The new challenges of importing

I have been importing fountain pens and ink for nearly a year now and it's really changed a lot in that short time. I like to bring in items not normally available in the US and until recently its been a fairly straight forward process. It can get expensive with duties and freight added to the product pricing but I have sold most of the imports fairly quickly because of their rarity here in the United States. Unfortunately, its gotten even more expensive with higher import duties but another problem is actually getting items through customs. 

I recently had two shipment get stuck because US Customs thought fountain pens were plant and animal products. FedEx Brokerage was fairly responsive and that pen was only stuck for a couple weeks. UPS, however, is a serious problem on a maki-e pen I ordered. It has been in UPS possession for over seven weeks. Unlike FedEx, however, UPS has not one person that can think outside the box and help me get this released. I am getting the same scripted answer no matter who I talk to. So I am in a lot on money for the pen and at least 15 hours to date trying to get them to release the shipment. That all has to factor into the sell price.

So here is my dilemma...and I would love it if you would reach out and give me your opinions on this...if this happens I will need to sell for higher prices, do you think its worth paying more to have me deal with importing or would you suggest I stop bringing in pens while there is so much chaos with US Customs?

Thanks in advance for your input!