An Update on the State of the Model Train Industry

[MOGUL]

13 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

I don’t think that DDP (Delivery Duty Paid) could really be considered a price adjustment by the seller.

DDP means that the tax / duty / tariff is collected by the seller, and paid to your government on your behalf.

The item price stays the same, the tax stays the same, what the customer pays in total stays the same, it’s just paid in a different way.

 

A change of incoterms in itself isn’t necessarily a price change, but if the customer wanted to still pay the same price regardless of the VAT that had to be paid, then it’s a discount in another form.. 

It’s also very tricky when operating a pre-order model on a product with a 2/3 year production lead time to correctly charge under DDP when you have an administration that changes the tarriff rates more often than their bed sheets.

[DJ Dangerous]

3 minutes ago, MOGUL said:

A change of incoterms in itself isn’t necessarily a price change, but if the customer wanted to still pay the same price regardless of the VAT that had to be paid, then it’s a discount in another form.. 

It’s also very tricky when operating a pre-order model on a product with a 2/3 year production lead time to correctly charge under DDP when you have an administration that changes the tarriff rates more often than their bed sheets.

So in this case, you were looking at paying the taxes on the customer’s behalf, and not collecting the corresponding payment?

If so, Hell yeah, sign me up straight away and you can pay all of my taxes and handling fees without charging me.

[James Regan]

45 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

If so, Hell yeah, sign me up straight away and you can pay all of my taxes and handling fees without charging me.

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.

Edited Friday at 18:30 by James Regan

[DJ Dangerous]

4 minutes ago, James Regan said:

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.

Yup, that’s exactly what I said. You pay the tax to A/S and they hand it over on your behalf, so nothing changes financially.

[James Regan]

5 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

Yup, that’s exactly what I said. You pay the tax to A/S and they hand it over on your behalf, so nothing changes financially.

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.

Edited Friday at 18:41 by James Regan

[DJ Dangerous]

1 minute ago, James Regan said:

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.

It’s the same financially, unless things change.

If you pay 30% tax to A/S today, they hand it over and save you the hassle of paying it.

If taxes go up, they lose out. If taxes go down, you lose out.

Pretty straightforward.

[MOGUL]

3 hours ago, James Regan said:

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. 

 

TBH I doubt any retailers have swallowed the tarriffs entirely, ultimately no business can fully absorb 30-154% increase in costs.. 

We are currently working to improve our shipping, particularly to overseas market and will be able to offer Royal Mail, DHL Express or Fedex for our US customers. We will leave it up to the customers to pick which one they want and which one allows them to best avoid the tarriffs.

Just to state again, we haven't increased our prices, you still pay us the same ex VAT price at the checkout, you now just have to pay 30%(for today anyway) to your government for the privelge of importing it. That ex VAT price is the same anyone outside the EU pays. Any goodwill we would gain from our small US customer base by offering discounts to US customers would be far out weighed by the ill feeling from people in our other markets who don't get the same. After all, we live in an age of VPNs, where you can easily view what customers in another market are paying, and a lot of those services actively promote this as a benefit of their service. 

The discounts on the beet wagons as was outlined at the time, was a special case as we wanted to reduce our stock holding prior to closing the Dublin warehouse. If those discounts were to be front loaded as you suggest, then the barely viable Irish projects, would become not viable and we would see a lot less Irish models on the market

 

 

[Ironroad]

Can we pause the academic debate on what may or may not be and concentrate on a question that is pertinent to the situation as it stands right now.

These are extracts from a CNN news article;-

The Trump administration has cut its tariff on “de minimis” packages, or shipments of goods worth $800 or less, coming in from China from 120% to 54% and slashed the rate from 145% to 30% for packages from commercial carriers. A $100 flat-fee option also won’t surge to $200 per postal item come June 1, as was previously planned, according to an executive order issued Monday and which goes into effect after midnight on Wednesday.

Monday’s executive order eases the 120% tariff on de minimis postal packages down. The new 54% rate only applies to shipments handled by postal services such as USPS. Deliveries from UPS, FedEx and other express courier companies will instead face the baseline tariff on Chinese goods, which the US lowered to 30%, still crippling for many businesses and consumers.

So an order containing goods manufactured in China coming via the mail with a value less than $800 appears to be subject to a tariff of 54%, with an option to pay a flat tariff of $100.

On the other hand the same order shipped via a courier (DHL Fedex) etc. is subject to a 30% tariff.

The logic of 54% on mailed parcels seems to be designed to  target sellers such as TEMU and to push consumers towards the flat $100 option. But that option is also an indication that US Customs don't have the capacity to process the daily through put of two million parcels in this category and are looking for a simple pass through with responsibility for collection resting with the Post Office.(whether the PO can handle this remains to be seen). At the same time there seems to be an assumption that the commercial operators such as DHL already have the capacity to collect the tariff of 30%  on small parcels as they normally would on everything else.

Regardless of the logic behind these decisions, from my perspective as a customer in the US it seems to me that it would be preferable to have any order with a value in excess of $335 but less than $800 sent via the mail and any order with a value less than $335 sent via courier.  Meaning the maximum payable by me on any parcel with a value less than $800 would be $100.

So my question is can IRM/Accurascale facilitate this, without the need for separate conversations with each customer on every shipment, for at least for the next 88 days, when things are likely to change again.  Thank you

[James Regan]

3 hours ago, Ironroad said:

concentrate on a question that is pertinent to the situation

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%

[DJ Dangerous]

4 hours ago, Ironroad said:

Regardless of the logic behind these decisions, from my perspective as a customer in the US it seems to me that it would be preferable to have any order with a value in excess of $335 but less than $800 sent via the mail and any order with a value less than $335 sent via courier.  Meaning the maximum payable by me on any parcel with a value less than $800 would be $100.

So my question is can IRM/Accurascale facilitate this, without the need for separate conversations with each customer on every shipment, for at least for the next 88 days, when things are likely to change again.  Thank you

It sounds like A/S are working on having various shipping options available:

 

5 hours ago, MOGUL said:

We are currently working to improve our shipping, particularly to overseas market and will be able to offer Royal Mail, DHL Express or Fedex for our US customers. We will leave it up to the customers to pick which one they want and which one allows them to best avoid the tarriffs.

I assume that, if DDP were a viable option, you’d need to be choosing between the $100 USD flat fee and the 54% and the 30% at the time you place your order.

With any luck, import fees for you guys will either drop or stay the same when they are reviewed in three months time. Hopefully, they can get Navarro out of the Oval Office with another fake meeting when it comes to decision time.

[Ironroad]

2 hours ago, James Regan said:

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%

 

2 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

It sounds like A/S are working on having various shipping options available:

 

I assume that, if DDP were a viable option, you’d need to be choosing between the $100 USD flat fee and the 54% and the 30% at the time you place your order.

 

I was drafting the question I've posed as Andrew posted his comment on offering a choice of shipping options and I appreciate the merits of that. However, that choice is going to be determined by a formula so why not simply apply that formula.

The option to pay a flat tariff of $100 on shipments via the mail with a value of $800 or less, coupled with the option of paying a 30% tariff on shipments via couriers seems to make the concept of a 54% tariff irrelevant 

The only circumstance in which  customer might be inclined to accept paying a 54% tariff is on  parcel sent via the mail with a value of $185 or less.  At $185 the 54% tariff is $99.90. But if there is an option to receive that same parcel via a courier the tariff would be 30% or $55.50 and logically the customer would take this option.. (a potential difference in mail versus courier costs may also have a bearing ).

So it comes down to establishing the point where the customer suffers the least pain in deciding whether to ship via the mail service or via a courier and that point is $335, IE at and below this it makes sense to ship via a courier service and above this point up to $800 it makes sense to ship via the mail service.

So yes James, orders need to be in increments under $800 in value which I suspect most are and using this formula, you would pay 30% on any order valued $335 or less, and anything from 30% down to 12.5% on orders between $335 and $800 in value (ironically this provides an incentive for orders on the high end of this scale).

But it is a question for IRM/AS as to whether they can facilitate this.

By the way I think we have to assume at this stage that both US Customs and the US Postal Service have had sufficient opportunity to contemplate how this will all work. Nonetheless considering the daily volume of two million parcels they may be forced into some compromises perhaps with them being more focused on shipments directly from China, we shall see.

 

 

[David Holman]

It might be me, but reading these regs made by brain hurt and my eyes glaze over!

 Can't help wondering whether high tariffs or making the system so complex that nobody want to use it, amount to the same thing.

[DJ Dangerous]

3 hours ago, Ironroad said:

But it is a question for IRM/AS as to whether they can facilitate this.

Another question, possibly just as important, is one of timing.

The A/S website is built using templates and plug-ins, and none of us really know how easy or difficult it may be to apply the various options for the US.

Would A/S be better off doing the research over the coming weeks, but not making any actual changes to shipping options until after the 90 day review?

That’s certainly a question I’d be asking of myself if given a similar challenge in work.

 

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

It might be me, but reading these regs made by brain hurt and my eyes glaze over!

That’s just the forum itself, don’t worry. It’s a common sympton, along with blood pressure fluctuations, losing the will to live, and refreshing ones vocabulary of swear words.

[jhb171achill]

5 hours ago, David Holman said:

It might be me, but reading these regs made by brain hurt and my eyes glaze over!

 Can't help wondering whether high tariffs or making the system so complex that nobody want to use it, amount to the same thing.

Me too.

Next time any of us vote in any country in any election, it’s worth bearing in mind that there isn’t a single example in history of where tariffs have done anything other than damage economies, including the ones that imposed them.

[MOGUL]

On 17/5/2025 at 5:50 AM, Ironroad said:

 

I was drafting the question I've posed as Andrew posted his comment on offering a choice of shipping options and I appreciate the merits of that. However, that choice is going to be determined by a formula so why not simply apply that formula.

The option to pay a flat tariff of $100 on shipments via the mail with a value of $800 or less, coupled with the option of paying a 30% tariff on shipments via couriers seems to make the concept of a 54% tariff irrelevant 

The only circumstance in which  customer might be inclined to accept paying a 54% tariff is on  parcel sent via the mail with a value of $185 or less.  At $185 the 54% tariff is $99.90. But if there is an option to receive that same parcel via a courier the tariff would be 30% or $55.50 and logically the customer would take this option.. (a potential difference in mail versus courier costs may also have a bearing ).

So it comes down to establishing the point where the customer suffers the least pain in deciding whether to ship via the mail service or via a courier and that point is $335, IE at and below this it makes sense to ship via a courier service and above this point up to $800 it makes sense to ship via the mail service.

So yes James, orders need to be in increments under $800 in value which I suspect most are and using this formula, you would pay 30% on any order valued $335 or less, and anything from 30% down to 12.5% on orders between $335 and $800 in value (ironically this provides an incentive for orders on the high end of this scale).

But it is a question for IRM/AS as to whether they can facilitate this.

By the way I think we have to assume at this stage that both US Customs and the US Postal Service have had sufficient opportunity to contemplate how this will all work. Nonetheless considering the daily volume of two million parcels they may be forced into some compromises perhaps with them being more focused on shipments directly from China, we shall see.

 

 

Obviously, as you eluded to, offering a better range of carriers is only part of the solution for our US customers..

But unfortunatley there is no "easy" way to do what you have suggested and have our system automatically calculate what the tarriff would be if you select carrier A or carrier B. I would like to think that there may be an app developer out there building just such a plug in for our software, but it is still very early days on the whole, so they may not have made much progress as yet! It is also very much be a case of trying to hit a moving target, with the tarriffs and the rate of exchange between the dollar and our base currency of GBP being in a constant state of flux. The best option I'm afraid will be for customers to get in touch with us over support shortly before we have a product arrival(for pre-orders), or if they want to place an order(for in stock items obviously) and request which carrier from our available list they would like their parcel to be sent with. 

 

 

[jhb171achill]

11 minutes ago, MOGUL said:

Obviously, as you eluded to, offering a better range of carriers is only part of the solution for our US customers..

But unfortunatley there is no "easy" way to do what you have suggested and have our system automatically calculate what the tarriff would be if you select carrier A or carrier B. I would like to think that there may be an app developer out there building just such a plug in for our software, but it is still very early days on the whole, so they may not have made much progress as yet! It is also very much be a case of trying to hit a moving target, with the tarriffs and the rate of exchange between the dollar and our base currency of GBP being in a constant state of flux. The best option I'm afraid will be for customers to get in touch with us over support shortly before we have a product arrival(for pre-orders), or if they want to place an order(for in stock items obviously) and request which carrier from our available list they would like their parcel to be sent with. 

 

 

Far far simpler in the past when it was just national postal carriers, before such things were privatised. Way cheaper too.

[Mayner]

I suppose the $20million question is whether The US Custom Service and US Postal Service are geared up (have the resources) to collect the newly introduced tarriffs and the ability to respond to respond to potentially rapidly changing tariff rates. 

While EU custom and postal services had several years to prepare (investment in automation) for changes in Global Customs Declaration Requirements & EU Vat Harmonisition, a lot of frustration was expressed on this Board as a result of 'teething problem" with An Post's systems and people having to pay Vat on imports from outside the EU.

Although increased tarriff on imports was one of Donald Trumps significant campaign strategies, it appears highly unlikely that Customs or the Postal Service wpuld have been able to justify gearing up to collect the new Tariffs without Presidential approval.

From my own experience as an exporter the cheapest option using a Postal Service or a Courier like DHL was for the customer to pay the import tax/duty and customs clearance upon arrival, DDTP with a carrier like DHL or Fed-Ex was a significantly more expensive option.

The other issue with shipping to the United States is that DHL uses a 'local partner" usually USPS for delivery in the United States which in my experience can result in unpredictable delivery.

I shipped an important document from New Zealand to the United States in January, while DHL managed to complete the international element of the shipping (Auckland-LA-Minnespolis) within 3 days it took a further 5 days for the USPS to deliver the document the remaining 195 miles to its destination. There was also the little matter of the USPS delivering the document to the local Post Office than the actual delivery address.

I guess the only way to find out how long the customs clearance process will actually take and work out the most cost effective shipment option is for one of our US based forum members to place an order with Accurascale.

[Ironroad]

3 hours ago, MOGUL said:

Obviously, as you eluded to, offering a better range of carriers is only part of the solution for our US customers..

But unfortunatley there is no "easy" way to do what you have suggested and have our system automatically calculate what the tarriff would be if you select carrier A or carrier B. I would like to think that there may be an app developer out there building just such a plug in for our software, but it is still very early days on the whole, so they may not have made much progress as yet! It is also very much be a case of trying to hit a moving target, with the tarriffs and the rate of exchange between the dollar and our base currency of GBP being in a constant state of flux. The best option I'm afraid will be for customers to get in touch with us over support shortly before we have a product arrival(for pre-orders), or if they want to place an order(for in stock items obviously) and request which carrier from our available list they would like their parcel to be sent with. 

 

 

I fully appreciate the impracticality of modifying your software but that's not what I was suggesting.  In practical terms I'm suggesting that at the point of picking and dispatching orders to the US that the decision as to how to ship them is determined by the value in USD. 

IE Shipments valued between $335 and $800 go via the mail and all others go via courier. 

As to the currency question it has been made very clear to me that all orders with an US delivery address are valued by default in USD by Shopify at the point of placing an order, so that question is already addressed at the point of pick and dispatch.

As to testing this, I'm willing to be the guinea pig. So assuming shipment of  my Park Royal order worth $700 for which you requested payment last week is imminent, please send that order via the mail and let's see how it plays out. 

Thank you Tom

 

 

 

 

 

[Ironroad]

2 hours ago, Mayner said:

I suppose the $20million question is whether The US Custom Service and US Postal Service are geared up (have the resources) to collect the newly introduced tarriffs and the ability to respond to respond to potentially rapidly changing tariff rates. 

While EU custom and postal services had several years to prepare (investment in automation) for changes in Global Customs Declaration Requirements & EU Vat Harmonisition, a lot of frustration was expressed on this Board as a result of 'teething problem" with An Post's systems and people having to pay Vat on imports from outside the EU.

Although increased tarriff on imports was one of Donald Trumps significant campaign strategies, it appears highly unlikely that Customs or the Postal Service wpuld have been able to justify gearing up to collect the new Tariffs without Presidential approval.

From my own experience as an exporter the cheapest option using a Postal Service or a Courier like DHL was for the customer to pay the import tax/duty and customs clearance upon arrival, DDTP with a carrier like DHL or Fed-Ex was a significantly more expensive option.

The other issue with shipping to the United States is that DHL uses a 'local partner" usually USPS for delivery in the United States which in my experience can result in unpredictable delivery.

I shipped an important document from New Zealand to the United States in January, while DHL managed to complete the international element of the shipping (Auckland-LA-Minnespolis) within 3 days it took a further 5 days for the USPS to deliver the document the remaining 195 miles to its destination. There was also the little matter of the USPS delivering the document to the local Post Office than the actual delivery address.

I guess the only way to find out how long the customs clearance process will actually take and work out the most cost effective shipment option is for one of our US based forum members to place an order with Accurascale.

Hi John, I have my doubts as to whether US Customs or the USPS are in any position to manage the scale of the task that has been dumped on them nor do I think the man in the White House cares. For him it's about optics not practicalities. So I do expect some compromises will be made in the application of these rules. But In the meantime we need to be prepared which is why I'm suggesting a simple rule of thumb to IRM/AS.

As to DHL deliveries in the US I'm surprised by what you say because any I've received (including from you) have been delivered by DHL itself and not outsourced to the USPS and the delivery times have been excellent. But perhaps they need to outsource in some instances depending on the destination and their own capabilities regionally.  For sure the USPS are slower than the courier services internally but they are not too far behind the couriers when it come to international parcels, at least in my experience. 

[BosKonay]

Didn’t Trump remove De Minimis for Chinese goods? So tariffs apply from $1 of value now. 

[DJ Dangerous]

57 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

Didn’t Trump remove De Minimis for Chinese goods? So tariffs apply from $1 of value now. 

Allowance abolished in January, reinstated in February, abolished again in May.

Who knows what June will bring?

[Ironroad]

41 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

Didn’t Trump remove De Minimis for Chinese goods? So tariffs apply from $1 of value now. 

Yes he did, but please read the CNN news extracts I posted earlier which explain what is in place for at least the next 85 days or so.

All shipments sent via commercial carriers will have a tariff of 30% applied.

All shipments sent via the post office with a value of $1 up to $800 will be subject to a 54% tariff, but with a option for the consignee to pay a flat tariff of $100.

So if IRM/AS are offering their US customers a choice between having orders shipped by mail or courier a simple rule of thumb can be applied to minimise the tariff being paid by US customers.

It makes no sense to send an order with a value of $334 or less via the mail, because the minimum tariff such a order would be subject to would be $100, whereas the maximum tariff sent via courier (@30%) would be $100.

And It makes no sense to send an order valued between $335 and $800 via a courier because it would incur a tariff of between $101 & $240. Whereas sending that same order via the mail incurs a maximum tariff of $100. 

So the simple rule of thumb is to send all orders valued between $335 and $800 via the mail and all others via courier. 

 

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

22 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

Allowance abolished in January, reinstated in February, abolished again in May.

Who knows what June will bring?

Most of us lose out when rules and finances are in turmoil. But those with a lot of money and an appetite for risk (or some insider info) can make millions in times of turmoil. Someone’s winning, somewhere…

[MOGUL]

23 hours ago, Ironroad said:

I fully appreciate the impracticality of modifying your software but that's not what I was suggesting.  In practical terms I'm suggesting that at the point of picking and dispatching orders to the US that the decision as to how to ship them is determined by the value in USD. 

IE Shipments valued between $335 and $800 go via the mail and all others go via courier. 

As to the currency question it has been made very clear to me that all orders with an US delivery address are valued by default in USD by Shopify at the point of placing an order, so that question is already addressed at the point of pick and dispatch.

As to testing this, I'm willing to be the guinea pig. So assuming shipment of  my Park Royal order worth $700 for which you requested payment last week is imminent, please send that order via the mail and let's see how it plays out. 

Thank you Tom

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Tom,

While it sounds in principal like a logical idea, the reality is our warehouse staff are there to pick and pack orders and wouldn't be privy to the ins and outs of US customs to select the best option for the customers. I have over 10 years experience of customs clearances but the rate of change in the US system at the moment is so rapid it's hard to keep up with all the rates, rules and dates without it consuming a few hours of my week. Trump annoucing something, and that information actually being translated into something that a customs broker can implement are two very different things.

So as I said, for now the best we can offer is that the customer can review the rules for themselves, and contact us to have us ship there order with whichever carrier would be the most cost effective for them. 

[Ironroad]

55 minutes ago, MOGUL said:

Hi Tom,

While it sounds in principal like a logical idea, the reality is our warehouse staff are there to pick and pack orders and wouldn't be privy to the ins and outs of US customs to select the best option for the customers. I have over 10 years experience of customs clearances but the rate of change in the US system at the moment is so rapid it's hard to keep up with all the rates, rules and dates without it consuming a few hours of my week. Trump annoucing something, and that information actually being translated into something that a customs broker can implement are two very different things.

So as I said, for now the best we can offer is that the customer can review the rules for themselves, and contact us to have us ship there order with whichever carrier would be the most cost effective for them. 

OK, but for the record the current arrangements will stand until at least Aug 12 and a lot of businesses in the US are depending on that. I won't debate the point any further but suffice it to say that I think that communication with every customer on each and every shipment is pretty onerous and even then it is still the pick and pack person that must get it right based on the paperwork in front of them. In either scenario they are not required to understand the tariffs.

[Flying Snail]

On the face of it, it seems very simple for Accurascale to just implement a shipping rule to 'send all US orders valued between $335 and $800 via the mail and all others via courier until Aug 12'. However, it's not that simple at all.

For instance, let's suppose Accurascale implement the above shipping rule - but then US tariffs change again before Aug 12 in a way that makes shipping orders between $335 and $800 cheaper by courier instead of mail. What happens if Accurascale fail to spot those tariff changes and don't change their shipping rule accordingly - resulting in their customers missing out on the lower cost option.  Would a US customer be entitled to be upset at Accurascale for imposing the higher cost option on them? 

It seems obvious to me that to avoid the above scenario, Accurascale would have to commit resources (i.e time and money) to:

1. track US tariff developments on an ongoing basis for changes; and,
2. for each new change - investigate various scenarios involving shipping options, order values etc. - and then implement new rules to pick the best shipping option.

The safer (and cheaper*) option for Accurascale is to let their American customers do their own research and choose their own preferred shipping option - that way American customers only have themselves to blame if they have to pay higher than expected tariffs.

*I expect Accurascale have crunched the numbers when making their decision and have taken into account size of the US market, and the likely negative impact on sales etc.

 

[commerlad]

2 hours ago, Flying Snail said:

On the face of it, it seems very simple for Accurascale to just implement a shipping rule to 'send all US orders valued between $335 and $800 via the mail and all others via courier until Aug 12'. However, it's not that simple at all.

For instance, let's suppose Accurascale implement the above shipping rule - but then US tariffs change again before Aug 12 in a way that makes shipping orders between $335 and $800 cheaper by courier instead of mail. What happens if Accurascale fail to spot those tariff changes and don't change their shipping rule accordingly - resulting in their customers missing out on the lower cost option.  Would a US customer be entitled to be upset at Accurascale for imposing the higher cost option on them? 

It seems obvious to me that to avoid the above scenario, Accurascale would have to commit resources (i.e time and money) to:

1. track US tariff developments on an ongoing basis for changes; and,
2. for each new change - investigate various scenarios involving shipping options, order values etc. - and then implement new rules to pick the best shipping option.

The safer (and cheaper*) option for Accurascale is to let their American customers do their own research and choose their own preferred shipping option - that way American customers only have themselves to blame if they have to pay higher than expected tariffs.

*I expect Accurascale have crunched the numbers when making their decision and have taken into account size of the US market, and the likely negative impact on sales etc.

 

It's not just that simple. Even ignoring someone deciding to change the numbers or rules again the international money markets can throw a spanner in the works.

Lets say that the order comes to $780 when shipping. A 0.025% change in the £ to $ exchange rates wile the item is in transit might push the amount over the $800 and thus incur the different rule.

[Flying Snail]

25 minutes ago, commerlad said:

It's not just that simple. Even ignoring someone deciding to change the numbers or rules again the international money markets can throw a spanner in the works.

Lets say that the order comes to $780 when shipping. A 0.025% change in the £ to $ exchange rates wile the item is in transit might push the amount over the $800 and thus incur the different rule.

Agreed -  'simple' solutions are often not simple to implement!

[Mayner]

2 hours ago, commerlad said:

It's not just that simple. Even ignoring someone deciding to change the numbers or rules again the international money markets can throw a spanner in the works.

Lets say that the order comes to $780 when shipping. A 0.025% change in the £ to $ exchange rates wile the item is in transit might push the amount over the $800 and thus incur the different rule.

US Customs updates and publishes "Daily Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Multipliers" https://www.cbp.gov/trade/document/report/daily-foreign-currency-exchange-rate-multipliers which would apply on the date a shipment arrives in the US, not the date the customer paid for the order.

I think safest option for US buyers is to wait and see what happens with the tariff situation during the next 3-6 months before ordering something, most of the high value IRM stuff is on a relatively long lead time and no firm delivery date for the Park Royal Coaches at this stage.

Perhaps a facility for US customers to reserve a high value item like a loco or an IRC so they are potentially do not 'miss-out" and agree shipping options when the item is in stock.

Although operating on a much smaller scale that IRM, I set up an option on my Shopify site for a range of shipping options including International Post, DHL delivery in place (customer pays duty and fees to DHL on arrival) or a DHL  DTP (Duty & Tax paid) options. Shipping rates were largely determined by package size and weight, but feasible to use value as a determining factor.

During the 3 years operation of the site I had 3-4 regular US customers who accounted for 15-20% of sales in terms of volume and value, with approx. 50 customers in the UK and Ireland with a high proportion of 'casuals" accounting for the remaining sales a much lower spend rate compared with the US.

My American customers had a significantly higher individual spend rate  than my UK and Irish customers, and by implication well worth looking after.