Tariffs and Sextech Costs—Oh My!
US tariffs could dim rosy industry forecasts
As with many products, pleasure devices may have already become considerably more expensive, thanks in large part to the new tariffs on goods imported from China—which, according to the New York Times, includes 70% of sex toys and sextech devices.
For anecdotal confirmation I inspected about twenty toys from my personal and toy review stash—designed for a variety of uses and body parts—and found all were made in China. It didn’t matter if the products were from Lovense, Hot Octopuss, Lelo, Kiroo, Lora DiCarlo, OhNut, or anyone else, they all shared that common origin.
But the problem is far bigger than individual decisions about whether to select a Bluetooth-enabled device or an ordinary vibrator.
US sextech fuels a vibrant, growing industry
Sex Tech Market Size and Trends, a global report by Grand View Research, says North America is the “the largest revenue share of 32.2% in 2024” and people in the US bought more sex tech products than anyone else on the continent.
Meanwhile, a 2022 survey mentioned in Interested Engineering said 163 million Americans, 18 years or older, own sex toys. And a 2022 survey published by Statista Research in 2023 reported 82% of American women own at least one sex toy.
Is it any wonder Bedbible’s Sextech Industry Market Report & Statistics (May 2024), said, “The sextech market is part of the global sex toy market which is estimated to be 40 billion dollars. The US sex toy market is estimated to be 15.6 billion worth. So sextech is part of markets that have a huge size.” Bedbible also said the US sextech market is (or was) “more than 50% of the global sex tech industry.”
Grand View Research predicted growth “at a compound annual growth rate of 16.77% from 2025 to 2030” and that it would be worth “USD 107.85 billion by 2030” for the global sex tech market.
Sadly, these remarkable figures and rosy predictions for global industry growth may
crumble now, given how tariffs against China—which range from 20-25%—will likely increase costs, discouraging US consumption.
Made in China
It’s not just that over 70% of sex toys are manufactured in China, but the country is also “home to a diverse range of companies producing sex toys, apps, and other sex-related products and services,” according to Grand View Research.
Therefore China’s diversity of products, such as highly popular Bluetooth-enabled devices, means every sexy thing imported to the US will probably end up costing more.
Most consumers now seem to understand the impact of tariffs on cost. But small and medium-sized businesses such as retailers and distributors, will also bear the brunt.
Tariffs will hurt small businesses, especially women- and queer-owned retailers
In the last couple of decades there has been a growing number of women and queer people in the US founding sex-positive adult product companies and/or retail businesses.
The earliest retail examples are Eve’s Garden, founded in 1974 in NYC by Dell Williams, and Good Vibrations, started by Joani Blank in San Francisco in 1977. Since then, generations of entrepreneurs have established friendly and informative ways to learn about and shop for adult products.
Kismet Tyler, owner and “head queer” of Overlap Self-Care Superstore in Springfield, OR, is one such entrepreneur. Tyler told me,
“I’ve been scared about the cost rising on imported toys (i.e. A LOT of toys) since the talks about tariffs started. I absolutely have fears about costs going up. As much as I try to stock USA made/based brands, I believe even those makers will face supply chain issues for the raw goods needed to make their products. Customers have not expressed concern though I can say one of my vendors sent out an email that some specific brands have vowed to absorb tariff costs and not change the price of their goods”
Tyler added, “I will say it inspired me to begin sculpting and making my own adult toys with USA sourced products both for fun, and just in case.”
Going forward
There’s probably not much we can do about the increasingly higher prices on sex toys and tech while the current Chinese tariffs on China remain in force.
However, we can support small businesses, especially those owned by people in marginalized groups.
And we can take heart in knowing entrepreneurs like Kismet Tyler, and the communities they serve, are more than willing to use their creativity to keep sex positivity alive and well even during these difficult times.
Images: A.R. Marsh using Ideogram.ai.
