FYI Duty / tariff due on delivery when buying from outside USA

[gsxr]

In early October, I purchased an item on eBay, from a seller in Europe. eBay did have a warning that additional duties would be due on delivery. The total was ~$200 USD. I figured maybe $50-$60 in duties, like 30% tops, right? The Seller shipped UPS Expedited, which was nice, and delivery took less than 1 week (!). But the duty invoice from UPS... not so nice (see below).

ZERO explanation beyond what you see in the screenshot. No itemized invoice. Just "Give us money now, or pay even more if you wait to pay at delivery." Nearly SIXTY PERCENT on top of the item price. Insane. I'd like to see the invoice details to figure out what is going on there. Guess I should be happy it's not over 100% like some other people had to pay (link)?

More info at this Reddit thread. Seems like UPS is extorting people because, well, they can. Very likely there are embedded UPS fees which they are trying to hide. Items I bought are made in Germany, not China, btw, since COO may have a bearing on the tariffs - no way to know for sure, because again, UPS does not itemize nor explain anything.

In the meantime, if buying from overseas on eBay, try to get the seller to ship with eBay's Global Shipping Program. That will display the duties / fess up front BEFORE you pay, No surprises afterwards. Some sellers don't understand the GSP and/or are unwilling to offer that, because they don't understand it. (As a seller, I've used GSP to ship items from USA overseas, it's easy and painless.) More details on eBay's tariff page here.

I'm curious if this is mostly a UPS problem or if other international shippers are hosing us too. Regardless, plan on up to 100% tariff/duty and be happy if it's less.

 

[Glen]

Dave, was the item a car part? How much did the seller charge for shipping? I think the tariff is applied to both the item cost and the shipping cost.

 

[gsxr]

Dave, was the item a car part? How much did the seller charge for shipping? I think the tariff is applied to both the item cost and the shipping cost.

Glen, yes it was car parts, $195 USD and $22 shipping, total $217 paid to eBay.

The invoice / claimed value was €165 EUR ($195 USD).

UPS duty as shown above was $101 plus $14 disbursement fee. No breakdown of how UPS arrived at $101.

 

[gerryvz]

That's OUTRAGEOUS, even with the currently higher duties.

When I imported that big slew of headlight lenses from Germany 10-12 years ago, it was like $3,500+ worth of headlights, and I think I paid ~$70 duty at Houston Bush Airport to the Customs & Border Protection folks.

 

[alabbasi]

That's OUTRAGEOUS, even with the currently higher duties.

When I imported that big slew of headlight lenses from Germany 10-12 years ago, it was like $3,500+ worth of headlights, and I think I paid ~$70 duty at Houston Bush Airport to the Customs & Border Protection folks.

Those were the good old days that are never to return

 

[bgalakazam]

I probably should have stocked up on parts before leaving Germany earlier this year. Mercedes OE was very cheap there and there were quality aftermarket as well not available here. (Harness repair for $400 from quality engineer, ETA ~300 which I didn’t get). I am finding now it’s a lot more expensive than I remember in 2018 when I left.
Lessons learned… I was able to find the discount OE dealers online which are a good source as long as parts are not NLA.

But tarriffs was a thing there, buying out of EU was very expensive. So while new to the US, not a new concept.

 

[steve h]

Glen, yes it was car parts, $195 USD and $22 shipping, total $217 paid to eBay.

The invoice / claimed value was €165 EUR ($195 USD).

UPS duty as shown above was $101 plus $14 disbursement fee. No breakdown of how UPS arrived at $101.

UPS shafted you. That % is wrong

 

[gsxr]

UPS shafted you. That % is wrong

Totally agree! But there doesn't appear to be any recourse besides refusing shipment, which I didn't want to do (I'd be out the money and the item).

Haven't figured out any way to dispute this, yet.

 

[steve h]

Totally agree! But there doesn't appear to be any recourse besides refusing shipment, which I didn't want to do (I'd be out the money and the item).

Haven't figured out any way to dispute this, yet.

The only way to make these small imports fair & reasonable is to get a lower invoice from the seller. I don't trust Fedex nor UPS in these cases, they always find "fees" or documentation charges. It is worse going into Europe, because there is 20% VAT in most countries, plus fees plus any BS they invent to screw you.

 

[emerydc8]

I knew we were going to get screwed with these tariffs. They are not going to bring any manufacturing back to the US because we no longer have a manufacturing infrastructure and I don’t see any companies investing billions to come back when the rules will likely change in three years anyway. In the mean time we will have to eat it. Could it be possible that the tariffs were imposed on such short notice that shippers like UPS, FedEx and DHL aren’t even sure how much to collect so they err on the side of overcollecting?

 

[daantjie]

Yup, unfortunately as I've stated here on the Forum before these courier outfits make outrageous profits. Why? Because they can basically. Very little, if any competition and they have you by the balls once they have their mits on your package. For me the biggest gouge are the "brokerage" fees they charge. These customs entries are all automated and there is really no work involved on their end, pure robbery. But it's like airlines charging fees for everything now. Once it starts it never stops. If you're a large customer of these bandits you can negotiate all kinds of waivers based on your volume tier on these bullshit fees they charge, but as a one off customer they kick you as hard as they can unfortunately.

 

[gsxr]

After paying UPS online Oct-10 prior to delivery... I received a printed invoice in the mail, dated Oct-27, for approximately the same amount (again). Note the amount due was not identical to what I paid, so this appeared to be a new/different invoice, not the same as the original online invoice. The new payment was due Nov-7. I received this in the mail after the due date.

There was an option to pay online, so I tried entering the requested data (invoice number, account number, etc) to see if it would show "Paid". But, the online system insisted the account number on my invoice was invalid. I had to call and wait on hold (only about a half-hour) and the very disinterested person on the phone eventually confirmed I had no additional balance due. ANOTHER screwup by UPS. I'm sure most people don't just mail in the double payment, but you know someone out there will probably do it.

The invoice did include the Duty Class details:

9903.81.91 = 50% Tariff Rate - Derivative iron or steel products​

9903.01.33 = N/C​

8708.99.8180 = 2.50% Tariff Rate - Parts and accessories of motor vehicles​

This appears wrong to me. The item was a rubber bushing with maybe <10% iron steel content, if any at all. I'm not sure what alloys/metals are used for the bushing shell and bolt. Motor vehicle parts & accessories, yep, no problem. Obviously, they should not be saying "There is SOME iron or steel in there, so we are charging 50% duty!". Seems insane that an item which may have 0.00001% iron or steel would get tariffed at 50%, but maybe that's how it works? I couldn't make heads or tails out of what turned up on Google.

I do not know if the shipper/seller entered this information (doubtful), or if UPS picked a Duty Class based on the description entered by the shipper/seller (probable).

I assume it's likely a waste of time trying to dispute the duty class, but if anyone knows for sure, I am curious what that process is like.

 

[maw1124]

I think people are just "winging it" until this whole shit goes away. At least for now.

So I wouldn't expect perfection, and the CYA for UPS is to overcollect. Probably the people ye close to being fired are working that department, saved US jobs and all.

So it's just where we are for the moment, unfortunately.

maw

 

[DLL]

Not Tariff related, but I've had more Grief with UPS than any other courier service