Do I sense a slight touch of sarcasm
Well that's the problem dealing with customers, they always want something strange and ask obvious questions. Mainly because of inexperience and you roll your eyes - "not again"
Been there, done that in a different business. And worst of all if it gets emotional, then all you can do is walk away, let the customer come to grips and make a decision.
But in the end I think there are more easy peasy going transactions than these, else nobody would ever ever ever do this any more. And you hopefull earn some money.
Coming back to the initial question, would I import from the US? In my case Germany and I would rather not unless the product is only available there.
There are options to get your order pre processed and all legalities taken care of and that's something you need to discuss with your vendor. The good thing is - technically you are not the importer but the vendor, on the other hand you don't know what and when and where and tracking is only available when the doll is through customs. That's something I try to do when the doll is drop shipped from China.
The easiest way is to deal with a German vendor (in my case) so local laws apply, no hassle and in case of problems the same language and same laws. ymmv.
Jo