Very much feel for the issues you are having @sundancer, and I think it’s useful to raise the topic and as you state it’s a great shame and equally worrying

The global shipping container issues don’t directly apply to the issue Sundancer has raised which is UK-EU sales, that being UK-based miniature companies which for the majority actually produce goods in the UK, although for those of your world wide I do feel for you with the increased shipping costs. In sundancers case these are shipped from the UK to Europe, almost all of this is transported via HGV either via courier or postal services via ferry to France/Germany/Holland, or maybe airmail if you’re lucky, theres been some increase in raw postage costs due to demand but the majority of cost has come from additional paperwork and the handling fees charged by the couriers and brokers who have to deal with it.

This issue is certainly related to the clusterf*** that is shipping between the UK and EU under Brexit, I don’t want to get into a political rant, but if you don’t think it is you are in denial (or your in NI with Gerr and having a good time carrying on almost as normal).

What worries me is this is going to start hurting businesses in our hobby and ones in the UK much more than in the EU, sales are going to start decreasing exactly for the reasons stated, getting hammered by a confusing VAT system on top of handling fees and taking a gamble every time you purchase something as to what the final cost will be on top of it costing more isn’t friendly to consumers.

Unfortunately, this probably isn’t going to improve much, certainly in the short term, just look at Footsores issue with the EU orders for Barrons war Kickstarter where the shipping company just hasn’t set up the right systems even now and even then I suspect if the VAT is handled your still playing handling fee lottery.

There is some hope, large companies can get the systems in place to make this transparent to some extent, I still buy some things from the EU and have generally had everything handled if its a large operator, equally I used to buy a lot of German made tools, and I’ve seen prices for those increase 25% or more, even from UK stores. Opening EU warehouses is another option, but again unrealistic unless your G’Wulla in our hobby. Unfortunately, a lot of our hobbies companies are small and don’t have the time to invest into working out these details or have the profit margins to handle some of this cost or the volumes large couriers care about.