Author Topic: TVC and Tariff Pricing  (Read 772 times)

Offline Muftak

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2025, 02:51 PM »
Logically I am having trouble grasping why EE and BBTS are going to ve charging variable tariff fees on top of their prices. Unless they are directly importing toys from Chinese toy companies, don't they buy straight from US companies that have already imported the toys? (I understand the toy company has to pay the tariff, but on previously ordered product like current EE preorders, isn't there a price agreement already in place?)

Granted that going forward base prices for MSRP ought to jump significantly to cover the toy company's new tariff expense, but how does this become a conversation between EE and me, as opposed to between Hasbro and EE?

Can anyone dumb this down enough for me to make sense of it?

Offline Dave

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #16 on: April 21, 2025, 03:08 PM »
Ultimately it doesn't matter who is the importer of record and who pays the tariff.  If Hasbro is the importer of record and paying the tariff, Hasbro could very easily just pass that on to BBTS and EE because they don't have enough a contract that protects them against price changes.  If EE and BBTS are the importer of record then they're paying the tariffs directly.  Either way they're paying the higher costs and passing them along to their customers (us).

Amazon may have specific language in their contract with Hasbro that doesn't allow for this, or they've chosen to eat the tariffs for now and not pass it on to customers because they value their "price guarantee" long term more than short term profitability.  I would assume Target and Wal-Mart probably also have strong buying power with Hasbro that might protect them more than a small company like EE and BBTS.

Either way, somebody has to pay the tariff and decide if they want to pass it on down the line to the customer.  It can even become more exacerbated if everyone is trying to maintain a margin %.  If people are trying to achieve 30% margins along the way (factory to Hasbro, Hasbro to retailer, retailer to customer) and there is a 10% tariff paid at the beginning, that will result in a larger than 10% price increase as retailers seek to maintain their 30% margins.  In my business we call this margin stacking, and it usually results in substantial lost business.

EE and BBTS are probably also working with other distributors for some of their lines (although maybe not Hasbro).  Think Japanese anime or some other types of lines where the manufacturer may not sell direct to US companies and work with another layer of distributors.  That could add another layer of margin stacking.

Tariffs are generally a terrible idea unless they're protecting a strategic capability - e.g. microchips, steel/aluminum, etc.  The US and Europe haven't made plastic toys in our lifetime and never will. 

Offline Rob

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #17 on: April 21, 2025, 03:13 PM »
Yeah, the price increases ripple through the whole process.  EE or BBTS buy from Hasbro and Hasbro isn’t going to absorb all of this, so they pass it on to whoever buys it from them whether that’s us directly or other stores.

Offline Rob

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #18 on: April 21, 2025, 03:15 PM »
I spun all the tariff talk from a couple different threads into one - not surprised to see EE follow the same path as BBTS.  Pretty sure others (are there really any others these days?) will follow suit as well.  Amazon and Pulse can probably hold out longer given their sizes.

Let's hope it all gets resolved to some level of satisfaction before it starts to really cause issues (thinking about how tariff charges may impact my ability to get that HasLab Cantina this Fall).

Oof, I hadn’t even thought about the Cantina.  145% tariffs on that are going to cause a real nightmare.

Offline Jeff

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #19 on: April 21, 2025, 03:34 PM »
Oof, I hadn’t even thought about the Cantina.  145% tariffs on that are going to cause a real nightmare.

Hasbro has a real dilemma there.  Do they...

- Eat the tariff cost out of their profit on the set as a show of goodwill to the customers who supported it?
- Ask the HasLab buyers for more money on top of the $350-500 you already spent to get your Cantina?
- Offer refunds to anyone who wants to cancel and then put those cancelled HasLab Cantina sets on Pulse for $500 basic/$750 deluxe?

Again, really hoping all this nonsense is cleared up before then...
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Offline Muftak

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #20 on: April 21, 2025, 03:44 PM »
Okay. I appreciate replies. I still don't know if I get it. Here's the scenario that runs through my mind...

Hasbro debuts a $17 TVC action figure today for delivery in the summer. EE puts it up for presale, and presells out. The figure arrives in July now with a 150% tariff added on, so it becomes a $42 purchase. (I know in reality it is a tariff on the wholesale price and not MSRP, but go with me for simplicity's sake.) EE allows me to cancel that preorder, and in fact all preorder customers cancel due to the incredible price jump. Does EE get stuck with all that inventory at that cost? Can they cancel and stick Hasbro with the costs and inventory? Can Hasbro refuse the tariff and choose not to unload the ship?

Is all of this unprecedented and just unknown at this point?

Offline Rob

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #21 on: April 21, 2025, 03:58 PM »
Again, really hoping all this nonsense is cleared up before then...

Same.  I have little faith that it will be though, but I'd be happy to be wrong.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2025, 03:58 PM by Rob »

Offline Dave

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #22 on: April 21, 2025, 04:09 PM »
Okay. I appreciate replies. I still don't know if I get it. Here's the scenario that runs through my mind...

Hasbro debuts a $17 TVC action figure today for delivery in the summer. EE puts it up for presale, and presells out. The figure arrives in July now with a 150% tariff added on, so it becomes a $42 purchase. (I know in reality it is a tariff on the wholesale price and not MSRP, but go with me for simplicity's sake.) EE allows me to cancel that preorder, and in fact all preorder customers cancel due to the incredible price jump. Does EE get stuck with all that inventory at that cost? Can they cancel and stick Hasbro with the costs and inventory? Can Hasbro refuse the tariff and choose not to unload the ship?

Is all of this unprecedented and just unknown at this point?

Yes, yes, and yes.

There are customers choosing to abandon their items at the dock (in China or on the West Coast) because the provided a down payment (lets say 50%) and then have to pay the final amount upon shipment.  The tariffs are so high and the costs now make their items unsellable so they are just walking away.  The manufacturer (in China) is screwed because they have lost half of their revenue but fully invested to make something that is now unsellable.  The buyer is screwed because they lost their down payment and now have nothing to sell.  And the end customer is screwed because now they can't buy the widget that they want/need.

I'm working with a few customers in China that are asking us to hold inventory indefinitely in the US until the tariffs are resolved/lowered.  They've paid us the agreed upon price, but we're just sitting on it.  I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro might try something like that with the Cantina where they ask the factory (or local subsidiary) to hold the finished product for some period of time in hopes that tariffs decline.


Offline Muftak

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #23 on: April 21, 2025, 04:21 PM »
Thanks Dave for your first-person information. That is a really scary situation. I realize that I am looking at it from the nebulous position of a toy collector, but expanding it out to ALL the industries that are going to feel it and are currently forced to reac to it is making my mind go numb. But at least I can stop asking questions that way.

Offline McMetal

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #24 on: April 21, 2025, 06:09 PM »
It’s going to be the same story everywhere before too long.  Every importer is facing the same challenge.

Yeah, I guess I was thinking more of the Amazon preorder price guarantee. I’d like lock my preorders in so at least they don’t get even more expensive in a few weeks/months.
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Offline Rob

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #25 on: April 21, 2025, 11:19 PM »
Amazing preorders will be interesting to watch… like you said they offer a guarantee but I have a hard time believing there won’t be a limit for them on what they’re willing to absorb if the prices really do jump 100-plus percent.

Offline Ryan

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #26 on: April 22, 2025, 02:03 AM »
Amazing preorders will be interesting to watch… like you said they offer a guarantee but I have a hard time believing there won’t be a limit for them on what they’re willing to absorb if the prices really do jump 100-plus percent.

Certain types of goods and companies have been getting tariff exemptions, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of those just so happen to fall Amazon's way... but who really knows, this could all change again tomorrow.

Who knows where we are headed... I am definitely expecting my collecting habits to change significantly over the next four or so years. Depending on the final price increases, I'll likely cut back on army building and stop buying extras.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #27 on: April 22, 2025, 08:20 AM »
I also received the Tariff Email from EE.  I have two pre-orders with them, the re-release of Darth Nihilus in TBS which is a $2 increase and the TVC Luke's X-wing which is a $7 increase.  While I'm not thrilled about the price increases, they could be a lot worse.
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Offline Rob

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #28 on: April 22, 2025, 09:58 AM »
Of my Snowtrooper preorders with EE, three have shipped.  The remaining have jumped a whole
dollar to $17.99 each.

So, not a prohibitive jump up to this point.

Offline Ryan

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Re: TVC and Tariff Pricing
« Reply #29 on: April 22, 2025, 11:32 AM »
I wonder what that says about the actual wholesale cost of a TVC figure...
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