Edit for July 3:
The container didn’t show up at port today, and with tomorrow being a national holiday, we’re now looking at next week. I’ll have an update from my broker on Monday and will post an update on whatever info I receive.
I hope everyone has an awesome (and safe) 4th of July holiday.
Edit for June 24:
Just got word from my freight forwarder that the container is due to be processed by US customs first week of July.
After the de-escalation meeting in Switzerland between the US and China, a huge number of US businesses placed orders with Chinese manufacturers, rushing to try to lock into lower tariffs before the US changed its mind again. This lead to a big queue for containers leaving China and ultimately entering US ports.
But we’re finally in the homestretch and I should be shipping out 16” Teardrops and Bottlecaps soon.
Edit for June 9:
I expect to have the wheels at my warehouse and ready to ship before the end of this month.
Edit for May 24:
F*ck it.
We’ve all waited as long as we can, and from what I can tell from today’s news cycle, things are likely to get worse before they get better.
So I’ve decided to just suck it up and use personal funds to pay the US government an extra $100k+ in taxes in order to get my Teardrop and Bottlecap wheels to the US. It’s a bit of gamble in hoping I’ll sell enough of the ones not pre-sold and make up the loss, but the prospect of trying to offload 1000 wheels to some international dealer - after giving out over $100k in refunds - seems like an even riskier financial prospect.
My goal is to get the container on the water as early as next week (before some unforeseen situation sees tariffs going back up over 145%), meaning the wheels should arrive at my warehouse in about 3 to 4 weeks.
Non-US order will have already shipped direct from my manufacturer.
US customer pre-orders will ship as soon as the wheels are inventoried at my warehouse. While I will still be honoring the pre-order pricing, unfortunately I cannot honor the free shipping aspect. I deeply apologize for this, but the fact is I cannot afford to eat the full amount of the tariffs and customer shipping as well. Anyone wanting a refund just let me know, and I will waive the 3.5% cancellation fee.
For those customers willing to pay for shipping, I will be sending out invoices once the wheels arrive.
For anyone wanting Bottlecaps that didn’t order in time before they were all pre-sold, I did get enough cancellations that there are now quite a few sets available for purchase on the website. Yes, MSRP has gone up a bit, but that’s a direct result of me having to pay an extra 73.5% in tariff taxes.
There are plenty of Teardrops available to order as well.
Finally, I hope this all works out for the best, and for everyone who has stuck with me through all this drama, I really can’t express strongly enough how much I appreciate it. I still have doubts I’ll be able to continue making new designs, or even re-ordering any of the old ones, but hopefully I’ll be able to hang on until things in this country become a little more stable.
Edit for May 18:
Many of you have read that the US and China had recently met to negotiate a de-escalation in mutual tariffs, and that the results were a drop from 145% to 30%. While this is true for many industries importing products from China, the fact is my industry wasn't at 145% when these negotiations took place - we were at 188.5%. So with Trump reducing the tariffs by 115%, that still leaves us at 73.5%.
Trust me when I say I understand how confusing this must be to read. You see, for my industry, in addition to the fentanyl tariff, and the so-called reciprocal tariffs that got us to 145%, before April 2 there were already tariff sections 232 and 301 in place. Each in its own way is a tax on Chinese steel and aluminum products, and they stack together to equal 43.5%. These tariffs were not part of the de-escalation negotiations.
So...where does that leave us, then? Still in no-man's land, unfortunately. With import taxes for cast aluminum wheels still at almost 75%, I think you can understand that's still much too high for me to manage, especially if I keep my word to honor the pre-order pricing I've committed to. Simply, put, in addition to having to come up with extra tens of thousands of dollars just to have the wheels released from customs, I'd be losing money on every order.
The (sort of) good news is that so far, my manufacturer is not pressuring me that much to have my wheels removed from their storage facility. Also, I’ve heard several reports that China has plans to make significant good-faith gestures in regard to helping stem the flow of fentanyl (and its chemical precursors) into the US, and that as a result Trump plans to remove the 20% punitive tariffs he imposed earlier this year. If this actually happens, I think we’ll be in a position to make this work.
So again, we wait. Refunds are still available at any time, and I will keep everyone updated should any part of this situation change in a meaningful way.
For all non-US preorders, I expect to start shipping later this week.
Thanks again for all your patience and support!
Edit for April 29:
Unfortunately, as things stand today we’re still in a holding pattern and hoping that Trump soon comes to the conclusion that current tariffs on products imported from China need to be reduced.
My plan is to give the situation another two weeks and if no reduction takes place, I will likely start issuing refunds to my US customers (I will post another update before I begin).
Before then, for all non-US customers I will begin gathering freight quotes for direct shipping from my manufacturer, and I will then send invoices to finalize the fulfillment process.
Just to clarify the refund process as described in my original update, the 3.5% cancellation fee will only be waived if the refund is initiated by me. Of course you can request a refund before then, but please be advised the 3.5% will still apply.
I also want to assure everyone who pre-ordered there is no risk of me defaulting on your refunds: I have the refund money set aside for every single pre-order.
If you've read the article preceding this one, you probably have a good idea regarding the content about to be discussed in this latest update.
Last time, I was concerned about the 79% tariff rate I was looking at for my incoming Bottlecap and Teardrop wheels, and my goal then was to explain the various ways in which the situation affected me...and possibly you. Though I had fears things could get worse, I had no idea that today I'd be wistfully remembering that 79% rate as "the good ol' days."
As of this writing, I am currently looking at 154% in tariffs for any wheels not currently in inventory here in the US. As you can imagine, for me and most other small businesses importing from China, that excessively-high rate effectively results in a complete trade embargo. Even if I felt I could raise my retail pricing high enough to compensate, I simply do not have the extra $212,000 in capital needed just to pay for the extra customs fees. I was told the ship would be on the water no later than April 1, and had that actually happened I'd have not been charged the extra taxes...but some of our government's other new regs got in the way.
I'm not sure how many people are aware, but this past March, the US Trade Representative threatened to implement a 1.5 million-dollar fee for every Chinese-owned freight ship entering any US port, effective in April. As you can imagine, this new regulation threat, and the uncertainties behind it, had caused most Chinese freight companies to take some time to digest and plan for. So really, even though I had no idea at the time, an April 1 launch was never going to happen.
So where does that leave us? I know many of you have pre-ordered and paid for many of the wheels due on this container. As of today, my manufacturer has agreed to keep my container in their storage lot while we wait to see if calmer heads prevail in the next few weeks, and tariff rates go back down to something more manageable. If this happens, RML Bottlecaps and Teardrops will still make it here for your late-spring enjoyment. If things do not change, well, it won't be fun, but rest assured everyone who pre-ordered will receive a 100% refund (no 3.5% cancellation fee), and I will try to sell the contents of the container to a dealer in another country. After that, I will more than likely work to sell my existing US-based inventory and then close my doors, so to speak. As I've had to explain too many times already, US-based cast aluminum automotive wheel factories simply do not exist, and in this environment, all the larger wheel companies have already taken control of pretty much 100% of the manufacturing capacity in other countries. Unless I pivot to US-made forged wheels ($$$), there really is no future RML business case.
While we wait, anyone who would like a refund on their pre-order should simply email me at brad@rmlwheels.com to let me know. No hard feelings whatsoever toward anyone needing to cancel - tough times are likely ahead for all of us, so I truly do understand.
I want to take a moment to thank everyone for their patience and support throughout this mess. I've received so many amazing emails and DMs, and each one reaffirms what I've known for more than 40 years - the VW and Euro car enthusiast community in general is full of some of the most amazing people I've ever met.
- Brad
