Importing From the US...anyone have any experience with customs fees or shipping?

Thank you! 🤩

This is why I couldn't understand the one on TDF being in an attic, TB's have always had a special place with their owners, it's part of doll community lore 🤔

Does Mr Track own one of those fifties cars where the engine is mounted to the front wheel? 😃

(Ms) Jool 😃

I wouldn’t import anything from the USA at the moment unless you can get absolute guarantee from the supplier of a very definite fixed price delivered to your door with all charges paid in full.
I have imported quite a bit of stuff ( not dolls) from elsewhere and currently the stuff from America is fraught with delays and extra charges. As an example I recently got stuffed for £180 import tax and duty on a car part which had a purchase price of £100. I have a contact who is the official UK importer for a particular brand of composite moulding, he has just given up as the import and shipping issues and charges add about £1500 to an item with a typical value of £1200. Additionally his last container was delayed by over 3 months!
Dolls drop shipped from Asia don’t seem to have these issues.
Ironically most import charges and problems seem to be with goods from Europe and America at the moment.

I once imported a model railway item from the USA and ended up paying import tax and duty in addition to the cost of the item. It can be an expensive business.

That's scandalous really...if it's an American thing (which it seems to be with my own limited experience of small ebay buys from the US) then I can't (apart from current political issues) understand why it is so expensive? It's almost as if it's a country that isn't open to wider trade or is it a logistic issue? I know China take a financial hit (as my understanding of the situation is) on a lot of their exported goods to keep business going 🤔

The situation between the UK and the US aren't exactly on friendly terms atm. If reform get in it might improve? Depends on what trade agreements they come up with?

IMO Trade relations will only improve when there's an administration change in the US. I think it would be better negotiating some trade agreements with China.

The only American product I'd like to own is the new Tesla Roadster that flies but I doubt I could afford one.

China makes dolls.

I don’t know the exact reason, I have tried to communicate with UK customs on the subject but found it hopeless, just couldn’t get a straight answer. Their strategy seems to be that if there’s any doubt whatsoever they charge you the absolute maximum amount of possible import duty, tax etc, then it’s up to you to try and reclaim anything deemed unsuitable but of course that has to be done at cost of your time and very few people want to spend days or even months filling in forms gathering supporting information etc….
I recently bought a machine tool direct from manufacturers in China, it was around £5,000 with import charges etc it cost about £6000. Same spec machine from Europe was around £12,000
It seems the doll industry is very well enabled to ship direct worldwide from China.

If you're struggling to form relationships with people then it might not be a good idea to start having sex with a replica corpse. Some women can get over a sex doll because they're not meant to look dead or worse, and OK maybe some of the darker personality goth types might be able to get over a corpse fetish, but there might be the worrying doubt in all of them that you're going to want them to end up in a similar state. No judgement intended though; if necrophilia is your thing then knock yourself out, but it might send you down a very dark and lonely path.

Not all TPE/silicone dolls weigh a metric ton. They used to, but there's a lot of weight reduction tech nowadays and full size realistic dolls can weigh substantially under 30kg which is manageable for anyone with a healthy body, albeit that it'll take a bit of getting used to. You don't have to be a body builder to handle 30kg dolls, but you will need to practice a bit and develop techniques for moving that weight around without hurting your back.

The ultimate in lightweight dolls of course are plushies. They can weigh single digits kg and can be picked up with two fingers (or one if you insert it somewhere first!). Realism isn't a big thing of course, but lifelike realism isn't too big for corpse replicas either. TeddyBabes and ValentinaGirls are probably the top two choices, and VG have loads of configurability.

There are even some foam dolls with a silicone skin, such as SeeDree from Cloud Climax, but they don't seem to have taken off too well. Another lightweight option which appears to be a stuffed blowup appeared on TDF a few weeks ago, but I can't remember the brand. I suspect it won't take off either, being around the price of a low end TPE girl.

And of course blowups are lightweight too. They have their place, and I had many enjoyable evenings in the company of my inflatababes, but these days if I had to ditch TPE/silicone I'd go plush.

My own experience of buying from the USA isn't great. They'll say anything to get your money including lying outright about the product, then block you when you complain about it. And as they aren't subject to UK consumer rules you can only appeal to their better nature (if it exists) to get any kind of refund (which I didn't). Fortunately the thing I got was inexpensive but I'd hate to have spent a couple of grand on something like a sex doll. Still, with postage it still cost me about £25 instead of getting the same thing from the UK for about £3. Start with the UK's big four: Cloud Climax, Silicone Lovers, LucidToys and The Doll House, then try some strong names in Europe for more options like Docklandet in Sweden or DollPark in Germany, then after that I'd suggest ordering directly from China because that's all the Yanks will be doing anyway and charging you a huge fee for the privilege. And you won't be supporting that orange moron either.

Oops, I guess I was wrong,,,,,,,,Sorry!

It is just as bad importing that stuff to Canada from the US. And with our dollar value so low right now, the added exchange rate makes it even worse.

Some Tesla models are made in china so, who knows.

Hi Segfault, I think you misunderstand my needs here with all due respect 😪 Whilst Jess may appear "dead" that's not the attraction, her looking human is and she's 50x softer than a mannequin. I also respect women very highly having been bought up by a single mother. I have no need to have sex with anything as I have zero drive in that regard. I just get incredibly lonely at times and struggle emotionally with that and would just love something human, or human-esque in nature to come home and cuddle when the day's been hard, which it can be for us all. I wish there was a company that did something like a companion doll that was very human-like in stature but with a more "alive" aspect to it that was durable and lightweight, a bit like the old latex dolls of yore but with 21st century modelling and production aspects. I suppose what the ideal aspect would be would be something that looked like a Real Doll cast in silicone or latex but with a soft lightweight filling like a Teddy Babe. I just couldn't manage the weight of a TPE doll nowadays. 😪

Well those movie prop figures certainly are human realistic. More so than many high end dolls. To me their Jessica doesn't look dead at all. More just an average gal who's sleeping. I especially like her real world figure.

To me, that's part of the attraction, the everyday woman aspect 😍 admittedly, it may be a bit too beyond the pale for some and I respect that. I had to have a lot of deep therapy to try and break down my attraction as it was destroying me, but necrophilia definately isn't my bag. I have, however, just discovered this on TDF and it looks VERY promising if a Western retail deal could be sorted...https://dollforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=213978 🙂

Some of the TAYU silicone dolls are coming in at 19kg. Although they are rather on the expensive side, they are worth looking at if you’re looking for a lightweight Doll and you have the money.

That lightweight doll looks amazing 🤩. Nobody importing these into the UK?

Wow, I too would be really interested in that new foam doll if and when she becomes available through a Canadian vender.

Yes, she looks fabulous. If these were imported into the UK, I think they would be very popular.

If they were, they'd have at least one order from me! 😂

Jed too! 😁😍🥰

Can you handle another woman in his life or is that already the case? 😁

Well there are six of us already here with him and another two on the way, so I don’t think another one would be any great bother to us, and it just makes us a nice bigger and happy family 😁😁😁.

Anyway, Jed and I love each other but we have an Open Relationship 🔥🥰😍

Only thing I didn't like about that one, last I heard it didn't come with a head. You have to supply your own and you're limited to silicone or PVC, because latex doesn't play nice with TPE.

Now that movie prop site says they do custom work and they do show a brown version on their site. So you wouldn't necessarily be locked into pale. It's definitely an interesting figure, but I'm happy with my plush ladies. Most realistic feeling dolls I've ever had.