Be wary of a charge once it gets to you. Customs duties?
I have a couple of packages coming from China, still enroute, prior to the tariffs. I’m pretty sure I won’t be surprised with some kind of charge. But ordering now from China is a no-go. A set of metal tracks for one of my 1/16 RC tanks had the shipping charge changed from around $20.00 to well over $100.00. A bit of digging and I found a company here in the states that had the tracks I need with a shipping charge of about $9.00.
Oddly enough, one of the sellers in China still has a low (pre-tariff normal) shipping cost. But again, will you get dinged on the receiving end?
Mike
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I am sure that this tariff mess will end (if not soon, maybe in 4 years), and we’ll be back to buying kits at reasonable shipping fees..
I was just bummed that AHHQ stopped taking pre-orders for these 1/16 kits, and supposedly, the release dates are pushed out:
IIRC, their initial release date was around May, June 2025 but it is looking more like June, July timeframe.
I am sure I can wait a couple more months. Silver lining - you get to save money and work on the existing stash. 
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That’s my plan, just patiently wait and build out of the stash.
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Drop Out? It’s Donnie Who’s losing The Trade War
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These shipping issues may be a rude shock for American colleagues, but a similar situation has happened since COVID with shipping from US to Oz. USPS went from being expensive to farcical in the space of a few months, and it has been prohibitive to purchase anything from the States since. Freight charges often are double the cost of the order, and it looks like this has become the new (ab)normal 
.
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@jpwaller same thing in Canada. It is far too costly to buy anything from the US and have shipped. The US Customs doubles the tax with Country of Origin and postal charges are unreasonable. There are a few aftermarket things I would like to get but would be over double what I would spend.
Even Canadian postal charges can be prohibitive unless you spend a certain dollar amount.
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I don’t think it’s the actual shipping costs from China. China actually subsidizes the shipping so that Chinese companies can ship outside the country fairly cheaply. What you are seeing is probably an increase in the shipping to offset the cost of importation (paying the tariff). I sort of wonder though how many of these shipments actually get intercepted by customs to get tariff’s placed on them. Nothing ever sent to me when I was getting samples for example ever incurred even a minor delay by our customs people. Versus hearing story after story of people I was sending them to in other countries. One person I remember in the Philippines literally had to bribe his customs officer with lunch to get his package.
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Thank you, Ryan. I knew Amusing Hobby production was in China but didn’t realize the company was actually based in Japan.
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“Employees – about 43” - hope their kit parts-counts are less…amusing 
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I am seeing a fair bit of new code on eBay web pages and now suspect a bug was recently introduced into their shipping calculator.
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Not surprised on production being in China. Where did you find that data, looks very interesting?
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Agreed, as far back as the late 1990’s Japanese plastic model companies were having the molding done else where.
Asked Google and their AI, displayed it.
I seem on the cusp of developing a new hobby to waste time. Asking various AI’s about topics of interest. Some of the results are lame but being able to run Monte Carlo simulations ~100 times using published performance data to determine which of three sports cars would be most likely to win the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway etc is absolutely fascinating!
Of course, the result is speculative and only as good as the data etc. Nevertheless, incredibly fun if one is in to that sort of stuff.
Results my 02 Z28 is getting a new set of wheels & Michelin Pilots and rid of the Chinese tires the prior owner put on it.
AI is DANGEROUS, I’m spending on the car hobby again! 
Edit - anyway, this quarter’s hobby budget (April-June) is allocated & spent on the 02 Z28, zero funds available for premium price Imperial goodies from the Land of Dragon’s. However, funds remain for new treasures from the Land of the Rising Sun.
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Hy folks
Sure buy local, on your US HobbyStore. Than all is good? Nope.
Your local Hobby Store, they have to buy in China, mostly and this for 2,5 x the price as befor April. Without shipping.
Why is there no price increase now?
The Tarifes are placed on the goods, when leaving.
Normal shipping with container takes 4-6 weeks. Estimated stoke on your local Hobby Shop is about 6 to 8 weeks, without new kits.
So be aware to pay local in the US the 2,5x the price as in the Rest of the world, coming in the next 2 month.
If the kits will be send to US, at all, as usuall, or maybe the trade will be on hold, until someone blinks?
Importers usually receive a couple of shipments each year from the various manufacturers. What they have on hand is probably pre-tariff. However the next shipment…
What local hobby store ???
Mine got destroyed in Helene !!!
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I love this activity and I love our community as we are unique group of individuals but WTH people?
Some of our brothers and sisters are flipping out about future plastic cost while We All have enough in our storage to last a lifetime or two. Relax and smell the coffee. There are bigger things in life to spend our energy on then to worries about…just plastic models. If you are going to worry then think of what will happen tomorrow when you are old and weak to build your stash? Well, I’ll just back the truck up and help the bother out. 
Now, I do hope for things to get better in our hobby and to…
Make Activities Great Again
until then I’ll build what’ve got.
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I’m working at an importer wholesaler now. Yes the stock on hand currently is pre tariff. But shipments are far more frequent than a couple per year. At least for manufacturers besides Vallejo and what we stock. And yes, the time is coming when tariffed shipments will arrive. I have heard of shipments already being refused by the stateside buyers due to tariffs. Can’t say how accurate or true that is, but that is the word on what’s happening for some.
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Sal breaks this down without the extra hype.
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