FedEx now have dolls on a prohibited items list for the UK

[YungSynth]

As a consumer im less fussed about configuring a doll precisely so would be OK with just buying a pre-configured mass imported doll if it means shipping from within UK/France to my address is much faster since the doll is "in stock"

Having to wait 30+ days for your doll ( cos of manufacturing and importing ) is a significant barrier to purchase in my eyes.

Nothing gets the wallet flowing like an impulsive "get it tomorrow!" shipping time

Tempting, right?? I'd have to give up drinking entirely, or I know what's gonna happen... I'm gonna wake up one day and have 12 dolls, but my car's been repossed, behind on the rent, and everything's been pawned

Jokes aside,

I suggest, that should this happen, then (being the vendor closest to Dover) I should set up a French company in Calais, and use a van to ship the dolls into the UK from France, then we could operate as normal.
The alternative would be to have everything sea shipped, which is viable, but much slower.

I am open to all other suggestions though, so if anyone has any thoughts, I am all ears

That's the fucking spirit!! I've noticed how you've taken the fight to this bullshit agenda for the last year or so, and I gotta say, I've got mad respect for you, sir.. I can only hope that vendors over on this side of the pond have been taking notes on the sad events in the UK and are as ready to fight tooth and nail against it when it inevitably takes hold here.. where there's a will, there's a way, and us true doll lovers will stop at nothing, freedom will prevail

[curious_person]

I suggest, that should this happen, then (being the vendor closest to Dover) I should set up a French company in Calais, and use a van to ship the dolls into the UK from France, then we could operate as normal.

there's another little event this year you may have heard of that impedes moving things from france to the UK ...

[YungSynth]

I suggest, that should this happen, then (being the vendor closest to Dover) I should set up a French company in Calais, and use a van to ship the dolls into the UK from France, then we could operate as normal.

there's another little event this year you may have heard of that impedes moving things from france to the UK ...

Maybe he has a passport? I doubt border patrol inspects every vehicle, especially if you seem on the up and up. If a cargo van is too suspect, he (or a driver) could drive a regular SUV or minivan, with the doll box hidden somehow in the back (false floorboard in the trunk space?)... if you see the same agent and they start getting suspicious, say you have a girlfriend in France, or something. I doubt the UK/France border is as high security as the US/Mexico one, is it?

[haremlover]

there's another little event this year you may have heard of that impedes moving things from france to the UK ...

That only adds 20% VAT

But 20%VAT might be applied on arrival in France so that tax is paid twice . . .

Best wishes

Harem

[curious_person]

Maybe he has a passport? I doubt border patrol inspects every vehicle, especially if you seem on the up and up. If a cargo van is too suspect, he (or a driver) could drive a regular SUV or minivan, with the doll box hidden somehow in the back (false floorboard in the trunk space?)... if you see the same agent and they start getting suspicious, say you have a girlfriend in France, or something. I doubt the UK/France border is as high security as the US/Mexico one, is it?

Basically moving anything between the UK and the EU is now much harder than it was up until 2020, with more checks, paperwork, and fees that have resulted in a sudden plunge of the UK's trade across that border, with some EU hauliers declaring "they dont bother with the UK now because it's too much hastle". It has negatively affected the experience of buying anything online from the EU.

paying VAT twice would be into the realms of the mark up that you pay for in-stock dolls kept in a UK warehouse

[Nescio50]

1. This is TDF's forum on The-Doll-House. Those wishing to discuss competing vendors, should do so in the Dolls In General forum.

2. Some here seem to suggest to smuggle dolls from France into the UK Maybe it was meant ironical. In case it's serious, stay legal!

[nicvncnt]

No dolls in the UK, means no vendor can deliver them to you.
What happens when Cloud Climax sell out of their stock???
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but stir debate here.

We have to take a large picture approach to what is happening here.
Again, if there are ideas, I am all ears.

It's clear that the future is with importing dolls in job lots by container and selling them from stock. It isn't just UK vendors that are moving towards this model, and it isn't just Cloud Climax in the UK, but the other vendors aren't TDF listed so can't be mentioned here. I appreciate this model requires a bigger upfront capital investment from the vendor in bringing the stock over, and that this may be beyond the means of some of the smaller vendors as individuals, but surely now is the time for those smaller vendors to begin talking to each other about pooling their resources. Or not, if they don't want to.

I sincerely wish you all the best, Phil, because I know you to be one of the good guys in the business, but even if you can't move to a new business model, others still will.

EDIT: Rather than setting up in France, with all the problems of shipping into and out of the UK, you would do better to set up in the Channel Islands. They are not in the EU nor are they part of the UK, so are not covered by FedEx's ban.

Some here seem to suggest to smuggle dolls from France into the UK Maybe it was meant ironical. In case it's serious, stay legal!

This ban has nothing to do with UK law. You can drive a lorry load of dolls into the UK in full view of customs, as long as you pay the VAT on them. If even site management is confused about this we have bigger problems than FedEx.

[YungSynth]

Lol, staff knows they aren't technically illegal yet.. Nescio was referring to my comment, which was indeed meant kinda sarcastically.. tbh I'm surprised he didn't just delete it to make things easier lol

[Nescio50]

This ban has nothing to do with UK law. You can drive a lorry load of dolls into the UK in full view of customs, as long as you pay the VAT on them. If even site management is confused about this we have bigger problems than FedEx.

I'm not confused, I said before that it is not the law. In the UK it is FedEx. In the US it is Alibaba. To them dolls is too much a hassle, negative public opinion, they cannot check if a doll is adult-like or not -risk import issues, to them it is a niche -better quit this market.

Of course it is fully legal to ship adult-like dolls into the UK. Use a different carrier, or do it yourself. But someone was suggestion to use a hidden compartment of a van ... sounds like smuggling, like I said probably ironic.

It looks like companies are going to self-protect themselves, no longer willing to be involved in the doll industry (like it is blood diamonds). This should be a wake-up call to those (both sellers and buyers) pushing what is legal in some countries. Pushing the law might ruin this whole industry.

[roninfiertze]

Years ago I really researched buying a 140ft retired icebreaker / deep dive science vessel to live aboard and travel on. I even went so far as to research the specific engine, hull displacement, optimal speed and fuel consumption for the retired ship I was looking at. The issue was always how to cover fuel costs long term as a full round-trip to Japan calculated out to nearly $20,000 in diesel on that ship. Small-scale shipping on a vessel big enough for 3-4 containers never sounded practical to make up for the fuel cost, but you're all making me want to revisit this idea some day in the coming years...

That ship had such a neat history as I researched it, laid in the 1960s as an icebreaker it had a bow reinforced with massive steel beams inside to absorb shock and redundancy between two very large 12-cylinder diesel engines, then repurposed in the 80s as a deep dive science vessel, it had a decompression chamber and submarine crane on the deck, the fuel and water tanks had been expanded massively for long duration, the thing could do Oregon-Japan-Oregon at cruise speed and still have about 12% fuel. She either sold or got scrapped, which is pretty sad.

Anyways I digress. Maybe it's time for some people to consider living in less backwards countries. If the US ever gets this bad at the federal level I know I'll be considering elsewhere pretty seriously. That said, we never had a federal law requiring life imprisonment or chemical castration of homosexuals over here, so who knows... Thanks UK. It took them until 2016 to pardon the survivors of that law, and the survival rate was quite low.

This is all a slippery slope with no end in sight once it gets rolling, just like the UK is still learning. I just had a doll ship UPS this week that was supposed to go FedEx to the US, probably out of caution by the manufacturer.

[ThatOneGuy]

I never thought I'd see the day when doll pirates would become reality. Sailing the seas to bring dolls to the people, truly a noble cause.

[ChaXen]

I never thought I'd see the day when doll pirates would become reality. Sailing the seas to bring dolls to the people, truly a noble cause.

Research some, you may find information that points to those people to be the originators of sex dolls...

[nicvncnt]

I never thought I'd see the day when doll pirates would become reality. Sailing the seas to bring dolls to the people, truly a noble cause.

Research some, you may find information that points to those people to be the originators of sex dolls...

Ha ha, yes - they were called "Dutch wives" back then, usually made of solid latex. Dunno if they had gel breasts though...

[enosseok]

Id like to add a different perspective here from politics:

I believe its culture.

I like to complain about “da whamen” too but members here have a strong point we need to do something ourselves.

Its pretty commonly known the variances between what can be decided as childlike and not within one country, but imagine across the whole world? Its not possible to set a rule.

I say a big solution to this would be western manufacturers creating cheaper dolls to compete with the Chinese market. Asians are overall smaller and have more soft simple features than we do in the west. It only makes sense that the standards of beauty there would conflict overseas. I know I sound very generalizing but its true. You know all the stereyotyoes out there about asians. How different the beauty standard is there and how important it is. Everything in the west need to be thick and tan, everything in the east is trying to be pasty white and as thin/cute as possible. Look at piperdoll! A Japanese brand and nearly half their stock is banned on this site alone! But its likely completely safe within Japan. And if you didn't know already, Japan is wayyyy less taboo about sexual concepts than America...we weebs even joke about some perfectly legal Japanese content (anime) grants you a visit from the FBI regardless.

We need to recognize these cultural differences play a huge factor here.

I bet cheaper, western made dolls would not only cause less issue in western countries, but drive competition to where the manufacturers in china start taking adult designs for western countries more seriously.

At the end of the day, I think worst case scenario for awhile will be the end of cheap dolls from China. Sex dolls will become a very premium high end luxury for those who can afford the current western manufacturer designs that start at 3-6k usd.

[ancient]

Id like to add a different perspective here from politics:

I believe its culture.

I like to complain about “da whamen” too but members here have a strong point we need to do something ourselves.

Its pretty commonly known the variances between what can be decided as childlike and not within one country, but imagine across the whole world? Its not possible to set a rule.

The problem is just purely that sex dolls are seen as sleazy abominations used by perverts.

You can tell all your mates at work you had a fling with a hot girl you picked up on tinder etc. Can you tell the same people you had a great evening with your doll?

In all honesty the reputation damage FedEx suffers from knowingly shipping dolls may well offset the extra profit they make from shipping such a small niche market.

When the FedEx guy delivered my 30kg doll last year all he did was complain about the weight and size of the box.