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Chinese tariff war and models


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Just wondering how this tariff rift will effect our hobby, Probably increase prices, Wonder if model companies could state that the model kits are just parts that are assembled in the United States and not just a single product. If anyone can put some insight into the import/export portion of our hobby it would be appreciated.

greg

 

 

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I'm not an attorney. I only portray one online:

UPDATE: Trump Renews Tariff Threat, Possible 25 Percent Tariffs on Toy Imports from China

If you order from overseas stores, you won't see any effect on the prices you pay since toys purchased from outside the U.S. aren't subject to tariffs and, usually, customs duties.  You might not want to admit it; but, model kits are classified as toys.

Edited by SfanGoch
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Toys were never part of the Tariff scheme up until these last round of tariffs.  So they'll be dinged at 25%, the questions is to what degree the model manufacturers pay the tariff.  For the most part these guys are getting the kits ready for sale by the container, so they'd be paying a tariff on the wholesale value of the shipment.  Even if they were to hire a temp staff to assemble kits - to attempt to pay a lower value price of parts and the boxes, they're still going to have to pay on them in some fashion.  The ugly bottom line would be a 25% increase on Round2, Revell & Moebius kits.  Salvinos JR won't be affected because they do their stuff here in the U.S.  Neither will Japanese or European companies as these are purely U.S. vs. China issues.  From a sales aspect Blitz at least has the option to flood the market with German boxed versions of the newer Revell kits as those wouldn't be subject to the tariffs.

I suspect somebody's gonna give before too long because I can't see the U.S. or China wanting to head into Christmas with toys costing 25% more across the board.

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The stock market has been down over 600 pts for most of today and nearly 1,000 since last week. Typical market corrections when situations like this come up. 

The long lasting effect will be if they suddenly raise prices on kits because of the tariffs and then don't lower them once/if the tariffs are lifted. 

I work in the auto parts business and luckily we do not manufacture any parts in China and therefore are not affected, but have seen some companies raise their prices in anticipation of these tariffs and have heard that they WON'T be lowering prices.

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I work in convenience store renovation and our BP suppliers have started showing the tariffs on the material quotes.   LEDs and lots of BP canopy materials are taxed.  Im sure the other brands are as wll, but BP is just showing it up front so you know what the increase is for.  

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7 minutes ago, martinfan5 said:

Would the increase be more than 25% if the manufacturing was done here ?

Why?!? If something is manufactured here in the U.S., there wouldn't be any tariff imposed because it's domestically produced. :blink:

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3 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

Why?!? If something is manufactured here in the U.S., there wouldn't be any tariff imposed because it's domestically produced. :blink:

I think he means would it cost more than the 25% to manufacture the kit domestically?  The model companies were saving money by having things done in China.  Does the tariff change that, or is there still a savings?

Edited by Mr. Muppet
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6 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

Why?!? If something is manufactured here in the U.S., there wouldn't be any tariff imposed because it's domestically produced. :blink:

You think American workers are going to work for the same wages that the Chinese workers are paid?, I understand there would not be a tariff,  US companies off shoring production because its so much to cheaper then doing it in the US , so you bring that all back here and their cost of doing business goes up.

So again , my question, would the increase in cost of doing business in the US be higher or lower than a 25% tariff?

Edited by martinfan5
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1 minute ago, Mr. Muppet said:

I think he means would it cost more than the 25% to manufacture the kit domestically?  The model companies were saving money by having things done in China.  Does the tariff change that, or is there still a savings?

Yes, that is what I meant, maybe I should of worded it a bit differently.

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There's no real need to wonder what the cost of U.S. manufacturing is at this point. Salvinos JR designs and manufactures their kits in the U.S.  Their MSRP is $39.99, MSRP on Revell kits produced after everything has died down is $26.95.  A 25% tariff takes that up to a little over $33, so it's still cheaper to do things in China.

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33 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

I believe the current rounds will have a similar effect.   The Chinese have been taking advantage of the USA for too long! It's time.

The US economic growth after the oil shock rode on the cheap labour of offshore manufacturing, you cannot really say one is taking advantage of the other.

If you want other people to buy your goods, you actually need to export something desirable first.

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Don't want to get into any political battles here, I just want the molds in the US where they belong. My thought is that the quality could improve in the models we all want and build and all the "Made In" raised lettering will go away. Who knows maybe there might even be a few jobs created.   

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Maybe this will finally justify the people selling sets of kit wheels and pairs of valve covers online for $20 a pop. Model kits are super valuable now, doncha know!!

But yeah. Ugh. I have a stash, but it's not that big...and kits are already $45 here in canada. I can't see wanting to spend $60+ per kit.  I guess we'll see how it all shakes out, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if those prices rise to compensate, and then never come back down after the trade war is over. I'd like to be wrong.

Worst case will actually still be fun: I bet I could build a pretty sweet 1/12  or 1/8 scale hot rod out of wood, foam, plastic packaging, and scrap metal. 3D printed parts to fill in the tricky bits....it would take a while, but prolonging the enjoyment of the creative process isn't a bad thing! Haha.

 

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On 5/13/2019 at 11:09 PM, High octane said:

Any tariff would have NO effect on me as I have plenty of kits in my stash already, and can easily do without ever buying another plastic model kit.

I agree.

I believe that we should be more worried about what affect tariffs might have on "important" segments of the economy.

A price of a model bothers me very little.

The price of my groceries does.

If my weekly grocery bill goes up 30%, there aren't going to be any model purchases.

 

 

Steve

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Price increases might not affect the old fellas with “enough for a lifetime” but it sure does affect the new guys. Keep that in mind. Without people buying the new issues the hobby would be in a worse state of affairs.

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