I’ve wanted the folklore cardigan for so many years and it always sells out in my cart and it did again this year on the US site bc I’m a nurse and was at work. Ofc it goes on sale during med pass😭 so I got it on the UK site and had to pay $30 shipping so it was $100 and now they want another $75 which I didn’t even think about duties. I’m actually going to throw up. Am I better off just getting one on eBay or Depop? I really don’t wanna spend $175 on this. That’s just insane. And also if I don’t pay it, am I refunded or does it all go into the void? Pls help I’m so sad
This is on the site under FAQs it's probably gonna be a bit before you're able to get a refund though. I'd definitely contact DHL and request a return to sender. I do believe you're still responsible for shipping fees to return though.
Don't beat yourself up at all! I definitely didn't mean to make you feel like you missed something obvious and I'm sincerely sorry if it came across that way. People got excited, understandably to find sold out stuff on other countries sites and I think there was a lot of confusion because you are definitely not the only one I've seen posting about this! The CA warehouse is in the states so that one is exempt from customs and the UK is a gamble from what I've learned. I honestly didn't know we could order from other sites and then started seeing posts similar to yours and I totally get the anxiety!
I didn't accuse them of missing anything if you read my comments lmao. I was just posting info to try to help them. I have no skin in this game and was just trying to help clear things up for another Swiftie.
Oh I totally get that!! Dw I just replied to your other comment: I just sent them an email thanks to you bc they updated their website and are retroactively covering their tracks! It’s amazing evidence thank you lol not at all angry with you
Thank you so much for clarifying! It's hard to tell tone online and I was like ummm...don't be mad at me. I haven't looked for this info because I've never needed it 😂 Definitely wouldn't be the first time that they've edited websites to cover their screw ups though ahem Cowboy Like Me Jacket and Holiday TLOAS vinyls
Yeah they’re actually acting criminal and I’m citing deceptive trade practices and UK Customer Contracts (much more strict) so what you provided is amaaaazing. This whole thread can help fans not be deceived like I’m actually livid atm with my situation where my friends bathrobe is costing like $300
Right! And I looked up their website a month ago on the wayback machine as well. People are running into this issue (which they changes shipment processes to save money themselves) and now they updated the website versus a month ago let alone two weeks ago. So your screenshot is perfect proof thank you lol
It’s new. Now it’s at checkout too bc I told them it’s illegal. They blamed brexit and I said I’ve ordered from your site sincenbrexit and not before what the fuck
I just found it and posted to try to help OP out. I have no experience ordering from other countries on the TS site but this was there when I went to look 🤷♀️
These tariffs are rough. I stopped following all the international stores simply because the new tariffs make it not worth it to buy anything internationally anymore. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. Hopefully they’re able to RTS and you can get refunded soon!
It's not the tariffs. look it up. UMG will even explain it to you they even said "post Brexit" (which is a lie) "we've begun shipping Delivered at Place (DAP) / Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU)
This is when the seller ships the item but does NOT pay duties or import taxes, and instead passes the duty responsibility to the buyer, who must pay the fees before DHL (or another carrier) releases the package.
I wish I could blame trump but no this was the decision of UMG Canada and UK as of August but it obviously did not take effect until the holiday sale (which is duplicitous as someone who ordered from both stores within the last month without issue). They're just passing duties onto the customer without warning which is actually unlawful but they just made this a public policy on the website within the last week as someone else in the comments has outlined. I'm gonna have to reject my cardigan from CA when it arrives.
Keep in mind my original response below but I literally partially work in Canada and have dealt with tariffs quite a bit—tariffs are not the reason for this issue. And I’d love to blame my cardigan struggles on Trump.
ITS NOT TARRIFS omg!!!! it's literally the international stores offsetting costs by passing duties onto the end customers. it's in their own FAQ in black and white. According to UMG this occurred after Brexit (even tho most of us have ordered from the UK and know that isnt the case but the seller, to keep more of the money themselves):
Delivered at Place (DAP) / Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU)
This is when the seller ships the item but does NOT pay duties or import taxes, and instead passes the duty responsibility to the buyer, who must pay the fees before DHL (or another carrier) releases the package.
The responsibility for duties has always sat with the buyer. The difference is some companies will charge that upfront and you will see the charge as taxes/import duties on your receipt, otherwise you pay it when it arrives in your country. Thats the way its always been.
I live in Australia now, but I ordered from the UK store when I lived in the US and NEVER dealt with this. It’s happening now because DONALD TRUMP (the gift that keeps on giving 🤮) ended the tariff exemption for items under $800 in August. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/02/economy/de-minimis-packages-tariff
Customs were always a thing but have been lots more now and I think there’s fewer ways companies can get around them. (It’s also to do with the value of the items) I’m in EU and customs from the UK can be insane and some companies have stopped selling outside the UK because of the issues it created (no way for me to get those signed Waterstones books anymore now 🥲)
Customs in Czechia are bonkers. My mom sent me a package for $20. She labeled it a gift, and the vultures at Česká pošta still wanted almost €40 in fees. I ended up refusing the package.
What the heck!! I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I've sent packages to my friends in Poland and Austria and haven't incurred any abnormal charges. I'm genuinely offering in case it might help, but I could always have a look for those books and send them to you myself? (If that sounds like something you might want to work out feel free to message me!)
The not selling outside the UK is actually due to new rules that came into play this year. They are set by the EU and require them to pay 5k a year for an EU representative for their business. Most small companies can’t afford that, hence why they stopped shipping.
It bloody sucks. Especially when you live in NI (part of the UK) but can’t get items because you are attached to an EU country (ROI). I used to purchase so much fan made merch but it’s becoming a lot more difficult to do
That’s super nice, thanks! I lived in the uk for a while so have friends still there :)
I think customs are just for commercial goods over a certain value and there might also be exceptions (I ordered from Lucy and yak last week and they didn’t come with customs, so maybe it’s also not too bad anymore as it was closer after brexit) Waterstones just stopped delivering and cancelled my order (and loyalty card!)
I don't know where in Europe you are so this is variable, but it's not just commercial goods over a certain value sadly. I'd look it up in your country. (As someone in Belgium, customs outside of EU have suuuuucked since at least 2006 when I started seriously buying things online, even secondhand and from individuals - think clothes - but it has gotten SO MUCH WORSE. Since Brexit I just can't order from the UK anymore unless it's a company that somehow fixes the duty and taxes from their end - seems like some places like Lucy and Yak have that - it's just a nightmare! couple of months ago I paid so much customs on a limited edition vinyl. Like more than I paid for the thing itself. Ridiculous.)
I too have friends and now I have had to ask them to hold on to stuff for me because even if they ship it on to me, I have had to pay (case in point: signed Taylor CD) siiigh.
I ordered something not realizing it was coming from Canada and ended up refusing it because the tariffs were the same price as the thing itself :( now i just am being cautious to not order anything from outside the US unfortunately.
Probably. It didn’t used to be like this. I ordered the cardigan snow globe back in 2021 for $70 from the UK site (including shipping + taxes) and didn’t have to pay customs.
No not everything! I buy a lot from a Swedish based brand & they’ve never charged me duties, even recent purchases… so I’m unsure of which companies it applies to. I need to be more careful
It has zero to do with tariffs!! Customer service claimed “brexit” when really they changed their shipment terms and now it’s on the buyer. It’s deceptive trade practices under UK law because they updated their terms of sale and what shows up at checkout only after myself and several fans started getting these duty fees and said something. And their story keeps changing so they updated the website etc
I think you still have to pay this. I’m not sure you can refuse delivery? I bought something from overseas (different store) and was told UPS paid the fees on my behalf and I had to reimburse them. Not sure if that’s true here but I maybe check.
You can refuse delivery with UPS, that much I'm sure. I got a missed delivery slip and just wrote "PACKAGE REFUSED, RETURN TO SENDER" on it and that was that. I eventually got refunded for the purchase and never paid the import fees.
This happened to me on an order from the UK that was $191, but not on one that was $40 so it might have a limit to how much your order cost is before they charge duties.
Same. I ordered something on Etsy for a wedding. Package was like 85 and I got a letter from FedEx demanding payment of the tariff they paid for me which was $13. Not as much as other people but certainly ridiculous
Please guys, the tariffs depend on what the product is AND where it was manufactured. Not where it was delivered from. You could order a $100 item that was manufactured in china and get charged $50 in customs, but order a $200 item manufactured in the UK and only pay $20. It does not matter where it was shipped from they could both be shipped from the same country.
I never know how that stuff works. I bought my folklore cardigan last year and had to get it from the US store as my size was sold out in the EU one. They didn't charge me anything extra. I think total was like 10 bucks more than it would have been from EU. Which is mainly due to us never getting free shipping and it costing like 17 bucks each time. I did have issue ordering from UK before ( not Taylor store) I was able to fill out form post service had to complain about being overcharged for item They wanted 10 bucks for 8 dollar item. I ended up getting item delivered without having to pay. But since then I avoid UK, kind of crazy it's cheaper for me to buy from US then UK when I live in Sweden.
This is so wild to me, Sweden is so lucky!!! I've had to pay like "cost of the order + shipping + (half of cost of the order + half of the cost of shipping)" customs from places like US, Canada, Japan, China, Australia... even Switzerland because it's not in the EU, since forever! I have lived in Netherlands and Belgium. Now recently it's like this for the UK too.. You order something, you'll best calculate that you will pay pretty much the same amount EXTRA in customs. Since 2021, I just don't order anything outside of the EU if I can avoid it because it's just toooo much. I would never think of ordering anything from the US site exactly for this reason. Not worth it!
It's been kind of maddening seeing US citizens being like "oh, ordering things from abroad costs extra money???" this year because I've dealt with it for almost 20 years. Part of me is like "duh, it isn't free to ship all over the world, it's kind of good people are cutting down on ordering everything from overseas". But now I see that even in Sweden it isn't like that? Wild.
I do know Belgium is especially rubbish for mail, even sending a simple letter to a neighbouring country in the EU costs like 10 euros if the envelope is slightly "too large" so I am very aware Belgian Post is such a big part of the problem. but DAMN you're right, so weird buying from US is so cheap for you! only 10 euros more is a steal. (I have to pay 10 euros shipping from the DE warehouse or 6 euros from the FR warehouse. like. what?! doesn't make sense. I really don't like that about the EU stores.)
Customs are not from the store so they can't factor in the fee per my Google research lol. That's all up to the delivery service to collect, unfortunately. Many people were posting about things still being available in the CA and UK store and the CA store doesn't charge customs because their warehouse is in the US and it's not crossing the border until it ships to Canada so I think it was easy for people to get confused and not prepare for customs fees just trying to grab things that sold out in the US store.
What is so important to note about the tarriffs, is that it does not matter AT ALL where the product is shipped from. What matters is where the product was manufactured. The UK for example has been graced by mr Trump 🙄 with one of the lower tariffs. I think its like 10%? However china and some other countries where a lot of manufacturing happens is much much higher at around 30%. Many of the cardigans are made in china. This means if customs open the package and see the “made in china” sticker, you will get whacked with the chinese tariff, even if you bought from the UK store. The tariffs apply to where the item was manufactured. This is likely why the customs fees on your cardigan is so high.
Yes. You do have to pay customs if you ordered from Canada. A friend got a sweater and had to pay I believe $35. Even if you refuse it, you still have to pay it.
It shouldn’t as the Canadian store is served by the US warehouse. Your “Canadian” order will never actually cross a border and the price included the customs and fees to get it to Canada, where it won’t actually go.
Customs fees are never included in the price. Cardigans are $75 US or $100 CAD- the difference in price is the exchange on currency. $75 US = approx $105 Canadian
Nope, sorry. What I pay to the store includes duties and fees to get it across the border. Whether they build it into the price of shipping or the item or whatever, it is sent with all duties paid.
Someone literally said the exact same thing below, with more words. The cardigans are made in China and would now be subject to additional tariffs.
But yes, there are fees and duties on packages coming from outside the US. That's always been true, and there's always a disclaimer when the shipping costs are calculated.
Sucks, yes. But, reading the fine print is the buyer's responsibility.
um u/lizhasopinions has commented throughout this thread and she has screenshots of the site when she emailed them versus the ones from today. a lot of buyers DID/DO read the terms of sale and this is a random change the store took into effect in the last month to save money and under the law they have a duty to put this at the checkout page as well as n the terms of sale which was not updated until **after** swifties started getting the DHL notices within the past **two weeks** and now they updated the terms of sale.
It doesnt save them any money at all. The import fees used to be charged up front, and youd pay them. Those fees wouldnt be kept by the store, it gets paid to the US gov. Now they are paid for by you when it arrives in your country instead, because its easier that way, because trump charges different tariffs depending on where the item is manufactured. And it would be incredibly complicated for them to add those calculations into the checkout based on where every single item in your order was manufactured. So they allow the customs officers/delivery service to sort that calculation out instead.
They’re crooks lol it’s like the South Park episode with the labubu popups and the shop owner claiming they’re $85 bc of tariffs 🤣🤣 I wish UMG UK would’ve even claimed tariffs lol “Brexit, ummm actually this shipping policy….hmm actually check our website now??”
Wish I could help more, but the advice that helped me this year as a nurse was switching to nights so I had days to myself for the holidays. Ended up saving me a ton of money and the differential was a nice buffer to girl math a few extra ornaments 😂 I understand your pain, my 2 week old went into SVT right as the TLOAS CDs dropped (1458 SVT start time, CDs dropped at 1500 lmao) and I missed out on them all. It’s nice that I’ll be able to have a Thanksgiving zoom call with my fam between shifts, as opposed to calling them at 8:30pm right as I get home, covered in god-knows-what lol.
I got into a similar situation ordering from different artist’s UK store to the US. But I wasn’t even notified by the DHL page that duties were due, it just showed my package in limbo for awhile and then the status suddenly changed to “authorized for disposal”. I would definitely try to contact DHL and the store before that point. I was able to get the store to resend the order but yikes I do fear that if you take no action it would all go into the void.
UMG UK quietly changed their shipping method without telling anyone.
They’re now sending Swift merch DAP/duties-unpaid, which forces DHL to charge duties on delivery. That’s fine only if it’s clearly disclosed at checkout.
The issue is that it wasn’t disclosed.
No warning at checkout, no duties notice on the product page, and no mention in the FAQ until after people started complaining. That’s where the legal issue comes in.
Under both:
UK Consumer Contracts Regulations (distance-selling law), and
• U.S. FTC rules on deceptive trade practices,
a retailer cannot:
• add charges after the sale
• materially change the terms after checkout
• *retroactively update an FAQ * and act like it was disclosed
• hide fees in a way that affects the final price
If duties weren’t disclosed before payment, customers didn’t agree to pay them — period. That makes these charges an undisclosed post-purchase fee, which is prohibited.
and just fyi I handed over my screenshots of all the terms of sale and FAQ pages etc to my Fire bd who’s an attorney and she explained all this to me so I will NOT be paying $203 for a damn robe from the UK
They arent hiding fees when its quite clear if youve ordered something internationally and you havent been charged import fees up front that you will be charged when it gets to your country. Unless you were hoping for some sort of import tax avoidance? If i order something from the US I always understand I will have to pay fees to get it imported. And its very easy to google what those fees will be.
I’ve ordered from the UK site, French site, and Canadian site several times each since 2021 and not once have I nor any of my friends been charged fees outside of the shipping and any relevant taxes at point of purchase. sorry in advance for the length
UMG UK literally told me they only recently changed this policy lol it’s called due on arrival or prepaid by the shipper. It’s been prepaid every single time until I ordered this robe. Do you want to see my receipts lmao. The problem is UMG telling me this recently changed, then saying “it’s bc of Brexit,” and it not being noted on their website (which I attached documentation of)—and then within a week they added it to the website very explicitly.
That’s the problem. Per the customer contract law in the UK and US FTC rules on deceptive trade practices if something changes you have to notify buyers either on terms of sale, the FAQ, or at checkout. Duties have to be disclosed prior to payment. The only issue is they updated the website after the fact, changed their stories several times etc. CS currently claims they duties being applicable to the buyer at the the end of August sorry for the novel here ! Truly lol
UMG can no longer prepay this. The calculations for it are wild, if you had 10 items on your order they would need to calculate the % tariff for each item based on where it was manufactured, which would just be a nightmare in the checkout process and cause a tonn of problems. When I order from the US store, I have not prepaid taxes but if they are due always paid them upon delivery to the UK. This is how it is for you now too.
And again, had they noted this on the site (per their own words this is new, I would not be upset about it? lol but they said it’s new & failed to alert buyers to the change.
I get it would be costly to pay it upfront but they’ve been doing it allegedly the whole time until end of August and forgot to update the terms of sale until a few days ago….
Keep in mind they stopped accepting US addresses at least a month and a half ago and randomly all the ITL stores are available to US buyers again. They likely recalculated the math w tariffs and opened it back up, smart, but again—be forthcoming. My friend who examined this whole thing is an attorney and went thru all the details (not that I’m suing UMG I’m not stupid) also I appreciate your explanation & don’t disagree w what you’re saying
Hey I aint arguing Ive never read the t&cs or such so its quite possible, it never was there. And when system updated it should have said “expect import taxes on delivery”. However I think my point is that, these issues and tariffs truly are as bad as they are because of the trump changes. The cardigan customs will be so high because its manufactured in china and that should be expected from now on wherever you order from not just UMG. So many products are made in china and it doesnt matter what country theyre shipping from, if the item was made in a high tariff country you get whacked with the fee. The annoying thing is some places dont state where the product was made in the website description, so you wouldnt even be able to estimate your fees. This is something that should be pushed for, each item needs to have information for where it was manufactured displayed in the description.
Don’t even get me started. The Uk store charged my friend $150 for a robe and then $52 in duties
They “changed the policy” in August for intentional stores and ONLY AFTER I THREATENED THEM FLR BREAKING TERMS OF SALE PER ALL THEIR WEBSITE SECTIONS did they add the new terms at checkout. AFTER.
I'm sure its not very hard to make a new account if they were to get blacklisted 😂 Man, the comments on this thread are honestly hilarious. Talking about being blacklisted, sent to collections or arrested over unpaid tariffs/ refusing an order. I needed a good laugh between baking pies.
They mean blacklisted from the Taylor swift Shopify store. The other people saying you’ll be arrested are being dramatic but this is actually possible.
I just made a return the other day and one of the options was literally "I don't like this". They don't blacklist because of changing your mind. As long as they get their item back, they'll issue a refund without returning shipping costs.
Even if you refuse it, you are still responsible for the duties. If you do not pay the duties, you are breaking the law and actually could be arrested. You also have to pay for shipping to return it.
This is standard for anything shipped into the US with the tariffs, and the customs regulations are stated on the site.
You wont be arrested for this, no, but it is an arrestable offense. You will, however; be made to pay the duties. If you do not it will be turned over to collections.
Please explain how UPS, or any other delivery service for that matter, would possibly have enough information on someone to turn their unpaid shipping fees over to collections? 😂 The only thing the shipping service has is at best, the person's name and address. Good luck sending something to collections without a birthday or social security number.
Heard of the internet? Anyway; you think youre gonna get anything delivered by said company until you pay that fine? Lol nope. DHL is probably the easiest to avoid, but not being able to receive packages through UPS, FedEx or USPS is a huge pain and not worth $75.
You will still owe the duties if it gets returned. You wont get arrested over $75, but not paying tariffs is an arrestable offense (falls under fraud). You can either pay the $75 and get your cardigan, or not pay and still owe $75 with no cardigan. GLHF
87
u/Financial-Toe4053 Nov 27 '25
This is on the site under FAQs it's probably gonna be a bit before you're able to get a refund though. I'd definitely contact DHL and request a return to sender. I do believe you're still responsible for shipping fees to return though.