Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Tariff Loophole or Not: Buying Directly From Chinese Manufacturers

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

There are tons of tariff loophole videos going viral right now, taken by people claiming to be manufacturers in China. These people say that you can bypass the tariffs through buying your favorite Chinese-made products (think Lululemon yoga pants to Louis Vuitton bags) straight from them. Today, Nicole explains if those are legit, which tariff loophole is going away and how these videos will affect consumers and investors alike.

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Go to ch chime.com slash disclosures for details. So I have written, count them, five books now. But each time I'm in the writing process, I stay at an Airbnb. I love to stay at an Airbnb. When I was actually first launching this show, I was at an Airbnb in Arizona. It was so peaceful. It was stunning. I could be productive and comfortable. The Airbnb was also surrounded by a ton of javelinas. If you know Arizona, you know they're like wild pig creatures. But honestly, I love them too.

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Airbnb.com slash host. I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. So I saw something on X yesterday that stopped me scrolling in my tracks. Here's a little bit of it. But why Hermes will charge you $38,000 USD for one band? of it. If you haven't seen this or similar videos going around X or TikTok, there's a ton of viral videos taken by people claiming to be factory workers in

China, saying that they're the ones who really make your Hulu lemon leggings or your Birkin bag. And they'll send them to you directly for a fraction of the price. Here's another clip from the video. This Birkin bag at Hermes boutique will cost you 38,000 USD. what is the real cost out of the factory? Today the cost of French artisans is much more expensive than Chinese artisans To finish one bag, the human resource cost will be 600 USD For package, this is not that expensive, it's 10 USD So now to sum those up, the total cost will be 1,400 USD for one working out of factory.

But why Hermes will charge you 38,000 USD for one van? That's because more than 90% of the price is paid for its logo. But if you do not care about logo, you just want the same quality, same material, you can just buy from us. Because for our van, we use exactly the same material, same leather, same hardware, same edge oil. So this guy is offering a Birkin bag for less than 1400 bucks but there are some others throwing out numbers as low as 50 bucks for designer handbags and five dollars for sweatpants. These videos are essentially making a pitch to consumers to skip

the store, skip the markup, go straight to the source. And that is a compelling pitch, especially when it comes to luxury goods, where markups are absolutely insane. In the comments to these videos, I'm seeing a lot of questions like, can you actually buy direct from manufacturers? Is it even legal?

So I'm gonna answer those questions today. And I'll also talk big picture about what this trend could be revealing about the future of manufacturing and how that will affect us as consumers and investors. So this wave of viral videos is, of course, in response to the US-China trade war. Where we're at now in terms of rates, although it could change in a minute, is 145% on Chinese goods, meaning American companies have to pay an additional 145% tax on all

goods coming from China. Then China responded with a 125% tariff on US imports, meaning Chinese companies will have to pay an additional 125% on all goods coming from the US. What these videos seem to show is manufacturing getting very creative. They're actually using X and TikTok to reach US consumers directly, bypassing both American retailers and, crucially, those new tariffs. In one video with nearly 10 million views on TikTok, one woman shows a pair of yoga pants that look very, very similar to woo lemons for $5 a pair. She said they're made in the same factory, using the same materials, same production line.

Another video claims to sell Louis Vuitton bags for 50 bucks, saying they come from the exact same Chinese factory that make the real ones. So if your POV is that you want to capitalize on somebody's savings, well, it is too good to be true in a lot of cases because some brands are fact-checking and they have receipts. Louis Vuitton has publicly stated that none of its products are manufactured in China. Period. End of story. Lululemon does do a little production in China, about 3% of its finished goods, but the brand maintains a full list of approved manufacturers on its website. And it doesn't include the ones that are appearing in these viral TikToks.

And that guy from the Birkin clip that I shared earlier, he is not a Birkin expert either. In the video, and I'll link it in the show notes, he really makes it seem like he is in the Birkin factory, making the very bags that the US pays an arm and a leg for. But that's just deceiving. Birkin bags are indeed made in France, not in China. That says Hermes, the parent company of the coveted Birkin bag, does say that they get their raw materials, like leather, for example, from all over the world.

So it's possible that some of those raw materials are indeed from China. But the bags are definitely not assembled there. So if this guy was really part of the Birkin supply chain at the very most, he'd be able to get you discounted raw materials, meaning you'd end up with discounted lizard skin, not the shiny entire new Birkin bag. Most likely the real story here is that this is a trend in an attempt, albeit a very, very clever one, by counterfeiters to ride the

wave of anti-tariff sentiment in the US. So net-net, if you're buying a bag from the factory that claims to make Birkin bags in China, you're probably buying a knockoff. If you're cool with that, then great. You're not doing anything illegal. Possession of counterfeit items for personal use isn't a crime in the United States. But, and this is a very big but, reselling them

is a totally different story. That is illegal. Plus, importing counterfeit goods can get you in trouble with US Customs. In 2023 alone, US Customs seized $1.8 billion worth of counterfeit goods. So even if a TikTok video says that it's just a factory surplus or a dupe or made in the same factory, that doesn't necessarily make it legit or even legal. Plus, these videos often blur the lines between inspired by and counterfeit. And that's a legal gray zone. One that gets even murkier when you're trying to buy directly from a foreign manufacturer

online. But just to put a really, really fine point on this, if you think you're going to get essentially a Birkin bag without the logo made in the same factory in China as all the other Birkin bags, you're going to get essentially a Birkin bag without the logo made in the same factory in China as all the other Birkin bags, you're not. But again, maybe that's cool with you and you're just trying to do a little tariff free shopping through buying direct from a Chinese company. And that would work for now, because here's the thing,

if you're just an individual consumer, typically tariffs don't apply to your purchases. Because most of the time when you order something directly from a Chinese seller like AliExpress or Tmoo or even listings on Amazon or eBay, those goods are shipped in small packages straight to your door. As long as the total value of that package is under $800, it's covered by something called the de minimis exemption. That means no tariffs, no customs duties, no import taxes. This is how Chinese companies like Shien and Tmoo have been able to keep their prices dirt cheap,

and these prices have been hugely attractive for US consumers. In 2023 alone, Americans received 1 billion packages under the de minimis threshold. Meanwhile, US companies are struggling, notably Forever 21. A fast fashion staple has filed for bankruptcy twice in the last six years. And here's the reason a Forever 21 just can't compete on price with Shien, despite both companies manufacturing in China. If customers are buying from a US retailer that imports goods from China, like Forever 21, tariffs do apply to the retailer, and they can pass those costs on to the consumer. But for consumers making individual purchases

from Chinese companies under $800, tariffs won't affect them, at least for another few weeks. So starting May 2nd, President Trump is ending the de minimis exemption on goods from China. If you're just a regular old consumer shopping directly from a Chinese retailer, all of your purchases will either have a 120% duty applied. So if you have a $20 t-shirt declared, the tariff would be $24, bringing the total to

$44. Or there's a flat fee alternative that will be $100 an item until June 1st and then $200 an item after that. So if you were planning on getting a new summer wardrobe from Shein, you'll want to place that order before May 2nd. Okay, so that's a lot on consumers. Let's talk about investors for a sec. Luxury investors come in two flavors.

You could be a classic retail investor and get your exposure to luxury brands through buying shares of their stock, like LVMH for example. It's a publicly traded company that owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Moet, Tiffany, and others. Or you could be the type of investor that gets your ROI through buying the physical luxury goods and then reselling them at a higher price. No matter which kind of investor you are, this is a problem. The end goal of these viral counterfeit videos seems to be to

conflate legit manufacturing with counterfeit goods. If more consumers did start buying directly from these factories, real or fake, it could seriously disrupt the luxury industry. Luxury brands rely on craftsmanship for sure, but like the guy said in the video, they also depend on their brand. They're not just selling a handbag, they're selling an entire story, a lifestyle, a status symbol, a logo. If consumers begin to believe that these products come from the very same factories as $50 knockoffs, the brand's value takes a hit. That's why brands like Louis Vuitton go to such lengths to control their supply chains. It's not just about quality, it's about trust. If that trust erodes, the whole luxury house of cards could come tumbling down. And the next year already has the potential to be tough

for luxury brands because the dips in the stock market and economic uncertainty make people feel like maybe now is not the right time to drop five fingers on a handbag. But here's the other side of that coin. Some consumers want to break that system. They don't care about the brand story. They just want the product. So this direct from manufacturing model, even if it's not as legitimate as it claims to be in most cases, appeals to a certain kind of consumer who's looking for value over vanity. So maybe the luxury industry will have a similar correction that the stock market has gone through, prices will be less inflated, and the truly high quality brands

will keep their value. So for today's tip you can take straight to the bank. If you're shopping online and you see something that seems like a luxury steal, like a thousand dollar handbag for 50 bucks, do a reverse image search of the product photo before you buy. If you've never done this before, it's really easy. Just take a screenshot of whatever you're looking at, go to Google. Instead of typing in the search bar,

just click on the little camera icon at the right hand side of the search bar, and then you'll be prompted to upload an image. So grab that screenshot and voila, you will see in the search results if that specific image has been scraped from a brand's official website or from another seller. If it shows up in a bunch of listings that all look shady and too similar, it's probably not legit. This one trick could save you hundreds of dollars and a lot of regret. Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin.

Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan LeVoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some Money Rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me and follow us on Instagram at moneynews and TikTok at moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously,

thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.