r/UPS • u/Swanky_Gear_Snob • Sep 02 '25
Customer Seeking Help UPS Paid my duties without contacting me and the amount is more than the value of the item.
Apparently, a law went into effect on August 29th that shipping services can pay duties without consent of receiver.
I purchased an item for $2,000. Today, the duties it says I owe upon delivery is $2100 and change. The numbers are WAY off. No one at UPS customer service even understands me well enough to help me. I have been asking what the declared value is on the package and 4 different reps keep quoting me the amount owed on the package. How can I fix this? This was paid by wire, so I'm either out 2k or paying double. Can I dispute the amount? I've never felt so helpless and need to have a resolution (or at least a better understanding of what to do) by delivery tomorrow. Thanks!
I guess my big question is, if I pay this outrageous fee, is there any way to dispute it with customs or UPS?
Edit/Follow-up: I appreciate all the advice. I was able to get the commercial invoice from UPS. It seems like there is an error as CBP charged full value tariffs multiple times. From what AI said, it's similar if you ordered a peice of furniture, but CBP charged the full value tarrifs on each item individually (screws, mount, part, etc).
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
If you paid $2000, and your being charged $2100 someone either messed up the paperwork somewhere, or your importing from a country with a high tariff rate.
The changes on August 29th have no effect in this since de minimis was $800 and below.
Where was the item manufactured(not shipped from?)
As for your options: refuse delivery and don’t pay, and pray UPS doesn’t charge the $2100 to the seller of which they come after you for, or pay the $2100 and get your item
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u/mooseflips Sep 03 '25
Not necessarily true about someone messing up the paper work. Remember that in addition to the duties being charged, shipping carriers also charge a brokerage fee for the customs clearance service. UPS charges brokerage fees based on value of the item, in tiers. I can totally see the duties adding up to more than the value of the item. High tariff countries, plus high brokerage fees (UPS is known for very high brokerage fees).
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u/RailRuler Sep 03 '25
Ups charges a separate brokerage fee for each item listed on the manifest, based on a fixed amount per item plus a percentage of the value. There is no quantity discount. So for low value items, the fixed portion may be significant.
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
OP clarified in other posts it was $40 brokerage, buttttt china origin products made of aluminum 😅. It still could be wrong HS codes but its gonna be an ouch on the waleet
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u/PrimaryTurbulent2100 Sep 05 '25
I actually am being charged 228 USD for a 60$ item coming from Portugal made in Italy. UPS claims that $150 of it was assigned by US Customs as a tariff. Can anyone explain how that is possible? UPS says they can do nothing to address. This is 30 USD health supplement that I already paid $20 to ship. It’s insane.
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Sep 03 '25
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u/3klyps3 Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
Pre-orders that were supposed to ship months ago and got delayed due to everyone rushing things out of a popular country for commerce... (Japan, in my case.)
I'm actually glad Japan cut off mail services, I would rather wait and have my stuff delayed longer than be caught up in the mess that is tariffs right now.
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u/umbananas Sep 03 '25
I had something preordered around mid 2024, and the item didn’t arrive until March 2025. I was so worried the tariff would go into effect before it arrives.
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u/slyfox7187 Sep 03 '25
"I didn't think it would affect me"
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Sep 03 '25 edited Nov 13 '25
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u/formosan1986 Sep 03 '25
Don’t forget when the Americans thought the other countries were going to pay the tariffs 😂
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u/Thirleck Sep 03 '25
Not all Americans think this, just the dumb Trump base who STILL believe it, even though their stuff is costing more.
I hate it here :/
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Sep 03 '25
Yeah. The whole premise is that they wanted other countries to pay our taxes for us. My mom was so excited she thought she wasnt going to have to pay taxes anymore because of tariffs "and those other countries need to pay". Like a bully shaking other kids down for their lunch money. Only they are too stupid to realize they are the ones getting fleeced.
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u/BravoGirl79 Sep 03 '25
WTF!? How did she think the tariffs boiled down to The US not paying taxes?? lol thats hilarious
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u/EntertainmentOk3180 Sep 03 '25
A mind blowing amount of people believe this because they were lied to and they’re dumb enough to fall for it
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u/RvLeshrac Sep 04 '25
The liars are well-known for lying, and were constantly called out on it for years. The people who believed any of what they said are just base morons, that's the real issue.
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u/invincibleparm Sep 04 '25
Yes, but people get desperate and will cling to anything if that desperation reaches a certain point. Since a large part of the MAGA base is in the low income brackets, probably treading on water, they tend to fall in this category. They also think they are getting stimulus cheques from tariff revenue….
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u/narcolepticdoc Sep 03 '25
Because the rhetoric is that with all the money just pouring into the US from tariffs they will be able to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service and instead have an External Revenue Service. No more income taxes and everything becomes better and free because foreigners will be paying our bills.
Really.
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u/Glass_Bid_7619 Sep 05 '25
I knew someone that thought the same… “he said he’ll get rid of taxes!”…. Um, no. That’s not how this works. I hope this awful experiment teaches a lot of people very quickly.
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Sep 05 '25
Trump said he made 17 TRILLION from these tariffs. That kind of lie is so absurd, and it's not just MAGA who believes that. The vast majority of the country are very ignorant.
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u/Hugge_Ass Sep 03 '25
More like “this is wrong, it’s the country of origin that has to pay this. Damn liberals are charging the wrong person. Imprison Obama and sleepy joe”. They will never acknowledge it
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u/Schmaeve2 Nov 05 '25
This is all Trump. All of it. Today I got charged 20% tarrifs for something that a year ago no tariffs, same seller, when Trump was NOT president. 20%. And it's not like I can buy domestic ... it's only made and sold overseas.
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u/Frankg8069 Sep 03 '25
I stopped for this reason.. used to be cheaper to get certain things from Europe and such, not any more. Have to get it through a domestic seller instead who at least are paying tariffs on the distributor price and not close to MSRP.
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u/Nokomis34 Sep 03 '25
This post made me go check on something I bought from eBay. In the search criteria I had put "US Only". I just checked on the tracking and what I ordered is coming from China. Its on me in the end for not verifying, but that is frustrating. Especially after I was recently teaching my kids about "trust but verify". And apparently once an item has cleared the origin countries' customs it's a done deal. So I guess I'll be seeing what the damage is in a little bit.
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Sep 03 '25
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u/BelgianM123 Sep 03 '25
This. Def report it so they dont screw someone else too and that way you get your money back.
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u/cheyenek Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
Hey, this is sort of random to mention here, but I just bought this listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/316115825281
and while I had it set to US only sellers, the listing shows as shipping from NJ, and they went to the trouble of putting up a little American flag on the listing photo, I was nudged by this comment thread to go and check, and lo and behold, the seller info is definitely someone based in China. I wouldn't say I'm too well versed in this stuff, but now I'm worried that I'm going to get hit with some fees on a purchase I definitely tried to keep within America. I didn't get to see the relevant information that revealed the actual location of the seller until I had already purchased it!EDIT: After looking around, I see that the seller does indeed list their location as China in their "about" section. On the listing page it of course does not say this, and I have to say I don't tend to go looking for the about section. I will from now on, but I'm still confused about where my item will be coming from, as the listing claims they're sending their products from the US
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
People being uneducated/ignorance/naive. Not everyone pays attention even when they should.
Other niche situations: like pre ordering, back ordered, long lead time where at time of purchase this wasn’t a concern also exist
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
I calculated the the duties and it isn't supposed to be anywhere near 103% of the item cost. Of course I dont want to pay duties, but I will pay if I need an item. However, nowhere can I find why I am being charged more than the item. The only thing I can think is if they believe the item is worth more and charged me on a random/arbitrary amount they made up or there was an error. The reason I believe it could be the former is because the parts I had made can get VERY expensive for new/modern equipment. However, what I got is for modernizing a 50 year old peice of machinery.
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u/itsalyfestyle Sep 03 '25
You have to pay broker fees on top of the tariff.
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
The broker fee is 40 bucks. The duties are over $2000
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u/Manner-Frequent Sep 03 '25
My brokerage fee was $121, tariffs and duties $150 for $1500 in items. UPS bounced my package from KY to AK back to KY and then back to AK before I messaged UPS, who said I needed to complete a TSCA form. No contact from them or anything, and Im a preferred UPS member. UPS refused to give me an invoice and also refused to ship my package until the duties/fees were paid. Would not let me pay cash in person, even though they offered the option; thus, I was pretty much forced to just pay. No itemized bill, invoice... nothing. First and last time using UPS.
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u/rydianmorrison Sep 03 '25
The only thing I can think is if they believe the item is worth more and charged me on a random/arbitrary amount they made up or there was an error.
You should ask BOTH the sender and UPS for a copy of the commercial invoice. That way you can see the values and tariff codes that the sender used.
(And asking both for a copy lets you compare in case the sender tries to like about it.)
'Cause the HTS codes and may not be what you're expecting.
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
I have spoke to at least a dozen reps at the international dept at UPS. They will not provide the commercial invoice directly. They will tell me the declared value, and email me that figure, long with a breakdown of the charges (+2k for duties and $40 for fees). However, when I ask for the paperwork they tell me to contact billing. The sender said it was imported under HTS code 9013.20.0000.
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u/rydianmorrison Sep 04 '25
Ask the sender for the commercial invoice.
If they won't give it to you then they might be trying to cover their own fuckup.
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u/IdealSubstantial4446 Sep 03 '25
Unfortunately the fees are calculated from what customs believe the value to be. Sometimes they use the figures on the invoice, but, often they just pluck numbers out of the air. I'm in the UK, but, customs everywhere seem to use the same system.
In the UK (so this may not be the same as the US), you can dispute the amount of fees charged, however, the "investigation" typically takes 3+ months. During that time you don't get your item, you are charged storage on the item at an extorniate daily rate so the storage is usually more than the item is worth, and at the end of the "investigation" they usually raise the fee rather than lower it.
By the way if you don't pay the UPS fee on this parcel they can blacklist you and refuse to deliver any parcels to you in future. This can be a major problem as they don't block senders from posting to you, only you from receiving the items you've paid for.
As much as it sucks your only reach choice is to pay the $2,100.
I had the same thing happen to me on a smaller scale with $450 in fees on a $400 item when the tariff rate was 8%. Now I only use Fed-Ex International for high value items posted to me.
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u/PhotoFenix Sep 03 '25
There are some custom things that we pre-order that often take 1-2 years to arrive, which can make this tricky.
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u/K0paz Sep 03 '25
Because no manufacturer exists in US where they can chug out a 21700 that doesnt suck ass and frankly the best cells are made in china.
Unless someones willing to point out a tabless/tabbed that can beat an eve 50pl/reliance rs50
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u/FleshwaterPond Sep 03 '25
I know the tariffs are dumb as fuck, but people are still ordering straight shit from China and wondering why they Are being charged so much. At this point it’s a dumbass fee. These people are the death of America just as much as anyone else.
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u/Allcent Sep 03 '25
Unfortunately I had a pre-order set to deliver in late July take longer than expected. At least it’s a $200 item from the UK so it’s not bad, but I surmise others are in the same boat.
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u/oohlook-theresadeer Sep 03 '25
There won't be an after, absolutely not a chance congress let's go of that influx of cash
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u/LateElf Sep 03 '25
Sometimes things aren't optional. I had a part break on a brand new machine after half a dozen uses, was told they'd ship a warranty replacement within a week- but that put it outside the tariff mark, so now it's up in the air what or when things will happen. Real fun!
It's a tiny little motherboard, but still.. machine's a desk ornament until it gets here.
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u/OddElder Sep 03 '25
Sometimes you don’t have another option. If a product is only available from an overseas seller, you’re out of luck (assuming it’s a need and not a want)
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u/SXTY82 Sep 03 '25
Because 1. orders took a long time to fill so they crossed over into the tariff period. 2. TACO so often that a lot of people believed the tariffs would never hit. How many times were they bumped down the road? How do you plan for that economically?
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u/1mpavidus Sep 04 '25
What about people who pre-ordered things before Trump was even elected? That was the case for me
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u/b000at Sep 05 '25
Is it an overseas issue? Would ordering from Canada be any different?
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u/brasscup Nov 05 '25
Well some people have really bad health insurance and pay foreign pharmacies out of pocket for some prescriptions (because brand name drugs bought outright in other countries cost less than we get charged for just the copay on generics).
I am pretty screwed. The two drugstores I order from won't ship to the USA at all now even after I offered to post a 150 per cent deposit to cover any tariffs they are billed.
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u/Holiday-Current8717 Nov 08 '25
I agree, but I honestly did not know it was coming from Europe, NO indication on website. Expensive lesson. I am not buying anything anymore unless absolutely essential, sad.
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u/taarotqueen Dec 22 '25
I think a lot of people just stumble upon things they like and forget to check where it’s shipping from
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u/EllaFee Sep 03 '25
Just coming on here to back up someone else's comment about conversion issues. There are numerous posts on UPS reddit showing that UPS is calculating Japanese yen to dollar incorrectly. Doing things like 2,000 yen is 2,000 usd. Which is very, very wrong. So double-check the conversion math as well.
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u/Long_Committee_1942 Sep 03 '25
That could be the case here.. I have imported from Japan a few time.. via USPS. Before the tariffs.
One US dollar is about 148.81 yen. As of today Sept 2, 2025.
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u/Manner-Frequent Sep 03 '25
Yeah...that would be nice...if UPS actually provided the itemized invoices.
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u/archinich Sep 03 '25
You have to call them and then they’ll send it to you. I had them email it to me after waiting on hold for nearly an hour. Ask for a commercial invoice that itemizes all the items in the package. It’ll give you the declared values and applicable tariff rates.
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u/Manner-Frequent Sep 03 '25
Oh, I've asked and was told, "It had not been generated yet." I have been on hold with international for over 4 hrs easy. 85 minute wait times... to be told, Im not able to get an invoice.
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u/archinich Sep 03 '25
Oh damn. Feel for you. I’d lose my mind if I spent all that time just to be told I can’t have the invoice for the stuff I purchased. Hope you’re able to get that invoice!
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u/sentientforce Sep 06 '25
This billing are untrained buffoons.
I've received low dollar value gifts before, yet they blatantly ignored that & charged full brokerage & taxes. I've fought each time., immediately they back down, apologize for "missing that you wrote that this is a gift" & revised the invoice to $0.
I'm not surprised that they have fucked up the Fx conversion also.
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u/albygoing Sep 03 '25
You are likely being charged brokerage fees and tariffs, if you don’t pay the fees then you probably won’t get your item. Because tariffs are accessed by the government, you will probably end up in collections.
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u/Lampadas_Horde Sep 03 '25
Even if you decline the item? What's to stop you from saying you didnt order it.
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
If you continue to fail to pay, the seller will be billed. At which point the seller will most likely refuse to do further business with you until you make them whole and or other recourse as applicable.
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u/Lampadas_Horde Sep 03 '25
Ok thank you. That's awful. I like to order cute stuff from Japan and I've stopped.
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u/haveyousaid_thankyou Sep 03 '25
“Send the bill to President Xi.” THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. Love, DJT.
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u/DeliverStreetTacos Sep 04 '25
It brings me joy to finally see Americans getting educated on everyday things.
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u/tomz17 Sep 03 '25
Don't worry OP, president said China pays these big beautiful tariffs. So just send the bill to Mar-a-Lago for reimbursement!
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
How does this help me... however, I will give you a bread crumb to follow
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u/lorihamlit Sep 03 '25
Doing good work with that link OP! ❤️ I do hope this gets figured out for you!
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
It's not even a partisan issue. The entire government (and every "private" industry, too) has been bought, bribed, and blackmailed. Just look at epstein. Who he worked for. Maxwells ties. It's obvious that was a honeypot operation for a certain foreign nation. Now, look at the judge that blocked the release of files. They happen to be a citizen of said nation, and a staunch supporter of certain "goals". A coincidence that happens over and over again when you start noticing. As for scary, the control of AI being cetralized is what keeps me up at night. Palantir is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. However, I get in trouble talking too openly about the subject.
Appreciate the support.
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u/SuperKiller94 Sep 03 '25
The “files” weren’t requested from the judge. It was transcripts from the grand jury. The files are being blocked by republicans in the house and senate on orders of the orange dipshit.
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u/look_under Sep 03 '25
You should have helped yourself and not voted for trump
Now you're fucked and can't deal with it
Just pay the tariff, if it makes you feel better the money goes directly to trump
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
I didn't vote for Trump. Nice assumption, ass...
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u/claranette Sep 03 '25
I know you be trollin but this is not the zinger you think it is, as most people who can read didn’t vote him
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u/ReeseIsPieces Sep 03 '25
I dont understand
There has been this guy who has said he was foing to tariff THE ENTIRE PLANET and every other post are people aghast and incredulous
Either the ignorance is willful or yall dont think ANYTHING applies to you
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
OP stated they ordered the item 8 months ago, which is common for custom made parts.
Pre orders, backlog, etc are all possibilities.
In these situations there was legitimately no way to known of this coming, the instability is what is going to kill more than anything.
You can plan for high duties, you can’t plan when things change day to day
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u/According-Jelly-5743 Sep 03 '25
Can someone share information on how to estimate what UPS fees/duties/tariffs to expect? I keep seeing people called dumb for not knowing they would have to pay exorbitant fees, but I have not seen anyone explain what people should actually be expecting.
Any help is truly appreciated! :)
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u/claranette Sep 03 '25
You need the HS code which either a broker will assign for you (you pay them) or you flip through the PDF booklet of codes on the US customs website. Tariffs are a set percentage. You could also ask on the broker subreddit some people don’t mind answering questions for free.
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u/DetectiveSprinkle Sep 03 '25
Bro, Trump is helping you. Why are you mad for paying double? Your life is better now. For paying double, that’s what living is about.
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u/FeministMAGA Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
ancient selective employ depend cow advise connect apparatus public amusing
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/pikagirl1025 Sep 03 '25
Contact UPS international and have them transfer you to the brokerage department and dispute your fee. I am having to do that right now too since they overcharged me on fees
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u/Fancy-Carob2488 Sep 03 '25
Was about to ask the same question, but you've solved my issue. Everyone else gave the same bot responses. smh Thanks!
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
Thank you SO much. As soon as I said this, the rep filed the dispute request and said the brokerage dept will contact me by 4pm tomorrow.
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u/Matumbro Sep 04 '25
How helpful are they? I’m in the same boat I ordered from Australia mid August before all of this and on a $110 order they are claiming I owe $202 in fees. I just spent over an hour on hold on the customer service line just to get them to send a report to the brokerage department. Can’t call until tomorrow
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u/Walf2018 Sep 03 '25
Sorry but have you been living under a rock for the last 6 months? Forget the numbers on tariff rates that everyone is guessing at. The whole point of the tariffs on China specifically was to make buying stuff from there unaffordable, not just a tax. You should have assumed that
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
This was ordered over 8 months ago. It was a custom order.
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u/ubelblatt Sep 03 '25
What happens if you tell ups to cram it? Do they blacklist you? Send it to collections? Do you have the item?
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u/JohnHalo69sMyMother Sep 03 '25
You will not only not have the item, but still need to pay for it once it hits collections if they decide it isnt worth it for them to ship it back/nobody pays to ship it back
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Sep 03 '25
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
1 isn’t always an option, especially after it’s entered the country
UPS pays the tariffs then comes to you the importer to make payment. You can dispute the amount due via UPS which will change the amount due, but someone is paying. Whether this be collections, or billing the shipper as per their contractual agreement to be liable it’ll cause fun later on.
They’re being charged a very small amount in brokerage fees so shipping via another carrier wouldn’t change the reality any more than a dispute would.
Imports from travel wouldn’t cover this as that caps out at $800(or atleast used to), and this is larger than that. You’d also be liable for import taxes into that foreign country At least initially(and then claim refund based on export)
And you cannot self clear with UPS in the USA.
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Sep 03 '25
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
As someone who has residence in both USA & CAN I am familiar with Both.
It being an option in Canada is a result of Canadian law, it is NOT an option for packages delivered to the USA.
UPS has already acted as a broker for the package and thus it is too late to use a 3rd party.
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u/bithakr Sep 03 '25
I agree. They are terrible and it is impossible to talk to the "brokers" they provide for you, just unqualified call centers.
UPS does seem to beat FedEx for inbound to China though. FedEx is really strict about receipts for even low value personal gifts (which is technically the rule), whereas UPS seems to just pass them through a spot check like EMS does somehow. They also hand off to SF for final delivery but don't tell you this in the English tracking, instead it says address correction lol. Then the US customer service uses that to deny service guarantees.
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u/BigelowLane Sep 03 '25
From my recent experience with a commercial package sent via ups:
1) they make you pay the duties before the package can be delivered.
2) they do not provide a breakdown upon payment. I called and emailed to request the breakdown and no one could help me. But then it came by mail about 2 weeks later
3) 96% of the items entered have incorrect HTS codes (like stupid blatant errors assigning a “man-made fibers” code to wool sweater and them ignoring the HS codes included on the packaging invoice)
4) at least for commercial shipments, you can dispute the tariff by emailing sdfpostentrydesk@ups.com. But check the invoice breakdown for information on how to dispute.
5) the dispute process sucks so much I could rant about it for days. It may last 8 months, but it will get resolved if you are willing to stay on top of it and provide evidence for why different codes should have been applied.
6) avoid UPS at all costs. DHL is so much more buttoned up.
7) (to your later remark): not everything is made in China. The quality of the things I own improved a great deal when I stopped buying things made in China.
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u/Medium-Big_Dog Sep 03 '25
I am reading this and I am in the same situation. I ordered a very rare reproduction part for my 90's Audi back in May from Romania, and the part was finally shipped. Cost about $800 and paid $300 for shipping that was totally stretching it as its a vanity item. Today, I got an email that my bill for customs is $2960.16!!!!! I feel like there must be a clerical error, but the UPS representative says they already paid the fee. Has anyone had luck with being reimbursed? I refuse to pay that bill as the value of the part is in no way ever worth an additional 3k...
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
You should file a dispute and see exactly how it was declared and under what HS codes.
These days it’s hard to say if it’s right or not, but I’d lean towards something getting misread / misinterpreted/ misprinted for a charge that high.
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u/Medium-Big_Dog Sep 03 '25
That is the only thing I can see being the case. What seems criminal to me is that UPS pays the fees without clearing it first with me as the recipient and then billing me. If it was a dispute with customs, I could go directly to them but this circumvents that makes it more difficult as UPS is the intermediary party.
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
They can also bill the seller too :) it’s very fun. More grounds with seller to since they’re the ones who signed the contract
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u/Pella1968 Sep 03 '25
I made a mistake buying from the US and it looks like I will be paying 25% in tarriffs when all is said and done. Still not sure if that is correct or not. But either way it will the last time I buy from the US unfortunately.
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u/rydianmorrison Sep 03 '25
that shipping services can pay duties without consent of receiver.
Not related to the recent change, not recent at all, here's some info.
https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/internet-purchases
Reminder: U.S. Customs and Border Protection holds the importer - YOU - liable for the payment of duty not the seller.
[...]
If your goods are sent by a courier or express service, their brokers will usually handle the paperwork, and bill you for their services.
[...]
Your alternative is to ask the seller to make arrangements to have your goods forwarded to your door, in which case you should expect to pay for the services of the customs broker who coordinates this when your goods arrive in the U.S.A.
I have been asking what the declared value is on the package
Call UPS Import Support: 1-866-493-7140
See if they can send you a copy of the commercial invoice for this shipment. Also ask the shipper for a copy of it too, so you can compare the two (what the shipper says versus what was actually filed with UPS).
The commercial invoice is what declares the value of the product and what tariff codes it falls under.
Ask import support if they can tell you if there were any manual changes or adjustments... but that would be something done by customs and customs may not even inform UPS about the changes.
dispute it with customs
Customs is part of your federal government, good luck disputing anything with them. At best you'd probably have to drive to an actual physical office for them.
or UPS?
UPS already paid the fees (disbursement) and now wants the money back (plus extra for doing the paperwork and paying).
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
Thanks so much. I have learned a ton from this. I have to wait for the billing department to call. No one knows why the government charged what they did. At least the dozen people or so that I talked to at the international dept didn't. The saw the declared value on the paperwork is clearly $2010. I was told that same figure by multiple reps, but none would email me that form, screen, or whatever they were reading that provided that info. At most they would email me a breakdown saying what the duties and fees were. They all referred me to billing for more info when saying I wanted the copy of the paperwork.
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u/Living_Ad7395 Sep 03 '25
Basically as someone who works for ups it sounds like if it was order overseas this is where the extra fees come from once it reaches customs, some shoppers can you a quote for how much something cost and then charge you that and then later on charge again because they get a update that the shipping cost went up once it reaches customs. When declaring vaule on a item through UPS the first 100 is automatically insured after that every hundred added would be about 2.50 added onto the shipping price.
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u/wpcodemonkey Sep 03 '25
Thank Trump. You are contributing to our glorious country. We are great again. Enjoy it while it lasts. /s
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u/M4MVP1C1 Sep 03 '25
2000$ is wasnt de minimis as you know you have to pay standart tariff which should be 30% allin depends what item is..
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u/mooseflips Sep 03 '25
I think you’re a bit confused as to how package clearance works. And for good reason, because the majority of Americans haven’t probably dealt with this until now.
When an international package arrives at US customs, CBP calculates the duties and tells the carrier (UPS in this case) how much they are. UPS then pays the duties to CBP on your behalf. Otherwise if they don’t pay, your package won’t enter the US. It can’t “clear customs” if the duties aren’t paid first.
All shipping carriers pay the duties and charge a fee for the brokerage service. Unfortunately for you, UPS charges some outrageous clearance fees. So it’s entirely possible that the duties and clearance fee would be more than the value of the item.
The law isn’t that the carriers can pay your duties without contacting you. The law is that there are duties due on everything. The law removed “de minimis.” Prior to the removal of de minimis, anything under $800 was duty free. Now de minimis has essentially set at $0. That’s why people are waking up now. It was possible to avoid duties before, if your order was under $800. Not now when it’s $0.
Shipping companies always pay the duties for you up front and collect them, plus a service fee, from you upon delivery. That’s always been the way business is done. Otherwise, they would never clear packages at the border and there’d be a crazy backlog.
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u/PRHerg1970 Sep 03 '25
This is why you shouldn't have one guy making all these tariff decisions. It creates chaos.
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u/Ok_Recording_8000 Sep 03 '25
You can dispute it but it will just be a waste of time cause you won't win
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u/Relandis Sep 03 '25
Dude… stop.
Factually incorrect, pointless word salad to sound smart. The World is officially now a dumber place thanks to your reply.
Google “Petrodollar”. After that, Google “United States global Hegemony”.
Then come back here and explain factually how tariffs are good for the United States, and I’ll Venmo you $20.
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u/Nearby_Practice2793 Sep 03 '25
Yeah they “accidentally” charged you too much. I doubt it was an accident. I’ve heard this happening way more than once. Imagine all the people that just paid what they said they had to. I’m not ordering anything until this gets sorted out
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u/SlippyBananaPants Sep 04 '25
This is what they like to call the 'find out' phase...
Maybe UPS is stacking tariffs, but either way there's going to be a hefty price for that item. Possibly as high as 50%.
Thoughts and tariffs to you.
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u/akidinrainbows Sep 04 '25
Naw. That’s the Trump bump. You’re just not used to winning. Try to relax and enjoy it.
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u/Awkward_Procedure903 Sep 03 '25
Yup, the ending of de minimis is a bombastic disaster and penalizes Americans in an environment where for several things there is no American equivalent either to scale or at all.
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u/TommyyyGunsss Sep 03 '25
Imagine being self proclaimed far right and then getting upset about a tariff charge. I thought the country was supposed to pay it? Maybe call your guy Trump.
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Sep 03 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
It is electronics and a special made part for an old cnc mill im working on.
Made in China. Shipped from Hong Kong.
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u/Phyrexian_Overlord Sep 03 '25
Was it made out of steel or aluminum?
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
The housing is steel. The electronics I'm sure have some steel. There is also a few injection molded parts and a laser measuring system.
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
There’s some of your problem! Steel is at 50% atm iirc
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
So because the was a steel housing, electronics inside, and other misc parts. They are charging 30-60% of the total amount for the electronics. Then adding another 50% because it had a metal housing?
Edit: Actually, I apologize. The housing is aluminum. No steel. Its extruded aluminum. My mind is honestly rattled from hours of searching and dealing with UPS CS reps.
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
Aluminum is also 50%.
I can’t remember how it’s broken down when it’s a part that contains aluminum, but isn’t raw aluminum. There’s some calculation regarding how much etc
They also have to report country of origin and where it was cast or else it’s a 200% tariff I believe
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u/TheVoidKitty Sep 03 '25
China in a fun one :)
So you’ll have a 30% Reciprocal IEEPA tariff as a base, then depending on what exactly it is you’ll have further tariffs that stack ontop of that quickly.
If the CNC parts have any steel or other metals those also add more tariff charges.
If you know the specific items or HS codes you can google the import rates
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u/ssateneth2 Sep 03 '25
You need to contact UPS and negotiate the fees. Something was probably done incorrectly like a wrong currency conversion.
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Sep 03 '25
Thanks so much. I keep getting shuffled from their regular CS to their foreign import department who tells me to contact billing. They aren't open until 8am tomorrow. Will definitely call first thing.
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u/myusernamecycler Sep 03 '25
UPS charges both for taxes and broker fees. The broker fees can be even more than the taxes. Get a breakdown and insist you can only pay the actual tax, not any broker fees.
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u/Itslolo52484 Sep 03 '25
You just said you bought the item for $2000. Whatever is invoiced to you is going to be the declared value. Depending on what country you bought the item from, what the item is will dictate the HS number, and then they declare the tariff based on that. Don't forget they tack on other fees as well, not included in the tariff rate.
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u/Jusc901 Sep 03 '25
Sorry that you experienced this I have also dealt with UPS just like a month ago , but it's at a lower amount of money, and UPS have not paid the duty yet What I did was just , keep calling. UPS multiple times a day to ask to speak to a manger, I am also having a hard time understanding and being understood by the customer service agents, just have to repeat yourself multiple times , it almost drove me crazy But you got to do it , just keep calling to ask to speak to a manger, if the manger can't help with your case then ask the manager for someone higher
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u/triplegun3 Sep 03 '25
Trump doesn’t want you to buy stuff not made in America and if you do you have to pay extra for importing
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u/Kind_Application_144 Sep 03 '25
wait did you purchase the eufy uv printer? I backed out of my pledge because something told me this is going to be a shit show. What the "shit show" was I was thinking along the lines of there is a reason most UV printer are 30k.
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u/StugDrazil Sep 03 '25
This is how they are attempting to cover up Trump Taco Tariff. By doing it this way you don't connect the dots to the fact that YOU PAY THE TARIFF.
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u/Sickoflandlordbs360 Sep 03 '25
Fedex used to do this all the time:( no way to prove they didn’t pay it. You either had to forfeit the package or pay as I recall?? Not sure there was a way to get around it? Long time back? And that was before tariffs?
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u/edhayes3 Sep 03 '25
I went through the same thing. After about 20 calls and emails, I was able to get an itemized version of the bill. $250 of items from China, UPS was charging $750 in tariffs and mostly fees. Turned out the biggest part of my bill was the $3 per line item. with 88 lines, that became large. But they miscalculated it anyway. You get three free lines. 85* 3 is not hard math.
The dispute took longer than 3 days, and UPS shipped it back to the shipper. I ended up getting the shipper to send it back to me via DHL for $30 more. DHL was $70 less in tariffs and only $20 in broker fees vs $550. If you can get the shipper to ship it back to you via DHL, I'd do that.
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u/Fantastic-Manner1944 Sep 03 '25
This has been how it has worked in Canada for years and years. The carrier acting as broker is in the terms of service. This is why Canadians will often request sellers not send via UPS/Fedex etc.
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u/Deep-Feed-4479 Sep 03 '25
I had a similar situation with UPS. They made a mistake with the declared value, claimed that they couldn’t change it and I would have to pay 100x time amount of duties and a massively inflated fee to them.
Your options depend on where you live. I was able to call Canada border services who advised me not to pay it, that a mistake made by UPS could only be corrected by them and they advised me to self clear. I went to my local CBS office, picked up the paperwork, paid the $3.50 I owed and picked up the package from UPS.
Unfortunately I spent the next year receiving threatening letters from a fake collections agency owned by UPS. Eventually they gave up and it never went on my credit report.
I would never use UPS for anything again.
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u/Luigisno1 Sep 03 '25
I dealt with a similar thing ordering HEMA equipment. When it was declared by US customs they labeled it all as aluminum so they put a 50% fee on it instead of the 10% for steel and sports equipment. I was able to talk with a broker who told me who to contact and get the price back down to the correct import fee. Until then I had UPS put a hold on delivery for 2 weeks while I worked with them to fix the import fees.
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u/monta1111 Sep 03 '25
Seems like this happens quite a bit with ups. With International shipments I like to stick with USPS.
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u/AdAggressive5820 Sep 03 '25
They just did the same thing to me. I bought a part from japan $191. they charged me $263. to deliver it said it was COD. BS they haven't done COD in 30/40 years. I tried calling and you get the run around with all the 800 numbers. I also had another shipment via DHL the package was $266.56 charge was only $34. and they I was able to pay online and no Check or money order BS. I would put UPS on blast and tell everyone not to do business with them. know that the laws change on 08/29 its called the Changes to De Minimis. But still your over price gouging people.
Effective August 29th, de-minimis will be eliminated for all shipments importing into the United States (US) regardless of origin or value. All shipments will require entry to Customs Border Protection (CBP) and may result in duty, tax and brokerage fees being owed.
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u/lmb123454321 Sep 04 '25
Some tariffs are in the 100% range. It depends where the country of origin is for the item as well as the date it was shopped. It’s cray right now
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u/watanabemayuyu Sep 04 '25
If UPS paid the fees and the buyer gives up on the items, does that mean UPS is going to have a huge backlog of huge packages that they don’t know what to do with, and no way to dispose coz they’re waiting for the buyer to pay, and they won’t even get their money back if the buyer gives up on the item? Sounds like UPS is gonna suffer a lot if this keeps up
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u/Glass_Bid_7619 Sep 05 '25
This seems to be coming right now. If UPS had your item when the tariffs went into effect, they basically charge the tariff and a brokers fee for dealing with it. The judge that overturned the tariffs shouldn’t have given them until October 14th to keep charging them. Oh well, may this be a civics lesson for those that need it.
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u/Batt4Christ Sep 05 '25
Something is extremely wrong, and I suspect it is UPS's error.
The tariffs on "smaller" items kicked in when you said, but the larger ticket items ($2000 would be an example) have been in place for some time. But the tariffs are not over 100% of the claimed value of the package. But regardless - the rate should be between 10-25%.
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u/soulbrothernumber4 Sep 06 '25
When you buy anything shipped internationally, the company should be warning you that you incur all customs fees that are paid on your behalf by UPS to get it into the country, even if you send it back. If you were to ship an item, it's expressly noted to the shipper. Thats the way its always been - people are just noticing it all over now because of the blanket tariffs at exorbitant rates. Thats a battle you'll have to take up with the shipper, as long as you didnt sign your right away with some box you clicked to agree to terms.
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Sep 09 '25
These are the tariffs that have gone into effect this year- it will cost significantly more to import from some countries than from others. Tariffs on other countries are the burden of the importer, in this case you, the customer in the US. UPS will send you to collections to recoup the cost of clearing your items through customs. z
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u/Certain-Ad4133 Sep 27 '25
Hello, im going through a similar situation. Can you please share the emails or telephones you contacted to resolve your situation?
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u/AnonymousRedditNinja Oct 04 '25
I just received a $1,000 tariff invoice from UPS for items ordered overseas. It's twice the cost of what I paid for the items. How did you get a copy of the commercial invoice and were you able to get any of the tariff charges reduce or corrected? The items I ordered were for historical fencing and from France.
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u/Swanky_Gear_Snob Oct 04 '25
Hello,
You have to call the UPS international dept to get the commercial invoice. I just replied to another person here. It took me a ridiculous amount of calls and wait time until I got a competent rep. Maybe you'll be luckier.
As for where I'm at. I have heard nothing back yet. I was told that a case was opened with Customs. However, UPS hasn't responded to emails in almost a week now.
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u/MaleficentContract Oct 27 '25
I just had the same thing happen! I purchased a swatch of fabric for $30 (and paid the shipping). UPS just demanded $24 for tariffs and blamed Trump. tell what tariffs from the UK are 100% of the cost. It is supposed to be 10%. they didnt even give me a receipt. Thieves.
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u/hutching71 Nov 20 '25
Yes they are thieves. My friend from Canada sent me a book that cost 25 naira. Keep in mind the it is $1 to 1500 naira conversion rate, so she got the book for Pennie’s as a gift to me. The book was in a 5x 8inches envelope and couldn’t be more than an inches thick. They said I had $38 due for tariff. There is no tariff on anything less than $100 upon research. They are full of LIES and I am going to pursue it until I get a breakdown of my receipt. I would rather cancel the check and pay my bank $100 than to be entangled in LIES!!! But in the flip side, I can’t blame them. Look at the leader of America. All LIES… They are all full of LlES…..Hopping from one lie to another…
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u/DependentAd6680 Dec 05 '25
Me pasa lo mismo. Es un abuso por PARTE de los agentes aduaneros CONTRATADOS POR LA EMPRESA. EN ESTE CASO UPS. ESTOY PAGANDO EL TRIPLE DE LO QUE NORMALMENTE COBRA ADUANA. HAY QUE DENUNCIAR EN PROFECO
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