This was bound to happen...gray market VF's?

[Chronocidal]

I'm currently waiting on a pair from ShowZ, and watching the tracking information.  I'll probably eat the cost if there is any, but will definitely report it here once I find out the details.

[WhatBoutMyStar]

1 hour ago, jenius said:

Did anyone ship to the US from ShowZ? Are we being hit with crazy tariffs?

You shouldn't be paying any additional tariffs if purchased from ShowZ (or their sister store Gundamit). The tariffs are incorporated in their new shipping fees to the US, when it used to be free shipping. ShowZ has worked out an arrangement with the delivery provider where they will use the tariff % rate rather than the flat fee, and ShowZ is paying that in advance on behalf of the buyer. The costs of that are passed along in the new shipping fee (ShowZ may also be eating some portion of this, but I'm not sure). These costs are way lower than you would think because ShowZ (like many Chinese stores have regularly done for a very long time) is under-declaring the heck out of the items, like $10 or $20 for a $200 figure.

If for some reason there are add'l tariff charges, ShowZ has said that they will take care of it for the buyer. So there should be nothing the buyer should have to pay after the item has been purchased and shipped. ShowZ/Gundamit is essentially banking on Customs not having the time, desire, or resources to open up every package and to look them up to see what they're really worth and find out they are significantly under-declared or otherwise misreported. FWIW, many of the shops in Japan like AmiAmi, Hobby Genki, etc. are also listing everything they send as Japan as the country of origin even if they are made in China. Because the de minimis exemption is still available (at least for now) for Japan, this means packages under $800 coming in from those shops don't get hit with any tariffs.

Edited 3 hours ago by WhatBoutMyStar