RedDevil
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Post by RedDevil on Sept 23, 2022 5:44:49 GMT -5
So Amazon.com has long added VAT to UK orders (since Brexit at least) like Mattel Creations is now claiming to be doing. In light of that, I've gone to look for a similarly-priced set of action figures on Amazon US to have a look at what they are adding for taxes on orders destined for the UK. There might be more exact figures on there somewhere, but I found this set of six Marvel actions figures for a little bit more than the Retros second bundle is listed on Creations in USD: www.amazon.com/Marvel-Best-Role-Play-Bundle/dp/B08TQB3CDZ/ref=sr_1_2?crid=F4MFRRSSN589&keywords=Marvel+Titan+Hero+Series+Action+Figure+Multipack%2C+6+Action+Figures%2C+12-Inch+Toys%2C+Inspired+Comics%2C+for+Kids+Ages+4+and+Up&qid=1663927833&sprefixRetros at $55 vs. $57.90 for Marvel Close enough for the sake of comparison, but even though it's a small difference, the Retros should be cheaper overall due to them being $2.90 cheaper per item. Now Amazon allows you to chose if you want to pay in USD or GBP (which Creations does not as far as I can see - it forces you do GBP only if you are shipping to the UK) - you should always choose to pay in the currency local to the seller if given the choice, ideally with a credit card that does not charge a currency exchange fee (there are several available in the UK). So I select USD, and get a breakdown of the cost: Items: USD 57.90 Shipping & handling: USD 14.96 Total before VAT: USD 72.86 Estimated VAT: USD 14.57 Order total: USD 87.43 So they are adding $14.57 for VAT. That means that the price without shipping is $72.47 (item + VAT) - at today's true (terrible) exchange rate that is £65.16. The shipping charge is the same as Mattel Creations charged me for two sets of Retros on August 31st ($14.95 vs. $14.96 in the Amazon example) so lets discount that from the example. So in summary: Retros bundle 2 - ordered through the GBP website destined for the UK: Item price with VAT: £76.00 Into USD at current exchange rates: $84.49 Amazon Marvel set - ordered through the USD check-out destined for the UK: Item price with VAT: $72.47 Into GBP at current exchange rates: £65.16 So before shipping in GBP it is: £76.00 vs. £65.16 Same again converted into USD: $84.49 vs. $72.47 Remember that the Amazon set is actually listed as $2.90 more expensive than the Retros from the start, yet it is the Amazon set that ends-up being cheaper by $12.02, or £10.84. Even if you switch to the GBP check-out on Amazon for the Marvel set (which as I said you shouldn't do, better to let the credit card company convert currency than the retailer) you get a GBP price of £65.79 excluding shipping. So checking-out in GBP excluding shipping: Marvel: £65.79 vs. Retros: £76.00 And that includes Amazon charging an 'Exchange rate guarantee fee' of £1.83 (again: always choose USD if possible). So even going through GBP check-outs then it's £10.21 more expensive buying a cheaper item on Mattel Creations than Amazon. If anyone spots any mistakes in my working or my thinking then please let me know - otherwise I see no other conclusion here than Mattel Creations are either profiteering massively here or have messed-up spectacularly, even in comparison to Amazon who are no angels themselves. |
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ajay182
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Post by ajay182 on Sept 23, 2022 7:50:09 GMT -5
Sure, but the issue is they're overcharging by quite a significant amount. For the retros, as an example, the customs fee would be around £12 but they're charging almost double that. There wouldn't have been a customs charge for the UK as the price was below the threshold of £125. I should clarify - when I say customs charge, I mean VAT. You're right in terms of the additional customs charge on top of that, which as you say, wouldn't apply here. |
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originalniceguy
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Post by originalniceguy on Sept 23, 2022 9:01:52 GMT -5
There wouldn't have been a customs charge for the UK as the price was below the threshold of £125. I should clarify - when I say customs charge, I mean VAT. You're right in terms of the additional customs charge on top of that, which as you say, wouldn't apply here. We don't talk about that one 🤫😂 |
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peterjp2
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WF 10+ Year Member
24 ref's and counting, 944 on eBay
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Post by peterjp2 on Sept 23, 2022 10:46:38 GMT -5
Wow, same here in Canada...I guess no more ordering from there. If collecting wasn't already difficult for us, there goes my excitement for the next crowd funding project. Hopefully Mattel fixes this. |
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Post by muuk76 on Sept 23, 2022 12:10:06 GMT -5
The whole shaft, the shaft and a bit more of the shaft I think.
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kinnikuman
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Post by kinnikuman on Sept 23, 2022 12:12:58 GMT -5
Americans be all like ... wut ... to this thread.
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WWE453456
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Post by WWE453456 on Sept 23, 2022 13:06:56 GMT -5
The prices are far too high and, above all, extremely unfair because each country has different customs regulations. What a load of crap. The idea is OK, but then they should display the customs costs separately. We now have to pay so much more for no reason. Bullsh*t.
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Warriah'
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Post by Warriah' on Sept 23, 2022 13:23:11 GMT -5
Both my sets of wave 2 retros arrived today and there were no customs charges. So this is gonna be horrendous for lower value items particularly.
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Post by newgenandy on Sept 23, 2022 13:41:19 GMT -5
So to summarise so I have this right
Some Mattel creations (depending on value) orders had customs charges
Mattel have now estimated and added those onto all orders to help prevent charges (but this means lower orders which wouldn’t get a customs charge anyway will now be charged more)?
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robin3103
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Post by robin3103 on Sept 23, 2022 13:46:46 GMT -5
So to summarise so I have this right Some Mattel creations (depending on value) orders had customs charges Mattel have now estimated and added those onto all orders to help prevent charges (but this means lower orders which wouldn’t get a customs charge anyway will now be charged more)? Not only that, the thing is, they charge way too much. A €33 figure is now 50€. In my country you would pay 6€ tax for a €33 figure, but Mattel wants €17 from me lol. I just saw the New Gen set for a short time, I know it's sold out but the prices was updated anyway, even for sold out sets. It said €380 😅 So for a €250 item I would pay around €60 tax in my country, with Mattel I have to pay €130 tax. What the hell? If Mattel doesn't get this under control, then the next crowdfundef project will fail lol. I won't back again 30 sets 👋🏻 Don't get me wrong, Im fine with paying taxes, but sorry, in this example with the New Gen set, I would pay €70 more for nothing. No thank you Mattel. You have to pay almost 40-50% more for NO REASON. |
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Post by ztj_wwf on Sept 23, 2022 17:22:08 GMT -5
Wow, same here in Canada...I guess no more ordering from there. If collecting wasn't already difficult for us, there goes my excitement for the next crowd funding project. Hopefully Mattel fixes this. And I don't understand why...There were no duties for anyone here. Mattel must have underestimated the cost of shipping and are now transferring it to the price of products. |
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pickle
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Post by pickle on Sept 23, 2022 23:51:19 GMT -5
If collecting wasn't already difficult for us, there goes my excitement for the next crowd funding project. Hopefully Mattel fixes this. And I don't understand why...There were no duties for anyone here. Mattel must have underestimated the cost of shipping and are now transferring it to the price of products. Pretty sure the only reason Canadian customers didn't have duties was because mattel shipped the stuff to their headquarters in Canada before shipping them to individuals from there, so they had to pay all the customs to bring em in. Now I guess they're passing on those costs to us, and then some. |
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RedDevil
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Post by RedDevil on Sept 24, 2022 6:25:23 GMT -5
Does anyone still use US mail forwarding services? I'm thinking what they are charging now, specifically to the UK, but to Europe in general will do.
With Creations adding so much more to this than they should then it'd be interesting to see how the numbers work-out.
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RedDevil
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Post by RedDevil on Sept 26, 2022 6:12:58 GMT -5
The price of the Retros is now up to £79.00.
I first saw it at £75.00 the evening that I think the change was made before going to £76 the next day, and now this - so the website clearly has some live link to the exchange rate since obviously the £ has been sabotaged by the government the last few days.
Be interesting to see how quickly it reacts in the other direction if things recover eventually.
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Bramahummel
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Feel the BANG
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Post by Bramahummel on Sept 26, 2022 6:37:53 GMT -5
Jop, Ultimate Arena went from 380€ to 390€.
Good luck with your next crowdfunding Mattel 🙄
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Post by PJ on Sept 26, 2022 7:19:07 GMT -5
I am just going to say this as far as the shipping and customs fees go Mattel has no control on that. They go by the rates the carrier sets. And custom fees are set by the receiver’s county.
As for the cost of Retro everything is going up. I mentioned this in the Marvel Legends thread. This past weekend I purchased a ML Spider-Man from Target. And the price of a ML went from $21.66 last month to $29 and change this past weekend which I said now I will be much more picky in which ones I still buy. AEW figures at Walmart went from $21 up to $26. And it’s not just toys. Groceries are on the rise as well. A 6-pack of Evian water was $10 at Shop-Rite a month or so ago now it $16.
Thankfully with Mattel’s WWE figures I haven’t seen a price hike for mass retail items, but for these limited run items like the retros Mattel has always said lower production runs cost more to make so I can see their production run cost going up.
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RedDevil
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Post by RedDevil on Sept 26, 2022 7:35:08 GMT -5
I am just going to say this as far as the shipping and customs fees go Mattel has no control on that. They go by the rates the carrier sets. And custom fees are set by the receiver’s county. As for the cost of Retro everything is going up. I mentioned this in the Marvel Legends thread. This past weekend I purchased a ML Spider-Man from Target. And the price of a ML went from $21.66 last month to $29 and change this past weekend which I said now I will be much more picky in which ones I still buy. AEW figures at Walmart went from $21 up to $26. And it’s not just toys. Groceries are on the rise as well. A 6-pack of Evian water was $10 at Shop-Rite a month or so ago now it $16. Thankfully with Mattel’s WWE figures I haven’t seen a price hike for mass retail items, but for these limited run items like the retros Mattel has always said lower production runs cost more to make so I can see their production run cost going up. Very true that Mattel Creations haven't got control over customs rates (or VAT rates in the case of the UK), shipping or exchange rates (which the UK is being particularly hammered by due to our continuing stupidity). But the issue is that Mattel are adding A LOT more than just customs and VAT to the price. See my (admittedly far too long) post at the top of the page comparing the price of the Retros bundle from Mattel Creations to the Marvel set sold by Amazon.com - both sites are in the same position regarding customs, VAT, shipping, etc. to the UK, yet the more expensive Amazon product works-out far cheaper than the Mattel Creations offering. It is that price difference we need an answer to. |
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Post by PJ on Sept 26, 2022 7:51:53 GMT -5
I am just going to say this as far as the shipping and customs fees go Mattel has no control on that. They go by the rates the carrier sets. And custom fees are set by the receiver’s county. As for the cost of Retro everything is going up. I mentioned this in the Marvel Legends thread. This past weekend I purchased a ML Spider-Man from Target. And the price of a ML went from $21.66 last month to $29 and change this past weekend which I said now I will be much more picky in which ones I still buy. AEW figures at Walmart went from $21 up to $26. And it’s not just toys. Groceries are on the rise as well. A 6-pack of Evian water was $10 at Shop-Rite a month or so ago now it $16. Thankfully with Mattel’s WWE figures I haven’t seen a price hike for mass retail items, but for these limited run items like the retros Mattel has always said lower production runs cost more to make so I can see their production run cost going up. Very true that Mattel Creations haven't got control over customs rates (or VAT rates in the case of the UK), shipping or exchange rates (which the UK is being particularly hammered by due to our continuing stupidity). But the issue is that Mattel are adding A LOT more than just customs and VAT to the price. See my (admittedly far too long) post at the top of the page comparing the price of the Retros bundle from Mattel Creations to the Marvel set sold by Amazon.com - both sites are in the same position regarding customs, VAT, shipping, etc. to the UK, yet the more expensive Amazon product works-out far cheaper than the Mattel Creations offering. It is that price difference we need an answer to. But all companies don’t get the same deal on rates. I worked for UPS for years and would deliver/pickup I’m malls and many times it seems the stores would compare their shipping rate and ask me why certain stores were paying less then them. I would tell them I didn’t know and to contact their agent. But one time when I got back to my hub I asked the agent why and was told many factors come into play as to why certain stores had better rates than others. The main thing being the volume the business does worldwide. And while Mattel is a global company with multiple facilities to pick up from Amazon is probably a bigger global company because they get volume from all companies. Meaning they ship all types of product from every manufacturer. So Amazon probably has a better deal on shipping/receiving rates than Mattel because of the amount of volume they generate on a daily basis. So Mattel’s costs would probably be higher. To see if Mattel is padding their costs you would need to compare it with a similar weighted item from Hasbro Pulse. That would give you a better idea. As in theory Mattel Creations and Hasbro Pulse would probably have closer to the same rates from the carriers. Not saying they do for sure, but in theory they should as it’s a similar sized operation. |
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kutzheels
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Joined on: Jul 6, 2018 8:39:12 GMT -5
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Post by kutzheels on Sept 26, 2022 8:51:21 GMT -5
I am just going to say this as far as the shipping and customs fees go Mattel has no control on that. They go by the rates the carrier sets. And custom fees are set by the receiver’s county. As for the cost of Retro everything is going up. I mentioned this in the Marvel Legends thread. This past weekend I purchased a ML Spider-Man from Target. And the price of a ML went from $21.66 last month to $29 and change this past weekend which I said now I will be much more picky in which ones I still buy. AEW figures at Walmart went from $21 up to $26. And it’s not just toys. Groceries are on the rise as well. A 6-pack of Evian water was $10 at Shop-Rite a month or so ago now it $16. Thankfully with Mattel’s WWE figures I haven’t seen a price hike for mass retail items, but for these limited run items like the retros Mattel has always said lower production runs cost more to make so I can see their production run cost going up. Very true that Mattel Creations haven't got control over customs rates (or VAT rates in the case of the UK), shipping or exchange rates (which the UK is being particularly hammered by due to our continuing stupidity). But the issue is that Mattel are adding A LOT more than just customs and VAT to the price. See my (admittedly far too long) post at the top of the page comparing the price of the Retros bundle from Mattel Creations to the Marvel set sold by Amazon.com - both sites are in the same position regarding customs, VAT, shipping, etc. to the UK, yet the more expensive Amazon product works-out far cheaper than the Mattel Creations offering. It is that price difference we need an answer to. Man I feel for you and everyone in this situation. I’m seeing the same complaints on other toy forums. Since I’m US based, I trust Europeans know a lot more about custom/VAT charges than I do and not going to defend or make excuses Mattel. |
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originalniceguy
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Post by originalniceguy on Sept 26, 2022 9:00:48 GMT -5
Very true that Mattel Creations haven't got control over customs rates (or VAT rates in the case of the UK), shipping or exchange rates (which the UK is being particularly hammered by due to our continuing stupidity). But the issue is that Mattel are adding A LOT more than just customs and VAT to the price. See my (admittedly far too long) post at the top of the page comparing the price of the Retros bundle from Mattel Creations to the Marvel set sold by Amazon.com - both sites are in the same position regarding customs, VAT, shipping, etc. to the UK, yet the more expensive Amazon product works-out far cheaper than the Mattel Creations offering. It is that price difference we need an answer to. But all companies don’t get the same deal on rates. I worked for UPS for years and would deliver/pickup I’m malls and many times it seems the stores would compare their shipping rate and ask me why certain stores were paying less then them. I would tell them I didn’t know and to contact their agent. But one time when I got back to my hub I asked the agent why and was told many factors come into play as to why certain stores had better rates than others. The main thing being the volume the business does worldwide. And while Mattel is a global company with multiple facilities to pick up from Amazon is probably a bigger global company because they get volume from all companies. Meaning they ship all types of product from every manufacturer. So Amazon probably has a better deal on shipping/receiving rates than Mattel because of the amount of volume they generate on a daily basis. So Mattel’s costs would probably be higher. To see if Mattel is padding their costs you would need to compare it with a similar weighted item from Hasbro Pulse. That would give you a better idea. As in theory Mattel Creations and Hasbro Pulse would probably have closer to the same rates from the carriers. Not saying they do for sure, but in theory they should as it’s a similar sized operation. Hey bud, I think you're missing the point. Mattel Creations offers a flat fee for shipping to the UK so that's not an issue. The issue is the direct conversion of price for a US buyer compared to a UK buyer (not including shipping costs). Mattel Creations say there prices are now inclusive of taxes and duty. Our issue is the new price actually includes a hefty loading on top of the taxes and duty, which is completely separate from the shipping cost. |
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