How will the recently implemented tariffs affect your doll collecting?

After the BBB update:

The de minimis exemption will be eliminated in two years after President Donald Trump signed a sweeping policy bill into law on Friday.

As part of the package introduced as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the U.S. will repeal the exemption allowing imports under $800 to enter the country duty and tax free, effective July 1, 2027. Exemptions will remain in place for eligible items bought during travel and bona fide gifts from foreign citizens to U.S. residents.

source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/minimis-exemption-slated-end-2027-174800443.html

Hong Kong and China does not apply here since de minimis was removed for them already so regardless of under $800 or not, for a shipment if the country of origins is Hong Kong or China, you will pay tariff.

 

I've been holding off on buying any new dolly stuff as I have a monthly budget of expenses that I usually adhere to. Dolly stuff and other hobbies are in the "Fun Money" category. Especially now that I have more medical appointments to make and attend (and not so surprisingly medical insurance isn't paying for these appointments), my hobbies are taking a hit pretty hard this year. It's going to be a waiting game for me for a while at least.

 

Thought I'd share my first tariff experience. I bought some parts directly from Ringdoll in early January (pre-tariff shenanigans), a 1/3 sized mask and a pair of special hands, invoice was $100 USD with about $45 shipping. Just paid the tariff of $41.99 so they sent it CIF, meaning they include the shipping cost in the amount use to calculate the tariff. Total transit costs nearly equal to cost of goods by the end of it, but not much to be done about it since all the rules went into effect after my purchase.

it took some creative work to pay it on the phone than click the spammy looking links sent via text since the waybill originating in HK wasn't meshing with USA system.
total PITA.
DHL remains my least favourite carrier for a multitude of reasons (mostly surrounding tracking, lost packages and no customer service) and this also certainly didn't help improve my opinion.

 

I ordered a $110 item (not including shipping) from Ringdoll pre-tariff. Ringdoll sent the item DHL. I just got a notice that the item shipped and would not be delivered unless a $25.33 tariff was paid within 5 days.

 

wow, that is crazy how different what we both paid for around the same invoice price. what the math!

 

What I see is: There is a great opportunity for scams here.

 

looking at the posts that share that purchase amounts were similar pre tariffs but the tariffs were c0mpletely different, is a bit unnerving. It seems you can't be sure what the heck will be charged or even if it's a scam being pulled somewhere.


How was it that @Grimalkin purchase amount was less but they paid almost double for tariff than @Cat ^..^? it makes no sense and it doesn't seem fair. wow.

 

not only that, but they both purchased from the same company, had the same shipping carrier, etc. Nothing explains why the charges were so vastly different

 

Yes, Exactly. Forgot to add that. we are not talking pennies here. I swear the world has turned upside down.

 

I went and pulled the actual receipt off DHL's site, bit the bullet and clicked the scammy link since I got my receipt texted to the same message thread, and since DHL gives no other way to get a copy. plus now i'm a little salty about it... so I want the receipt.

here's how they broke it down:
I was off by a few cents, the payment was 41.24, all is in USD.
regulatory Charges = 1.31
import export duties = 22.93
duty tax processing = 17.00

they gave a description of "Ringdoll resin doll" - my package was a mask and a pair of hands, not a whole doll.

my invoice from Ringdoll was:
71.10 for the mask
27 for the hands (I sure hope it's a pair LOL)
= 98.10 + 47.00 shipping/insurance (no choices for me) = 145.10
then the tariff was + 41.24

@Cat ^..^ - do you mind me asking, was your order for clothes and/or wigs and no resin by any chance?

I wonder if certain categories of harmonics have different add on fees. I noticed this with tariff from Canada recently, if I called it a sculpture instead of a doll, it was the 25% + 5.33% more tax for instance.

I import stuff at work, and there's a formula, it shouldn't change arbitrarily, and this type of random behaviour that you cannot fight, even more so than the tariff itself will make me more apt to avoid origin countries with no de-minimus.

Remains to be seen for other countries if the tariff is only certain harmonics or will catch everything over $800.
the ever changing rules make it hard to tell what exactly to expect, and this is the part that is exploitable by the carriers.

 

Grimalkin, I purchased only the ram skull hat "mask" from Ringdoll. I tried to find a picture of the original product on Ringdoll's site to check the price, but I could not find it. The mask is resin and looks like the Chalco mask from Soom.

 

that's the same mask I bought I just managed to get it during the sale period. Wish I could have gotten the whole boy.
I got hopefully both of his skeleton hands too
but might just be the one, perhaps the other you had to get with the full set to hold the staff?

but wow, even weirder about that difference in cost.
thanks so much for everyone's input on this, I really appreciate hearing about other's experiences as it evolves.

 

Hmmm. So I got a little bit less than you. No hands in my order. And shipping for me was to Rocwall, Texas (directly to the painter). And he was a cool boy. I would not have minded getting all of him. I really liked him.

 

Category might have an effect, I've heard that most toys are exempt?

There was a doll I bought from a seller on here from Canada, arrived on 5 July, and there was no tariff fee. The package was marked as containing a doll worth $240 CAD. It was shipped with Canada Post, processed in customs on the west coast, and then passed along to USPS.

 

ah, I should have clarified a little more about the Canada one, the tariff I mentioned there would be charged if the invoice was over the $800 threshold. Agree that under $800, no tariff would be assessed on dolls or even the sculpture, but maybe on other stuff like agriculture, steel, car parts etc.

Postal service seems better at this under threshold bit from Canada, still a chance the big boys like DHL, UPS, FedEx will charge a fee.

 

Kind of stressing now that the tariffs on Korea have been announced...if they happen... I just placed several large orders for clothes from Nine9 Style, Tree Design and TTYA right before the announcement, and was waiting on two heads from Migidoll. The orders from Migidoll and Nine9 Style arrived two days ago, no tariffs, via USPS, but still waiting on Tree Design and TTYA. I'm hoping they get here before tariffs hit. My Migidoll heads did get held up in customs for about 3 days. Also still waiting on a few AliExpress non-doll items that have been lagging for awhile.

 

How did you receive the invoice? Was it a mailed letter or email?

I recently bought from Mandarake with no problems, but my purchase was well under the $800 threshold. However, I’ve been window shopping on Etsy for doll shoes and basically everything is shipping out of China. I can’t decide if I want to chance high dollar tariffs or just continue to have barefooted dolls.

 

@muffin

if you’re fine with shopping on eBay, the shipping service out of China called SpeedPAK has prepaid tariffs. The shipping carrier processes the customs stuff.

EBay and Etsy seem to have a lot of overlap with clothing and shoes, with most coming out of China. Etsy does not seem to have SpeedPAK unfortunately

 

I am fine with eBay. I just bought a cosplay for myself actually, and though it came from China originally it went through Mexico first to avoid the tariff I suppose. I will definitely go check out doll stuff on eBay though. Thanks for the heads up on that!

 

They mailed it to me as a letter invoice with break down of how the tariffs were implemented.