Current USD to GBP Conversion Rates

[techsoldaten]

Currently, GBP converts to USD at about $1.08.

A box of Possessed costs £35. The same box costs $60 in the US. 

A good UK postal forwarding service will charge about £20 for shipping in a package that can hold about 12 of these. Some of them will open the boxes they receive and just send the contents for slightly more.

At those rates, the discount to US shoppers would be about 40%, and that would scale closer to 50% the larger the order.

Paypal and some major bank cards allow US account holders to make purchases in Euros and GBP without a fee for converting the currency. So the rate is not going to jump for making your payment with an account that normally stores USD.

[Marshal Mittens]

Can you teach ne how to do this?

[techsoldaten]

Search for postal forwarding service and find the one that's right for you. Different companies offer different services.

I've used these guys before, they should be good for simple orders.

https://www.myukmailbox.com/

 

 

 

 

[Arkhanist]

Without dipping into UK politics, the newly announced government policies caused sterling to drop again significantly against the dollar (and other currencies), and it seems very unlikely to go the other way any time soon - we may well see parity between sterling and the dollar, and possibly even the Euro. So parallel importing GW stuff from the UK will likely get even cheaper compared to GW's much higher official 'exchange rates' for a good while, even accounting for VAT - definitely worth it if you can find a cost-effective method, especially if you're forwarding stuff from a UK store like element games or darksphere (both take paypal) that offers a significant discount over retail already.

Importing from the RoW into the UK though conversely just got more expensive - just yesterday, I literally paid the same price in sterling for a US company's 3d printable bases design as it was in dollars. That hurt.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Arkhanist

[Arkhanist]

To put some actual numbers on that; a box of new possessed is £26.25 at dark sphere, including VAT. 10 of those (or equivalent), ~£10 UK shipping to the mail forwarder (it varies based on weight, but that's in the ballpark), plus £20 to forward to the US from @techsoldaten above, so £292.50. Paypal is currently $1.13 to buy £1 (bank/paypal personal exchange rates tend to be a little worse than the headline rate) and no extra fees if you pay from a bank account, so total cost $330. Buying the same products from US GW, $600. So a 45% saving by importing yourself, entirely legally (as long as you avoid prohibited/dangerous items like spray cans). The only thing to watch out for would be any import fees at US customs; I believe miniatures are 0% rated, but don't quote me on that (I'm not in the US!). Even with a say, 10% import fee, you're still going to make a large saving.

A weak currency is great for exporters, and this is why. GW choose to keep that money for themselves by not cutting overseas prices, but no reason you have to indulge them!

[lansalt]

Be aware that buying stuff from other countries outside your own free trade economic zone almost always add customs fees/taxes/red tape to the final cost. And unless you buy from a seller like Amazon, Ebay or Forgeworld that explicitly tells you about it or include that extra cost in the shipping price, you're suppossed to deal with it by yourself.

I think GW prices in the US/Aus/Nz are very hight not just because their usual big markup, but also because the added shiping costs and taxes when sending stuff from the UK overseas.

[Special Officer Doofy]

As someone in the US, the conversion rate doesn't bother me too much. I mean it's not right, but that's the way it has always been and goes both ways. Last time I checked (2018?) A new Xbox game here costs $60 and in Britain it was £60 too even when 1 GBP converted into over 1.20 USD. I always considered it the "hometown" discount. I'm happy to pay the British more for such a unique product like 40k, you guys should be proud of a successful product and company like GW. I mean I still always buy from a discount FLGS to spread the wealth still and get it for a small discount, but going through a postal forwarding company seems like overkill for me, I don't spend that much on the hobby, I only play two factions. 

[techsoldaten]

24 minutes ago, lansalt said:

I think GW prices in the US/Aus/Nz are very hight not just because their usual big markup, but also because the added shiping costs and taxes when sending stuff from the UK overseas.

Would also point out GW's prices do not adjust for changing exchange rates, except maybe annually.

[Lord_Ikka]

8 minutes ago, techsoldaten said:

Would also point out GW's prices do not adjust for changing exchange rates, except maybe annually.

They only adjust when the pound is on the upswing, never when it is falling.

[Shovellovin]

I’m fine with possible paying custom fees because if they are 10% then I pay that anyway. American prices do not include taxes so for people like me who live in an area where taxes are 10.25% the maximum discount of 15% allowed by GW doesn’t really mean 15% off of the list price as it would for people in the UK or EU whose prices include tax. 

[GodEmperorOfMankind]

I was actually considering setting up a service doing something very much like this for our overseas brethren.

My concern was A) how much of my time would it take up and B) how much of a cut should I make that's reasonable but still a significant saving for the people buying.

Obviously getting a stockist account with GW would mean bigger savings, but I believe its against their ToS to do that, and you need a brick/mortar business to apply.

So that would leave me buying from stockists at 20% and shipping onwards.

[techsoldaten]

2 hours ago, GodEmperorOfMankind said:

I was actually considering setting up a service doing something very much like this for our overseas brethren.

My concern was A) how much of my time would it take up and B) how much of a cut should I make that's reasonable but still a significant saving for the people buying.

Obviously getting a stockist account with GW would mean bigger savings, but I believe its against their ToS to do that, and you need a brick/mortar business to apply.

So that would leave me buying from stockists at 20% and shipping onwards.

You'd be competing with postal forwarding services that get bulk postage rates. That might make it a non-starter.

An interesting business would be to set up as a middle-seller, taking the hassle out of currency conversion and postal forwarding. Set up some websites offering GW product at 40% off AUD / USD / CAN prices, plus the cost of shipping. Customers would be buying from you directly, you could realize margins based on where you set your discount.

You could probably find a willing stockist to take your orders and give you a cut of his discount.

[MysticTemplar]

On 9/24/2022 at 6:19 AM, Special Officer Doofy said:

As someone in the US, the conversion rate doesn't bother me too much. I mean it's not right, but that's the way it has always been and goes both ways. Last time I checked (2018?) A new Xbox game here costs $60 and in Britain it was £60 too even when 1 GBP converted into over 1.20 USD. I always considered it the "hometown" discount. I'm happy to pay the British more for such a unique product like 40k, you guys should be proud of a successful product and company like GW. I mean I still always buy from a discount FLGS to spread the wealth still and get it for a small discount, but going through a postal forwarding company seems like overkill for me, I don't spend that much on the hobby, I only play two factions. 

Something that's important to keep in mind with regards to pricing is that because of the way the US does sales tax, US prices are pre-tax and UK prices are post-tax - so when comparing prices, it's important to divide the UK price by 1.2 or you're not actually comparing the same price - so when USD to GBP was 1:1.2, the video game prices were $60:£50, which matches the exchange rate.  It was then bumped up to £60 by VAT.

 

At a 1:1 conversion rate, for USD:GBP, the USD price should be roughly equivalent if not *cheaper* than the GBP price, depending on how much shipping across the atlantic adds in terms of cost to any given item, which is not a topic I have any data on.

[MegaVolt87]

On 9/25/2022 at 5:31 AM, techsoldaten said:

You'd be competing with postal forwarding services that get bulk postage rates. That might make it a non-starter.

An interesting business would be to set up as a middle-seller, taking the hassle out of currency conversion and postal forwarding. Set up some websites offering GW product at 40% off AUD / USD / CAN prices, plus the cost of shipping. Customers would be buying from you directly, you could realize margins based on where you set your discount.

You could probably find a willing stockist to take your orders and give you a cut of his discount.

 

I would love to see this and it would crack the market here in OZ. The issue for OZ, is the postage rates and value amounts. Any savings I seem to find these days are rapidly gone because of postage. Its got to the point, I may as well buy the entire kit for bits to actually save money which is insane. Also I bought a particular thing from the USA. It wasn't cheap BUT it was not priced properly in AUD- the USD price was 1:1 of AUD. I have asked another buddy who buys from America and its apparently common to re-pack things as "second hand" and price the USD as AUD 1:1 to have savings for the US sellers and OZ buyers. Its already happening, ebay sells basically new GW kits minus the box, still on sprue as "used". I think it would have to be done that way to make such a venture viable from the start. 

EDIT- to further clarify, say I buy something thats USD$100, my electronic invoice or separate email asks for AUD$155 (the converted amount). I pay that. Any external invoice or price referance on the box or other paperwork will be AUD$100. This dodges postage rates, import tax etc. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by MegaVolt87