• Small business owners based in the US and abroad are worried about how tariffs will impact them.
• Etsy and Amazon sellers who produce stock overseas say they can't afford higher costs.
• Two business owners said they are already facing transport problems as tariffs impact shipping.

Small business owners who sell on Amazon and Etsy are having to decide what to do about President Donald Trump's tariffs which have rocked the global stock markets with the threat of increased import costs for Americans.

Business Insider spoke to three of them about how they're navigating the changing climate.

Lisa Lane

Lisa Lane sells her Rinseroo products, a line of slip-on shower hoses, out of the US but are made in China.

Lane, who started the business in 2019, told BI she is "frustrated by the misconception that these tariffs will lead to more domestic manufacturing."

For her small business, shifting production from Shanghai, China, to the US isn't feasible.

"We lack the infrastructure to do so, and outsourcing domestically would be prohibitively expensive," the 59-year-old based in New York said. "Our ability to manufacture overseas allows us to offer a high-quality product at an affordable price."

Lane told BI her business was already facing delays at US ports due to increased inspections.

"Recently, our last two containers were held for six weeks for a full inventory inspection, creating major supply chain disruptions," she said. "The delays at the port are affecting our ability to maintain adequate inventory to meet demand."

Lane said she believed this increase to be tariff-related. "They are checking to see that goods match what we claim is entering," she added.

Lane had projected the the tariffs Trump announced last week on Chinese goods would push annual cost of production up by $200,000. She said this would come out of her bottom line unless she increased costs to account for it.

"It's an enormous hit for a company with around $5 million in annual revenue," she said.

On Monday, Trump said he would add an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports, after China retailed to Trump's tariffs saying they would impose a 34% tariff on US goods.

Lane said on Friday they weren't planning on absorbing the additional tariff. "We need to offset the cost to do business as usual," she added.

Joanna Read

Joanna Read makes historical costumes for private clients, theatrical and TV productions, and museums. The 39-year-old, based in Lincolnshire, England, said a quarter of her annual turnover is sales to the US through Etsy.

With the de minimis import threshold currently at $800 for products shipped out of the UK, she doesn't think there will be a direct impact on her sales.

The de minimis loophole means any packages entering the US valued at less than $800 are exempt from tariffs. However, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that will end the loophole for packages coming from China and Hong Kong as of May 2.

Trump hasn't mentioned any further changes to the loophole, but the executive order has received bipartisan support — a rarity amid the negative tariff feedback.

Read said if anything did change, "I would expect to see a significant downturn in sales."

Read said she is concerned that the confusion about UK imports into the States will deter American customers from buying from sellers like herself.

"It also goes without saying that if my American customers are facing increased costs elsewhere in their lives, then they're less likely to be spending with me," she said.

Looking long-term, Read said she focusing on growing her UK client base to make up for potential income deficits.

"It's always a background worry when you are a small, even micro, business if your potential audience shrinks," she said. "It seems such a shame in our shared global community that things seem to be becoming more and more insular."

Bernie Thompson

Bernie Thompson runs Plugable, a Washington-based company that designs and sells computer accessories on Amazon and their online storefront.

Thompson told BI they are preparing for tariffs to have a huge impact on their business if they remain in place. "There is nowhere for this pressure to go other than pushing up prices," he said.

Plugable started moving their production out of China to other countries in Asia nearly ten years ago, in part because of 2018 tariffs on Chinese goods.

Thompson had thought majority of his production pipeline would be unaffected as it comes from Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand, but on April 2, that changed. Now with the new tariffs, he told BI he's looking at taxes of over a third of the value of his imports.

"These tariffs are several times as large as our net profits on these goods. These orders are commitments to our partners," Thompson said.

Thompson said the most immediate impact was air freight congestion as sellers are rushing to get stock into the US before tariffs come into effect on Wednesday.

The electronics business owner said he's trying to protect his customers and staff from the knock-on impacts of tariffs: "We have over 50 full-time employees in the US and Canada. We're an American-owned company. That said, the numbers at play are larger than the margins of our business, so in time, we're forced to pass through all of the effects."

Thompson said he'd love to be an innovator for efficient, automated production in the US, but those plans would be "years in the making."

• Entrepreneur Taylor Posada launched a new Etsy shop in September 2024.
• Posada said selling more costly products allowed her to get a higher profit margin.
• She slowly added other products and variations based on sales and ad data.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Taylor Posada, a 28-year-old from Baltimore who runs multiple Etsy shops and a print-on-demand training business. Posada declined to share the name of her shop for privacy reasons. Business Insider has verified the revenue and profits mentioned in this article, which has been edited for length and clarity.

I started my first print-on-demand Etsy shop in 2022 to supplement the $50,000 salary from my corporate job in franchise business development. In about a year, I grew my shop to replace my corporate income and went full-time with it in January of 2024.

Later that year, I decided to take what I learned to start a second POD Etsy shop. Within four months, I made $175,194 in revenue and around $48,000 in profits — and my success has only continued.

It didn't come from being extreme; my success came from being consistent, forward-thinking, and data-driven.

I sold higher-priced items in my second Etsy shop

For my first Etsy shop, I sold low-ticket items like tote bags and apparel for events, largely seasonal and holiday. For my second shop, I wanted to take on the challenge of more costly products that called for a higher profit margin.

I'm at that age where all my friends are having weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers, and the most common thing I notice at all of those events is giant signs welcoming guests. So, I figured it would be the perfect thing to sell.

Once I settled on signs, I conducted pricing research by looking up my competitors on Etsy and noted their materials, dimensions, and prices. Then, I found a middle-ground price point that I felt would make me competitive in the market while still aiming for about a 30% profit margin after product, shipping, and Etsy fees.

After that, I jumped right in.

Etsy ads have been a powerful tool

Shortly after opening my shop and listing products, I started running Etsy ads. They're nontraditional because they work on a pay-per-click basis, meaning you pay based on how many people click on your ad and a series of factors like competition, demand, and Etsy's internal bidding system.

I love them because I don't have to throw out money with the possibility that nobody will see my listing. Plus, I use ads as a crucial form of research.

If an ad isn't getting any clicks, that tells me I'm not getting the products in front of the right people and should consider changing my SEO keywords. If an ad is getting views but nobody's clicking on it, that indicates that the cover design isn't resonating with viewers.

Finally, if people click on the listing but don't buy, that means I need to reconsider my pricing.

Starting slowly with only one product was a good move for me

It's easy to get shiny object syndrome and want to test a bunch of different products, but I like to treat my shop like a science experiment. The fewer changing variables I have, the more valuable information I can gather and use to see growth.

However, I have slowly added other products and variations as I saw fit.

For example, if a wedding sign was getting the most views, I'd create more wedding-related products like seating chart signs and drink koozies. Or, if a specific product was getting a lot of clicks, I might make more variations of that design. Sometimes it's just a matter of adding more color options.

I made over $29,000 in one month

I started posting listings in September 2024 and made my first sale in the first week of October. By November, my sales had skyrocketed to just over $29,000 in profit.

The holiday season is typically when people are buying the most things, so my sales tapered off after Black Friday. In December, I made $19,000 in profit.

I attribute my boom in sales to thinking ahead about what might be selling in eight to 12 weeks. I know that it takes time for listings to rank and find their place in search results, so I start listing for holidays and events early.

I think my listing images are one of my strong suits

Because shoppers aren't getting an in-person experience where they can touch and see the product, I try to match that feeling through images.

I always think of my listing images like a Chipotle commercial, where you see a perfect golden brown burrito that's been blazed with a torch. That's kind of what I try to recreate with my listing images.

I use Adobe Photoshop to make custom mockups of the products, and all of my listings have a few main details: product size information, color options, features, and customer reviews.

Consistency is my key to success

My biggest challenge has been staying consistent, especially when I'm tired or just not in the mood to work. That's when I have to rely on discipline.

I start every morning by responding to customer messages and submitting orders from the previous day. Then I spend one to two hours posting new listings. After that, I find that I kind of lose my creativity.

I'm really just going for it, taking chances, and learning along the way. As long as there's demand and profitability, I say take action and let it be messy.

If you launched a successful new business and want to share your story, please contact this editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].

Update March 14, 2025: This article was updated to acknowledge that Taylor Posada also runs a print-on-demand training business.