funded Reaper Bones 5: Enthusiasm and Commentary thread

[Glitterwolf]

6 hours ago, Venun said:

So, the update mentioned it's shipped to the UK for EU. I sure hope that's not the answer to my question from before :( I'm still hoping for that German EU hub

 

I wouldn't count on it.

It has been asked before, answer was usually pretty vague.

I guess we will have to pay customs and VAT since it will now be sent from a Non EU country.

I had hoped Reaper would have thought about it, Brexit has been looming for quite a time now.

I love Reaper, but this makes the UK Hub pretty worthless to EU customers now.

 

[Inarah]

6 hours ago, Venun said:

So, the update mentioned it's shipped to the UK for EU. I sure hope that's not the answer to my question from before :( I'm still hoping for that German EU hub

 

AFAIK Reaper does not have an office in the EU to ship to, nor a partner there that can handle the volume of shipments. Opening a branch office in a foreign country is a long involved, expensive process and doesn't make sense for projects that deliver once in every 3-4 years.  

 

I wish Freebooter and Hasslefree would open shops here across the US, too, so I didn't have to pay outrageous shipping for their products, but it's not going to happen. 

 

[Nunae]

2 hours ago, Inarah said:

AFAIK Reaper does not have an office in the EU to ship to, nor a partner there that can handle the volume of shipments. Opening a branch office in a foreign country is a long involved, expensive process and doesn't make sense for projects that deliver once in every 3-4 years.  

 

I wish Freebooter and Hasslefree would open shops here across the US, too, so I didn't have to pay outrageous shipping for their products, but it's not going to happen. 

During the original KS it was brought up that Brexit might be an issue for EU backers (it was also brought up during Bones 4, but the Brits played into our hands back then). Back during the Bones 5 KS it was said in comments and on Twitch that EU backers would be taken care off if Brexit would make it disadvantageous for us to get our KS delivery through the UK. The idea of using a partner in Germany was brought up by Reaper themselves and calmed a lot of nerves. If we want a follow up now that's only natural.

For me personally the worst situation would be to have my stuff send to the UK (and pay import duties on that, as we have for past kickstarters) and then send to Germany by the fulfillment partner and pay fees again to the authorities here bc I imported a package from the UK. I fully expect to pay some fees at some point (and I'm fine with that!) but I'd like to know for sure that they will send my package from the US directly if they don't have an EU mainland partner.

The same goes for European, but not EU, countries like Switzerland, who would also be better off getting their stuff directly from the US hub. 

 

[Glitterwolf]

3 hours ago, Inarah said:

 

AFAIK Reaper does not have an office in the EU to ship to, nor a partner there that can handle the volume of shipments. Opening a branch office in a foreign country is a long involved, expensive process and doesn't make sense for projects that deliver once in every 3-4 years.  

 

I wish Freebooter and Hasslefree would open shops here across the US, too, so I didn't have to pay outrageous shipping for their products, but it's not going to happen. 

 

 

 

Nunae explained it well.

 

To be honest, it's not just the Kickstarters ( which are almost yearly now) we can order from the UK if we're in the EU instead of the USA.

The Brexit was already looming when Reaper decided to open a Hub /EU store in the UK.

I think it was underestimated, if they had switched to the mainland right then it would have prevented this.

 

I fear that the UK store will not be of much use to us EU customers anymore this way.

We can order Reaper miniatures from German and Dutch websites, thereby avoiding all the customs and VAT fees.

So that store will likely have to focus on Britain alone.

I hope I'm wrong here. I wish Reaper all the best and hope that it will stay profitable.

 

39 minutes ago, Nunae said:

During the original KS it was brought up that Brexit might be an issue for EU backers (it was also brought up during Bones 4, but the Brits played into our hands back then). Back during the Bones 5 KS it was said in comments and on Twitch that EU backers would be taken care off if Brexit would make it disadvantageous for us to get our KS delivery through the UK. The idea of using a partner in Germany was brought up by Reaper themselves and calmed a lot of nerves. If we want a follow up now that's only natural.

For me personally the worst situation would be to have my stuff send to the UK (and pay import duties on that, as we have for past kickstarters) and then send to Germany by the fulfillment partner and pay fees again to the authorities here bc I imported a package from the UK. I fully expect to pay some fees at some point (and I'm fine with that!) but I'd like to know for sure that they will send my package from the US directly if they don't have an EU mainland partner.

The same goes for European, but not EU, countries like Switzerland, who would also be better off getting their stuff directly from the US hub. 

 

 

[Tordelback]

 

The ongoing nightmare of getting anything into the EU via the UK at the moment would almost make me want to forget my order instead of incurring who-knows-what fees and delays. It's specifically confusion around the re-shipping hub model that seems to be causing the most serious problems at the moment.

 

I've no problem with paying taxes due, that's the norm, but the seemingly random outcomes we're seeing from the compounded mess of US-UK then re-ship UK-EU, no thank you. I know it's very far from Reaper's fault how things are going, but I the possibility of a EU hub was dangled during the campaign and I reserve the right to feel frustrated that it's not being mentioned any more. 

 

Shipping directly from the US would be infinitely preferable, being at least a knowable quantity.

[Cicciopiu]

I don't get why everyone is concerned about receiving goods from UK. They reached an agreement about it.

Extract from the UK-EU Trade agreement:

Quote

Article GOODS.5: Prohibition of customs duties Except as otherwise provided for in this Agreement, customs duties on all goods originating in the other Party shall be prohibited.

 

Article GOODS.6: Export duties, taxes or other charges
1. A Party may not adopt or maintain any duty, tax or other charge of any kind imposed on, or in connection with, the exportation of a good to the other Party; or any internal tax or other charge on a good exported to the other Party that is in excess of the tax or charge that would be imposed on like goods when destined for domestic consumption. 

Am I missing something? 

[Nunae]

This is getting rather complicated, I recommend checking the customs offices' websites of the countries involved. There are definitly EU and UK consumers being charged when receiving packages from "the other side". According to the German customs office, the UK is being treated as a non-EU country but with some preferential treatment, when it comes to "goods originating" in the other area. From my limited understanding this seems to aim at EU/UK manufacturing industrie e. g. UK company makes car parts, sends them to Germany where they are used in cars. There are many such agreements with many countries, for example also EU-Japan, but that doesn't mean you never pay taxes or duties when receiving packages.

Reaper is an US company and Bones are made in China, so I don't think any preferences apply here. And even if they would, some taxes (19%?) would apparently still aplly which is the "the tax or charge that would be imposed on like goods when destined for domestic consumption" . Added to that, the whole process of getting wares out of the UK is suuuuper slow right now, which is another reason to get them from the US directly. 

I might not understand the details completly, but the important information is that EU citizens are being charged for packages received from the UK and that my countries' duties office specifically points out that it is very likely that the consumer will be charged when ordering from the UK.

[Cicciopiu]

Well I'm used to complication, as I live in Canary Island a NO-VAT zone (we still have to pay duties in the end as they charge IGIC [7% counterpart of VAT] and manipulation [some sort of extortion due to the fact that they have to work your package in orden to apply duties...]) and we have an internal custom separated from Spanish custom, so basically everything that come from outside Spain have to pass through 2 customs process.

If I buy something from outside Europe I'll get my goods after minimum 3 weeks, 2 weeks (minimum) from EU/UK and 10 days (minimum) from Spain (as it still have to pass the Canary Island custom) no matters the class of shipment: I usually buy stuffs from a UK supply and they ship with UPS 1 day, but I still get my stuffs after 2 weeks 

Sooo yeah... probably in my case nothing will change...

[Great Khan Artist]

On 1/22/2021 at 5:45 PM, alchemist said:

The shortage of shipping containers is making the news in the UK:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55740063

I don't understand this. Every farmer has at least one in his yard and there are loads of places selling them. 

[Glitterwolf]

@Reaper_Jon Any chance of shipping to the EU mainland directly from the USA?

That way we would be sure that we only pay customs and VAT once.

Through the UK we are at risk paying twice for that.

 

 

 

[Smokestack]

Well, just added a 3rd Ravenhome. Wonder if I will get a 4th in before it closes... 

[ratsmitglied]

 

6 hours ago, Great Khan Artist said:

I don't understand this. Every farmer has at least one in his yard and there are loads of places selling them. 

the ones that are sold are mostly ones that are no longer suitable for using as freight for various reasons.

 

also, it may not be so much there is global shortage of shipping containers, but that there is a shortage of containers in the right place, and in the hands of the right company - a company that has a couple of thousand containers already is unlikely to buy more just because they're stuck on the docks in England and are needed in China, they'll make everyone wait until they can get their containers where they need them

 

From my perspective it sounds like we may get ours marginally quicker this time around, although in this case I do think that Reaper changing to actually shipping direct to Australia rather than shipping to the US and reshipping to Australia has resulted in us paying more in postage than what we otherwise would have (i.e. I can wear a higher shipping charge if it's going to the US first then back to AU, but if it's coming direct to AU I would expect the shipping rates would be closer to our actual rates, but then again AusPost has gone to a different charging model - with flat rates up to 3kg (6.6lb) as long as they fit within given dimensions  rather than absolute weight based charges)

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

18 hours ago, Great Khan Artist said:

I don't understand this. Every farmer has at least one in his yard and there are loads of places selling them. 

 

12 hours ago, ratsmitglied said:

also, it may not be so much there is global shortage of shipping containers, but that there is a shortage of containers in the right place, and in the hands of the right company - a company that has a couple of thousand containers already is unlikely to buy more just because they're stuck on the docks in England and are needed in China, they'll make everyone wait until they can get their containers where they need them

A big portion of this is trade imbalance.  I remember reading an article about how empty shipping containers were piling up at US ports because the imports from China were magnitudes greater than US exports.  It's not really cost effective to ship empty container back to China so they keep building up.  This is one of the reasons while there are so many places selling containers.  This was years ago, so I'm pretty sure that it has just gotten worse.  

 

Me, I'll get my shipment when it comes.  While I'm excited for the minis, it's not like I don't have enough to paint already.  If it shows up in April, great!  If not, no biggie.  I know Reaper will get it done.

[haldir]

46 minutes ago, Dilvish the Deliverer said:

While I'm excited for the minis, it's not like I don't have enough to paint already.  

 

This is how I felt when my FLGS told me the new Transformers Wave (2) would be available to ship to the store from his distributors in Feb (yah, that one I really don't understand, but I want to support my store with these purchases).

 

Anymore, I'm just getting minis for my adventures, so I think I'm good whenever the minis show up at my door as well. Awesome stuff, but today's world & things, I know things are bound to happen.

[Tordelback]

On 1/24/2021 at 7:33 AM, Cicciopiu said:

I don't get why everyone is concerned about receiving goods from UK. They reached an agreement about it.

Extract from the UK-EU Trade agreement:

Am I missing something? 

 

What you're missing is how it's working (or rather not working) in practice.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55734277

VAT is being misapplied twice, levied on top of handling fees relating to customs declarations, larger courier firms are refusing to ship in and out of the UK due to extraordinary delays etc.  No doubt it'll settle down into unpleasant routine, but for now it's chaos that no-one wants to get involved with.