It’s been a year since the United States government announced tariffs.
2025 was a year of high highs for some, rock-bottom lows for many, and a mixture of the two for most. Regardless of the outcome, nearly every merchant spent time brainstorming on how to work around the trade policies.
To merchants within the US market, fluctuating costs and rerouted business strategies became a normal experience.
Even now, merchants are regularly posting about it online. Even as a lot of businesses shut shop, others rode the waves of BFCM and the holiday season, to eventually come out on top.
One frustrated merchant put it succinctly when asked about the impact of the tariffs:
“Destroyed my margins and I closed up shop.”
This story isn’t the first, nor will it be the last for a bunch of businesses. But is this narrative the predominant experience for most, or is it just the loudest?
Let’s unpack the answer through the real experiences of merchants dealing with US tariffs.
When they were announced, tariffs made headlines all over the world. Everyone and their grandma talked about it. It was a rough situation to be in if you didn’t have US-based manufacturing. But most businesses still found a way around this. In fact, 70.4% of sellers said tariffs had enhanced supply chain resilience.
But when the de minimis exemption was axed, panic ensued. The exemption was the backbone of cheap cross-border ecommerce for a long time. Foreign sellers could ship direct to customers as long as each package stayed under $800 and avoid customs paperwork and duties in the process. It just wasn’t a big deal two years ago, like it is now.
“We rode the de minimis rule for more than 10 years....its been dirt cheap to drop ship to the States from China. No other country has anything close.”
- A concerned clothing brand owner on Reddit.
This was a huge change as compared to FY2024: According to Reuters, 1.36 billion shipments worth a total of $64.6 billion entered the US duty-free under that exemption, with about 73% originating from China alone.
The tariffs shut doors for many; Especially dropshippers, artists, and brands selling handicrafts. In the US alone, 700 businesses went bankrupt after the policies came into effect, showing a 14% increase over 2025.
“I've literally stopped selling. I'm out of product and the materials I need to import with the tariffs are too much. I DO make my product in America but where in America is there a bamboo farm that makes cloth?? I'm livid. I'm back to working in engineering and I hate it.”
- A merchant venting on Reddit.
Struggling merchants across forums have been wracking their brains to find a solution. When one user asked others whether they’d be paying the tariffs themselves, one seller simply responded:
“Since the tariff would be 145% of the selling price + a $100 random fee, there is no price point at which this would be feasible.”
A lot of sellers accommodated the cost of tariffs into the product pricing, but didn’t tell consumers directly. Buyers were just as surprised, and didn’t want to pay tariffs either. So consumers resorted to either stockpile products or try to avoid buying anything as much as possible.
When speaking to CBS, Denish Shah, a marketing professor at Georgia State University said, "The tariffs are injecting uncertainty into the marketplace and when there is high uncertainty, consumers tend to overestimate their losses, so they try to hedge their losses as much as possible in a very irrational way.”
Even though some segments faced more hiccups than others, almost every single one has its own set of challenges. Here are a few merchant voices across industries:
Electronics brands that followed D2C models or used international fulfillment models now pay tariffs and compliance fees on every device or accessory. According to the International Trade Center, China is the leading producer of electronics. And we all know how the US feels about China.
When the United States set charges of 145% on semiconductors, China retaliated with tariff rates of 125% on raw materials from America. If this goes on any longer, the entire global semiconductor market could shrink by as much as 34% in 2026.
You can see this clash especially when you check out the pricing of computer parts. RAM prices are 4.4 times higher in January 2026 than they were 6 months before.
SMB merchants tend to suffer the most in this geopolitical struggle because they don’t have the reach of bigger businesses.
For clothing, small brands that got imports from abroad saw costs balloon up as well.
“Clothing brands like mine are getting crushed right now. U.S. tariffs. And if you’re sourcing from places like India, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about. Cotton fabrics up 10 percent. Polyester blends 15 percent. Wool suiting 16 percent. Certain synthetics up to 32 percent.”
- A frustrated garment brand owner on Reddit.
Craftsmen and independent sellers aren’t exempt from the tariffs either. Artists who source paints, varnishes, and beads from abroad can’t do so without spending more.
“I live in Europe and have put everything into building my handmade brand shop. Until recently, 90% of my sales were to the US. But since the abrupt end of the $800 de minimis exception, and with almost every country in the world suspending shipping to the US, my sales have nearly stopped overnight, like someone flipped a switch.”
- A devastated business owner on Reddit.
A lot of F&B businesses have been losing sales. Luckily, the government did roll back the 10- 40% tariffs on items. A few merchants still dealt with the consequences:
“We simply do not grow the ingredients I need to manufacture. Hence, I needed to raise prices. Unless we start planting mango and coconut trees, there is no relief in sight.”
Nobody could afford to freeze when tariffs were announced. Businesses found different approaches to selling to keep their shops running.
Some of these strategies include:
They updated price displays at checkout to show duties and fees upfront. This helped in communicating with customers to avoid surprises. While customers are hesitant to buy more products with this change, at least they won’t make angry calls after they receive the item.
Sellers have been working on restructuring supply chains to import in bulk, clear customs once, and then fulfill domestically.
“My supplier in the US used the tariff to raise their prices. Even though the tariff was cancelled on our products. So currently looking at other countries to bring in supplies instead of the US. But also looking to move past the US as a supplier as it’s an unstable market to buy stuff from currently and maybe forever. Sucks but it’s your country. I will not dictate from my country how you want it to be. But I will be moving on.”
- A Canadian merchant on Reddit.
Merchants are opting for third-party warranty and protection offerings to reassure customers that they are backed even if the product arrives damaged.
“In my experience, almost no one takes advantage of warranties, but they help tremendously as a purchase closer. We saw absolutely no returns in the second year.”
- A salesperson on Reddit.
Aside from supporting customers, reliable warranty providers like SureBright take care of the claims process entirely. This would reduce any possible issues after the sale happens. If something does go very wrong, it’s not your headache to deal with the situation.
While there isn’t a clear path forward, merchants are using whichever strategies they can to grow their businesses.
And while tariffs made sellers across the world anxious, many took this challenge in their stride and grew more resilient.
The three things that did work for most merchants were to stay transparent, reduce post purchase chaos, and reorganize the way they work.
If you know a fellow merchant who could benefit from reading this article, send it their way.
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