Tariffs, for some reason

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Valued former and prospective US customers:

Fervent Astronomy is a small business based in Canada. Fornax Mounts, of which we are the North American distributor, is a small business based in Hungary, part of the European Union. The Lacerta MGEN-3 is also made in Hungary. Astronomik is out of Germany, also in the EU. Most of our other brands feature products largely or entirely made in China (QHY). Or Taiwan, in the case of William Optics. We sell astronomy gear, but it is all imported as there’s no widespread domestic manufacturing of astronomy equipment in North America. A lot of our sales are to the US as there's 10x as many people in the US as Canada. What that means is that we import, and we export. We have a ton of experience in this area, it’s core to the business.

So:

Tariffs. What does that mean for you? Much has been made about tariffs over the last few months, and it’s become clear that there are varying levels of understanding regarding tariffs, so I am compelled to provide this article for clarity.

Up until recently, if you purchased something from Fervent and had it shipped to the US you would find that US Customs would not charge you import taxes if the total cost of the products you were importing was below USD $800. This was the de minimus exemption, and anything under this amount was "duty free." You may have heard words such as Duty or Tariff. These are import taxes, levied on the importer.

The de minimus exemption is now gone. As such, the US gov will charge any and all taxes starting at $1, not $800. There's no way that I can keep up with the changing tariffs, they change every few days. By this time next week they could be completely different. So, please keep this in mind if you intend to make a purchase. Cross reference the country of manufacture with whatever that day's tariff schedule is then cross your fingers that it doesn't increase before your shipment arrives in the US.

I want to touch on who pays the tariffs: it’s you, the importer.

So what’s that mean in a practical sense? Well, US Customs will tax your purchase based on it's country of manufacture and it's value (what you paid for it). Fornax products are made in Hungary, which is in the European Union. Last week there was no taxes. A couple days ago it was 20%. Today its 10%. Next week, who knows. In the last 24 hours Chinese goods were given a blanket tariff that kept jumping up and I think its either 125% or 145% at the time of writing. You then have to pay these charges for US Customs to release your shipment for delivery. I'm not sure why exactly there's confusion on that point, but apparently there has been some.

Needless to say, I don't know where US consumers will buy telescopes or cameras from if tariffs remain in effect, as the vast bulk of these products are made in China.

"Luckily" since Fornax and a couple other of our product lines are made in Europe that reduces the extra taxes your government will charge you upon their arrival in the US. For the time being at least.

That's all for now. Good luck.