US sextech company Dame has become one of the first in the sector to introduce a new ‘Trump Tariff Surcharge’ charge to customers, in response to President Donald Trump introducing a 125 percent tariff rate on goods imported to the US from China.
Autoblow has also hit out against the tariffs, predicting that they will cause sex toy prices in the US to rise by up to four times their current levels.
Dame now implements its Trump Tariff Surcharge of $15 on customer orders, with the company saying it wanted to be transparent about the reasons behind rising costs rather than quietly inflating prices.
Although Trump has paused the implementation of many global tariff charges recently, the 125 percent tariff rate for Chinese goods has so far remained in place. Smartphones, computers, and some electronic devices were quickly exempted from the China tariffs, although Trump has since made threats about these exemptions perhaps changing.
“I wanted people to understand why it’s more expensive, that it’s because of political decisions that were made.” – Alexandra Fine, Chief Executive of Dame
Extra charges to customers, marked by companies as being due to the tariffs, have started to pop up at various companies’ checkout points in the US. A huge amount of US-based sextech companies use electronic components imported from China, with Dame’s chief executive Alexandra Fine telling CBS Moneywatch: “Our whole industry is in China, so we’ve already seen the impact”.
Fine added: “The intention of adding the Trump Tariff Surcharge as a line item at checkout was to remind people that this is an extra tax on us. I wanted people to understand why it’s more expensive, that it’s because of political decisions that were made.”
A flawed approach
Trump has stated that his ambition for the sweeping tariffs he recently introduced was to force companies to move more production to the US, creating jobs and stimulating US-based industries. However, the immediate effect has been a huge hike in costs for companies currently reliant on China-made products and components, resulting in increased costs being passed on to customers.
A notice on Dame’s website reads: “Due to the latest round of tariffs affecting goods made in China (and other countries), our cost to make products just went up. A lot. Like many other companies, we’re adding a $5 surcharge to help cover these increased costs.” Confusingly, it seems the actual surcharge is $15, and is removed for some countries, judging from our own research on the site.
It continued: “We’re calling it what it is: a Trump Tariff Surcharge. We’ve held off as long as we could… but this fee helps us avoid raising the price of every item on our site. We wanted to be transparent with you, rather than quietly inflating prices.”
Autoblow, know for its AI-assisted penis stroker machines, predicted a far greater price hike in the sector following the tariff chaos. The company said: “The entire supply chain for sex toys is based in China with no American-made alternatives. Over the next one to two months, Americans will see retail sex toy prices raised between 2x-4x current levels, causing sales to virtually cease.”
Brian Sloan, Autoblow’s founder, added: “I lived in China for 10 years and developed my American brand with the help of Chinese engineers and business partners who are simply irreplaceable. I understand and am sympathetic to the need to bring more manufacturing to the United States.”
He continued: “But it defies logic that reviving American manufacturing requires bankrupting American entrepreneurs and their Chinese business partners. I am hoping that cooler heads prevail as soon as possible.”
While other sextech companies will be planning how to absorb increased costs due to tariffs on Chinese imports, the quick pace at which Trump has recently changed course over their introduction and implementation has contributed to a far more financially uncertain landscape.
Meanwhile, Dame recently launched its first sextech device designed for penis stimulation: a couples wearable called the Hug (pictured above). It’s designed to be worn on the penis during penetrative sex, similarly to a vibrating ring, and gives stimulation to the penis of the wearer and the clitoris or perineum of the wearer’s partner.
The Hug features a bendable motor designed to move with the body, can be used ‘hands-free’ with a partner, or used as a solo penis-stimulating device.
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