"$41.40 extra for my shipped game - On Delivery!" Topic

So a board game called Aces High from Aleph Game Studios out of Italy shipped a few weeks back, after having preordered it a year ago (thought I'd never see it, and posted a warning about the company over on BGG after trying to contact them at least three times when their monthly shipping updates always slipped).

So we're now in a new reality here in the USA since 2024, and tonight the UPS man ringing the doorbell broke the news – forty buck$ was due (check only)…..due to tariff charges.

Tariffs on me, a US consumer – and so now just another Big Beautiful Tax on Joe Blow, and this pissed off voter!

Ouch!

I've read reports that the UK companies have been no problem with postage/tariffs. Sounds like the Italian company can't figure out international postage and the new tariff system.

Hey,it's Italian post. That's all you need to know.

I ordered $700 USD worth of stock and am fighting UPS because they want to charge tariffs in the amount of….$2180.

I cannot get ahold of a person to figure out how they arrived at that amount.

Thanks Donald!

I don't know about all the UK companies, but I own a business that sometimes imports from a UK business. The company sends my product tariff prepaid. They add that cost onto my order up front. I was told this is a thing. And that the US government has an entry "lane" devoted to prepaid shipping and tariffs. So that might be the difference and not due to the Italian company not being able to figure out the new tariff system which changes almost weekly.

Not so happy store owner.

I was "researching" (google search) 28mm SYW Austrians when I found a very nice offering from Etsy.
It had 10 or 12 infantry for the rather reasonable price of $14. USD But the shipping was $242.75 USD from Kazakhstan. That made them less attractive. It was tge same price, whether infantry, cavalry or artillery.

I suspect Cold War diehards! Take it to the Yanqui Imperialists!

I received an order of from the UK this week and the vendor included the 10% tariff in my price and it arrived quickly and without any problems but, the same vendor sending pretty much the same value order to a client in Virginia had the client asked for an additional 20% to get the package. Same value processed with the same paperwork. It seems either USPS and or Customs doesn't have their act together in a uniform fashion.

Ouch

Till this issue is well settled I have stopped all non USA based purchases. Have plenty of unpainted miniatures on hand so I can last for several years. Both sides play the same game of customs and postal charges so now the world is upset. I await the well defined rules and charges so as a buyer I understand the actual costs before entering a business transaction.

Thank you for helping reduce the budget deficit from the 2025 Auto-pen Budget.

link

Buy Made in the USA, there, fixed the problem for you.

Not really a new tariff issue.in my opinion.
Several good points have been made.
Back in the 1990s, I tried to import a miniature range from Ital
As EC stated, the cost of postage was twice as much as the miniature wholesale cost. Over $400. USD
Dave is right , buy American if possible. We have several good game and miniature companies.
Due to tariffs, I try not to order even from Canada. I have an order with Northstar placed in early October. Still not here.
Even before tariffs under Biden I ordered shelving for $100 USD , then once here they wanted another $50 USD to get out of customs.
So I try to avoid imports

Hello

My name is H. Ondo Ohnaka. For a modest fee I am prepared to provide a service bringing items into Maine from my vacation home in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. For details, contact me at w.w.w.Ismellprofit.org

Oh, and we were just saved from more charges:

link

Any tariff is not responsible for the OP's increase in shipping cost. It can't be, as the US tariffs on goods from Italy are currently 15%, tops. Unless the OP bought $267 USD worth of miniatures (give or take), he wouldn't see the $40 USD+ fee mentioned. It's possible that a person might make such a purchase, but if you're not bothered by spending over $250 USD on a single miniature order, then it's unlikely you're fazed by any additional charge.

What, have we forgotten how to do math?

The tariff is charged on the total amount of the order including shipping, and then certainly in the UK an "Admin Fee" is charged by the company delivering the mail. The Admin Fee can be significant and in my personal experience can exceed the VAT or taffiff fee due.

Yeah, until companies lower prices to compensate for the tariff I can do without. There were things like 30% shipping before that which harshes the vibe.

Amazon has trained me to expect 2 day tops, shipping free

Yeah, until companies lower prices to compensate for the tariff I can do without.

That won't ever happen. Your Big Boss' tariffs are actually consumption taxes, aimed to penalize those US consumers who purchase things from the rest of the world – therefore, as any other consumption tax, this is to be paid by the consumer themselves. Do not expect UK, EU or everywhere else in the world based companies to graciously absorb that charge (unless during special sales campaigns perhaps).

Since our country is the biggest external market for European goods, the tariff is NOT necessarily transferred to the US consumer. It's called a "shelf space fee"— a common practice in retail stores, where a product's manufacturer pays the store for a certain amount of shelf-space for the item. The manufacturer does this so as to reach the largest possible market. The cost, however, is not passed on to the consumer for two reasons: competition with other companies, and increased profits because of having more sales due to the size of the market.
If a European manufacturer produces an equivalent good to a US manufacturer, but expects to sell that good in the US to US consumers, the European manufacturer cannot risk charging significantly more for their product.
If consumers have a choice between Widget A at $10 USD or Widget E at $11 USD, then consumers will purchase Widget A, all other factors being equal. Thus the European manufacturer of Widget E cannot pass along the 10% tariff to the American consumer, because if they do so, they won't have any American consumers. Even if the project is marginally unique (as a game), American consumers will still make wallet decisions— Do I buy this game for $50 USD, or that game for $55 USD? Even with uniqueness in play, some consumers will be forced to say no, simply due to budget. So it is better for the manufacturer to accept a 10% decrease of their profit margin, eat the cost, and overcome that with increased sales available in the American market.

The irony of course, is that European countries (and the EU) have been placing far worse tariffs on US-made products for decades. So European consumers have been forced to pay those consumption taxes if they want a US good. But nobody seems to care about that. No, it's as if the whole idea of tariffs is brand new, and the Europe has been gleefully accepting American-made goods without any restrictions, added fees, etc., etc.. And none of that is true. Talk about glass houses!

I recently ordered 80 pounds worth of figures from North Star miniatures. Included in my invoice was a line item of 8.33 pounds for tariff. It's clear that some manufacturers have this figured out and others simply don't. The tariffs simply make things messy and more expensive.

I wonder if the $242.75 USD shipping charge that I mentioned above for an Etsy dealer in Kazakhstan included tariff, Pennsylvania sales tax, etc, or was it simply "You know these look good, so pay up, Yankee dog!"

It certainly discourages me from even considering an order. Is it $242.75 USD total, or do multiple orders accumulate?

That won't ever happen

Never say never. Someone might notice there's 5x the number of potential customers here. It's not like I NEED the toys.

I'd would love to buy Moonstone but $38 USD for shipping a $105 USD starter: I don't love it that much

"The irony of course, is that European countries (and the EU) have been placing far worse tariffs on US-made products for decades."

I would suggest that you have been misinformed, the average EU tariff rate on US imports prior to the current stuff was 1.47%.

A trade deficit isn't a tariff rate whatever some politicians might think. Trade deficits can be caused by tariff differentials or subsidies but more commonly simply by differences in productivity or availability of raw materials. David Ricardo, Adam Smith, the Terms of Trade and all that.

Ultimately all tariffs are taxes on domestic consumers, be it through higher prices or reduced choice, quality or some combination of all three.

Meanwhile our enemies overseas are laughing themselves stupid at the West busily shooting itself in both feet.

None of this should be happening.

I recently ordered 80 pounds worth of figures from North Star miniatures. Included in my invoice was a line item of 8.33 pounds for tariff. It's clear that some manufacturers have this figured out and others simply don't. The tariffs simply make things messy and more expensive

The UK has it sorted out because Royal Mail introduced an effective duty paid delivery system quite quickly. Basically it calculates 10% duty and charges a "massive" 50 pence handling fee for collecting the tariff and paying it to the US. I just set up 10% tax for US orders in my shop, which means the US customer pays the duty prior to me passing it on to Royal Mail.

I can't answer for the retailer's experience outside the world of online postage purchases via Royal Mail, but within that world it seems to be working quite well. I didn't find it difficult or stressful, and adopted it a few days after the service became available.

Martin Rapier, my experience shipping to EU was very different from your 1.47% claim. Sometimes it was 100%.

@ Stone Mountain
Thank you for helping reduce the budget deficit from the 2025 Auto-pen Budget. link
Buy Made in the USA, there, fixed the problem for you.

Maybe this will improve the US miniature market. Maybe it will price GW out of the USA [a welcome end result].

How many US manufacturers have suffered over the last 20 years of stupidity? How many US business have closed due to cheap Chicom goods? Hello Walmart!

The bottom line is that goods can move freely. People and jobs cannot. Tarriffs are a necessity if you want your kids to have jobs in the future. Cuz they ain't moving to China. Or India.

The lesson? Capitalism only works well in certain situations, as do "free markets". Governments introduce complications.

MORE TARIFFS, PLEASE!!!! My kids need jobs someday!