How Tariffs Will Affect Underwater Photography and Scuba

Recent tariffs levied by the United States on Chinese goods and other foreign products have had global ramifications on the stock market, the price of goods, and even underwater photography and scuba gear. This makes it a confusing time to be a diver and underwater photo enthusiast. You might be wondering what this means for your next camera purchase and when the right time to buy is. The purpose of this article is give you a little more information about how our industry works so that you can make informed decisions about your next purchase and plan ahead in the coming months. 

Yes, Prices Will Be Going Up

Unfortunately for us all, underwater photography, and even scuba diving, is a very niche hobby. This means that you have many fewer participants and economies of scale (i.e., lower prices) become difficult. Even though the price of underwater housings is surprisingly high to many buyers, underwater photo and scuba retailers, like Bluewater Photo & Scuba, tend to receive very small margins from the manufacturers. And even the manufacturers work on small margins! What this means is that our industry cannot absorb the cost of tariffs. For most brands, we anticipate retail prices to rise in the next few weeks. We've already received that confirmation from SeaLife, Backscatter strobes and flashes, and Shearwater. 

The Availability of Goods Will Be Impacted

Some manufacturers are waiting for tariffs to be rescinded and are not planning to raise prices. Unfortunately, know one knows if tariffs will be going away. For these brands, because the tariff costs will cost more than the profit made from the goods, we cannot order out of stock products without permission from the customer to cover the cost of the tariff. So when you shop our website, make sure you look for the "in stock" tag going forward. We are the only retailer that does this! If you shop at another retailer, you might be able to purchase a product, but you won't know if you can actually receive the product. If a product is out of stock, there's still a good chance we can receive it, so reach out anytime to our friendly staff via chat or email. 

Bluewater Photo's Website Easily Shows You What's In Stock!

There is the Potential for Quality Control Issues

As supply chains around the world become more tenuous and manufacturers experience difficulty acquiring materials, we are going to run into more production issues. This is going to be the second "supply chain crisis" that we saw in 2021-2023. In response to a lack of availability in affordable supplies, many manufacturers may look for alternative sources and building materials. As we saw in 2021, this will likely lead to issues with quality control. Moreover, many products may just become unavailable or discontinued entirely.

Conclusion: Now Is the Time to Buy

Because of all these factors, we think that NOW is the best time to purchase your next underwater camera system or scuba diving kit. Yes, that's our business, but we really are trying to look out for our customers. We've seen this story before, just four years ago. And history is most definitely repeating itself. The good news is that prices, at least at the time of writing this article (April 18, 2025), have not yet been raised for most brands. But the process has already begun and we have heard from many manufacturers that prices will definitely be going up. 

Finally, if you are a US customer, in the future you can always consider one of our US based brands that we know and love like Ikelite, Halcyon, and Ultralight. Prices for these brands will likely remain stable in the short term!