This probably applies to ANYTHING bought off eBay and shipped from China at the moment, but I’m always perusing my favorite vendors looking for goodies and all of a sudden shipping has gone to $200 USD and more for a box of 1/35 scale tracks. Current events aside, no political comments here, etc, but really?
Q) What’s the best way to kill a business? A) Do something stupid like jack shipping charges to the stratosphere.
If this belongs somewhere else, sorry, I was a bit blown away.
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From a eBay seller point of view, the high shipping costs are a way to ensure you don’t have sell products to US citizens. Yes, there are normal shipping rate increases but those are not that.
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“Don’t have to sell”? Like they’ll get spanked if they do?
Edit: I found what I was looking for, sold by a vendor in Hong Kong, shipping under $20 for two sets. That’s the same it’s been for a while. I guess no more stuff from from the PRC for a while… a LONG while. It makes me wonder how the newish Takom Shermans will be distributed.
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Is just China trying to make it painful to buy goods directly from the PRC. I already saw that coming up the hill, so most of the stuff i buy comes from “a-modeler”, which is BNA Model World in Australia.
I also try to keep most of my purchases within US vendors, like Sprue Brothers or Burbank House of Hobbies.
Sadly, this is the new normal, until the Trump and Xi Administrations come to some sort of agreement that will be beneficial to both the US and China. Right now, they’re in a staring contest to see who blinks first.
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If the Chinese are standing on a bridge while staring, they may drop out of the contest sooner than later.
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There was relative peace in the world, until someone who thought he knew better, started rocking the boat, and making waves. 
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I think Trump has already blinked, suggesting that high tariffs was a negotiating tactic.
He says he will not ‘play hardball’ …
Trusting Chinese concrete is apparently not a good decision …
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Yesterday my EvilBay search had a lot of $203 shipping charges. Today my searches are empty, like the stores aren’t selling in the US at all. Can’t blame them.
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Still free shipping on many AliExpress items.
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Yeah I still buy a lot from BNA - they are outstanding. Once in a while from Sprue Bros and lately a place in Georgia ( or Florida?) I forget, called Hobbylinc.
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Our (USA) President wants to reduce the trade deficit.
Returned to my 2020-2022 boycott of all Chinese goods on March 16th.
…until Ryefield Model’s releases something I really really want!
…or Takom
…or Meng
…or Magic Factory
…or Amusing Hobby
…or even Dragon
…but I couldn’t careless what Border Models releases!
Then I’ll grit my teeth and order it from Spruebrothers.com or Andyshhq.com or Burbank…but only order 1 instead of 2 (or 3 if WW2 German).
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No politics
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Buy from hobbylink some but 90% from Scalehobbyist. hobbylink is considerably more costly in comparison. I’m not sure their rewards program compensates.
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We are already seeing this from regular vendors elsewhere as well. HLJ has cancelled all shipping methods to the US except EMS:
https://support.hlj.com/hc/en-us/articles/46012183808409-FAQ-USA-Shipping-Methods-Suspension
And of course Hong Kong Post has stop sending to the US as well.
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It depends on what you want. Many modelers now buy 3D printers to download files and print what they need. A figure seller said that 3D printers are cheap and of excellent printing quality now.
Since I mainly buy and build resin figures, I’ve switched to ETSY from most of my 3D printed figures and many of those figures are printed in Europe or the USA.
However, for military kits, most times just buy direct from the vendor, and if not the vendor, there are many European and Asian online hobby shops that sell Chinese kits. I rarely if ever buy from eBay anymore due to the recasts and cheap knockoffs because it’s hard to obtain actual original resin garage kits from eBay if you don’t know the actual original manufacturer of the resin kit.
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HAHAHA!
This morning, Sprue Borthers had the new Border 1/35 Messerchmitt 109 G-10 and Stuka D3 in stock. Those are my #1 and #2 must haves for 2025. Went to eBay looking for them on the cheaps. Saw the $200 shipping charges and laughed. So juvenile. Spent, like, 60 seconds looking and found everything at the expected el cheapo prices, just from different vendors.
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Small (depending on pov) correction, they are Japanese not Chinese.
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I highly, highly recommend using BNA Model World. Excellent customer service and they get your order boxed and shipped out the door. The only issue (and this has absolutely nothing to do with BNA) is getting it on a flight and then coming through customs. This is using standard shipping and not air freight. But, anything you order out of America will have to come through customs. Again, BNA Model World is highly recommend.
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It’s called Evil Bay
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About ten years ago I was ordering a tee shirt from the states a $25.00 veterans tee shirt.. shipping was at the cheapest $95.00 surface delivery USPS.
Didn’t fill the order .. even their customer service was like WTF..
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