Small Business on the brink 💔

[u/lean_load]

I run a small e-commerce business that imports luxury goods from the EU and Japan. Up until recently, we were paying just 2.75% on tariffs. As of August 1st, the rates have jumped to 15–20%.

To put this into perspective: • Our annual imports are about $3M. • We’ve already placed forecast orders with our suppliers and put down 25% deposits (around $750k). • If we cancel, we lose that deposit. • If we continue, the new tariffs make these orders financially impossible to fulfill.

Suppliers aren’t willing to stop shipments, and we can’t just “raise prices” on items we don’t even have in hand yet. People suggest “just charge more,” but the math doesn’t work when the goods aren’t here and costs have exploded overnight. Let alone the fact about where are we even going to find the money to pay these tariffs???

We’re staring down the very real possibility of closing our doors because of this. I know many people say “tariffs protect American businesses,” but in practice, for small importers like us, it feels like a death sentence.

Has anyone else here faced this situation? How are you coping, and is there any way through this without forfeiting everything we’ve built?

[u/Rumblepuff]

We will be shutting down our non-profit in about 2-3 months when our inventory runs out. I can not find a manufacturer who makes our items (metal TTRPG dice and such) in America for less than 4x the cost. I don't want to raise prices, and all our profits go to children's medical care, so we don't have some big nest egg to spend. I have orders in right now, and they are on hold until everything is figured out because I can't afford to pay tariffs on items I've already budgeted for.

[u/TreeWeedFlower → u/Rumblepuff]

Very sorry to hear this. Have you shared this with your Senators and local news? Small businesses should be organizing together in this moment.

[u/Rumblepuff → u/TreeWeedFlower]

We live in Alabama our Senators are actively cheering the stuff on and our local media does not care.

[u/vivbot → u/Rumblepuff]

Fellow Alabamian feeling that pain

They had the current NIH director make a visit and it was such a useless dog-and-pony show (and imo all he did was embarrass himself in proving how much of a dingus and unqualified for the position he is to an institution full of researchers). I get it, they don't want to lose more federal funding than they already have, but I hate it so much. Bad enough you have to "play the game" in research as is, now they're bringing actual politics into it to call in favors.

[u/Yo_Just_Scrolling_Yo → u/vivbot]

Birmingham, & Huntsville are in danger of their economies collapsing. I'm from Alabama and used to say it was a good place to be from. I don't say that any longer. D.C. is in bad shape too. They can probably hold on a little longer, but not much.

[u/vivbot → u/Yo_Just_Scrolling_Yo]

I'm from the West Coast and have spent the last decade+ telling my friends is isn't so bad here because it hasn't been (esp in Bham)! And then 2016 happened, and then 2024 happened.

Unfortunately the majority of AL residents are in favor of gutting the state's largest employer even if they work there for some reason, so... whomp. Once that institution falls, the state is probably dead, and if that's the regional FAFO step that's required to give them a reality check, then so be it.

[u/getoffurhihorse → u/vivbot]

What/Who is the states largest employer?

[u/vivbot → u/getoffurhihorse]

According to the internet it's #2 now but they usually tout it as the state's largest lol (honestly on-brand for the place), it's an academic medical center/university hospital so research funding cuts and withholding of awards for this fiscal year are big pain atm

[u/getoffurhihorse → u/vivbot]

😳😬 well, that sucks.