Tariffs & 2019 Pricing

The past year has brought forth tariffs on many product lines that we carry or have manufactured for us at PopCultureSpot.com LLC. The 10% tariffs were absorbed by us and/or manufacturers during 2018 as the situation evolved. As of January 1st, 2019, most manufacturers are no longer absorbing the cost and are passing that along to retailers in the form of higher wholesale prices. We're currently waiting to see how trade policy plays out over the next 45 days as many more products would be subject to escalating tariffs that would bring the 10% tariff to 25%.

The issue of tariffs is rather interesting as they are an import tax. The tax is not paid by a foreign government, rather the manufacturers that are bringing in the product. If we carry a product line, those tariffs in the end are being paid by you as the customer as the wholesale pricing of products rise. For products that we have directly manufactured for us that we import, we are paying the tariff and that causes the pricing to rise.

We are continuing to do everything at our disposal to mitigate the pricing pressures, but without resolution, there will be pricing increases in many of our product lines during the 1st quarter of 2019.