James Regan

They explained offline that they tried to ship by mail but it wasn’t accepted. For me that was a test order. Unfortunately, it means a up to 40% (30% tariff plus 10% fed ex fee) surcharge on most accurascale models which are purchased retail from outside the US. For a plastic model the prices no longer make sense for me. Though I like to support Accurascale/IRM it will impact my order volume. Perhaps they should have a US distributor as Hornby do. Then the imports would be taxed at wholesale prices.

I think you may be lost and confused… the 163 bus is up the road there.

So just to state this again, the tariff rates by mail vs fedex are not the same. You guys said you would give the option to chose. I chose mail but you sent by FedEx and now I am stuck with the FedEx rate. The likely rate by mail is $0 because it appears USPS is not collecting tariffs on small packages from the UK. All this was already discussed and acknowledged above. Nope the tariff rates are different as discussed earlier in this thread

So the importation process did not go well. I requested Accurascale send the locomotive to me by the mail option but in their wisdom they decided to use FED EX who duly charged me a 30% tariff and a handy handling fee too for the pleasure. Won’t be doing that again. Fool me once shame on you.

Look at this wonderful website… and so cheap too! I wonder why? https://accurascale-us.shop/

You clearly get the issue. As Andrew noted above, they are working on royal mail as an option. The optimal approach would be to order in no more than $799 tranches, assuming we can opt for the $100 flat fee, each time. I’m not totally clear on how USPS will facilitate that, at this point. I’ve seen various views on their ability to process. That would work. I can deal with 12-15%

No, you pay an agreed price to Accurascale, the liability for the taxes is then on them. If the tax then changes they dont get to come back and ask for more. Thats the point of agreeing it up front. Its completely different financially.

Still trying to figure it out brother? Thats not what he said. Under DDP you would agree the total price up front with Accurascale just as you do when VAT is included and then its up to them to pay the tax to DHL or whoever is shipping. Therefore, the price charged inclusive of DDP is for Accurascale to determine, just as they determine the VAT included prices on their website. So I would be paying Accurascale not customs. This is quite common.

It’s good to see a well considered response given the amount of nonsense that has been peddled on here about tariffs by people claiming to understand them. The reference to DDP for example highlights the scenario where Accurascale would be adjusting the price to include tariffs contrary to some statements here, and some retailers are doing that. The other part of the tariff that is complicated is that while the 30% rate may apply to shipping with DHL, shipping by royal mail/US mail may be subject to a 54% rate or a $100 flat fee for orders under $800 giving the opportunity for some arbitrage. It is unclear exactly how that would work but potentially an order of two locomotives for $700 could have an effective tariff rate of around 12-15%. We’ll see how that develops. Im not sure Accurascale provide the option to ship by mail but Rails certainly do. Thats one option. While you may think pricing based on market is unfair to other markets it’s fairly common in business because the main driver is your competitiveness in a particular market. While the US market may not be particularly important to Accurascale’s businesss, these tariffs put your prices significantly above competitors and are likely to impact any sales you do have. I’m not suggesting you eat all the tariff but other companies have shown regard for their customers in dealing with this together. It’s something you may want to consider. While many of your models sell out and the issue is moot, you ended up giving major discounts on certain models like the beet wagons where the market is more limited. You could easily do that up front and generate goodwill at little cost.

In the US its over $800 in value and depends on the product category - the duty product codes are in a volume an inch thick. I think in Europe they get almost no exemption on import duties since 2022. They also get hit with the 20+% VAT on imports. Its brutal.

Im pretty sure you don't understand how markets work. If IRM tries to sell at the same price into the US, their models are now 30% more expensive to the consumer. The consumer couldn't care less whether you call, those charges VAT or tariffs or any other tax. Oh and its Europeans who havent figured out they been robbed by massive VAT taxes for years. You also clearly dont understand that the US has a deminimis exemption of $800 for shipments from most countries. My question for the IRM guys is whether they have given any thought as to whether that may be available for their products. It doesnt apply obviously to their shipment in bulk into Europe. It would apply to their shipment of individual models to the US. Its not entirely clear given the Chinese origin of the product whether the shipment from the UK would break the chain and thus the deminimis exemption would be available.

Of course the stupid American archetype is your go to which says more about you and the peanut gallery than anything about Americans… so let me spell it out for you in simple terms… Your product is now 30% more expensive to sell to the US… we Americans can do math see, so a $300 locomotive is now $390. If your answer to that is tough, we will continue to offer the product at that price, with no adjustment for the US market thats your prerogative. Just know that attitude may have consequences. Actually most tariffs are imposed at the wholesale price so it wont be a 30% impact at retail. Also there will be price adjustments along the whole supply chain, so yes the Chinese exporters will pay some of it.

Maybe not quite - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j5r9ngd3ko still a 30% tariff into the US. Will IRM be passing that on to their customers, or might they be able to use the deminimis shipping amount of $800? Thoughts?

Thats the 145% tariff for Chinese manufactured models. Guess, i’ll be buying Trix and Roco for a while. Trump is likely to end up giving folks a grace period but I doubt it will be anything but short term. I see Hasbro and Mattel already diversifying production out of China. They see how the winds are blowing.