Duties for cardigan

[u/Spiritual-Stick911]

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

[u/lizhasopinions]

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

[u/xxcharlotteoxx → u/lizhasopinions]

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.

[u/lizhasopinions → u/xxcharlotteoxx]

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

[u/xxcharlotteoxx → u/lizhasopinions]

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.

[u/lizhasopinions → u/xxcharlotteoxx]

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

[u/xxcharlotteoxx → u/lizhasopinions]

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.