For US Pen buyers: article on de minimis’ end and tariffs

[Dan Carmell]

This article from The Verge appears to be a concise explanation of the effect of removing the de minimis exemption and the impact of tariffs on these goods:

 

https://www.theverge.com/news/642601/donald-trump-tariffs-de-minimis-shein-temu

[drakolord]

2 hours ago, Dan Carmell said:

This article from The Verge appears to be a concise explanation of the effect of removing the de minimis exemption and the impact of tariffs on these goods:

 

https://www.theverge.com/news/642601/donald-trump-tariffs-de-minimis-shein-temu

Great guess this means all Chinese pens will be the 60 plus range. Making majohn, jinhao, and the like premium price pens.

[mke]

Not all the article is well-informed. Example:

"it’s not immediately clear how they would catch illicit drugs coming in if they aren’t opening up packages"

 

There are methods using an air investigation to detect explosives and drugs. I remember that my laptop was once investigated like this. They put it into a box and flushed air through it. 

 

In addition: they could create a database of who gets what from whom and cross-checking this with existing databases of drug offenders.

Your dystopian future where everything about you and your buying is known.

 

15 hours ago, drakolord said:

all Chinese pens will be the 60 plus range

Not necessarily.

Aliexpress could build a warehouse in the US. Sellers could send a larger batch to the US, pay the tariffs and then send it to you from there. It will then certainly be more expensive for you but you would not have to pay the basic package fee. Sellers could join together and send a batch of 10000 Jinhao pens to the US and sell them separately from their accounts there.

I guess we will see a number of methods to game the system.

 

[drakolord]

I guess. All I know is besides the new clear 139 from majohn as said by SKD. I have all the Chinese fountain pens I wanted. So now I need to build my American and European pens. 

[mke]

1 hour ago, drakolord said:

European pens

European pens: 20% 

Japanese pens: 25%

 

[I-am-not-really-here]

..."it’s not immediately clear how they would catch illicit drugs coming in if they aren’t opening up packages."

 

Guess that author doesn't own a dog.

[Paul-in-SF]

2 hours ago, drakolord said:

So now I need to build my American and European pens. 

 

American pens? There is a wide assortment of small-scale makers out there, and it's great for anyone who is going to support them with more business. Anyone bigger than, say, Franklin-Christoph? I'm drawing a blank (which is not conclusive, at my age I draw a lot of blanks). 

[dms525]

Re. "American Pen Makers:" A great proportion of their raw materials come from countries subject to increased tariffs. German and Japanese Ebonite. German nibs. Chemicals from which resins are made. Not to mention naturally shed moose antlers from Canada!

 

And what will be the impact on the attendance of pen show vendors from abroad?

 

David

[drakolord]

7 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

 

American pens? There is a wide assortment of small-scale makers out there, and it's great for anyone who is going to support them with more business. Anyone bigger than, say, Franklin-Christoph? I'm drawing a blank (which is not conclusive, at my age I draw a lot of blanks). 

It is mainly vintage stuff for American pens.

[Shanghai Knife Dude]

14 hours ago, drakolord said:

I guess. All I know is besides the new clear 139 from majohn as said by SKD. I have all the Chinese fountain pens I wanted. So now I need to build my American and European pens. 

Demostrator mj p139, demostrator jl 630. It's consumerism, never say there had been enough. 

 

After demostrator, there will be colur combo, seasonal limited, N America special edition, star stripes edition, baystates edition, Taxes only, Junlai 2028 edition, barrel imprinted.... 

[drakolord]

33 minutes ago, Shanghai Knife Dude said:

Demostrator mj p139, demostrator jl 630. It's consumerism, never say there had been enough. 

 

After demostrator, there will be colur combo, seasonal limited, N America special edition, star stripes edition, baystates edition, Taxes only, Junlai 2028 edition, barrel imprinted.... 

Wow wonder if it will be an eye searing noodler's BSB ink infused resin. 

[jthole]

We (in the EU) have lived with added taxes on non-EU imports on any goods already since 2021 (it used to be only for goods over €22).

 

As a response, e-Commerce marketplaces like AliExpress and Amazon have made it extremely easy for consumers to pay the tax, without any additional fees (as used to be the case in the past, when that was handled by the courier).

 

And Alibaba has started building warehouses in the EU, which also means you can filter on products being shipped from a EU warehouse if you still don't want to bother with imports.

 

I guess they will adapt to the new USA reality as well. It will be hardest for the small retailers, not for the giants.