Boutique Sales Megathread: Complete List of Current/Upcoming Sales

[PNguyen]

Originally Posted by Surge92

Rarewaves is having a 2 for £40 steelbook sale right now, but it's not applying for me at checkout. I'm getting charged full price for both titles. I wonder if it has anything to do with the tariffs situation.

No point buying from them, terrible packaging and then there's the tariffs situation so end cost will be too high anyways.

[Whoozit]

I just ordered the 2 4K’s for £30 from them. I’ll let you know if I get dinged for tariffs on the way in.

[Swanage]

I ordered from RW on 7/28 and 9/1. No tariff related charges.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by PNguyen

No point buying from them, terrible packaging and then there's the tariffs situation so end cost will be too high anyways.

There should be NO tariffs on BluRay and other disks coming into the United States.

The 1988 Berman Amendment to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)--the act that is being used to impose import tariff taxes on the US imports, exempts from all tariffs and customs duties "informational materials"—such as pre-recorded DVDs, BluRays, books, films, music, and photographs. Even from countries where we otherwise have economic sanctions against.

If the shipper chooses the proper numerical customs designation on the shipping documents, there should not be any US border taxes on BDs.

There might be some hiccups since charging any customs duties on de minimus packages below $800 only started this past week, so the procedures are likely still being worked out at the border--with something like 4 million small packages entering every day it could be a problem. But the UK Royal Mail has resumed small package shipments to the US to they think they have it worked out. All movie disks should all be free of tariffs.

[Whoozit]

Yeah sure “should be” We’ll see.. I can’t even get accurate weather forecasts anymore.

Let you know soon-ish

Picked up these 2 for $45+tax shipped. Solid deal

[Captain N]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

There should be NO tariffs on BluRay and other disks coming into the United States.

The 1988 Berman Amendment to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)--the act that is being used to impose import tariff taxes on the US imports, exempts from all tariffs and customs duties "informational materials"—such as pre-recorded DVDs, BluRays, books, films, music, and photographs. Even from countries where we otherwise have economic sanctions against.

If the shipper chooses the proper numerical customs designation on the shipping documents, there should not be any US border taxes on BDs.

There might be some hiccups since charging any customs duties on de minimus packages below $800 only started this past week, so the procedures are likely still being worked out at the border--with something like 4 million small packages entering every day it could be a problem. But the UK Royal Mail has resumed small package shipments to the US to they think they have it worked out. All movie disks should all be free of tariffs.

While I'd like to believe this, I think we're kidding ourselves if we think there will be any exemption or correct application of such rules. The way the tariffs and de minimis rules have been tossed by one person declaring an "emergency" should be unlawful but sadly, we have folks in leadership roles that care little about separation of powers and judges, too, that are unwilling to apply the laws as they're written.

I'm done importing and I'm sad to say many small publishers are going to bite the dust as a result of all this, but I have no desire to pay higher taxes to a federal government that seems happy to tax us in more ways than one, and crippling the economy by fueling inflation.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Captain N

While I'd like to believe this, I think we're kidding ourselves if we think there will be any exemption or correct application of such rules. The way the tariffs and de minimis rules have been tossed by one person declaring an "emergency" should be unlawful but sadly, we have folks in leadership roles that care little about separation of powers and judges, too, that are unwilling to apply the laws as they're written.

I'm done importing and I'm sad to say many small publishers are going to bite the dust as a result of all this, but I have no desire to pay higher taxes to a federal government that seems happy to tax us in more ways than one, and crippling the economy by fueling inflation.

The customs designation for pre-recorded optical media has existed since 2015, it's 8523.49.10 which was explicitly a customs duty and tariff free designation since it was created a decade ago.

It's fun to make broad absolute statements like "I'm done with importing" on social media. However, I'd suggest simply waiting a few weeks and seeing if others are getting their BDs coming in tariff/duy free.

The way this normally works for international shipping is shipping charges to the recipient will include any tariff charges, which are paid by the shipper at the border. My Eureka box set--which I ordered direct from Eureka the middle of June before there was any hint of removing the de minimis exemption--was just shipped to me with free shipping on Friday, Sept 5th. There was no request from Eureka or the Royal Mail for me to pay an extra shipping tariff. In about a week I'll see how it passes through customs.

Indicator had posted that they had suspended US shipments due to the tariffs until the Royal Mail had figured out their procedures. As of September 1 they resumed shipping to the US with no additional tariff charges. Rarewaves and other large etailers are not adding on any additional shipping charges above what they were charging a month ago.

Things could change, but as of today it appears that importing BDs is currently duty free--as per federal law--and there's no indication that's about to change. So you really don't have to be done with importing. Just wait a few weeks to make sure the law continues to be properly applied. (And even if it's not properly applied, import tariff from the UK is only 10%--not something I want to pay, but not a huge price increase on a BD either.)

[Captain N]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

The customs designation for pre-recorded optical media has existed since 2015, it's 8523.49.10 which was explicitly a customs duty and tariff free designation since it was created a decade ago.

It's fun to make broad absolute statements like "I'm done with importing" on social media. However, I'd suggest simply waiting a few weeks and seeing if others are getting their BDs coming in tariff/duy free.

The way this normally works for international shipping is shipping charges to the recipient will include any tariff charges, which are paid by the shipper at the border. My Eureka box set--which I ordered direct from Eureka the middle of June before there was any hint of removing the de minimis exemption--was just shipped to me with free shipping on Friday, Sept 5th. There was no request from Eureka or the Royal Mail for me to pay an extra shipping tariff. In about a week I'll see how it passes through customs.

Indicator had posted that they had suspended US shipments due to the tariffs until the Royal Mail had figured out their procedures. As of September 1 they resumed shipping to the US with no additional tariff charges. Rarewaves and other large etailers are not adding on any additional shipping charges above what they were charging a month ago.

Things could change, but as of today it appears that importing BDs is currently duty free--as per federal law--and there's no indication that's about to change. So you really don't have to be done with importing. Just wait a few weeks to make sure the law continues to be properly applied. (And even if it's not properly applied, import tariff from the UK is only 10%--not something I want to pay, but not a huge price increase on a BD either.)

Sure, I'm keeping an eye on what others experience and would certainly like to know what happens to packages like yours.

All I'll say is that not seeing a tariff on the item from Royal Mail doesn't mean you won't get duties charged once it hits the U.S. from whoever is delivering the package to you in the States. Remember the de minimis exemption removes a tariff that would be paid by the recipient, not the sender, so the charge happens on the Stateside, not on the sender-side for these smaller packages.

And also keep in mind that just because you don't get the bill right away or at/near delivery doesn't mean you won't get one eventually. The US can bill you for that item weeks or months after you get it. The system isn't going to work totally smoothly at first since they need to build it out and iron out what I'm sure are a host of kinks. I suspect there will many folks who will be quite surprised when a separate USPS/UPS/DHL bill shows up in their mailbox well after the items have arrived.

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by Surge92

Rarewaves is having a 2 for £40 steelbook sale right now, but it's not applying for me at checkout. I'm getting charged full price for both titles. I wonder if it has anything to do with the tariffs situation.

Another user is having the same problem with their 2-4K/UHDs-for-£30 (https://www.rarewaves.com/collections/2-for-30-offer), so I checked it out and I'm having it too.

A month or so ago, the sale discounts weren't kicking in until the final checkout page (Payment), but now, even going that far still doesn't make the discounts show up... and I doubt clicking "Pay Now" will suddenly make them register.

I don't see any banner for this sale, so maybe it's not even active right now and they just forgot to turn off the mentions of it on those titles' pages?

[Surge92]

Originally Posted by Wintermute

Another user is having the same problem with their 2-4K/UHDs-for-£30 (https://www.rarewaves.com/collections/2-for-30-offer), so I checked it out and I'm having it too.

A month or so ago, the sale discounts weren't kicking in until the final checkout page (Payment), but now, even going that far still doesn't make the discounts show up... and I doubt clicking "Pay Now" will suddenly make them register.

I don't see any banner for this sale, so maybe it's not even active right now and they just forgot to turn off the mentions of it on those titles' pages?

I actually got an e-mail from them yesterday informing me of the sale. There's two 4K steelbooks I want, but like I said, the discount isn't applying to me at checkout. And yes, I ordered a couple of movies from their 2 for £20 sale about a month ago, and the discount didn't kick in until the checkout page.

[Surge92]

For anyone interested, I contacted Rarewaves customer service about the issue with the discounts. I was told they're having a technical issue with some of the titles included in the offer. They suggested that if I bought them at full price, they would refund me the difference.

[G_MOVIES]

Shout's 50% Off Members Only sale ends today so I decided to place an order mainly because I wanted the Tokusatsu Collection and with the Shout10 code stacking it brought it down to a price I can live with. I did the cart trick and there's 185 left as of this post.

For what it's worth everything I bought is also in the Going Out of Print Soon section, but I have to assume not everything in this section is gonna be gone for good (probably upgraded? I don't know. All I know is if Shout rereleases the Tokusatsu set with the second part of Prince of Space, I'm gonna be pissed.).

Also picked up:

Fear City (50 in stock)
Crime Zone / Future Kick (76 in stock)
Dance With Death / Dance Of The Damned (240 in stock)


My order qualified for free shipping but I paid an extra $3 for the package protection insurance thing. Normally I don't pay for stuff like that, but I recently had a package go missing for a day and figured it might be a good idea to pay a few bucks in case something goes wrong since Shout doesn't have the best rep when it comes to customer service.

(I received a shipping notice less than an hour after I ordered. Probably the fastest label created for an order I've had in years.)


Anyways, Fear City was a big hole in my Abel Ferrara collection. I can't wait to see Rae Dawn Chong in all her glory. Those sci-fi flicks look low budget as hell but Sherilyn Fenn is in one of them and I'm happy to find out that that is NOT Dean Cain on the cover of the other movie but Don "The Dragon" Wilson.)

[SammymeBlu]

Discount not applying at checkout for 2-4K/UHDs-for-£30. How come this is still an issue?

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by SammymeBlu

Discount not applying at checkout for 2-4K/UHDs-for-£30. How come this is still an issue?

I messaged Rarewaves and they told me that their team is working to get it fixed, but that if I decided to go ahead & place an order, I could email them to get the difference refunded.

I did so, and they refunded my credit card just a little over one hour later.



4 import 4K titles shipped to the U.S. for a grand total of $90.22 (~$22.56 each), no tax.

[SammymeBlu]

Originally Posted by Wintermute

I messaged Rarewaves and they told me that their team is working to get it fixed, but that if I decided to go ahead & place an order, I could email them to get the difference refunded.

I did so, and they refunded my credit card just a little over one hour later.



4 import 4K titles shipped to the U.S. for a grand total of $90.22 (~$22.56 each), no tax.

How hard is it for them to 'fix' it? I emailed them and received the exact same response. Somehow, it seems this reply is either automated or automated response for this type of error/problem for there AI team to respond. I don't like the idea of having to wait for a refund for 20 plus titles i would like to order. Why do they not update the sale page and state there is a problem with ordering. Email received from Rarewaves: We are experiencing a technical issue with some of the titles that fall under the 2 for £30, and our team is reviewing it.
Please let me know if you proceed with an order and we will be happy to issue you a refund for the difference. A few titles? How about every title i put in my cart, all 26 of them. This same thing was happening over a month ago by looking at some past comments and they still have yet to fix it? Would have loved to place a nice, large order with them but think ill pass unless it gets fixed which i donot see happening.

[WillieMLF]

Originally Posted by Wintermute

I messaged Rarewaves and they told me that their team is working to get it fixed, but that if I decided to go ahead & place an order, I could email them to get the difference refunded.

I had everything working and the discount had applied and walked away for lunch. The Wicker Man started giving me problems when I came back. I kept on adding it and it would drop the discount from the 'paired' title. Eventually got everything to work out after about 5 minutes of deleting and re-adding. Unwisely decided to add some more titles. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Eventually got everything to work.

[NeonStreetMelt]

Originally Posted by G_MOVIES

Those sci-fi flicks look low budget as hell but Sherilyn Fenn is in one of them and I'm happy to find out that that is NOT Dean Cain on the cover of the other movie but Don "The Dragon" Wilson.)

It's a good double feature. I was excited when they first dropped that and bought it pretty early on, never thinking it'd be hanging around 2 years later getting put on discount. Those never on HD 90s scifi releases are among my most welcome kind of stuff. I like Crime Wave better but Future Kick is fun as well and they both had multiple hundred thousand $ budgets, which you actually dont see much of anymore for indie scifi. TNT used to air Future Kick late at night in the 90s

[G_MOVIES]

Originally Posted by NeonStreetMelt

It's a good double feature. I was excited when they first dropped that and bought it pretty early on, never thinking it'd be hanging around 2 years later getting put on discount. Those never on HD 90s scifi releases are among my most welcome kind of stuff. I like Crime Wave better but Future Kick is fun as well and they both had multiple hundred thousand $ budgets, which you actually dont see much of anymore for indie scifi. TNT used to air Future Kick late at night in the 90s

Yeah I probably sounded negative in my comment but didn't mean to as I actually do usually like the sci fi stuff with lower budgets as I think it forces the filmmakers to be more creative. I just watched Forbidden World and Dead Space so I'm looking forward to these.

[Number_6]

Originally Posted by Captain N

Sure, I'm keeping an eye on what others experience and would certainly like to know what happens to packages like yours.

All I'll say is that not seeing a tariff on the item from Royal Mail doesn't mean you won't get duties charged once it hits the U.S. from whoever is delivering the package to you in the States. Remember the de minimis exemption removes a tariff that would be paid by the recipient, not the sender, so the charge happens on the Stateside, not on the sender-side for these smaller packages.

And also keep in mind that just because you don't get the bill right away or at/near delivery doesn't mean you won't get one eventually. The US can bill you for that item weeks or months after you get it. The system isn't going to work totally smoothly at first since they need to build it out and iron out what I'm sure are a host of kinks. I suspect there will many folks who will be quite surprised when a separate USPS/UPS/DHL bill shows up in their mailbox well after the items have arrived.

My experience is that international Blu-rays are getting hit with tariffs once they enter the US.

I ordered a Blu-ray set from a UK vendor, Anderson, and there was no extra charge from them when I ordered it.

However, when the package arrived in the US the courier, DHL, held the package demanding the payment of a $25 tariff charge otherwise they would be sending it back in 5 days.

[Pulp Hero]

I was looking a bit at Ebay's page about the potential for import duties, and the carriers can add a sizable chunk in "processing fees" on top of the actual import duty.

https://pages.ebay.com/tariffs/

Add processing fees

Shipping carriers or US Customs usually charge $5–$30 in processing
fees. Add the item price, import fees, and processing fees to estimate your
final cost. Fees may be paid in advance or collected on delivery,
depending on the carrier

This is all calculated via spreadsheets and software nowadays, there shouldn't be any "processing fee". We haven't had people manually running the numbers on this stuff in decades; and if AI is being used the companies don't even have the slim excuse of paying somebody.

Let's use FedEx for example, the carrier delivered 10.1 million packages a day in 2024. Let's err on the low side and say only 500,000 of those were international. Assuming FedEx has similar shipping numbers this year, they could easily be racking up another $2.5 million to $15 million per day in "processing fees". After a month, FedEx could easily take in upwards of $450,000,000 [half a billion dollars] in "processing fees".