Folks, with the high tariffs in place right now, I don’t think we will be running as many sales as before, nor will the sales (typically) be as deeply discounted. At 145% tariff, it has more than doubled our product costs to restock.
Furthermore, when we run out of stock on something, the time to restock is uncertain-- possibly taking many months. We will likely hold off on reordering many things in the hope that tariffs will soon come down to something more reasonable.
So with our current Deal of the Day at 60% off, and then 40% off site wide this weekend, together with the uncertainty of future stock availability, this is a good time to buy!
With the huge tariffs on imports from China, what effect does that have on preorders from artists. If you put a deposit on a kit months ago what price will you end up paying when they come in?
Basically, we don’t know for sure because things are changing almost every day. The further out the pre-order, the less we know.
Unfortunately, the order date of our items - either on our behalf as a customer or a business’s behalf as the importer - doesn’t matter when it comes to tariffs.
What matters is the date the items arrive in the US. The day they get to the border and customs office.
There was some wiggle room for orders that left their country of origin prior to February (because boats on the ocean take time) and then that was updated in April so that things shipped in April have a grace period in which as long as they arrive to the US before May 27th they don’t have to pay the tariffs, but that will eventually expire.
If things stay where they are today: there will be shipments of goods placed before any tariffs were announced that take so long to be produced and arrive to the US that, by the time they get here, the company that placed the order will have to pay either 145% (or 245%, the number being considered as of today) the value of their goods to the US customs office. Note that this is on the wholesale price, not the final retail value or MSRP.
We as retail customers will likely have to pay higher prices on these items, but the way each business spreads out the costs is up to them, so it’ll be different for every business.
I hope so too, but in many cases the tariff tax is more than the profit the company was going to make. idk the profit margin on reborn kits, but stick with me.
If things stay at 145% or more, then that will put a lot of companies in a no-win scenario. Companies will have to crunch the numbers and decide if it’s better for them to sell the goods anyway, or to cancel their order with the factory. These choices will affect the company’s relationships with their customers or their factories.
On goods with low profit margins I think we’ll see more canceled shipments, as well as shipments stuck in limbo at customs where the company doesn’t have enough money in their bank account to pay the tariffs because they were counting on selling the items later on. (The later scenario I’ve already seen happen to small businesses that run kids clothing pre-orders.)
In order for small businesses to absorb the tariffs on some shipments, that’s going to take them having confidence that their next orders will indeed be profitable. That’s why this market unpredictability really sucks. Ugh. I really hope that things calm down soon.
That’s a good question. I’m not sure who’s going to have to eat the difference, but it doesn’t seem right for the price to change mid stream on dolls that were pre-ordered. And I want my Camellia! I’m just glad I have a large stash of kits. China’s going to stop shipping to the US. They’re not stupid.
I sent an email regarding pre-orders and tariffs. Bobbi intends to honor the pre-order price that was posted. She also said they haven’t been affected by the tariffs so far.
