Are exchange rates dampening your kit buying?

[stefanbuss]

All of us support Wingnuts and other international manufacturers but the exchange rates and, where applicable, international postage costs, have become the enemy.

Not to forget my dear friend "Mr. duty fee", who puts an additional carge of 19% on top of everything coming from WNW. Plus his dear colleque "Mr. import tax", who adds another 19% for anything more expensive than 120€ on top of "Mr. duty fee".

Sometimes I hate living in the EU.

[Des]

The falling Australian dollar has certainly stopped any of my overseas purchases, and to make matters worse our current government has announced that GST will be added to all overseas purchases from July 2017, that means another 10% added to the purchase price, add this to the ever increasing postal charges and it puts overseas buying totally out of reach. Even with free shipping offered by some companies it is not giving a great deal of incentive when the currency exchange rate is so bad.

It can only get better, we hope.

Des.

[GrahamB]

Kiwiland is also planning to add GST to all imports too - starting with digital downloads, but probably tangible goods as well. Then there is a $NZ40-50 Customs 'handling charge' on top, I believe, currently. It is going to kill the hobby for me (and for books).

Sorry not have been active lately - winter blues (or Churchill's Black Dog), cold house and lots of editing work have kept me away from the model bench.

Cheers,

GrahamB

[Ernie]

All I can say, Justin is I am glad you got the AEG when you did!

Cheers,
Ernie

[Dave Brewer]

Exchange rates had certainly been dampening my kit buying but with respect to the new development Des just referred to,I'll be buggered if I'll pay any tax I can avoid on Wingnut kits for example which as we all know are not sold by local retailers,at least here in Aus,making the rationale for the extension of the GST morally invalid.(Not that the greedy billionaire mouthpiece behind the lobby group will care,more $ for racehorses for him).Before the axe falls next July I'll invest a couple of grand or so and buy every thing on my WNW,Silverwings etc wishlists as soon as I see a reasonable lift in the rate.This may seem a bit bloody-minded but I have another  round of chemotherapy in 2 days and am feeling a bit Bolshy tonight,and I expected better from a government which I support.Pity it's made up of politicians.

[ALBATROS1234]

i am really sorry guys that down under is doing not so great economically.seems the pound is beating everything followed by the euro.i understand when the market fluxuates like this it makes it harder to buy new stuff. it has always been a tad behind usd but looking at a chart from the last year.it was avg .80 and has been gradually tapering for a year down to the .65 it is now which means a wnw $99 kit cost you $153nz . which is very close to what it would be if i wanted to buy from england. to buy something that costs 99pounds cost me $155. so its the brits we need to cast stones at. just kidding. i wonder why the british economy is so strong these days.

[macsporran]

Don't bother blaming the Brits! We have been suffering a programme of austerity over the last five years that has seen public finances, jobs, health, education, etc all reduced to support the godammed holy grail of economic stability. Finally we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel and one side benefit is that foreign exchange is more beneficial than it's been for many a long year!
Blame your own politicians - we blame ours enough ourselves!
Sandy

[ALBATROS1234]

i was just joking and speculating sandy.someones gotta be on top

[macsporran]

Yeah, sorry for the sharp retort, but believe me we've had years of the pound being worth buttons!
Cheers
S