EXO-6 Star Trek "General Discussion" 1/6 Line

[Sabin94]

Regarding the Trump Tax on goods produced in China, i just want to point out that importers pay a tariff based on the cost price of the item, not the full retail price.

So to me, it sounds like EXO-6 prices shouldn't be going up by 10% due to the Trump Tax. Hopefully, it's more like 5%. But maybe it will be 7-8%.

i don't imagine that this will alter the collecting habits of many people on this board, but i could see it affecting some other EXO-6 purchasers.

 

[TheClient]

Nanjin has mentioned on Facebook that he has been working on ways to avoid passing increased costs to the buyers. Say what you will about his other issues, but he is certainly not in this business for the money.

Tariffs may not be designed to raise prices on the consumer, but all it takes is one company along the supply chain of material goods to jack it up and then everyone else in the chain has to do the same to keep up. Some companies truly hate to raise prices, but then you have the big ones that have cornered their market that LOVE raising prices and look for any and every excuse to do so. In the end, the bill comes to us.

 

[DParga21]

That was not political talk. We were discussing potential financial impact of the figures we want to purchase given current economic conditions in a General Discussion Figure Thread. It was all relevant to the figures and our interaction with China based EXO-6. We really need to revisit the definition of what is reasonable to be covered in this Forum. I would think our experience as customers would be reasonable and valid.
@SwedishHeat

I didn't see the posts, but I'd have to agree that regardless of political leanings, these tariffs WILL affect every one of us as collectors.
And I really don't see the manufacturing of our toys moving here any time soon.

 

[Raven]

Nanjin has mentioned on Facebook that he has been working on ways to avoid passing increased costs to the buyers. Say what you will about his other issues, but he is certainly not in this business for the money.

Tariffs may not be designed to raise prices on the consumer, but all it takes is one company along the supply chain of material goods to jack it up and then everyone else in the chain has to do the same to keep up. Some companies truly hate to raise prices, but then you have the big ones that have cornered their market that LOVE raising prices and look for any and every excuse to do so. In the end, the bill comes to us.

Yeah it might be ok if a penalty was assigned for abuse to discourage that. But policing that, any ethical dilemmas aside, might be difficult enough not to be worth the effort.

 

[afrog]

QuiGonFishing had a perfect response to all of this sky-is-falling tariff stuff. I wish I had copied it.

 

[borgified]

I didn’t want to comment on what I’ve been reading on various hobby forums, but I’m not liking these included price hikes on top of the existing original MRSP and whatever Mr. President decides to slap on.

There’s been multiple reports about the impact globally about the tariffs and business that depend on the shipment and trading of goods going worldwide and that putting more strain on the business chain is going to make things worse. I’m reading that in various mixed hobby forums, various collectors are planning to go cold turkey or slowly cut off collection altogether due to what’s been happening.

Getting potentially new stuff for the mixed hobby that I have now is not getting the enjoyment that I used to have in the past and it’s turning me off even more.

 

[afrog]

I didn’t want to comment on what I’ve been reading on various hobby forums, but I’m not liking these included price hikes on top of the existing original MRSP and whatever Mr. President decides to slap on.

There’s been multiple reports about the impact globally about the tariffs and business that depend on the shipment and trading of goods going worldwide and that putting more strain on the business chain is going to make things worse. I’m reading that in various mixed hobby forums, various collectors are planning to go cold turkey or slowly cut off collection altogether due to what’s been happening.

Getting potentially new stuff for the mixed hobby that I have now is not getting the enjoyment that I used to have in the past and it’s turning me off even more.

Well, the media likes to cry that the sky is falling, so the word spreads. Either way, I personally collect for a very limited niche so I'm good, especially considering the bigger, long term benefits of the tariffs (of which we are not allowed to talk about). I may have already gone too far.

 

[histrionics]

Nanjin has mentioned on Facebook that he has been working on ways to avoid passing increased costs to the buyers. Say what you will about his other issues, but he is certainly not in this business for the money.

Tariffs may not be designed to raise prices on the consumer, but all it takes is one company along the supply chain of material goods to jack it up and then everyone else in the chain has to do the same to keep up. Some companies truly hate to raise prices, but then you have the big ones that have cornered their market that LOVE raising prices and look for any and every excuse to do so. In the end, the bill comes to us.

Even small increases can have catastrophic ripple effects that adversely affect a small company. These are niche collectibles with a small market and little flexibility. There isn't a lot of money to be made in this industry and levying price increases on the end buyer isn't a solution - it drives the buyer away at some point - so the maker has to somehow eat these new costs and continue to produce. If they can't, they fold. Buyers will be affected by tariffs in many other area of their lives, so recreation and collectibles are an easy vulnerable sacrifice in that new reality.

It's important to reflect and remember that many of the companies that are around today weathered the unprecedented storm of the pandemic, some like EXO-6 built themselves up during that pandemic, while others died off somewhere in that abyss. I don't know if any recent startup could sensibly survive another trade/tariff/cost-hike storm. No, I think this one is going to be different and will result in something much more severe - i.e. it feels like a lot of competitiveness will be weeded out leaving profiteering to a consolidated small number. This isn't a stimulus kind of move, it's an aggressive antagonistic and vengeful approach that is done to create intentional destabilization. This trade war is Palpatine level crap and next they'll be coming for the younglings.

 

[afrog]

This isn't a stimulus kind of move, it's an aggressive antagonistic and vengeful approach that is done to create intentional destabilization. This trade war is Palpatine level crap and next they'll be coming for the younglings.

Of course it isn't. Let's not devolve to histrionics. There is nothing aggressively antagonistic and vengeful about leveling the playing field so that the USA doesn't continue to get trade-shafted like it has for so many years. It is the best and only logical long term solution. Apologies for the dirty political talk.

 

[Pauln6a]

Of course it isn't. Let's not devolve to histrionics. There is nothing aggressively antagonistic and vengeful about leveling the playing field so that the USA doesn't continue to get trade-shafted like it has for so many years. It is the best and only logical long term solution. Apologies for the dirty political talk.

"Having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting."​

 

[davejames]

Of course it isn't. Let's not devolve to histrionics. There is nothing aggressively antagonistic and vengeful about leveling the playing field so that the USA doesn't continue to get trade-shafted like it has for so many years. It is the best and only logical long term solution. Apologies for the dirty political talk.

Except that we're not being shafted. The US is the richest and biggest consumer in the world so it's only natural that we'd be importing far more stuff than we export. And it's a sign of a healthy economy that we can afford to buy so much stuff, and don't need to export so many of our own natural resources, as any economist will tell you. Punishing other countries because they don't have our same crazy spending habits is just silly.

 

[afrog]

"Having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting."​

Oh, that's goood, yes, very good analysis! Let's not have all nations with equal opportunities and the same access and privileges in trade. That would not be so pleasing a thing. But it's ok to want it.

 

[Pauln6a]

Oh, that's goood, yes, very good analysis! Let's not have all nations with equal opportunities and the same access and privileges in trade. That would not be so pleasing a thing. But it's ok to want it.

It's not universally applicable. Logic is only the beginning of wisdom and only a Sith deals in absolutes, meesa thinks.

In other news, FaceFusion 3 is a LOT of fun. I'm playing around with some additional dialogue for TMP to include a bargain basement version of the Memory Wall with Kirk and Rand in place of Kirk and Spock.

 

[afrog]

Logic is only the beginning of wisdom and only a Sith deals in absolutes, meesa thinks.