How will the recently implemented tariffs affect your doll collecting?

Ugh, with four dolls on order and one coming from China probebly within this month or the next one, I am holding my breath that I don't have to end up paying the125% tariff.

Honestly, 10% with the de minimis rule instated is doable. But more then doubling the price of an original sale is just greed. The sour faced Orange is out of his mind.

I can't do anything about my four pre-orders, but I am going to have to pause the two final dolls on my wish list this year until this gets cleared up. Hopefully this gets under some type of control, because it a crazy situation right now.

 

This has me very worried, with five (!!!) outstanding doll orders, all from Chinese artists, because of course all my favorites had to be from the place getting hit the hardest. Only one of those is going through a UK dealer, so maybe there's a chance I won't have to tank the full 1000+$ value a second time, along with whatever ghastly shipping price the 1/3 scale Yin Long ends up having in the end. I don't think I would actually be ABLE to do it, especially not with four other dolls besides him. One of those others is a fullset of Dollzone's Light, so we're talking about him ultimately costing me over 2k if I'm understanding the math correctly.

For once, I'm hoping every one of those takes the maximum wait time to be completed, by which point I can only pray that the situation changes. Even if the dealers write in a lower value for some of these, it still might be drastically more than I can afford.

So...yeah, not a single doll or accessory is gonna get purchased for the foreseeable future unless someone puts out something that's perfect down to the last detail and I'm willing (and able) to pay 2 or 3x the price for it. I'd say "or until the tariffs are removed" but I don't trust that they won't simply be reinstated in the blink of an eye. I hate the unpredictability. There's no way to make a "responsible" purchase like this, not knowing what the endgame is.

 

I hope it all goes well! Yeah that’s the most frustrating part! Every day it changes and there’s no way at all to know what we’ll have to pay. Infuriating.

That sucks. Me too I really wanted to buy the asai body, and preorder closes today…but it comes from China and I just can’t bring myself to buy it in this situation…

 

Yeah, but don't give them any excuses.

In other news, my Iplehouse JID Alice along with some clothes arrived today. No tariff. Via EMS. May have arrived in the US just under the wire a couple days ago, may be subject to de minimis, it's a mess right now, I'm just thanking my lucky stars.

I also got a JID Kassia from within the US today. I got her to hedge against import bullcrap. Now I have two newly acquired JIDs. Well, Alice is going to be the daughter of two of my adult dolls. I guess they're having twins now.

 

Oh dear.... I preordered that body last month and I was wondering how much I'm going to have to pay because of the tariffs.... but I'm going through with it anyways I've been wanting to make my character for a year or so now and I still haven't got a body yet for him.

 

My Leeke order sat in Chicago customs, scanned in April 3, and just showed up at my local PO tonight, set for delivery tomorrow. There were no updates between customs and local, even though there should have been a few stops. So it's possible your package is moving, just not being scanned. I have not gotten a tariff notice on it, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

 

I asked NewCloverSinging about the tariffs and shipping methods. Here is what she said:

“we use the "small post parcel shipping" way by air, so there is no tax now.

Yanwen express told me if your local custom office will ask for a tax on the "small post parcel shipping", it may ask from Yanwen (our side).”

Ofc I can’t guarantee this is accurate or how things will change.

 

I'm a vendor (non-doll related) and basically have to reshift my entire product line and drop some products entirely just to stay open. 2 of my dealer friends have announced either closure or no restocking until further notice. It's rough out here, fam.

I wanted to buy some doll parts but I'll have to stick to local groups for now. Sigh

 

I want to have hope but now with the latest update for tariffs, China increased their retaliatory tariffs, I’m slowly becoming more worried I may not see my pre-order ever. Because I have a gut feeling this could go to trade embargo since neither side wants to back down…

If that happens I wonder if pre-orders can be directed through another country just so orders can get fulfilled so they don’t show it’s shipped from China. Maybe vendors and dealers are figuring out how to make that happen anyway since this situation changes unpredictably, and it could at minimum let them fulfill anything already ordered.

 

I have been worrying

RBBM

I have been worrying about the same, this lune in the WH. Two dictators, neither of them with the personality to back down, but instead double down.

 

That would be a good idea…hopefully we find a way. And ofc it’s a bad situation for several more important reasons but also…we still want our dolls.

 

I got my Leekeworld order today! No tariffs on it, though it did come from South Korea, not China. Still, nothing was owed. I asked my postal worker about tariffs, if she knew anything, what to expect, how to pay, etc and she said they have had no training at all about it, and she has no idea how it's going to work or when it'll start or who it'll affect. They're just as in the dark as the rest of us. It might be important to note that I live in a tiny town of about 500 people, so maybe the bigger cities would know more, but just the fact that she is the manager and only employee at our PO and knows nothing is....concerning.

I think this is a perfectly fine way to feel. Our dolls bring us comfort and are a nice little escape from reality. It's not about toys being more important than lives, it's that we can't even relax and take comfort in our hobby when the world is crashing down. Just knowing what is going on and that you will get your doll would be one little ray of sunshine in all of this uncertainty!

 

I have two dolls on order from Chinese companies, Miracle Doll and Xaga, and am currently hoping that this will resolve itself by the time it comes for either to actually ship sometime later this year. Both were a splurge and having to pay for them all over again on import makes me feel sick.

My comfort thought right now is that the entire situation is so untenable that the Senate is likely to take away the presidential ability to impose tariffs and rescind the current ones. Fingers crossed!

 

I also got MY Leeke order today, and also did not have to pay anything! BUT, it came in a Priority Mail box, which was a bad sign... and it was covered in "damaged due to improper packaging" stickers. And it was extremely heavy, which is weird for doll wigs (the original label from Leeke WAS on the outside). I opened it, and... there were 4 cold packs (melted), and a tightly wrapped and taped Priority Mail padded bag... with about 20 pieces of steel inside! I was able to figure out they were replacement blades for a lawn trimmer?! No receipt or other label, so who KNOWS who they were intended to go to (or who ordered something that was supposed to have cold packs in it and doesn't, cause it wasn't my doll wigs OR blades person).

I did check the doll things against my Leeke order, and everything IS here (very glad this didn't happen when I'd ordered a doll head!). But I'm sharing this update because... the USPS is STRESSED, y'all. Expect things to be slow, and definitely check carefully everything you ordered is there. And tariff charges seem likely to come up wrong under these circumstances...

 

Omg…this sounds like a huge mess…Glad you got your order though!

I asked the agents/stores I ordered from to let me know when the orders are ready and we’ll try to figure out the best way to ship. I know there’s a tax-included way by sea…probably others but everything is such chaos rn.

 

I decided to come back here because all this crap has me stressed and I actually have a new doll in for the first time in years. No other dolls planned, but trying to get her basic stuff like eyes and a wig is going to be a headache. And I hate that our Joann's is closing, I keep popping in there like once a week just because I know I'll miss it. Just trying to hunker down, but I'm a fed, so...

 

@iamkathybrown I feel so sorry for all the feds! My sister was also a fed. What a mess.

I came across an article suggesting that customs might charge fees retroactively on imports that were delivered without. This seems to apply only to large freight importers though (hopefully). The reason was because they don't have the correct numbers in their system yet for certain kinds of items.

 

It coming in priority mail box didnt sound so bad at first because usually that means the packaging got damaged in transit in some way and Ive noticed buying small items from Asia they use the most inexpensive packaging even if it’s an unpadded envelope. Not all the time but often enough that I’m surprised certain things survived the overseas transits.

But when you said you got the cold packs and 20 pieces of metal I was shook . USPS is stressed but even that seems unusual when the issue is around the tariffs. Repackaging items incorrectly is a whole ‘nother issue.

Though at least you got your wigs. And in good condition I hope? Melted freezer packs are just water right?

If that’s true it’d make sense to retroactively charge the large freight importers rather than us hobbyist buying dolls, accessories, or anything for personal use only. But that could hurt small businesses and I would hate for DDE or BJDivas or any others, get hit with retroactive tariffs just trying to import dolls for us as the middlemen to get BJDs stateside

 

Very fortunately, the freezer packs didn't rupture from bouncing around with all that steel (I think they were the kind with saltwater inside? not sure). And the wigs are okay! A few bent cardboard pieces, but I also had some glass eyes that were fortunately safe in little plastic cases. If that Jerome head had been in this box, he might not have made it! Totally wild.

 

The first round of tariffs earlier this year were repealed, if I remember correctly, just in time for my Miracle Doll Ian to arrive after being lost in the mail for about a week. I felt incredibly lucky and I am still relieved he got here at all.

When I first heard of the de minimus repeal or whatever coming in March, I naively thought it wouldn't be too bad if I ordered a pair of doll shoes off ACBJD right away hoping they'd get here fast, and if not, that the $25 shoes would become $50 shoes and since they were the exact shoes I need for the character, I figured I could handle that if I had to.

That was dumb because I forgot that trade war means escalation can happen. I believe last I checked the shoes will cost me an extra $75 or more if they don't get here by May 2nd, that or I'll have to abandon them, which is probably what I'll end up doing since a $25 loss is better than a $100 one. I FAFO, basically. And I feel stupid for thinking the orange would just back down like last time.

I was really hoping to win the race against time here, since the shoes and some eyes I ordered earlier this month are literally the last things I need for my current doll projects that I can't make myself in some form. I wanted to do more making rather than buying anyway, and I have a lot of fabric hoarded, so I was already assuming I wouldn't need to buy anything after these two things (well, aside from Puppy's body, but he's a low priority right now and I already figured I'd focus on my other dolls first). I can handle having to make more things, because I was already planning on making my hobby experience much more DIY focused. But if I can't get my doll his proper eyes, I can't easily get the same ones in the USA, let alone the special sized shoes, and I was so excited to be able to finish this project-- not to get to bleak but art and these doll projects are the main thing getting me through things right now with so much horror and so much up in the air both metaphorically and literally (the eyes and shoes I ordered just left China customs, apparently. I am wishing them a very swift flight!!).

That said, I very much sympathize with people who have entire dolls on the way because damn does that sound expensive. I was anticipating that with my Ian before he got here, and frustrated because I really did expect the election in 2024 to have a different result and therefore I didn't even consider tariffs when I pre-ordered in July. I'm lucky things worked out with my doll at least.

I still have some anime figures coming in in the coming year and a half, and while most of them are through a USA branch of the company (and said company is honoring pre-tariff pre-order prices), some aren't and I'm already both anticipating in anxiety any issues that come up, and kind of kicking myself for spending that much money at all on frivolous things when the future is so uncertain in so many ways.

And some uncertainty is indeed about material availability, and some is about more of the existential kind- but with things changing every other day I just have to act naturally knowing I can't prepare for every eventuality. But I will definitely not be doing much if any online shopping for a long while.

I hope everyone gets their dolls with no problems. I hope the orange blinks again or some other thing happens that makes things better, at least for a bit. I kind of have to hope, because it's all I have. At least my dolls are here with me, and I have a lot of projects to work on that don't require much more than my own effort and materials I have. I'm lucky, I guess.