BunBun News 🎤

Hello bunnies!  🖤

As you know, we like to be transparent about our work and the challenges of running a small business, and as we're getting lots of excited inquiries about our The Black Witch Collection (yes, we know you can't wait for it to ship!), we're taking you behind the scenes. 👀

As we have many customers from the U.S., the new tariffs affect you and us equally and we will explain what this means. We will also be showing you some exciting BTS from our Limited Edition "The Black Witch Collection" and telling you when you can expect them to arrive and when any remaining stock will be sold in the shop!

1. U.S. Tariffs 

Let’s start out with the scariest subject first, which is the U.S. tariffs. 

As a German Small Business you might assume that the current trade war isn’t affecting us, but it does. 
The U.S. president has been imposing tariffs on 80 countries for imported goods to the U.S.. 📦 This includes raw materials, components but might also affect finished products. 

Who pays the tariffs?

Imported goods from the EU currently hold a tariff of 20% (as of me writing this). This is money we might have to pay extra to ship something to the U.S. OR if we decide not to cover the tariffs up front, you might have to pay when your order enters the country. You might now think, Okay, not good but also not too bad, right?! 🤔

Unfortunately, it gets worse. The president also imposed 145% tariffs (as of me writing this) on imported goods from China. "But China has nothing to do with your German small business!" I hear you say, but again, sadly, there is more to it. 😥

Why China?

All of our products are either manufactured in Germany or China. If it’s possible, we manufacture within the country, BUT for some of the products we sell, we do not have the supply chains in Germany to produce the items. This includes for example our BunBun Bags, Blankets, all our Enamel Pins and some other items. There are ZERO facilities that can manufacture these products, which is why we outsource them from China. We do have good relations with our manufacturers and have been working with them for years to offer the best quality that is available to us. 🐰

What about Shipping from Germany?

When we send an order to the U.S., we have to fill out custom forms before shipping the package. One of the things that needs to be confirmed is the country of origin. The country of origin is determined by where a product is made. This means we, TheBunBunShop, are legally obliged to inform customs that the country of Origin for some of our products is China. So even though we ship from Germany, you might still be hit with the 145% tariffs on the products you ordered from us. We know that this is simply impossible for us to keep up with, and we know that this is a ridiculous amount to pay for our customers. 💸

What could happen?

We are informing you that we know about this situation and are currently closely monitoring it as it is still unfolding and seems to be changing every couple of days depending on the mood of the U.S. president. But here are 3 options that might become reality if the tariffs go into effect: 

1. This hurts a lot to think about, because our main customer base when we started this business is in the U.S., but we will see us forced to stop all shipping to our U.S. customers, refund you if you have an open order, and not allow new orders to be placed. Basically, we will ban all shipping to the U.S. 😢
2.  We will raise shipping prices to cover the tariffs, and they will be handled through us when setting up the customs forms for U.S. shipments.
3. We will continue as is, but you will have to pay tariffs once the order reaches the country, to release the package from customs. 

None of these options are ideal for you or us, and we are still waiting for further information to figure out how we can handle this in the future. Again, this situation is still unfolding, and nothing is set in stone as of right now! We will inform you, via our newsletter, if and when we will make any changes.

If you are from the U.S. and currently have an open order or preorder with us and feel uneasy, feel free to reach out to us via our contact form, and we will refund your order. 

2. Black Witch Collection - Limited Edition

Next up, let’s talk about something more pleasing: The Black Witch Collection - Limited Edition.🦇 

All items from our Black Witch Collection have already finished production a while ago and have been shipped, so they are currently on their way to us in Germany. Yay!!

The entirety of all leather products from the collection is packed up in 125 boxes, with a total weight of 1.1 tons (I’m really not looking forward to carrying all of this into our storage.😣)

A few items from the collection have already arrived with us, like our the Limited Edition Blanket and the Limited Edition Mouse Pads. We are currently only waiting for the leather products to arrive with us. This includes the Shoulder bags, Mini Bags, Backpacks, Purse, Wallet and Charms.

Take a lot at some of the manufacturer photos!

 

When will the products arrive exactly? 

The answer is: We cannot give you an exact date. We are and always have been very open about our shipping times when we release new preorder items and try to give good estimates on when we think the products will reach us, but it is NEVER a guarantee. 

We have offered preorder options for different collections for multiple years now. Please know that we are not making you wait on purpose! 🙇

We have a whole preorder section that you can check up on and we update it whenever we have new information. This information is also linked in the description of each preorder product and can also be found by clicking on the dropdown menu > preorder > preorder updates.

We even made a guide for you when pre-ordering items. It’s called What is a pre-order, and we always recommend reading it before placing an order with us. 

It would help us a lot, if you would check these sites first, before contacting us with your individual request - of course we're always happy to help, if you have further questions after checking out the given information first.

Why can't you give us an exact date yet?

Unfortunately, this is in the nature of preorder, which are first produced at great expense and above all on another continent. We offer a discount for these items to you, as our customers, because we know you are supporting a project that has not been made yet and are subject to long waiting times. (Thank you so much! 🙏)

So, how does it work?

• Preorder items go through a stage where they are available for you to purchase in our shop.
• Once this window closes, the items need to be manufactured, which normally takes anywhere from 30 to 90 days.
• This is highly dependent on quantity, complexity and if there are delays in production or not.
• Afterward, the finished products need to be shipped to us.

Preorder items are not shipped like a normal package with a tracking number that you can follow along the whole way. When we order this many products, they are shipped in containers by either vessel, train or truck. 🚛 The shipping times are way longer than a single package (normally anywhere from 45 to 75 days) and can be subject to intense customs clearance procedures.

Custom clearance can take anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks. If customs clearance goes smoothly, the items won’t be checked and released quickly. If we are unlucky, they open the container, and it will be checked. Each box needs to be weighted or opened, and papers have to be double-checked to make sure everything is properly accounted for. 🔎

All of these steps take time, and we cannot influence them nor change them!

• Once the products arrive with us, they normally go through another round of quality control. That means we make sure the items didn’t get damaged during shipping and are up to our standards before we ship them out to you.
• After that, the items will be packed nicely and sent on their way to our customers.
• For the Black Witch Collection, we do have around 500 individual orders to go through.

I hope this explanation puts everyone at ease, and again, we want to assure you, that we do not make you wait on purpose nor that we forgot you and your order. 💗

Current estimated dates

Our estimated arrival date has been set to April in our pre-order updates, and this is still what we are hoping and waiting for. However, if shipping takes longer or customs clearance is slow, we might push into May.

If you do not feel comfortable with your pre-order, or it collides with a date you expected it to arrive, you can always reach out to us, and we cancel your order for you.

(We do, however, actively advise against placing a pre-order if you need it by a specific date. This is again mentioned in our What is a pre-order guide.) 🤓

3. Black Witch Collection - Leftover Stock

Lastly, I would like to talk about if/when we will sell leftover stock of The Black Witch Collection.

A few of you have reached out to ask if the collection will still be available for purchase at a later date, and the answer is: yes! 🎉

Our top priority is sending out our pre-orders first - We do, however, always order more than we need and will have some leftover stock once pre-orders have shipped. Once pre-orders are done, we will take a small break from packing and bring an allocated amount of products from the collection with us to this year’s Dokomi convention in early June. We will be seated in the Fashion Area (Hall 4, E36) and sell them in person at the convention.

If you cannot attend the convention, we will then sell leftover stock in a Shop Update in either late June or early July. The exact date is TBA and will be communicated ahead of time through our newsletter and our social media channels. 💌

When the collection does go live in our online shop, we recommend purchasing as early as possible, as we can’t guarantee how much stock will be left and the collection will retire once the items sell out. The items will NOT be restocked in the future.

Thank you so much for your support and patience! 

Of course, we will keep you updated and we hope, we were able to give you guys a little insight on what is happening and why.  🎀