Freight Rate Adjustment due to US Tariff Policy Changes

Hi,

due to policy changes, there are changes to the shipping conditions for US destinations.

Due to recent adjustments in US tariff policies, US shipping costs have risen significantly.

The situation is currently uncertain to some degree, and possible further increases are difficult to predict. At the moment it appears that the US administration just equalizes the costs for imports to a level similar to destinations in the EU, European destinations outside the EU, Australia, or mainland China. Typically, when importing somthing into these destinations, imports fees consisting of a customs rate and some kind of VAT are charged.

For US customers this might be some kind of a novelty as the US had neither a VAT, nor a significant amount of customs fees were charged.

In effect this means that there will be two different shipping rates for US destinations, starting in April 2025:

1) Express Shipping (aka "drop shipping"): Total product cost including freight remains close to previous rates, with standard delivery times for international transit (~7-10 days). However, the US recipient may be required to pay import taxes himself.

2) Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) Service: No additional taxes for US recipients, but freight rates are volatile (24% increase until now). Delivery times may also be extended due to policy impacts.

Please note that this estimated 24% increase for imports from China is still less than what governments charge in other areas of the world. For example, Denmark, Sweden and Finland charge 25%+ VAT on basically [i]everything[/i] what is sold in these countries. For imported goods like sex dolls from China an additional 6.5% customs rate is charged on top of the product cost. EU VAT rates suffocated turnover massively when they came into effect. So yes, this is probably not a good development for import/export businesses.

Again, this is a volatile situation that might change at any time. We will monitor updates and changes closely.

Sandro