Minichamps has announced that all shipments to the United States are on hold until further notice. The pause stems from ongoing U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty carriers currently face – DHL, in this case – regarding how to properly handle these regulations. As a result, no deliveries will be made to the U.S. for the time being. Unfortunately, collectors eager to secure a “must-have” piece from Minichamps’ lineup may need to brace for higher costs once shipping resumes.
Minichamps Not Shipping States Side…
CK-Modelcars website is now charges per 1:18 model to ship, instead of the bulk rate of 49 Euros per package to USA. I believe the rate is 27 euros per model.
Honestly, when it comes to North America, CK is only worth considering if they’re offering a truly rare model or something that’s impossible to find locally. Otherwise, their pricing in euros combined with the steep shipping costs makes it a non-go. Even items listed with significant discounts still end up being impractical once you factor in the total expense.
Really? I find their prices much cheaper than in USA on identical models, especially when you get their 10% discount and 19% VAT off.
Well, I live in Canada, and fortunately, prices here are consistently better than those in the U.S., even with our weaker currency. I also have access to some excellent small sellers who always offer great deals. Because of that, CK ranks very low on my list.
I agree with both Ed and Alex! I’ve scored some truly great items from CK Modelcars. Once the vat is removed, and the high DHL shipping cost added, SOMETIMES the overall price is still lower than purchasing locally…IF the item is even available regionally at the time of purchase. Budget shopping in any hobbies is a gamble. You can purchase a unique item when it first comes available, or wait for it to MAYBE become available locally for a lower price overall. I’ve gambled on the former with great success, collecting things I really value and never see become available locally ever. I’ve gambled and failed too, passing on an international purchase and never seeing the item be sold regionally or for a reasonable price in the second hand market.
I ´m afraid, Americans get what they voted for. And tariffs on model cars is not the worst part of it. Their elected leader seems convinced that he has a mandate to erect a dictatorship. If America (and the world) is lucky, the freak show ends in 2029. If not, God have mercy on America and us all.
Umm, let’s not make it political, and while I’m not a big supporter of a lot of things our current leadership is doing, tariffs is one thing I support. Let’s see what all these model makes will say in a couple of years when they don’t have half of the market to sell these models (or, insert the product you want) to. USA is the largest consumer of, pretty much everything, and Europe/China, etc are only shooting themselves in the foot.
Well, I can’t see our models being manufactured or assembled ( including decals applied, tampon print and all) in either Europe or America at what the labour costs would have to be. Just take into account how many pieces of each model are made. 2000? Divide that into demand for each market and you’ll know for how many pieces you’d need a factory in that country. Repetetively setting up the same manufacturing facilities to make the number of models bought in each market separately, wouldn’t be feasable as demand in each market is not high enough, if seen separately.
Just take the upcoming BBR Ferrari F80. How many will be made? How many of these will be bought in Asia, Europe, UK, US, Canada. Pricing is now at some 500 € under present conditions. If BBR had to set up the same manufacturing facilities in each of these areas to only satisfy demand there, it would not lower prices, even with tariffs avoided, but triple them. So more likely, trade barriers would mean that the model becomes unavailable from within the respective markets and the few collectors wanting it (and able to afford it) would have to buy from abroad individually, killing local retail.
So this could ( if it doen’t already) result in the hobby becoming more exclusive, with collectors from countries behind trade barriers increasingly not being able to afford the hobby, while no such product is or will ever be manufactured in their market.
I cannot find that attractive at all.
I think you totally missing the point of tariffs. Economy is not about model cars or anything insignificant as such.
… and yet model cars are affected by the tariffs. And being so insignificant as a life necessity, they are bound to become more unattainable or even unavailable there.
Question remains whether you welcome the effect.
„USA is the biggest consummer of pretty much everything“
Well, that´s simply not true. Let´s take BMW (the real cars including BMW, Mini, Rolls Royce) as an example. Latest sales reports say that this year half a million were sold in Europe, 320.000 in China and just under 200.000 in the US, despite BMW absorbing tariffs and keeping prices stable.
VW have delivered almost 2 million cars in Europe in the first half of 2025, 1.5 million in Asia and under 500.000 in North America (including Canada).
Europe is not a country. Neither is Asia.
… but with its open borders and a common market the EU is the relevant entity saleswise, just as if the separate countries were merely federal states like in the US.
Hier geht es um Modellautos. Ich bitte auf den unreflektiertes Bashing eines ausländischen Staatschef aus der Mottenkiste des deutschen ÖRR zu verzichten. Danke.
As far as I understand, my fellow German friend and AfD voter, the above article is about the consequences of U.S. politics ON model cars, not one of our reviews focusing on a particular model, the kind of which YOU have never contributed.
Und unreflektiertes Bashing ausländischer Staatschefs stammt ja nun eher aus der Mottenkiste eben jener US-Staatschefs. Oval Office? Selensky? Germany allegedly having a human rights problem? Canada ´s PM the govenor of a future US state?
And finally, this is an English website, so if you could muster the decency to write in English, please.
Welcome to my world of post-Brexit UK!
I can only buy from European suppliers at sensible shipping prices by having models delivered to family members residing in Europe, then collecting the models when I go on a visit, or when they come to visit us – if they have room to bring them!
Avoiding politicising my thoughts too much, I’d say that the European suppliers just don’t know where they stand as the elected leader keeps changing his “mind” on tariff rates, and those businesses struggle to keep up.
Just how tariffs are supposed to help anybody is beyond my understanding, they put up prices to consumers and reduce trade volume.. The great success of world trade under GATT was driven by the reduction / removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers. Because of Brexit, the UK has suffered a big reduction in trade with the EU and it has really hurt our economy. Just saying …
Very true and I was deeply saddened to watch it all unfold . But British Brexit voters needed quite some time to fully grasp what they had done, too.
The saddest thing is that it leaves all of us more divided where we ought to unite behind our shared values.
If offering my condolences for the effects on fellow collectors rubs some people the wrong way, the hobby fails to unite us in the way I was always hoping for.
Great sentiments and initial summary of the current state of things Karsten. Unfortunately I feel the global opinion is similar in that ALL Americans get what they voted for. It’s important to remember that not everyone did vote for this, and those in the U.S. that can see the situation clearly, as you see it, have to endure with the consequences. Contrary to what is being conveyed as to how tariffs work, for items imported to the U.S., the manufacturing or shipping country does not pay the tariff, it is the recipient or importer. So if an individual orders a model car from Germany, the delivery company (DHL) will contact the recipient once the item clears customs and before delivery to require payment of the tariff. And the tariff amount is not based on the shipping origin country, but on the model’s manufacturing country. So a model car that was made in China, but shipped from Germany, will require that the recipient in the U.S. pay the CURRENT tariff for an item made in China. What is happening with SOME U.S. retailers is that they are absorbing part of the tariff cost at the expense of some of their profit. And some distributors are doing the same for those retailers. After that, the remaining portion of the tariff shows up as an increased price to the consumer. So as you stated, it is hard to see how a tariff benefits anyone at all in the hobby.
Thanks for the detailed account on how it works. And in fact, model collectors could know best, not only since Trump entered stage. Of course we all started collecting by buying nationally, first in local shops, then online. But for the great majority there came a time when they started buying outside their trade union (the EU in my case) and thus learned how it all works and how tariffs affect us.
As Crustyoldtimer said, with the UK leaving the EU, this suddenly created market (and travel) barriers. And there, too, not every Briton wanted that. Remainers knew what consequences it would have, Brexiteers had to learn. Just ask all those fishermen for example. Or read the story behind the INEOS Grenadier, e.g. in my review of the model. It is not the rich who are most affected, they can surmount trade barriers and borders. It is us ordinary people … on both sides of the border. Or who of us collectors can say they benefit from the tariffs and applaud the Minichamps experience?
Tariffs are NOT imposed to benefit the consumer inside the country imposing the tariffs. Come on, Economics 101. Tariffs imposed as a reciprocity instrument, so the countries trading with USA lower THEIR tariffs on US goods to make them more competitive in those markets, thus benefiting businesses in US and stimulating overall economy. You think governments give a sh!t about model cars?
Trump, von der Leyen and Starmer really give, err, care very litlle about model cars as such. Firstly, they are not manufactured on either side of the pond. Secondly, as I wrote above, trade volume in model cars is minute. But thirdly, yet the hobby is as affected as the real steel ( or carbon fibre) and not exempted from tariffs. Which is why the above article was posted and this comments section exists.
Thanks to Dave B. for the very clear explanation of how the tariffs are applied for models imported into the USA.
Since the UK left the EU, there is a triple penalty if I buy a model from a supplier in Europe and have it shipped to me in England. The courier charges a fee of around £12 for completing shipping documentation (just simple admin), then there is a charge by Customs for its import into UK, then they charge VAT on everything: the original cost price, the documentation fee, and the import duty. So these delivery charges become prohibitive on buying models directly from EU suppliers.
There does seem to be a de minimus so that low cost items aren’t subject to these additional charges, but it is very hard to establish exactly what the upper limit is. I work on the assumption that it is somewhere in the region of 35 to 40 Euros. Maybe Karsten knows more about that?
EU suppliers now apply a minimum order charge for UK customers of upwards of 150 Euros (depending on which supplier you choose). At that point, I would actually be paying something nearer to 250 if I placed an order … so I don’t! I’m extremely lucky that I have family members living in Europe who will accept deliveries for me so I avoid the duty fees, and also only pay a lower price for the delivery too.
And yet I can order cheap toy cars online from China which are posted directly to me free and avoid duty as well – it makes no sense.
Well, when I buy from the UK, not even minimum free of charge exists. How I know? I modify models into UK police cars and source bespoke plastic number plates bearing the historic originals’ registration. Even for these I have to pay tariffs and VAT on the total of item price+ shipping + tariffs ( no handling fees, because if registered at DHL for it, you can go to customs office yourself to do it). I always joke with the officers that administrative costs surpass what they charge me for the plates.
From China it works differently. There the retailer has to pay all of that in advance. If it’s cheaper than via a distributor (and in fact, Minichamps is a prime example for that), it is because the Chinese retailer absorbs the tariffs. One retailer advertises ” One world, one price”, so we all pay the same final price, I guess, because they quite legally, simply declare different prices for different destinations in customs papers the customer never sees, so that ultimately it results in everyone paying the same.Similarly some retailers source their models directly from Asia, bypassing established distributors, quite significantly beating prices of retailers sourcing from distributors. Clever!
Via a distributors that doesn’t work. They pay the sticker price and things mount up from there, so that retailers can not absorb it to the same degree.
Actually, the hobby teaches us a lot about our global economy.
I’ve learned a lot from Karsten and Crustyoldtimer just in this post. Wow, the situation in the UK is really rough for collectors of anything! I’d also like to say that there is still a lot of confusion about how the tariffs get implemented and who pays. I’ve shared what I’ve learned researching how I’d be affected ordering from Hong Kong or Germany, and from what domestic retailers are conveying on how they are trying to keep prices down. But if I’ve relayed anything incorrectly, I will certainly stand corrected. And the situation changes daily. Today Trump eliminated de minimus on anything coming from the rest of the world to the U.S. Initially it was just eliminated on shipments from China and Hong Kong. As a result of the cancellation of de minimus, you’ve probably heard that many national postal services throughout the world have TEMPORARILY stopped deliveries to the U.S. Those postal services will be allowed to charge flat rate import fees of $80-$200 per delivery to the U.S. for a 6 month period, after which they will then charge percentage based fees. I understand Alex’s point regarding the tactic of applying recipricol tariffs as a leveraging tool to persuade other countries lower their own tariffs on goods imported from the U.S. But as with anything, there is a right way to do something and a wrong way. Everyone is free to choose their own opinion on which is currently unfolding. Thank you Karsten and Crustyoldtimer for sharing your personal accounts from your regions, and Alex for your perspective! We are all here because we enjoy collecting model cars, so regardless of opinions, we all still have that in common.
The problem with any policy by any side for business is exactly that it is too volatile to adjust business to it. The insecurity leads to businesses shrinking their operations to what they find predictable enough to base planning on. Politics need to provide a realiably stable framework for businesses to work with, not a daily change of rules. What Minichamps are doing is waiting for politics to make up their bloody mind about what rules to play by before they make their next move.
A player in any sports will stop playing if the rules keep being changed every few steps along his way, forcing him to constantly backstep or accept penalties. Not a game anyone wants to join.