For collectibles - we always have to prioritize what we "want" vs. what we "need" and how "soon" - and this tariff insanity adversely impacts EVERY customer living in a country with no intention of making a "deal" with the orange man - (and for the record, it's not biased to call him that - because he IS manifestly orange).
eMoviePoster has thousands of non-USA customers and almost two months ago it announced what it would do for non-US customers to temporarily bypass this tariff insanity - which differs from country to country. (See copy-paste below.) It extended its "pay and hold" program from 16 weeks to up to a full year - for non-US customers who opt for it. It trades instant gratification for more time and more certainty about higher costs. It noted its gigantic vault to protect purchases with its usual lifetime guarantees. (I don't know if other dealers / companies can afford to do the same because in most cases, buyers will only send up-front $$$ to companies they trust won't lose track of anything months from now.) I sell books and ephemera from time to time and I'm never willing to falsify value on custom declarations because of issues in the past. If customers end up finding and buying rare finds from smaller dealers or from eBay - keep in mind that with eBay - its international shipping program takes over in many cases - and there's no way to bypass higher customs / tariffs based on the price of any item sold - because eBay plugs that in on customs forms it generates on a seller's behalf. Auction houses like eMoviePoster and others tend to offer more desired material - and while eMoviePoster has unusual guarantees / modifications not offered elsewhere - the psychology of buyers is obviously different for collectibles vs. for groceries, e.g., it defaults again to "want vs. need vs. how soon." And spouses remain the strongest deterrent to getting what we "want" from our little hobby. - d. ________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of David Kusumoto <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 7, 2025 4:36 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: WE AT EMOVIEPOSTER.COM HAVE UPDATED OUR NON-U.S. SHIPPING POLICIES TO COMBAT THE INSANE TARIFFS! This is an extraordinary action by a company trying to ease the uncertainty of economic turmoil for customers in every country outside the US. I know of NO similar precedent in the collectibles hobby - except perhaps on a customized, case-by-case basis, unrelated to government actions beyond one's control. eMoviePoster has so many non-USA customers - many of whom do not consider themselves to be in the "top 10%." (And if they were, they might be unbothered by additional costs and would pay them anyway to get their items sooner.) I think this action underlines how much eMoviePoster has thought about reducing fears among buyers who might hesitate a little to make purchases in its impending sales - while promoting goodwill - insofar tariffs would have the same "add-on" impact as buyer premiums which are fairly disclosed by others prior to sale - but WITHOUT the certainty of knowing how much tariffs would impact buyers in diverse countries, e.g., U.K. vs. Japan vs. Germany vs. France vs. Italy vs. Australia, etc. At the very least, this news "buys time," offering flexibility / peace-of-mind for buyers who want no additional obstacles while taking part in the company's regular and much anticipated major sales ahead. Excellent. - d. ________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Bruce Hershenson Sent: 8 April, 2025 2:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [MOPO] WE AT EMOVIEPOSTER.COM HAVE UPDATED OUR NON-U.S. SHIPPING POLICIES TO COMBAT THE INSANE TARIFFS! WE AT EMOVIEPOSTER.COM<http://emovieposter.com/> HAVE UPDATED OUR NON-U.S. SHIPPING POLICIES TO COMBAT THE INSANE TARIFFS! IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT 4/07/2025 First, some background. As many of you know, for most of the 1980s I spent my days trading stock options on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. This included October 20, 1987, when the U.S. Stock Market fell by its greatest percentage loss ever, almost 23% in a single day. So I feel I have qualifications to comment on the current world events that have caused global stock markets to plunge (but not nearly by as much as in 1987). The current events are a "man-made" catastrophe, caused by the actions of one man, adding staggering tariffs, that have now triggered a global trade war. While this is terrible, it is something that can be reversed in a moment, simply by recognizing the mistake of doing so, and canceling the tariffs. AND IT IS BECAUSE I FEEL THIS IS CERTAIN TO HAPPEN (either sooner or later), I MAKE THIS OFFER TO ALL OF OUR NON-U.S. BIDDERS: We already offer all of our bidders an unheard of SIXTEEN WEEKS of "Pay and Hold". This means that you can pay for your purchases and wait up to 16 weeks after you win the first ones to have them shipped. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, I WANT ALL NON-U.S. BUYERS TO PUT THEIR PURCHASES ON PAY AND HOLD (unless you have an urgent need to get the items sooner, and then we WILL send them to you, but of course, any tariffs you might incur would be beyond our control. I say this because I feel SO strongly that the tariffs will be gone before 16 weeks are up, and the moment they are you can have your purchases sent (and of course, you can also have them sent at any time in-between). WHAT IF THERE ARE SOMEHOW STILL TARIFFS COME 16 WEEKS FROM NOW? If this is somehow so, we are extending the maximum length of Pay and Hold for non-U.S. customers only to ONE FULL YEAR! Surely this situation will be resolved by then, but if somehow not, I will be open to extending it even further. And as you likely know, we have a giant walk-in vault, and all expensive orders on Pay and Hold are stored there, so security of your purchases is not an issue. And of course I very much hope this is "much ado about nothing" and that the tariffs will go away as quickly as they came, but I want you all to know we are there for you in this way, and we have been in every way for 35 years (and THIS is what makes us so very different from EVERY other auction, poster or otherwise). ________________________________ From: MoPo List <[email protected]> on behalf of Michael Danese <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 1, 2025 12:56 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Trump muscles into movie posters...Canadians beware! That is criminal! And our felon in chief doesn’t give a 💩about us! Thanks, Michael Danese On Jun 1, 2025, at 3:40 PM, Greg Douglass <[email protected]> wrote: This is complete insanity. These unwarranted, unwanted financial punishments are killing me where I work (music store, where much of our stock comes....or came...from China and now they're gouging my fellow poster dorks? Time to take the car keys away from grandpa. Greg Douglass Coos Bay OR Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2025 at 12:20 PM From: "MovieArt Original Film Posters" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Trump muscles into movie posters...Canadians beware! Michael, I completely understand why you would feel as you do. But look at this way, Chump gets a military parade on his birthday and the U.S. treasury needs to raise between 25 and 45 million bucks to pay for that. The money’s got to come from SOMEWHERE. Kirby On Jun 1, 2025, at 10:41 AM, Michael Greenwood <[email protected]> wrote: Hello I just wanted to touch on something quickly as an observation and, possibly, a warning. This week I received a package of flat items from emovieposter, as usual. However, an unusual thing was that I was told the amount owed for the pickup was more than double what I was expecting. This put me on the path of assuming there was a clerical error at Canada Post or the Customs office and I was really not looking forward to trying to iron it out. I was mostly hoping Bruce's people had mistakenly marked a wrong value on the form. Anyway, as it turns out, there was nothing wrong. On top of the standard 13% HST (this is a Canadian sales tax on everything we buy) on the CDN dollar value of the package, there is now a 25% duty charge. I don't follow the economic genius in charge in the White House but I am going to also assume that this charge is a result of the tariff dance that has been ongoing since 47 took over. If I am wrong and a politically astute Mopoer can explain it to me, I'd love to hear. I also received a package or records from the US that were valued at around $125 but there was $0 duty on the customs sheet...just the normal tax I am used to. The warning part of this goes out to and Canuck collectors who may be as surprised as I or want to avoid these spikes in pulse. The batch of posters were valued at $422 US which comes to approximately $580 CDN. For a package of used advertising paper "worth" that, I paid around $252 to retrieve it from the post office once all those processing fees were tossed in. This will have an effect on the US economy! All the posters I would notmally be bidding on in the upcoming Bruce auctions will be missing one extra push to hammer value. I am not buying stuff that costs me another 38% to pass into Canada. Good news for the people I am always bidding against! The posters will still sell but fractions do matter. I'll deal with the smaller sellers for now and keep hoping we can keep customs and duty at bay. Or maybe it's a good time to call my collection finished. I'm starting to feel my money can be better spent as shipping costs and now customs/duty are forcing me to buy Canadian, find tax cheat sellers or simply quit and enjoy what I have built. All the best, M Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
