Dear ArachnoGear Fanatics, Customers, and Our Community:
A little over nine years ago, my mother and myself formed ArachnoGear to cater to a growing market of people interested in tarantula and arachnid-related merchandise, including bringing posters from some of the greatest arachnid artists and photographers to new international markets. Over that time, we have met a great deal of you in-person at trade shows, appeared with some of the largest tarantula influencers in the world, and most of all, given several people awe and joy with the gifting and even donations of our posters. Nothing made me more happy than to see a small child embrace the arachnid world by screaming in delight when presented with one of our posters.
A lot has also changed in that period of time, particularly with recent changes in the government policy of the United States surrounding trade. Tariffs have been adjusted, the de minis import exception has been removed, and international customers have approached us with concerns about buying from our US-based warehouse. I do not blame them: In some cases, shipping with new tariffs and fees have totaled over $80 USD just to send a single poster. In the past, we could overnight a poster to anywhere in the world for less than this price with all taxes included. While I understand our government is trying to balance and make trade fair, without going into my political thoughts, I’ll just say these new policies are affecting our small business that has a huge international customer base.
Since we began hearing from our international customers, we have been trying a new strategy. We are working with a print-on-demand provider that has facilities and partners all over the world. They can fulfill items for customers in Europe and beyond from printing presses near them. The feedback has been overwhelming with record-low shipping costs and fast delivery, lower taxes, and similar (or even higher) quality prints. A few months ago we brought this strategy to the United States with similar results.
Therefore, we have made the decision to no longer fulfill orders from our Greendale, Wisconsin warehouse. This is going to result in some changes and transitions as follows:
- We are no longer accepting orders via this website and it will eventually be replaced. Existing customers may login to the Customer page (in the top menu) to access downloads, receipts, etc. Where allowable by law, we will be contacting customers to send new receipts and download links before removing that information from this site.
- We are only taking orders at the moment via Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnimalArtFactory. This takes into account all international shipping.
- We will be moving our US stock to Amazon in time for the holidays, where we hope to clear out our remaining US merchandise. We may do promotions on other platforms as well.
Please keep in touch on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/arachnogear/, where you will be able to find the latest news. We look forward to continuing to serve us during this transition. If you would like to get a hold of us, support@arachnogear.com is your best bet.
With Love For All Creatures,
Anthony J.
CEO and Co-Founder
Animal Art Factory / ArachnoGear