in 2024. De minimis shipments accounted for 90% of all cargo seizures in FY 24. These shipments often broke the law with 98% of narcotics seized from cargo falling under the de minimis exemption, as well as 97% of counterfeit items seized."

link

We hobbyists are caught because bad actors used the system to break the law. Unfortunate and maybe once the dust settles, we can get back to a more even keel. Maybe lower de minimus level to $200 USD or something?

Maybe lower de minimus level to $200 USD USD or something?

I think Trump leveraging this for all the US trading partners would be a great idea. All small orders under $200 USD transit free of all duties, VATs etc.

Again, you don't have to understand it, you will feel it.

People seem to be missing the fact that we have retailers in the US selling stuff from the UK

Brigade Games sells pretty much everything Northstar does.

Age of Glory
Too Fat Lardies
Empress

Badger Games
Almost anything from the UK

On Military Matters
Books etc….

It's not like you are cut off, though, I don't know of anyone selling Perry metals

Importers aren't subject to tariffs? Interesting.

Never said that, but they do have stock presumably…..

I ordered and received two large orders a about a week ago from the UK. I bought as much as I could at one time for my next project. I will have to make up the difference domestically, probably from Fife and Drum and maybe Brigade Games.

I was just gifted 100+ Old Glory Austrian SYW Frontier Badmashes.
This on top of vowing that my Comanche project was my very last. Honestly. 🙄

So. Any additional troops will be entirely USA based.

Simple, be a little more selective in what I order and pay a little bit more for what I do order.

I placed an order for Northstar AWI recently and am not concerned with any additional tariff cost as the miniatures are fantastic (my second order). I think some of the best on the market right now right up there with Fife & Drum.

Unfortunately Brigade Games does not carry these. Had previously checked with Lon on that.

Even with price increases due to tariffs, once the bureaucratic changes in collecting the tariffs have been completed, British manufactured miniatures will be far cheaper for Americans than they were in the 90s and early 2000s when the dollar was weaker compared to the British pound:https://www.macrotrends.net/2549/pound-dollar-exchange-rate-historical-chart

"Oh, my sweet summer child…"

The majority of my spend is outside the US.

Tariffs have and will not change my buying habits.

If I decide I want something, I buy it.