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Update On Tariffs
Dear Rapido customers,
The whole tariff situation has been a crazy roller coaster ride. Things change from week to week (and sometimes from day to day), so here's another update. If you only read one line of this update, it should be this: Rapido is not increasing its tariff surcharge.
1. The very high tariffs on China are on pause.
While the tariffs on Chinese imports were at 145%, most importers/manufacturers stopped shipments. From Rapido's perspective, 145% is more than the gross profit that we make on our models. The gross profit, as opposed to the net profit, is just the selling price minus the cost. It does not include any of the overheads, such as salaries, rent, advertising, etc. With the tariffs higher than the gross profit, it is not possible to import anything.
Thankfully, the tariffs have been reduced to 30% until August, and we are hopeful that they will be reduced further before then.
2. Rapido will absorb the additional tariff.
Up until now, we have provided a 52% discount on the tariffs we pass along to you. So for goods brought into the USA when the tariffs were 10%, we charge a 4.8% surcharge, and for the goods brought in when the tariffs were 20%, we charge a 9.6% surcharge.
We know your wallets are being squeezed by these tariffs in all aspects of your lives, so we are going to absorb the additional 10% tariff. This means that Rapido models entering the US under the 30% tariff will still only be subjected to a 9.6% surcharge. Unlike some other manufacturers, we are also maintaining our current wholesale discounts.
3. What about older stock?
Anything that Rapido released before the first tariffs were put in place in February do not have any surcharge applied. But please note we only moved our American prototype models to our Buffalo warehouse before the tariffs were enacted. If you are in the United States and you want to order a Canadian prototype from our Canadian warehouse, there will be a tariff applied on that when it crosses the border.
4. Do Canadian and international customers have to pay tariffs?
Inventory of Canadian roadnames will be kept in our Canadian warehouse, so Canadian and international customers will not have to pay tariffs on those models, even if you did not preorder. For American roadnames, it's a different story.
If you live outside the United States and you preorder an American railroad model before the order deadline, you will not pay any tariffs. If you preorder after the order deadline but before the goods leave China, you will not pay any tariffs.
The problem is for those customers who prefer to take a "wait and see" approach rather than preordering. All extra stock of Rapido's American prototype models will be shipped directly to our Buffalo warehouse. So if you did not preorder and you decide that you want that GP39 or E44 after it arrives, you will have to pay the tariff surcharge because we have already paid it.
5. Will these tariffs go away?
Hopefully. We are advocating for an exclusion to be applied to hobbies. While nothing is certain, I do have faith that we will be successful. Because we are keeping the tariff surcharge separate from the retail price, it is no problem to remove that surcharge on new products the moment that the tariffs go away.
Thanks for your patience and understanding as we continue to deal with forces totally beyond our control.
Jason
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